Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves is a book after my own heart. I'm calling this one "White Fang meets Hunger Games."

It's the story of Sena, an orphan girl on a brutal ice planet who is trying to scrape her way to enough money to leave. She gets into a terrible situation, makes friends with a killer wolf intended for a fighting ring, and finds herself destined to join the race -- an deadly Iditarod-style dogsledding race across a frozen world where she must face goblins, bears, mountains, and sabotage from other racers.

I'm a big dog person so for me, the best part of the book was Sena's bond with the wolf Iska. There's also a wonderful found family storyline and some fantastic action and survival scenes. At first, I found it hard to get into the book: Sena is a very jaded, angry heroine, and rightly so. Once the race started, I was all in. The second half of the book was nerve-wracking and emotional. I loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for letting me read an early copy! Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves is a wild ride from start to finish! I loved it! Fresh and adrenaline-pumping, with a great cast of characters on a high stakes adventure!

Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves is a well-crafted tale of loss, redemption, and family. A stark, yet robustly written ice-covered world, complex and relatable characters and a plot that braids together the Iditarod, Call of the Wild and climate-awareness, all come together to tell an unforgettable story that will have readers clambering for more. In Long's character of Sena, she tackles the mourning of losing parents, hustling to survive against a backdrop cultural hatred (and inhospitable conditions), finding strength within yourself and learning to trust. Throw in an injured and fearsome fighting wolf, a gangster and one shot to finally leave the planet, Cold is a definite must-read.

I needed a little something more from the story at the beginning to stick with it because it's a mix of action and adventure, survival, and also science fiction which taken together is a winning combination. Yet something didn't meld when I began the story-- maybe it was the main character or the conflict because the setting is superb.

The cover and title are fantastic selling points, it just wasn't my taste but says nothing about the actual love many will have for the story (and it's likely sequel).

5/5 ⭐️!!!

Wow! Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves was a breathtakingly cool and original novel. I’ve never read anything like it! It has themes of survival, dystopia, strong bonds, supernatural creatures, and finding belonging, all on a frozen tundra. The main character, Sena, is fiercely independent and struggles to survive as a pickpocket on a completely frozen planet, in a hodgepodge dystopian city. I love the world Sena lives in, it’s cold, unforgiving, but also her home she knows best. The woods bordering the city are dangerous to those who are unfamiliar with it and the creatures lurking within. The city survives off the annual races, where cut throat teams of people from all over the universe gather to race snow sleds led by genetically modified wolves. Sena, is a scravver, a tribe of people that originally settled on the planet and believe in living on the earth in harmony, but are shunned by all others for not conforming. The storyline follows Sena’s fight for survival after her mother’s have both disappeared after participating in the races. Sena’s morally gray antics get her thrown into situations that end up challenging her ideas of the world, it’s people, and who she is. She must trust her newly found wolf guide and use the knowledge passed on from her mothers to survive on the frozen planet, and find family bonds in the places she least expects. Ultimately, we follow her search for belonging. I was absolutely hooked from the beginning and could not put this book down! I read it all in one go! Highly recommend!

https://www.instagram.com/littleknownreads

Thank you so much publisher providing an arc! I just devoured this book. It was so nerve-wrecking so I can not express enough about the plot.
I really like the worldbuilding, and how the author can create a world that has the capability of making us vicariously live through it. I feel like the introduction was a bit too slow-paced for me. The characters are fairly interesting.
Henceforth, it was quite a good read.

