Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves: A Novel

Sena survives by picking pockets and avoiding anything related to the racing system that fuels much of the planet's livelihood. That system cost Sena her mothers. Unfortunately, one of the local crime lords has an eye on Sena, despite her best intentions, she gets trapped in his snare. The race becomes a way to escape him and a way to escape with the wolf that shares her mother's name. Sena is a prickly protagonist, haunted by what she has lost and the discrimination she gets for being half "scavver" (a more back-to-the-earth type of group on this frozen planet that tries to live with the elements, rather than change them).

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thelittlebookishnerd's review

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adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves started off strong and didn't let up until the very end. Wolves are one of my favorite animals, so I loved every minute spent with Iska. I don't know how Meg Long did it, but I feel like I just came back from an adventure on another world! The world of Tundar was so vivid, it was easy to imagine being in the icy wind and snow, and surrounded by the dark, dangerous woods. Every creature jumped off the page.

If you're looking for a YA sci-fi novel with romance, this isn't it. If you don't normally read sci-fi but want to try, this is the perfect novel. If you're looking for a book with an immersive world to get lost in, I highly recommend Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves.

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hk2017's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

3.5 stars. This was a good story, and well written. The world the author built is interesting but not overwhelming and while it’s a harsh world it still ends hopeful. For me, the beginning was a little bit rough. We meet Sena, a seventeen-year old who has undoubtedly had a hard life. While I would say it makes sense considering her background, it was still hard to watch her making bad decisions and self-sabotaging for the first 25% of the book. Additionally, the race doesn’t actually start until around the 50% mark so while the writing kept me interested I did get impatient to actually see the main event start.

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habitualrereader's review against another edition

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medium-paced

3.0

The world this book was set in is really interesting and I enjoyed many of the characters (though Sena’s angst sometimes frustrated me). I was underwhelmed however by the plot and the pacing. The story was very slow for the first two thirds, and then felt rushed at the end. Overall it was a pretty enjoyable read, but not one I’m likely to read again.

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fl0tsam's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Everytime you think the bad things are over something new and bad happens. If you want to know if it will have a happy ending or not check behind this spoiler tag:

It has a happy, hopeful ending even if not everything has gone well.

I finished the whole thing so it can't be that bad but seriously don't read/listen if you're looking for something lighthearted.

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llamareads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I’m a sucker for kid-and-their-dog books, and this is a high-stakes scifi version of that. It’s the perfect book for reading while snowed in and cuddling your own dog.

“No wolves. No sleds. No racing.” I say it automatically despite the lump in my throat.
“Foolish rule for life on a planet that revolves around those three things,” she quips.”

Tundar, an Edge World, that has near constant electrical storms and a frigid climate. Corpos – giant corporations – attempted to terraform the world once, but just made it worse, exacerbating the weather and making the wildlife even more deadly. Sena grew up a child of two worlds and none, the daughter of an ex-racer, who trained the genetically engineered vonenwolves for the famous Tundar race, and a scavver, who believes that the race, to mine a rare ingredient, is unethical. She grew up learning how to care for injured vonenwolves and the scavver ways of living with the planet. But after her mothers die in the race, Sena refuses to have anything to do with the race anymore. On a world that revolves around the race, that means she’s left with pickpocketing and not much else, and before long she’s in trouble with one of the crime bosses.

“They think they can just take a piece of Tundar without giving anything back. But that’s not how it works here. Nothing taken, nothing given.”

Sena is honestly half-feral herself. Traumatized and determined to be independent, even as a young teen, Sena’s cut herself off from anyone and anything that could get between her and somehow earning enough money to leave the planet. She’s impetuous, frequently acting or speaking before she thinks, which lands her into trouble about as often as you’d expect. Sena’s constantly leaping from one bad situation to another, and that’s what drives most of the book’s plot. And while she’s not afraid to fight for what she wants, she’s also got firm lines she won’t cross. Her scavver äma taught her to respect life, even that of vonenwolves, whom everyone else seems to view as expendable components. It’s that connection with the wolves that leads her to get involved with Iska, an injured fighting wolf that belongs to one of the crime bosses. Sena’s a loner, and the last thing she wants is a connection to anyone, including a wolf, but her continued survival on Tundar depends on joining a racing team, and Iska seems to have her own ideas.

“Sometimes you don’t get to pick your family. Sometimes, they show up and pick you and you have to embrace it. And that wolf picked you.”

The slow build of the relationship between Sena and Iska was one of my favorite parts of the book. Watching Sena slowly accept her trauma – and understand that accepting help from others isn’t a weakness – was the heart of the book. The world building was surprisingly interesting for something that’s, well, just a scifi version of Alaska. I mean, Tundar is, after all, just “tundra” with one letter switched, and a lot of the fauna Sena encounters have Earth analogs, like reindeer and polar bears. Vonenwolves, in fact, are hybrids of the native vonen mixed with Earth wolf and dog DNA. They’re genetically engineered to pull sleds and not much else. The secondary characters were also fun. Remy – and her sense of humor – and Pena were my favorites. Where the book faltered was in the pacing. Sena is constantly faced with the consequences of her impetuousness, hopping from one disaster to another, so it’s not like nothing is happening, but some of those threads and characters never felt fully developed. It takes about half of the book before we even get to the race, but wow, once that happens, the book really picks up. The author’s prose is evocative of the snowy wastelands Sena and her team have to cross, and it made me very happy to be huddled up under a blanket with a warm drink.

“We race the cold and night, my wolf and I.”

Overall, while it takes a while to get going, this book was full of action and heart, and I particularly loved the ending. I would happily read a sequel! This is a very promising debut and I’m excited to see what this author comes up with next.

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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jessiewolf's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes

4.5

This fast-paced, action-packed book hit all the right spots for me. Girl on adventure? Check. Survival in icy tundra? Check. WOLVES? Check!! Sena faces obstacle after obstacle as she resists a legacy that seems to be her fate: racing in a deadly journey on an icy planet with wolf hybrids being used as sled dogs. Note that there is animal abuse, but it happens almost entirely off-page. Animals and humans also face danger and violence from nature and other animals.

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readswithrachel's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

If you like the sound of Han Solo meets Baltic, you’ll lie this book. It’s light scifi on an ice planet with a thief trying to get off the planet, and a sled dog race. And commentary on capitalism. Very atmospheric and a good choice if you want a book that’ll make you feel the cold.

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