Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.
4.5 ⭐️
Meg Long’s Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves is a fierce, desperate, ultimately hopeful survival story about one teen’s journey across her treacherous planet in the most dangerous of races.
Actually every one of her days on planet Tundar is dangerous, not only because of its climate & weather or the predators lurking in its woods but also because Sena, the protagonist, is part scavver.
Scavvers are people who elect to live outside of the “corporate-run system” on Tundar—in a society governed by corporations & as the book repeatedly references, corporate greed, scavvers are treated with scorn, extreme prejudice, & hatred.
And now that Sena has run afoul of the major crime syndicate on her planet, she—& the fighting wolf she’s unintentionally formed a bond with—head out to join a scientific team on the race she’s said over & over again she wouldn’t enter since it’s the place her beloved mothers died.
The plot is difficult to summarize & it is intricate in the book but also explained well. Kudos to Meg Long for creating this world & society that feels innovative but also like a type of world that could exist
4.5 ⭐️
Meg Long’s Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves is a fierce, desperate, ultimately hopeful survival story about one teen’s journey across her treacherous planet in the most dangerous of races.
Actually every one of her days on planet Tundar is dangerous, not only because of its climate & weather or the predators lurking in its woods but also because Sena, the protagonist, is part scavver.
Scavvers are people who elect to live outside of the “corporate-run system” on Tundar—in a society governed by corporations & as the book repeatedly references, corporate greed, scavvers are treated with scorn, extreme prejudice, & hatred.
And now that Sena has run afoul of the major crime syndicate on her planet, she—& the fighting wolf she’s unintentionally formed a bond with—head out to join a scientific team on the race she’s said over & over again she wouldn’t enter since it’s the place her beloved mothers died.
The plot is difficult to summarize & it is intricate in the book but also explained well. Kudos to Meg Long for creating this world & society that feels innovative but also like a type of world that could exist
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
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Sena is fighting for her life on Tundar, an ice planet separate from Old Earth that is known for its sled races. She despises the races since her mothers had died in their last race, and she especially despises the vonenwolves that help make it happen. However, when the mob boss she works under has an injured wolf, he tasks Sena with helping it get back to full health, or else he will throw her in the race. Will Sena comply, or will she end up in the same fate as her mothers?
The worldbuilding is perfect for readers who want to get into science fiction stories but don't want t be completely thrown into a new world. A lot of the systems are similar to our world, especially the idea of the sled racing and a bunch of other elements, but still has a lot of elements unfamiliar to us that are explained pretty well in my opinion, such as genetic modification. I will admit that some things felt a little bit forced just because they fit well with a specific part of the story. Example with minor spoilers: one of the characters is revealed to be a genopath, a human genetically experimented and modified on to basically be a better version of a human. Yet, when it is revealed, it's like Sena already knew about this but just didn't tell the reader. Not only that, but it's also not mentioned anywhere else in the story until this moment, so it feels forced in just for an additional layer of depth.
This story moved extremely slow for me, mainly due to the fact that a lot of the same stuff keeps happening over and over. This includes Sena sneaking around bases, Sena being aggravated, Sena grieving her mothers, and Sena constantly checking her surroundings after one noise. It felt so repetitive, and as a result it really lessened the impact of these things and the bigger implication of them. Sure, the book did have some great moments of suspension and tension, but their impact just didn't have as strong as a punch on me, to the point where I was like "oh okay, we're doing this again." Also, the plot twist at the end was extremely predictable, at least for me.
Speaking of Sena grieving her mothers, I want to talk about Sena as a character. For me, she wasn't the strongest main character. Yes, she can fight and I was extremely impressed by her knowledge of races and also the world of Tundar. However, those were the only real pluses I could attribute to her. She's extremely sheltered as a person and still kind of is at the end. She was basically defined by her mothers' deaths throughout the entire story, like you couldn't go ten pages without her mothers being brought up. As a result, Sena felt just completely defined by her trauma and nothing else as a person, which was extremely hard to read since I couldn't completely connect to her.
A good portion of this book is also bonding between Sena and the wolf she's tasked to heal, Iska. I liked their tension a lot at the beginning of the story, but it seemed to mellow out too quickly for my liking. Iska was trained to be a fighting wolf, and Sena grew up raising sled wolves, so they come from two completely different backgrounds. But when one saves the other's life, that's when stuff shifts. But it comes too quickly of a shift, and when you think a bond is starting to form it's yanked back in progression. It grew too fast when there should have been a more gradual progression with their relationship.
