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teawithalibra 's review for:
Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves
by Meg Long
I received this ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Sena is a thief trying to make herself enough money to escape the deadly race that causes tourists to flock to the harsh, barren, tundra of a homeworld that took her mothers' lives. Unfortunately, Sena makes herself an enemy of the leading mob boss on the planet, stealing away with his prized fighting wolf and fleeing into the desolate world of the race as her only means of escape. It is going to take everything Sena has to keep herself and her small racing team alive as they fight to the finish.
I keep seeing this book compared to other ones. Balto, The Call of the Wild, Mad Max, etc... It felt very familiar, but I'm not sure what I would compare it to; it's very much a mishmash of a lot of things.
I haven't read a good adventure/survival novel in SUCH a long time, so while this one wasn't perfect by any means, I did really enjoy it. Sena is an intelligent and realistic main character. I loved the little mocking allusions to other survival novels and how they aren't accurate, and I really enjoyed the journey as a whole. I thought the book was pretty well-paced and the world-building was awesome. I thought the character development was beautifully done and the way Sena and Iska grew together made me feel all types of warm and fuzzy.
I think the only thing I didn't like was the CONSTANT vehemence (on Sena's part) towards the race. It got to a point where I was like... "I get it. You hate the race and everything to do with it. But you'll join it anyway, I'm sure." And sure enough! I just think that's an overused trope and wasn't super necessary for such a cool plot. I mean, you have a whole SciFi novel packed with adventure and the character continues to waste time insisting for the 17th time that she'll never have anything to do with the race or the animals even though the book is all about her and her relationship with one of the animals during the race? Maybe that's nit-picky.
All in all, it's 3.5 stars for me! I enjoyed it, but it was not anything super unique.
Sena is a thief trying to make herself enough money to escape the deadly race that causes tourists to flock to the harsh, barren, tundra of a homeworld that took her mothers' lives. Unfortunately, Sena makes herself an enemy of the leading mob boss on the planet, stealing away with his prized fighting wolf and fleeing into the desolate world of the race as her only means of escape. It is going to take everything Sena has to keep herself and her small racing team alive as they fight to the finish.
I keep seeing this book compared to other ones. Balto, The Call of the Wild, Mad Max, etc... It felt very familiar, but I'm not sure what I would compare it to; it's very much a mishmash of a lot of things.
I haven't read a good adventure/survival novel in SUCH a long time, so while this one wasn't perfect by any means, I did really enjoy it. Sena is an intelligent and realistic main character. I loved the little mocking allusions to other survival novels and how they aren't accurate, and I really enjoyed the journey as a whole. I thought the book was pretty well-paced and the world-building was awesome. I thought the character development was beautifully done and the way Sena and Iska grew together made me feel all types of warm and fuzzy.
I think the only thing I didn't like was the CONSTANT vehemence (on Sena's part) towards the race. It got to a point where I was like... "I get it. You hate the race and everything to do with it. But you'll join it anyway, I'm sure." And sure enough! I just think that's an overused trope and wasn't super necessary for such a cool plot. I mean, you have a whole SciFi novel packed with adventure and the character continues to waste time insisting for the 17th time that she'll never have anything to do with the race or the animals even though the book is all about her and her relationship with one of the animals during the race? Maybe that's nit-picky.
All in all, it's 3.5 stars for me! I enjoyed it, but it was not anything super unique.