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bonnybonnybooks 's review for:
Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves
by Meg Long
DNF @ 26%
I'm leaving this unrated because I feel this is more a "it's me not you" for DNFing this book. Ten years ago, when I was more enamored with YA, I probably would've given this 4 stars. Now I have different standards.
Sena is an orphan on Tundar, an arctic planet controlled by corporations and crime syndicates. Tundar is a dystopian mix of Alaska and Scandinavia. One of her mothers was a champion racer, while the other was a scavver - a member of the original group who settled the planet who were somehow closer to nature/understood the planet better but now are a persecuted group by the second wave of settlers (scavvers seem to be a stand-in for Scandinavia's indigenous people, the Sami). Sena is the typical surly/loner heroine common in YA books. She has three main personality traits: she picks pockets, she wants to get off the planet (to go where and do what - doesn't matter. Just be anywhere but on Tundar), and she wants nothing to do with the race (since her mothers both vanished on their final race), despite her natural talent for vonenwolves/her scavva knowledge about surviving on Tundar. The race is an annual dogsledding (I mean vonenwolfsledding) event to get to a precious excocarbon deposit. It's a mix of the Iditarod and the Gold Rush.
The book description makes it sound like the race is the main plot. But over a 1/4 of the way into the book, I have still not reached the point that Sena decides to join the race with the she-wolf Iska. Given that the first quarter contains a lot of repetition, it should have been edited to get to the race portion faster. There are only so many scenes needed of Sena picking pockets (badly - she is often caught), Sena thinking about how much she wants to get off Tundar (which is why she is picking pockets - apparently that is the most lucrative job she can think of?!?! Even though it seems like she could make a lot more money by doing the race), and being told that she should take part in the race, but refusing because of her mothers' apparent deaths in the race (I'm betting they are not really dead).
It is clear that I didn't connect with this book or Sena, but this book has potential. Long does a good job with the world-building of Tundar and the concept of a sci fi dogsled race with high stakes and danger is a good one. There are quite a few YA tropes (including Sena's entire persona - why is every disaffected orphan a pickpocket these days?!?), but tropes are used for a reason - they're popular and part of the industry standard. This book didn't work for me, but I could see it working for other readers.
I'm leaving this unrated because I feel this is more a "it's me not you" for DNFing this book. Ten years ago, when I was more enamored with YA, I probably would've given this 4 stars. Now I have different standards.
Sena is an orphan on Tundar, an arctic planet controlled by corporations and crime syndicates. Tundar is a dystopian mix of Alaska and Scandinavia. One of her mothers was a champion racer, while the other was a scavver - a member of the original group who settled the planet who were somehow closer to nature/understood the planet better but now are a persecuted group by the second wave of settlers (scavvers seem to be a stand-in for Scandinavia's indigenous people, the Sami). Sena is the typical surly/loner heroine common in YA books. She has three main personality traits: she picks pockets, she wants to get off the planet (to go where and do what - doesn't matter. Just be anywhere but on Tundar), and she wants nothing to do with the race (since her mothers both vanished on their final race), despite her natural talent for vonenwolves/her scavva knowledge about surviving on Tundar. The race is an annual dogsledding (I mean vonenwolfsledding) event to get to a precious excocarbon deposit. It's a mix of the Iditarod and the Gold Rush.
The book description makes it sound like the race is the main plot. But over a 1/4 of the way into the book, I have still not reached the point that Sena decides to join the race with the she-wolf Iska. Given that the first quarter contains a lot of repetition, it should have been edited to get to the race portion faster. There are only so many scenes needed of Sena picking pockets (badly - she is often caught), Sena thinking about how much she wants to get off Tundar (which is why she is picking pockets - apparently that is the most lucrative job she can think of?!?! Even though it seems like she could make a lot more money by doing the race), and being told that she should take part in the race, but refusing because of her mothers' apparent deaths in the race (I'm betting they are not really dead).
It is clear that I didn't connect with this book or Sena, but this book has potential. Long does a good job with the world-building of Tundar and the concept of a sci fi dogsled race with high stakes and danger is a good one. There are quite a few YA tropes (including Sena's entire persona - why is every disaffected orphan a pickpocket these days?!?), but tropes are used for a reason - they're popular and part of the industry standard. This book didn't work for me, but I could see it working for other readers.