If you think the Iditarod is hard, try the "Race" on the icy planet of Tundar. If you finish the race, you have the opportunity to mine exocarbon, a precious element used in most modern technology but incredibly hard to refine, making it very expensive. However, you have to survive the Race first, which means surviving the bitter cold weather, as well as the splinter wood, ion storms that wreck havoc on anything motorized or electric, the fearsome creatures that live in the wilds along the race course (karakonen (ice goblins), vonenwolves, taikat (a type of big cat), oska bears), and your competitors (because sabotage is common). For most of the year, the Corporate Assembly largely ignores Tundar. But for one month of year, people from the Inner Planets and the other Edge Worlds flock to Tundar to participate in or watch and bet on the Race, hoping to get lucky and strike it rich. When she was younger, Sena dreamed of being a racer like her mother, Iska, one of the greatest racers. However, after her mothers died while participating in the race, Sena wants nothing to do with the race -- does not want to participate in it and does not want to help with it, even though she has the skills to do both. While Iska was a great racer, Sena's other mother (Neran, her ama) was a scavver. Scavvers are a group of people who oppose the Corporate Assembly and their efforts to engineer planets and focus on profit above all else. Scavvers want to live in harmony with the natural world, taking what they need, but giving back by protecting nature. Scavvers are largely despised and so Sena, having one mother who was a scavver, has been subject to prejudice and abuse growing up. However, scavvers understand how to survive in the wilds of Tundar, and Neran taught her those skills. Iska was also adept at healing and training vonenwolves, a skill that she passed along to Sena.

Because she wants nothing to do with the Race, Sena has been surviving by doing odd jobs and picking pockets of tourists. This has brought her to the attention of Boss Kalba, who runs the most powerful syndicate on the planet. A series of mishaps forces her to accept the task of rehabbing Kalba's prize fighting she-wolf, Iska; yes, the same name as her mother. She is a pure wolf and he does not want her contaminated with foreign stem cells or gene technology (the standard method of rehabbing and enhancing both fighting animals and the vonenwolves who pull the sleds in the Race). Rather, he wants her healed using the old ways of the scavvers. Healing Iska proves difficult, but eventually a bond forms between Sena and Iska. This bond becomes critical when events force Sena to steal Iska from Boss Kalba and force her into the Race.

The Race will test Sena in ways she has never been tested and will force her to place her trust in others, something she has long been reluctant to do, as well as embrace her scavver roots and realize that she is not the screw-up and danger to others that she believes herself to be. Sena is resourceful and stubborn, but finds an inner strength when faced with the perils of the Race and the need to ensure the survival of herself, Iska, and the sled team. The bond between Sena and Iska is one of the best aspects of the story. The author has crafted an interesting, action-packed, and thought-provoking story with an eclectic group of characters. "Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves" is well worth reading.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

This was--to be blunt--sort of a middle of the road book for me. The world building is definitely where this author and novel excel. The atmosphere was sublime--the cold and barren landscape, the grit of survival, the wolves, they're all so vividly imagined and I could really feel the setting coming to life. Where this story sort of lost points, though, was the pacing. This novel is *so* slowly paced. I could honestly say the real action, the *meat* of the story, doesn't begin until roughly half-way through. Slow pacing, slow-to-start action is fine, but not in a story that is nearly 400 pages long. It started to feel like a slog. I also think that the characterization was a little...strange. The stakes of this race are supposedly so high but the MC is just so nonchalantly described and the descriptions are bordering on the edge of purple, which makes the narrative flow very slow and meandering--doesn't really match what should be the intense, fast pace of this high stakes book. Overall, a solid debut. I'm not in love with this work but I would absolutely read their next novel! If this is their starting place I am excited to see what's next!

I loved this book so much. I was stressed the whole time, but I loved it.

Thank you so much to netgalley for letting me read this one. I’m gonna be thinking about it for days

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

"Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves" is a survival story that follows Sena, a small-time thief, and a prize fighting wolf, Iska, who she steals from a big-time gangster. Though she said she would never race again after what happened to her mothers, Sena ends up in the middle of the races and has to fight for her survival.

I ADORED THIS BOOK! Maybe it's because I loved the story of Balto as a child (I watched that DVR tape over and over until it broke) but this was so brilliant. I loved the dog-sledding plot set in a fantasy world with a found family dynamic as well. Like, seriously? It's the perfect mix for me. And I cried a little at the end, too, but it wasn't all sad tears!

I love protagonists like Sena – the ones who think they're better off alone and have to learn that it's okay to accept help from and care about other people. In addition, I really liked how her backstory was slowly revealed throughout the book as it was relevant. Her characterization was so good and I loved watching her develop over the course of the novel. The only criticism I had was that it was a bit slow-paced and it took a while for the race to start (about halfway through) but I enjoyed the attention to detail and the worldbuilding. I could really imagine exactly what was happening in the environment around them.

