Title: Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves
Author: Meg Long
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Publication date: January 11th, 2022
368 pages
4/5 stars
Goodreads Synopsis
After angering a local gangster, seventeen-year-old Sena Korhosen must flee with her prize fighting wolf, Iska, in tow. A team of scientists offer to pay her way off her frozen planet on one condition: she gets them to the finish line of the planet’s infamous sled race. Though Sena always swore she’d never race after it claimed both her mothers’ lives, it’s now her only option.
But the tundra is a treacherous place, and as the race unfolds and their lives are threatened at every turn, Sena starts to question her own abilities. She must discover whether she’s strong enough to survive the wild – whether she and Iska together are strong enough to get them all out alive.
A captivating debut about survival, found family, and the bond between a girl and a wolf that delivers a fresh twist on classic survival stories and frontier myths.
Review
Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves is a science fiction fantasy set on tundra planet that is known for having a valuable metal that the corporations who run the planets want and need. Every year there is a race with genetically modified wolves. Sena is the daughter of two racers who died on the tundra, so Sena refused to ever race again. But when she finds herself in trouble with a pit boss and steals a fighting wolf named Iska, Sena does what she has to do to survive. Even if it means joining the race and taking on those threats.
This whole book was a JOURNEY. It took a bit to get into really and the world could have been explained better in my opinion, but once the action started I was hooked. Sena by herself in the beginning was irritating as a character, but a main factor in this book is found family and once Sena is with her group she really starts to shine. Also, this book does not include a romance, which is frankly almost unheard of. There isn’t a subplot or even hint of a romantic connection and I really appreciated it. This book was about grit and survival, basically what The Hunger Games should have been without the love triangle.
I definitely recommend this for fans of science fiction YA. This is a very different take and personally I think it was a win for Meg Long. If you pick it up, be mindful of trigger warnings – there are a few to look out for.
Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.
Happy reading, folks!
Baltimore Bibliophile 