Review: Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves by Meg Long

Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves by Meg Long
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own. Thank you to SMP and Wednesday Books for the ARC, I truly enjoyed going on this journey with Sena and Iska. This book comes out on January 11,2022. I was initially drawn in by the beautiful cover and I wasn't disappointed.

This has everything I look for in a book good world building, good character development, a unique plotline, and good pacing. This follows teenage Sena, an orphan and pickpocket on a planet that is run by corporations that wants nothing to do with her because of her heritage. Sena is shunned because she has scavver (people who want to live free of corporate rule) heritage and she embraces the old ways that don't involve technology. On a planet where storms render tech useless you'd think more people would do the same, but capitalism rules as does the annual race to dig exo-carbon. Sena's mother was a formidable racer, but when the race took both of her mothers from her she vowed never to have anything to do with the race. Unfortunately, Sena has made one to many bad decisions and finds herself indebted to one of the sleaziest men on the planet. She has to nurse one of his fighting wolves back into shape or face his wrath. She finds herself tied to this wolf in a way she never expected, and pulled back into the race she despises.

I really enjoyed this. There were times I wanted to shake Sena for all of the choices she made, she kept making bad decisions over and over knowing that it wasn't going to end well for her. This is all part of her character development arc, and as the story progresses she really does grow. I also really appreciated that there was no romance in this. It isn't often we see a YA SFF with no romance. This has a good deal of social commentary about bigotry and capitalism woven into an icy planet full of really cool, dangerous creatures. This has a bit of an open ending, leaving the reader to wonder will there be more to Sena and Iska's story? I don't know if there will be another book, but you can certainly imagine the trouble that Sena, Iska, and Remy could get into together.

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