Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves was an engrossing debut novel. Sena only wants one thing, to get off the frozen planet she calls home and to get away from the sled race that claimed her mothers lives years before. When she angers the local gangster she is forced to join the race and run for her life.

My one major complaint about this one is that I wish more of the book would have included the race. It takes over half of the book to reach the race and that is when I really started to enjoy it. The author does a good job at world building but some of it seemed repetitive in some sections. I loved the found family part of the story and once the race started I could not put this one down!

Overall this is a strong debut novel and I look forward to what she writes in the future.

3.5 stars. A nice story of strength, survival, friendship, and families made. I didn’t like Sena at first, but once she starts to see the wolf as something more than just an animal, the story got way better for me. I really liked the young scientist guy and was bummed at what happened to him :( It was nice seeing the friendship start and develop between Sena and Remi, proving to Sena that it’s not all give and take- some people are actually nice and not just out for themselves.

I liked this dystopian, young adult novel. The plot is well thought out. The book is well written and wonderfully detailed. Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves is told from the main character’s perspective with an indifferent tone as if the story were occurring to another person. So, unfortunately, this is not the book for me. I was unable to fully get into it. Perhaps, this book best suits younger readers than me. Nonetheless, I’m most interested in reading Meg Long’s next novel!


Thank you to Netgalley, Wednesday Books/St. Martin’s Press, and Meg Long for this beautiful book in exchange for an honest review.

Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves took me a long time to get into, but by the end I was sucked in and very eager to see what was going to happen with everyone.

Part of what took me so long to dive into this book was the set up. It starts off slow and takes a long time to build up. Despite it starting slow, I still felt like I was kinda thrown into the story and playing catch up for a while. I know that doesn't make a lot of sense and I wish I could explain it better, but it was confusing for a while.

As the plot got going a little more, I feel that helped a lot. The author was very descriptive about the cold and violence that was going on that did seem to bring the world and the characters to life a little bit.

Once it picked up at the end, I didn't have an okay time, but nothing in this one particularly stood out to me.

I enjoyed this book so much, it also brought back some nostalgic moments for me. This might sound weird but when I was younger maybe 12 years old, I wanted to have a sled team of all wolves! I kid you not, I wanted to live in Alaska in the woods with a pack of wolves.

This book gave me my 12 year old dream in a small way, Seña’s story is a sad one and I felt for her. She is a morally gray character! She steals to survive and she only cares about herself and how she is going to get herself out of this hell scape. There is a boy that seems to have feelings for her and maybe she could care for him but she can’t bring herself to go down that road because caring gets you now where in this world. And his purpose to her is only to help her survive.

Of course things change, and I love books that change our characters from potential villains to people we care about. And that is what happened with Seña for me. She wants off this world thinking she has nothing left, but when her stealing catches up to her and she gets the attention of her mother’s evil boss. She is not given much of a choice but to work for him to fix up his fighting wolf. This would be her potential way off this world, but we all know a true villain never stays true to their word.

Things pick up so quick, it is never a dull moment, seña knows how to survive this world. She does it everyday, she’s trying to stay away from this mad man and find a way out when she finds another way out by working for a scientist. This is where we start seeing the change, so stay under the radar with the wolve she stole training these green scientist on how to survive this world all while there is a target on her back every turn she makes.

More enemies then friends but true friends then enemies. This book was so good. I really enjoy this one, definite five star read! And the wolf, I loved her!!!

Sena just wants to leave her frozen planet and live somewhere else. She has no interest to get involved with wolves or racing because that's what took her mothers from her. Things don't go as planned and Sena ends up rescuing a wolf named Iska. They adventure together, as each saves the other from the danger that lies ahead. I was more into the story at the beginning than towards the end. The bond between Sena and Iska was strong and I enjoyed reading how their relationship developed. The reveal of what happened to Sena's mothers was quick and not enough details given.

Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves is about a girl living alone on a frozen planet that befriends a wolf and must complete this insane race to try and earn enough money to leave the planet.

I wanted to like this book but I had a hard time getting into it.

Everything about this book was wild in the best way possible. Our main character is so interesting, and I loved the lack of romance in this book. Sena's connection with her wolf was delightful, and although the writing in this came off a bit amatuerish at times, overall I think it's well worth the read.

