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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
Rating 4
This was such an enjoyable story! As you all know, I love a good strong female main character and I’m pleased to say this one didn’t disappoint! This story also has a strong wolf named Iska who is both scary and loveable! The bond between Sena and Iska melts my heart. They learn so much about the work it takes to save the ones you love the most. I love thinking that together they are able to conquer anything. The setting behind this story is so fresh and engaging. The author did a great job building a world that you can easily picture and become a part of. While reading this book I actually felt cold from some of the descriptions in this book! I’ve never felt that before but thought it was so neat. This is a book that you don’t need to know more than what the synopsis gives you. Better to go into this book knowing less because you will enjoy it more! It does have a slow start but stick with it because it does pick up. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a coming of age survival story full of heart.
**Received an advanced copy through NetGalley in return for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. **
This was such an enjoyable story! As you all know, I love a good strong female main character and I’m pleased to say this one didn’t disappoint! This story also has a strong wolf named Iska who is both scary and loveable! The bond between Sena and Iska melts my heart. They learn so much about the work it takes to save the ones you love the most. I love thinking that together they are able to conquer anything. The setting behind this story is so fresh and engaging. The author did a great job building a world that you can easily picture and become a part of. While reading this book I actually felt cold from some of the descriptions in this book! I’ve never felt that before but thought it was so neat. This is a book that you don’t need to know more than what the synopsis gives you. Better to go into this book knowing less because you will enjoy it more! It does have a slow start but stick with it because it does pick up. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a coming of age survival story full of heart.
**Received an advanced copy through NetGalley in return for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. **
This book was a highly anticipated one for me and it certainly lived up to that anticipation and all the hype. I want more of this world and these characters now. This was a bit different than other stories I've read in this vein of things but different in a good way.
It started with a bang and was fast-paced, intense, and heavily emotional throughout the whole book. I loved seeing how Sena was learning how to survive and thrive in this cold place on her own and how she was learning to deal with her emotions over everything that happened in her life. Her connection with Iska, the wolf was very special, strong, and moving and drove the story a lot of the time. The other characters that come into play are very well written and I loved the characters with Remy and Pana and the Professor too. I was very engaged up until the very end and had a hard time putting this one down. This story got me all in the feels and made me pretty emotional in parts. I did find myself wondering about a few things at/after the end like about her friend that helped her in the beginning, the possible love interest. The found family was one of the best things in this story that I loved.
I would highly recommend picking this one up and checking it out if you haven't already. Don't miss out on this one. Thanks so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for letting me read and review this awesome story. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
It started with a bang and was fast-paced, intense, and heavily emotional throughout the whole book. I loved seeing how Sena was learning how to survive and thrive in this cold place on her own and how she was learning to deal with her emotions over everything that happened in her life. Her connection with Iska, the wolf was very special, strong, and moving and drove the story a lot of the time. The other characters that come into play are very well written and I loved the characters with Remy and Pana and the Professor too. I was very engaged up until the very end and had a hard time putting this one down. This story got me all in the feels and made me pretty emotional in parts. I did find myself wondering about a few things at/after the end like about her friend that helped her in the beginning, the possible love interest. The found family was one of the best things in this story that I loved.
I would highly recommend picking this one up and checking it out if you haven't already. Don't miss out on this one. Thanks so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for letting me read and review this awesome story. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Good for a debut! I really liked the main character and the overall worldbuilding, and I thought the race itself was really well done.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was just ok. It wasn't as exciting as I'd hoped, but overall still good. Not really scifi, its just set on a frozen planet that Sena wants to find a way off of. There really isn't too much else going on, other than the typical and predictable events that happen.
The first half of this book was Sena getting into trouble and then getting chased through the streets to avoid her pursuers. I was beginning to get very tired of that happening; it felt incredibly repetitive.
The second half of this book was actually really interesting, though; I liked how her dynamics with the others grew, and I thought the challenges they had to overtake during the race were super fun to read about. I especially liked how Sena's relationship with Iska grew, and how loyal and protective Iska was of her (just for elaboration, Iska is a wolf).
I felt like overall this book could have done with a little bit more worldbuilding (or perhaps I completely missed the context needed). It took me more than half the book to actually figure out what scavvers were, and while I thought the idea of living on different planets and having interstellar travel was cool, it wasn't fleshed out enough for me.
The second half of this book was actually really interesting, though; I liked how her dynamics with the others grew, and I thought the challenges they had to overtake during the race were super fun to read about. I especially liked how Sena's relationship with Iska grew, and how loyal and protective Iska was of her (just for elaboration, Iska is a wolf).
I felt like overall this book could have done with a little bit more worldbuilding (or perhaps I completely missed the context needed). It took me more than half the book to actually figure out what scavvers were, and while I thought the idea of living on different planets and having interstellar travel was cool, it wasn't fleshed out enough for me.
