Take a photo of a barcode or cover
heysunbee 's review for:
Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves
by Meg Long
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Despite the book being about the race, the pacing was glacially slow. If I DNF-ed books, this would be at the top of that pile but I think I have a penchant for punishing myself with books that ought to have gone through a more rigorous editor.
The concept of this book was amazing - a snowy planet filled with valuable materials that can only be acquired through manually racing via genetically enhanced wolf-dogs across its barren, hostile landscape. Our main character is the daughter of one of the elusive local tribes and the best racer that ever touched the planet. She befriends a wolf who has been born for violent cage fights hosted by the most notorious syndicate leader in the town.
These all make for an interesting - if not semi-predictable - YA story about survival and freedom set in a reverse Arrakis.
Yet none of those elements were fully fleshed out. The start of the book suffers from the most disappointing info dump of the lore and the worldbuilding. We are met with page after page of the author's notes about the world and our main protagonist apropos of nothing. It felt like a writing exercise where the challenge was to give each and every single detail we encountered a background story.
Now, as a Sanderson enjoyer, I don't mind getting chapters of lore and worldbuilding about the food, culture, or politics of any given fictional place. However, this needs more showing rather than telling. Instead of telling us how she's frustrated by her situation because of these particular things, show us what she does to show her frustration. Instead of saying that he's the biggest crime boss in the town, show us the influence he has on the people and what they say about him. Make his actions and his crime mean <I>something</i> to help us understand the gravity of the danger she's in.
I also had to turn my brain off multiple times from analyzing the story too much to avoid influencing my perspective of the story. That isn't a good sign but needs must.
There were plenty of times our protagonist frustrated me because she sometimes acts in a way that is counter to what she says she believes in. She says that she's always alone and that no one is out there helping her after her mothers passed away. Yet she almost always has a helping hand in whatever situation she finds herself in. She says she does well as a thief to help her survive the tough conditions with minimal help but in the instances where she does any thieving, she gets caught and punished. Like please, I understand you're underaged but how can I respect or believe in your capabilities when you can't do one thing right?
This is Long's first book and I'm willing to give their future books a try since they have the imagination and the willingness to explore classic fantasy concepts but within new worlds!
The concept of this book was amazing - a snowy planet filled with valuable materials that can only be acquired through manually racing via genetically enhanced wolf-dogs across its barren, hostile landscape. Our main character is the daughter of one of the elusive local tribes and the best racer that ever touched the planet. She befriends a wolf who has been born for violent cage fights hosted by the most notorious syndicate leader in the town.
These all make for an interesting - if not semi-predictable - YA story about survival and freedom set in a reverse Arrakis.
Yet none of those elements were fully fleshed out. The start of the book suffers from the most disappointing info dump of the lore and the worldbuilding. We are met with page after page of the author's notes about the world and our main protagonist apropos of nothing. It felt like a writing exercise where the challenge was to give each and every single detail we encountered a background story.
Now, as a Sanderson enjoyer, I don't mind getting chapters of lore and worldbuilding about the food, culture, or politics of any given fictional place. However, this needs more showing rather than telling. Instead of telling us how she's frustrated by her situation because of these particular things, show us what she does to show her frustration. Instead of saying that he's the biggest crime boss in the town, show us the influence he has on the people and what they say about him. Make his actions and his crime mean <I>something</i> to help us understand the gravity of the danger she's in.
I also had to turn my brain off multiple times from analyzing the story too much to avoid influencing my perspective of the story. That isn't a good sign but needs must.
There were plenty of times our protagonist frustrated me because she sometimes acts in a way that is counter to what she says she believes in. She says that she's always alone and that no one is out there helping her after her mothers passed away. Yet she almost always has a helping hand in whatever situation she finds herself in. She says she does well as a thief to help her survive the tough conditions with minimal help but in the instances where she does any thieving, she gets caught and punished. Like please, I understand you're underaged but how can I respect or believe in your capabilities when you can't do one thing right?
This is Long's first book and I'm willing to give their future books a try since they have the imagination and the willingness to explore classic fantasy concepts but within new worlds!