**4.5 Stars**
So, I did not realize that this was a science fiction novel when I started reading, I just had a vague sense of the synopsis being about snow and wolves and sledding so color me surprised when I began the book to find out that it is set on a far off frozen planet in outer space where people come to mine for a crazy valuable resource. This is best described as science fiction had a baby with Call of the Wild but with a female teen protagonist. All of that being said, I really enjoyed this story. The story was gritty and dangerous and exciting, it was very easy to forget that this was supposed to be another planet because my brain kept putting the story into like Alaska here on earth no problem. To be fair though, I am a complete sucker for books with or about animals, especially when the animal is such a huge part of the story- which, spoiler, this one is! I spent a majority of the book holding my breath hoping that my new favorite alien wolf was going to survive the book, not even caring about the side human characters. Yes, I have my priorities.

Maybe this is petty of me but I dropped my stars from 5 to 4.5 due to how much repetition there was about the death of the main character's moms. Sure, it was sad she became an orphan (which took place years before the book began) and their deaths caused her to stay away from basically everything the book is about (racing, caring for the wolves, making connections with other humans, life in general for the most part) but at least the first half the book the main character thought about their deaths (in almost the same wording/manner) and used the deaths to avoid something at least once a chapter and by the end of the book I didn't want to hear about either of her mother's anymore. Call me insensitive, but I picked up on her grief within the first two times of it being brought up and did not need to continuously discuss it. That aside, I loved the action and overall plot of the book as well as her relationship with my new favorite wolf.

The story has a solid ending that I am completely happy with- but the author also left open a tiny crack in the door in case there might be a sequel, which I will be completely down for! There was zero romance in the book but still it had 2 of the best relationships that I have read recently and I love the story even more for not having a romance- not everything has to be romantic to be love or support and this was a great example of girls having each other's backs.

I don’t see that this is the start of a series… but it totally should be!!! Sena is such a strong character!! Don’t get me wrong, I spent a good portion of this book thinking, “you’re an idiot, please stop being stupid…” but then eventually she did and then the book took off from there!!

But who really stole the show?!?! Of course Iska did!!!! I absolutely love her and would now read any book that she makes an appearance in. I mean, who wouldn’t live a fierce, loyal, and protective wolf?! I know I do!!!

The plot is a little slow at first, but as mentioned previously, once Sena stops making ridiculous choices, the story just speeds up and becomes really good!! Fast pace and highly enjoyable. I love a tale of growth and becoming a better version of yourself. And I like the world building as well. I could really picture the world they live on and it was pretty vivid.

There’s only one little complaint I have… What in the hell happened to Temur and Kirima?!?! It’s like they were a huge part of the first portion of the book, but then nothing. Spoiler alert!!!…. You never find out what happens to them. They just fade away into the ether and are never heard from again. Why?!?! I’m curious to know what in the heck happened to them. Did Kalba kill them?? Did they get off world??? Did they fade away into nothing?!?! Seems like it!!! But that’s why I took off a star. I don’t like loose ends like that.

Otherwise, this is a seriously solid read!! I recommend this to YA adventure lovers who like sci-fi reads and animals. Wolves or vonen wolves to be precise. Very cool book.

Thanks so much to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Meg Long for the opportunity to read this for my honest and unbiased opinion!!

A non-stop action novel with high stakes of life or death. A perfect survival story for students of any age. Perfect animal lover adventure where you learn family is not always blood and may come from the most unexpected places. Sena has avoided following in her mothers footsteps but sometimes you must push through to get to the other side. I highly recommend this for fans of survival stories and that are not looking for romance in there read. A refreshing new Young Adult novel.

This was a pretty cool book, literally since it takes place on a fairly miserably cold planet that is not made any nicer by the Corporations and their quest for everything under their control, including exocarbon. The race itself was exciting with never a dull moment and I sped through that part but the first part with Sena against doing racing and making poor choices and so many bad things happening to her, that part was very depressing.

The characters I liked best were Remy and of course Iska. I really want to meet vonenwolves, especially one like Iska!

So, in summary, it was a good book, especially the last half. I think the first part could be better but all in all I enjoyed it.

I truly and whole heartedly enjoyed this book. Although our main character was a little whiny at the start, my favourite part was watching her character growth. This book married deadly science fiction and Jack London style survival stories with a dash of wolf dogs. The character development and twists and turns was everything I needed and I enjoyed that romance was not a focal point of the story!