DNF. I really liked the premise but the writing did not work for me at all. It wouldn't be fair to the book if I finished reading and gave it a low rating.

I feel horrible, but I just can't finish the book. I'm about 15% of the way through the ebook, and I feel no attachment to Sena, which makes it incredibly difficult to read. I'm going to DNF...maybe pick it backup later because so many others love it, but I'm just not loving it so far.

DO YOU HAVE YOUR WARMEST COAT READY B/C THE WOVES MAY BE FAST BUT THE NIGHT IS VERY VERY COLD

Anyway. Ahem.

Truth is, I've finished Meg Long's debut with a bundle of mixed feelings. Yes, it's 100% as badass as it sounds: A scrappy orphan and her fighting wolf embark upon a treacherous race across the deathscape of a frozen planet. Right? B A D A S S . Tundar is such a richly imagined world, from its gritty mining cities to its electric storms, from its goblin-ridden splinter woods to its ocean-sized frozen lakes. The setting is just beautifully wrought. I adored the writing, and our protag Sena's fierceness as she battles to stay afloat after the death of her mothers. It's a sweeping scream of a book and Meg Long is obviously a major new YA talent.

However.

For such a high-action book, the pace felt ridiculously slow. Like, the race itself doesn't start until the 55% mark. Which means for over *half* the book, we're following Sena as she adamantly refuses to take part in the race .... knowing that, duh, she is going to end up taking part anyway. As a result, I found myself skim-reading to get to the part where things actually happened, and although I loved the writing, I did consider DNFing a few times simply because I felt so disconnected to the plot itself. Thing is, the concept is great; but to fill out an entire novel, it required padding with oodles of random chase/fight scenes that were essentially interchangeable. Sabotage! A goblin! A bear! Sabotage again! The bear again! Ice breaking! There are shenanigans and hijinks galore but idk ... I wanted to feel the breathlessness a little more, instead of constantly hurrying forward to find the "real" story buried beneath all that action. It's a taste thing, prolly.

(And also, I was a tad unconvinced by Sena's relationship to her wolf, Iska. Iska goes from being a feral fighting wolf to Toothless from HTTYD in the space of a few chapters, and I never really understood ... how. They have a ~connection~ but literally, on the first day of the race, Sena is squashed together in a tiny pod with Iska and I just?? Was almost waiting for a supernatural explanation for their bond, because it was just so much so fast? Iska's killer/companion duality just felt a little to convenient at times)

BUT I am so excited to see sci-fi making an appearance in YA! Granted this is pretty soft sci-fi with a fantasy feel, but still, as I've mentioned, the worldbuilding was AWESOME. Pacing issues aside, Meg Long is a FORCE and I will be looking out for her books in the future.

A desperate girl, a feral wolf, and the frozen wasteland of a planet they are stranded on. Sena Korhosen has had to live a difficult life, as the daughter of a racers who have died tragically she has sworn to never become a racer herself. After angering a local gangster she is given the ultimatum, heal the boss’s fighter wolf Iska in one month or be turned over to be forced to race to her death. She is offered a different deal though, a team of scientists offer to pay her way off her frozen planet if she helps them to the finish line of the planet’s infamous sled race. With no options and a need for money and to get away from the crime boss, Sena takes up with the scientists and helping navigate the treacherous tundra. Soon a battle for survival on the frontier begins and the bond between Sena and Iska grow as both girl and wolf work to survive the icy hell. This is a story about survival, found family, and the bond that grows between a girl and a wolf in a twist on the classical survival stories of the frontier. Filled with fighting people, monsters, and the icy weather, this was an interesting read. Sena has had to deal with so much and only wants to find a way off the frozen planet she is stranded in, with so little cash and job opportunities, she finds herself backed into a corner of resorting to thieving. The bond between Sena and Iska was the most pivotal aspect of the book and I always enjoy reading a story about a person and an animal bonding with one another. Iska is a wolf bred to fight, wounded, and mistreated, so when Sena comes in to her life both of them find an understanding between each other.

*Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

I was impressed with this book, a debut from Meg Long! It was an interesting read, but something about it didn't hook me completely. I struggled to really get attached to the characters but overall did enjoy the story.

Actual Rating 4.5
Wolves instantly peak my interest in a story, but then you throw in sci-fi elements and research expeditions and I'm hooked. Sena is a girl struggling over the deaths of her mothers, and trying to make it on her own in a frozen world where everything tries to kill you (from deadly ice creatures to gang bosses you've pissed off). She rejects everything that reminds her of what she's lost, including sledracing and vonenwolf training, in a town where that's the only way of life. Until she meets an untamed fighting wolf, who like Sena, has no pack of her own.

I really enjoyed this world created by Meg Long, and would love to read more books in this setting. Or even an origin story for Remy! The bond between Sena and her wolf is everything I wanted, I love how their connection is won and grows as the story progresses. The writing is wonderful and all the characters are believable. I feel like the relationship between Sena and her Aunt could have been explored a bit more, but I was quickly drawn in and couldn't put it down until I finished. Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.

4 stars!

Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves, was an engaging read with a break-neck pace and memorable characters. I'm a sucker for stories that feature an animal companion/focus on the bond between a human and animal, so when I saw that this story included a wolf 'sidekick', I knew I'd probably be into it. Sena is living on a desolate planet that is split into two areas: the high-tech, Corpos, urban city; and the wintery, dangerous woods. She longs to leave the planet behind, along with the memories of her mothers' deaths and the much-anticipated sled race that they participated in. Fate has other plans, for when Sena encounters an injured fighting wolf, Iska, everything changes.

I thought that the world-building in this novel was well-done; it gave us enough information to feel familiar with the setting, but still was concise enough the the plot didn't feel slowed down. Dystopian stories can sometimes feel generic, but added aspects such as genetically engineered creatures, the sled race, and others gave the setting a unique feel. As hinted at, I love stories about animal companionship, so unsurprisingly the bond between Sena and Iska was my favorite part of the story. I thought it was intriguing that the author didn't make their bond immediate and uncanny. The girl and the wolf learn to trust each other through mutual respect, which leads to their undying loyalty to one another.

As far as the actual story, I enjoyed the manner in which things unfolded, and liked the side characters (Pana and Remy) who became Sena's found family of sorts. Another interesting aspect of this was the lack of romance; which I actually enjoyed. Sometimes I feel like authors (especially in YA stories), feel almost obligated to include a romance. Meg Long may very well add romance in the next installment, but I think her choosing to focus on developing Sena as a character and the relationship b/w Sena and Iska was a great move. I'm interested to see where the story will go, as the ending made it clear that this series is going to be about more than just a sled race! All in all, a solid read with a gorgeous cover!

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books for a chance to read this in exchange for an honest review.

First - Thank you St. Martin's Press, NetGalley, and Meg Long for allowing your readers the opportunity to read this captivating book ahead of time to hype up the rest of the world.

The world that Meg Long creates is something that captured me from the start. I was in awe of the world of animals and humans in a snow world. The story captivates the reader by telling a survival story, as well as the heartwarming bond that grows between the main character and a fierce wolf.

I loved that the world was set on an ice planet that consists of a bone-chilling world where everything is out to get you. The cool thing being an environmental geologist as a profession, the inclusivity of environmental issues was amazing. I loved that this planet has the biggest exo-carbon deposits, making it special. To get to these deposits, the "race" was created to find these deposits and return them. This once-a-year spectacle to find these deposits is a death sentence, but the people's only hope is for finding freedom and getting off the planet.

I highly recommend that all sci-fi and fantasy readers out there pick up this book. I would definitely categorize this read as YA.

What a rush!!!! I couldn't put this book down. I enjoyed every moment of it. The characters were all developed really well. (Sena might just be my favorite character of ALL time) Not to mention the world-building, which was was beautiful. I felt enraptured in this cold and snowy world that Long created. Pick it up and read in two sittings TOPS, you won't regret it!

Not bad for a debut book! It was nice to read in between other books I was reading. I have a hard time really getting into any novel without romance, so unfortunately this wasn’t the book for me.