Serena’s Review: “Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves”

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Book: “Cold the Wolves, Fast the Wolves” by Meg Long

Publishing Info: Wednesday Books, January 2022

Where Did I Get this Book: Edelweiss+

Where Can You Get this Book: Amazon | IndieBound | WorldCat

Book Description: 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.

Review: I’m sure I partly requested this one simply based on the beautiful cover. But I also vaguely read the description and saw “wolf companion” and just auto-requested it. All of this to say, I really had very little idea what this book was actually about when I picked it up, but what an enjoyable surprise it was!

On Sena’s planet, the economy and culture is shaped by one thing and one thing only: the annual race. Dangerous and with low probability of success, the prize at the end, the right to drill for a rare and valuable mineral, still draws racers from around the galaxy. Sena, however, wants nothing to do with it after it claimed the life of her mothers. But when she finds herself in trouble with a gang leader and followed by a half-tame fighting wolf, Sena sees only one path off this desolate planet: she must finish the race and buy her way to freedom.

This book is a bit of a funny thing. A few months ago, Kate and I were guest speakers for an MLIS class and we talked about genre trends in YA. One of the things I touched on that while the fact that fantasy has become incredibly popular in YA fiction, a less discussed aspect is how science fiction in YA has not seen the same bump. This book is a classic example of how publishers not only recognize this fact but continue to work through these trends by misleading their readers. This cover screams fantasy. And then you read the description. Other than one small reference to this taking place on a different planet, you have no indication that it’s not just a straight-forward fantasy novel. But when you read it, it’s clearly a science fiction story!

There is an emphasis on futuristic technology, discussion of interplanetary politics, and themes that are common to science fiction such as the impact of corporations on intergalactic economics and culture. The fantastic creatures that are included are often attributed more to the genetic manipulation of people or to human-influenced changes in the planet’s ecosystem. The language is modern and the setting is clearly set some time in the future, with advanced medicine, transportation, and weapons. It was all excellent and a great example of what science fiction has to offer to fans of YA fiction. Even the author mentions in her afterward how she hopes this book will encourage more readers of YA science fiction. And yet the publishers clearly had so little confidence in this premise that they still felt the need to hide it behind a fantasy cover and a description that doesn’t hint at any of the science fiction elements to be found on the book’s pages.

I really enjoyed Sena as a main character. She was tough, both mentally and physically. But also impulsive, slow to trust, and struggling to process her grief over the loss of her mothers. The race itself, full of action and danger, was a perfect parallel for Sena’s own inner journey to self-acceptance. I also liked that this was a perfect example of a YA young woman noting early in a book that she doesn’t have time for romance and actually following through on that. It’s not just a throwaway line before the heroine proceeds to go all in on a romance the very next second. No, Sena rightly evaluates her life and the dangers and priorities before her and knows that romance is not really an option. It was refreshing and allowed the book to really embrace its focus on her relationship with the wolf Iska and another female friend she picks up along the way.

I did struggle with a few aspects of the story, however. If I had to count the number of times that Sena reflects on “corporations” and “greed,” it would be in the double digits. And yet other than both being bad, the book never goes into anything deeper on either of these two topics. It was fairly shallow, and without any further depth, the repetition of both as talking points quickly became dull and confusing. I felt like the author had more to say about this, but either because she didn’t think it fit in this particular book or because she didn’t think it fit for a YA audience, she never actually delved into anything of substance.

I also struggled with some of the practicalities of the race itself. I could never quite figure out how the set up worked: the weather only permitted the race once a year because of the cold and storms. The same electrical storms also messed with technology that would allow the mining site to be accessed by traditional ships and such. And yet the race is only one way, with racers using drop ships to leave the site? We even have one character show up at the end of the race who travelled directly there from a ship. I think there was some discussion of the race itself being set up by corporations for purposes of profiting indirectly from the equipment needed for purchase from the racers. I might have just missed some of this, but as the book continued, I found myself regularly getting side-tracked by how this all worked.

Overall, however, I really liked this YA science fiction novel. I wish that the publishing industry would give this subgenre more of a chance, but I’m pleased enough to even find a YA science fiction book out there, even if it’s disguised as fantasy! Definitely check this one out if you like science fiction or adventure stories featuring animal companions!

Rating 8: Perhaps missing an opportunity to dig deeper on some of its themes, this book is still an excellent example of what YA science fiction has to offer!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves” is on these Goodreads lists: YA sci-fi releases 2020-2023 and All Fictional Wolf Books (NOT WEREWOLVES).