Enjoy is not a word strong enough to describe what I felt while reading this book. You get immersed into a harsh, frozen and unforgivable world where survival is a day to day affair. Sena’s only wish is to leave this wasteland by any means necessary and through bad and forced decisions, finds herself on a scientific mission where her knowledge will be essential to its success. She builds relationships reluctantly as she mistrust everyone but the most important one will be with a female wolf. Both their lives will be irremediably changed.

This is a fast paced story where you can feel the cold, speed of the race with all its dangers and a wide range of emotions though the interesting characters.

I strongly recommend this book.

{3.5 stars}

Just because you can do something alone doesn’t mean you should. Sena is hard and disassociated from most human relationships after losing her mothers. She is surviving as a pick pocket hoping to save up enough to get off the planet and onto a new life. Her life is turned upside down when she attracts the attention of the local baddie who wants her to heal his fighting wolf. Instead she steals it and goes on the run and hides amongst a group of scientists in the planet's epic race. If she can get them to the finish line, they will pay her enough to get off the planet.

If you like action, then this is the book for you. This planet has factions of people pitted against one another based on political philosophy and resources. The planet is riddled with intense ion storms, all manner of strange and dangerous beasties and people with no moral compass.

Sena starts off quite challenging and focused only on her own ends and needs. Through the story we see her grow and mature through adversity and experiencing the kindness of others.

If you are looking for a YA read with a fast paced plot focused on adventure, revenge and finding your place in the world then Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves is perfect for you. It's got an intense action movie packed within these pages.

Thanks to Netgalley for access to an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Overall, this book was pretty good. The story was well written, the characters were enjoyable, but for some reason it didn't really GRAB me. I'd like to try re-reading it after my life with "adulting" stuff calms down.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book at its core is a story of the bond between Sena and her wolf, Iska. I loved the development of their relationship and how they come to rely on one another when they’ve found it so difficult to trust. It reminded me of a lot of classic children’s stories that focus on the bonds between people and animals. Portions reminded me particularly of the children’s story Stone Fox. However, this book felt refreshing and interesting.

The setting of the frozen planet with deadly gangsters and a treacherous dogsled race kept me wanting to read more. It took me a bit of time to really grasp the world fully but once I did, I was swept up in Sena’s journey. The dogsled race itself kept me guessing and that portion of the book was diffucult to put down. Sena was a character who had walls up and was quite jaded but as she opened up, I loved her character development and the friends she made along the way. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

This book was a highly anticipated one for me and it certainly lived up to that anticipation and all the hype. I want more of this world and these characters now. This was a bit different than other stories I've read in this vein of things but different in a good way.
It started with a bang and was fast-paced, intense, and heavily emotional throughout the whole book. I loved seeing how Sena was learning how to survive and thrive in this cold place on her own and how she was learning to deal with her emotions over everything that happened in her life. Her connection with Iska, the wolf was very special, strong, and moving and drove the story a lot of the time. The other characters that come into play are very well written and I loved the characters with Remy and Pana and the Professor too. I was very engaged up until the very end and had a hard time putting this one down. This story got me all in the feels and made me pretty emotional in parts. I did find myself wondering about a few things at/after the end like about her friend that helped her in the beginning, the possible love interest. The found family was one of the best things in this story that I loved.
I would highly recommend picking this one up and checking it out if you haven't already. Don't miss out on this one. Thanks so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for letting me read and review this awesome story. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This would be a great read for younger YA fans or even those who prefer no romantic subplots. If you hold any love for Barto, Snow Dogs, the Iditarod, or even Call of the Wild—this would be up your alley. But even more than that, this book has a sci-fi setting and touches upon societal issues such as corporatism and socioeconomic struggles. It features strong animal companionship, as well as a found family.

My biggest caveat is that the pacing of this overall was fairly slow—and I felt as though the story was still struggling to find its footing until about halfway in, when the race finally started. After that, everything seemed rushed, and it was difficult to keep up with what was going on and who was who. I think if this had more consistent pacing throughout, it wouldn’t have felt like such a bumpy ride at times.

Other than that—I really wanted to learn more about the world and the powers beyond the planet. I had so many questions and interest, but much of it felt unanswered.

Overall, if you are looking for a fast-paced adventure set within a unique world, then Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves is for you! I loved the relationship between Sena and our fighter wolf plus the found family elements of this story. I really hope that we get more in this world someday and look forward to what Meg Long writes next!