The characters were also mainly split into two categories: those who are actually good, and the assholes who have no redeeming qualities. I usually like my "asshole" characters to have some depth to them besides their main quality trait being to piss off the main character. As a result, their words and actions didn't have much of an impact on me, which sucks because a lot of their purpose is to be racist towards the indigenous peoples of Tundar, which Sena genetically is. Maybe the purpose of it was to show how Indigenous peoples can become desensitized to racist slurs and comments, but that is not my place to say as I am not a person of Indigenous heritage. I can't also comment on the representation of Indigenous peoples as a white person.
Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves is a good starter science fiction novel but not the best when it comes to execution, with heavily repetitive actions and messy characterization.
I received a copy of this novel as an e-ARC from NetGalley. Any and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
The worldbuilding is perfect for readers who want to get into science fiction stories but don't want t be completely thrown into a new world. A lot of the systems are similar to our world, especially the idea of the sled racing and a bunch of other elements, but still has a lot of elements unfamiliar to us that are explained pretty well in my opinion, such as genetic modification. I will admit that some things felt a little bit forced just because they fit well with a specific part of the story. Example with minor spoilers: one of the characters is revealed to be a genopath, a human genetically experimented and modified on to basically be a better version of a human. Yet, when it is revealed, it's like Sena already knew about this but just didn't tell the reader. Not only that, but it's also not mentioned anywhere else in the story until this moment, so it feels forced in just for an additional layer of depth.
This story moved extremely slow for me, mainly due to the fact that a lot of the same stuff keeps happening over and over. This includes Sena sneaking around bases, Sena being aggravated, Sena grieving her mothers, and Sena constantly checking her surroundings after one noise. It felt so repetitive, and as a result it really lessened the impact of these things and the bigger implication of them. Sure, the book did have some great moments of suspension and tension, but their impact just didn't have as strong as a punch on me, to the point where I was like "oh okay, we're doing this again." Also, the plot twist at the end was extremely predictable, at least for me.
Speaking of Sena grieving her mothers, I want to talk about Sena as a character. For me, she wasn't the strongest main character. Yes, she can fight and I was extremely impressed by her knowledge of races and also the world of Tundar. However, those were the only real pluses I could attribute to her. She's extremely sheltered as a person and still kind of is at the end. She was basically defined by her mothers' deaths throughout the entire story, like you couldn't go ten pages without her mothers being brought up. As a result, Sena felt just completely defined by her trauma and nothing else as a person, which was extremely hard to read since I couldn't completely connect to her.
A good portion of this book is also bonding between Sena and the wolf she's tasked to heal, Iska. I liked their tension a lot at the beginning of the story, but it seemed to mellow out too quickly for my liking. Iska was trained to be a fighting wolf, and Sena grew up raising sled wolves, so they come from two completely different backgrounds. But when one saves the other's life, that's when stuff shifts. But it comes too quickly of a shift, and when you think a bond is starting to form it's yanked back in progression. It grew too fast when there should have been a more gradual progression with their relationship.
The characters were also mainly split into two categories: those who are actually good, and the assholes who have no redeeming qualities. I usually like my "asshole" characters to have some depth to them besides their main quality trait being to piss off the main character. As a result, their words and actions didn't have much of an impact on me, which sucks because a lot of their purpose is to be racist towards the indigenous peoples of Tundar, which Sena genetically is. Maybe the purpose of it was to show how Indigenous peoples can become desensitized to racist slurs and comments, but that is not my place to say as I am not a person of Indigenous heritage. I can't also comment on the representation of Indigenous peoples as a white person.
Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves is a good starter science fiction novel but not the best when it comes to execution, with heavily repetitive actions and messy characterization.
I received a copy of this novel as an e-ARC from NetGalley. Any and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
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
This book wasn't what I expected, but that's probably not saying much when it comes from someone who rarely reads or remembers the book description. What I was surprised to find in this story were things like space travel and rogue things and genetically engineered organisms and mob bosses! This book started out very lonely; very cold and dark and quiet. I appreciated how these themes were present not only for Sena (the main character) and Iska (the wolf), but for many of the side characters as well. Throughout the whole book there is a strong sense of survival, of fighting HARD for what matters to you (whether you're just an orphan trying to scrape by, a race team striving for the end goal of exocarbon deposits, or a mob boss making your money off of fighting wolves).
Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves was a slow build, the kind that gently tangles you in its web so carefully that by the end of it you're sobbing and didn't even think you'd gotten very attached. I love the way this is mirrored for the characters and the reader! I love the way Sena and Iska slowly build trust with each other and with others, testing their truths against reality, and forging ahead with what feels right to them. The villains felt especially nasty and terrifying, which made each scene full of palpable tension and allowed for a deep breath of relief when there was a calm moment. A small bonus, for me at least, was that there is no sign of romance in this book; all of the relationships resemble those strong bonds you form with others as friends and companions and fellow outcasts.
Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves was a slow build, the kind that gently tangles you in its web so carefully that by the end of it you're sobbing and didn't even think you'd gotten very attached. I love the way this is mirrored for the characters and the reader! I love the way Sena and Iska slowly build trust with each other and with others, testing their truths against reality, and forging ahead with what feels right to them. The villains felt especially nasty and terrifying, which made each scene full of palpable tension and allowed for a deep breath of relief when there was a calm moment. A small bonus, for me at least, was that there is no sign of romance in this book; all of the relationships resemble those strong bonds you form with others as friends and companions and fellow outcasts.
I struggled in a good way to review this book because I think, ultimately, it just wasn't for me.
It had everything I wanted! Bad ass ladies, wolves, daring adventure. But it ended up being that I couldn't truly connect with the characters, the world building, while immense and incredible, felt a bit confusing, and the pacing felt far slower than I wanted it to be. I struggled to stay focused on it because I could see it was going somewhere interesting; it was just taking longer than I anticipated.
Overall, not a bad book, and an interesting look at a tundra like world. I wish the villain had been a bit more dimensional beyond *evil* but alas.
Thank you Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.
It had everything I wanted! Bad ass ladies, wolves, daring adventure. But it ended up being that I couldn't truly connect with the characters, the world building, while immense and incredible, felt a bit confusing, and the pacing felt far slower than I wanted it to be. I struggled to stay focused on it because I could see it was going somewhere interesting; it was just taking longer than I anticipated.
Overall, not a bad book, and an interesting look at a tundra like world. I wish the villain had been a bit more dimensional beyond *evil* but alas.
Thank you Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A frozen planet, a ruthless crime boss, a bond between a human and a wolf, and a sled race for survival.
Welcome to Tundar a frozen planet where a mineral called exocarbon is found. But the only way to get to the exocarbon is to participate in a dangerous sled race across the frozen planet to get to the dig site. If the dangerous weather conditions don’t kill you then you better watch out for the dangerous creatures that also live on this planet.
This story was very reminiscent of a Sci-fi Iditarod race. The story itself has some pacing issues. It took nearly 50% of the book to really pick up but once the race started it was action packed and I couldn’t put it down. Loved the found family and the survival story. The ending is kind of left open so it left me wondering if there will be another book or if it’s a standalone.
Welcome to Tundar a frozen planet where a mineral called exocarbon is found. But the only way to get to the exocarbon is to participate in a dangerous sled race across the frozen planet to get to the dig site. If the dangerous weather conditions don’t kill you then you better watch out for the dangerous creatures that also live on this planet.
This story was very reminiscent of a Sci-fi Iditarod race. The story itself has some pacing issues. It took nearly 50% of the book to really pick up but once the race started it was action packed and I couldn’t put it down. Loved the found family and the survival story. The ending is kind of left open so it left me wondering if there will be another book or if it’s a standalone.
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What's it about (in a nutshell):
Cold the Night Fast the Wolves by Meg Long will make you cheer, turn you into a puddle, and keep you on the edge of your seat. Sena is a 17-year-old girl orphaned on a cold desolate planet who wants nothing more than to earn enough money to leave the only place she knows as home in this survival of the fittest adventure novel.
What I Enjoyed:
Iska, the red wolf, stole my heart. Stories with heroic animals always grab my heart, break it, and hopefully mend it back again, and this story is no exception. Iska is a survivor, she is brave, and she bears the name of one of Sena's mothers, so you know she is destined to be a driving force in the story. I instantly fell in love with her loyalty, bravery, and ability to adapt to any situation as the story unfolded.