DNF @ 214
I tried.
This book centers around its main character, Sena. There is some interesting worldbuilding alluded to, but it never felt especially strong, particularly with a lot of modern day expressions in use. Also, the cold is this huge deal but I never felt it. It was very background. As for the plot, there really isn't one. It's about the race, but the race has only been background until around page 200, with Sena making a lot of noise about how she'll never do the race. So more than half this book is devoted to the character insisting she will not do something that it's stated IN THE SUMMARY she is going to do.
I don't like Sena. I'm clearly supposed to, because the only other people who don't like her are racists, but the thing is she's super incompetent. Now, I will admit to being a little spoiled here. By which I mean I've read Six of Crows. But you give me a thief, they don't have to be Kaz Brekker. Maybe they could just... not suck at it? Literally everything Sena does is an explosion of disasters. Picks pockets, gets caught. Goes into woods, gets attacked. An incompetent character can be pleasant, too, but that needs to be done properly as well. (So... Wylan.) Sena isn't. She's mean, selfish, incompetent, and uncaring. And every decent character absolutely loves her and will give her everything. Even the narrative can't give her consequences, she full-on kills someone and barely thinks twice.
The set-up with the scavvers wasn't super clear. There is a sense of the "noble savage" trope, but they also super exiled Sena's mom because she... helped someone? That's pretty cold. And it's suggested they're just a group of people who want a certain lifestyle, but they also have certain common physical traits so it also seems like they're an ethnicity. And at one point, there's a setup for Sena and people who disagree to debate the different philosophies, but it's wasted because the author so clearly wants you to know that it's not about security vs freedom, a valid debate, but being a racist corporate shill vs being a human.
This is not a good book.
I tried.
This book centers around its main character, Sena. There is some interesting worldbuilding alluded to, but it never felt especially strong, particularly with a lot of modern day expressions in use. Also, the cold is this huge deal but I never felt it. It was very background. As for the plot, there really isn't one. It's about the race, but the race has only been background until around page 200, with Sena making a lot of noise about how she'll never do the race. So more than half this book is devoted to the character insisting she will not do something that it's stated IN THE SUMMARY she is going to do.
I don't like Sena. I'm clearly supposed to, because the only other people who don't like her are racists, but the thing is she's super incompetent. Now, I will admit to being a little spoiled here. By which I mean I've read Six of Crows. But you give me a thief, they don't have to be Kaz Brekker. Maybe they could just... not suck at it? Literally everything Sena does is an explosion of disasters. Picks pockets, gets caught. Goes into woods, gets attacked. An incompetent character can be pleasant, too, but that needs to be done properly as well. (So... Wylan.) Sena isn't. She's mean, selfish, incompetent, and uncaring. And every decent character absolutely loves her and will give her everything. Even the narrative can't give her consequences, she full-on kills someone and barely thinks twice.
The set-up with the scavvers wasn't super clear. There is a sense of the "noble savage" trope, but they also super exiled Sena's mom because she... helped someone? That's pretty cold. And it's suggested they're just a group of people who want a certain lifestyle, but they also have certain common physical traits so it also seems like they're an ethnicity. And at one point, there's a setup for Sena and people who disagree to debate the different philosophies, but it's wasted because the author so clearly wants you to know that it's not about security vs freedom, a valid debate, but being a racist corporate shill vs being a human.
This is not a good book.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Sena is a 17-year-old who lives on an ice planet which boasts one big yearly event, a dangerous wolf-sled race across a frozen tundra to reach deposits of much sought-after exocarbon. She is orphaned at 12 when her mothers are killed during the race. She finds herself unwillingly drawn into the race and ends up fighting for her and her teammates’ lives.
Filled with great geographical descriptions and exciting adventures, this is a story of resilience, courage and finding one’s family. It’s also a great story of the bond between human and animal. Despite being a bit of a slow starter and experiencing some frustration with Sena at times for committing the same mistakes over and over again, I found it a very good debut and look forward to more from this author.
My thanks to #NetGalley , #StMartinsPress and #WednesdayBooks for providing me the free early arc of #ColdtheNightFasttheWolves for review. The opinions are strictly my own.
Filled with great geographical descriptions and exciting adventures, this is a story of resilience, courage and finding one’s family. It’s also a great story of the bond between human and animal. Despite being a bit of a slow starter and experiencing some frustration with Sena at times for committing the same mistakes over and over again, I found it a very good debut and look forward to more from this author.
My thanks to #NetGalley , #StMartinsPress and #WednesdayBooks for providing me the free early arc of #ColdtheNightFasttheWolves for review. The opinions are strictly my own.
3.5 stars
Excellent doggo.
I swallow past the hard lump in my throat.
Excellent doggo.
I swallow past the hard lump in my throat.