I also enjoyed the relentless fast pace that starts immediately and never lets up. Sena and Iska are fighting for their survival in a world with many dangers, and it feels like they must have come up against every one of those dangers at some point on their journey. Added to that is that the majority of the story is indeed a race, an event that this world revolves around, and I held in my hands a compelling, immersive story and kept me on the edge of my seat.
The world-building is incredible and utterly immersive. I could feel the cold icy vistas chilling as if I were there. Even the underground world felt alive and vibrant with the rows of shops, the fighting rings, and the visitors and inhabitants that frequented it. Even the more people-friendly areas are fraught with dangers that don't allow Sena or the reader ever to relax, even a little bit.
Characters:
All of the characters, even the ones in the smallest of support roles, are so richly complex that they quickly stirred my emotions for good or bad as their actions dictated.
Sena is the hero and narrator of this story. She is somewhat a morally gray hero, which I always love, and boy does she make more than her fair share of bad decisions. But, her heart is always in the right place or seems to be. Since the story is told from Sena's perspective, the reader gets an inside look at what motivates her good or bad decisions.
What I Wish:
I wish I knew more about Sena's mothers. They are an influencing component of the story, but I had a hard time grasping any details about them that might fill in the noticeable blanks in the narrative. I felt like they were important enough and influential enough in the story to warrant more of a look back, even if that meant more pages and a much larger book.
To Read or Not to Read:
Look no further if you are looking for an edge of your seat action-adventure novel. Cold as Night Fast as Wolves will grab your heart and pull you along for a dangerous ride.
Cold the Night Fast the Wolves by Meg Long will make you cheer, turn you into a puddle, and keep you on the edge of your seat. Sena is a 17-year-old girl orphaned on a cold desolate planet who wants nothing more than to earn enough money to leave the only place she knows as home in this survival of the fittest adventure novel.
What I Enjoyed:
Iska, the red wolf, stole my heart. Stories with heroic animals always grab my heart, break it, and hopefully mend it back again, and this story is no exception. Iska is a survivor, she is brave, and she bears the name of one of Sena's mothers, so you know she is destined to be a driving force in the story. I instantly fell in love with her loyalty, bravery, and ability to adapt to any situation as the story unfolded.
I also enjoyed the relentless fast pace that starts immediately and never lets up. Sena and Iska are fighting for their survival in a world with many dangers, and it feels like they must have come up against every one of those dangers at some point on their journey. Added to that is that the majority of the story is indeed a race, an event that this world revolves around, and I held in my hands a compelling, immersive story and kept me on the edge of my seat.
The world-building is incredible and utterly immersive. I could feel the cold icy vistas chilling as if I were there. Even the underground world felt alive and vibrant with the rows of shops, the fighting rings, and the visitors and inhabitants that frequented it. Even the more people-friendly areas are fraught with dangers that don't allow Sena or the reader ever to relax, even a little bit.
Characters:
All of the characters, even the ones in the smallest of support roles, are so richly complex that they quickly stirred my emotions for good or bad as their actions dictated.
Sena is the hero and narrator of this story. She is somewhat a morally gray hero, which I always love, and boy does she make more than her fair share of bad decisions. But, her heart is always in the right place or seems to be. Since the story is told from Sena's perspective, the reader gets an inside look at what motivates her good or bad decisions.
What I Wish:
I wish I knew more about Sena's mothers. They are an influencing component of the story, but I had a hard time grasping any details about them that might fill in the noticeable blanks in the narrative. I felt like they were important enough and influential enough in the story to warrant more of a look back, even if that meant more pages and a much larger book.
To Read or Not to Read:
Look no further if you are looking for an edge of your seat action-adventure novel. Cold as Night Fast as Wolves will grab your heart and pull you along for a dangerous ride.
Thank you to Netgalley and Meg Long for this ARC. I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Pros: great world building
Interesting backstory
Unique plot
Bad*ss MC.
Cons: slow plot development
Little to no romance
Overall 3/5
I liked this story. It was good. I wouldn't say it was the best ever. But if you don't mind no real romantic plot and you like unique, fun worlds then I say go for it.
Pros: great world building
Interesting backstory
Unique plot
Bad*ss MC.
Cons: slow plot development
Little to no romance
Overall 3/5
I liked this story. It was good. I wouldn't say it was the best ever. But if you don't mind no real romantic plot and you like unique, fun worlds then I say go for it.