Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review! (Nothing taken, nothing given.)

"Here, the jungle is its own entity, alive and waiting for prey to get lost within its vines."

I didn't finish this book, but it was against my will. I've been busy and procrastinated and had 20% left to finish with 4 hours left to read the book, and suddenly Netgalley gave me an "unexpected LCP error."

Putting that aside, I was very enthralled with the book, and am looking forward to finishing it in January.

Swift the Storm, Fierce the Flame starts off strong, hooking you with action in the first chapter. It throws you into the world and everything immediately - there's no boring exposition, and it's a lot of fun.

The elaboration on the world building that the debut established was so intriguing
and I loved the terms used. Along with that, the animals and system that's described are so vivid and creative, you can really tell the author enjoyed writing the book.

It was great reading about Sena and Iska again as well!

Like CTNFTW, I kept thinking about how much potential it has for a movie or tv adaptation because it's such a vivid sci-fi. The action is nonstop and I could picture everything thanks to all the details and descriptions.

I really was very interested in this book!!

I found Remy's character and abilities to be so engaging! She was very interesting to read from the perspective from but she unfortunately really annoyed me for a good portion of the book.

I found myself getting frustrated with her self-righteousness and her lack of self-awareness at times. It wouldn't have annoyed me as much if she didn't keep hurting someone else for those exact same qualities - I understand the psychology behind this, it's very accurate and realistic - good writing - but that's just my honest thoughts on it.

In her treatment of her partner, she immediately just kept wanting to hurt and fight instead of actual discussion because her anger and inability to take valid criticism forbid her from doing so. Thus, she just kept scapegoating this one person for all her problems.

However, with that said: I liked how it all eventually unfolded. (At least to the 80% mark.) It worked out! Her character development that I got to see is great and appreciated. It develops slowly - it doesn't feel rushed, which is wonderful.

And her mental struggles are very well-written as well, and I can empathize and relate to her on some aspects with that. Her character flaws may have annoyed me, but they were written in a splendid way and were understandable.

My other qualm is how often details are repeated - it seems like Remy is always mentioning her engineered genes and
enhanced senses and her friend.

Also, I surprisingly guessed the twist but it was so good!!! The little clever hints in the wording were so much fun.

All in all, I will be buying and finishing this in January, and I think I would reread this, just like the first one.

This feels like a very fitting, perfect sequel to CTNFTW, and I'm excited for what Meg Long is writing next. (And for January 17th, so I can know of the great ending I keep hearing about!)

This is book two technically, but I don't think you will be totally lost if you just read this book. It has a seperate plot going on. If you do read Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves, you will get a lot of background on Sena and Iska. I really liked the first, and looked forward to diving into this one. It didn't work for me as much, I think largely because of who Remy is as a character. I didn't connect with both her, and the new setting at all. I hated how much in the background Sena and Iska were because I grew to love them so much in the first book. The first half is a lot of new characters and setting for a second book, and I think the pace suffered because of it. The second half picks up remarkably. If you like strategy focused books set in a jungle with love triangles I think you could love this book.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves introduced us to unforgettable characters. Seña really let us feel the feelings at the end of CTNFTW and things pick up right where we left off but with a catch!

It’s remy’s turn to take us on a wild ride and I can’t tell you what a ride that was. Nothing slowed down, everything was high energy, action the whole way through. Remy takes Seña with her to find her lost friend, through this journey we find out some very revealing truths. And guys I guessed it so hard and it was proven right. But it wasn’t like ‘oh I know what’s going to happen’ it was a “I’m catching a vibe and I know it’s what it is! It has to be!” With all the shrieks and fan girl screams! This was such a great read, I kept picking it up over other books I had priority over! I’m so happy I was able to finish it before the year ends.

I’m at that stage where I’m bummed that it’s over, I hope we get a third book because that ending was jaw droppingly devastatingly good!

Omggggg I loved this just as much as - maybe even more than - the first book! Action packed, GRIPPING!

Remy is a wonderfully layered character and a total bad*ss with a giant heart even if she isn’t sure she was actually engineered with one (an emotional one at least). The jungle world of Maraas is obviously completely different from the icy world of Tundar where book one took place but the highly descriptive writing and detailed world building makes it just as viscerally real. I really liked how the flashbacks were worked in and that they were just enough to give us the necessary back story without slowing down the action. I would have loved a little bit more of Sena and Iska (hopefully in the next book!) just cause I adore them but it was really nice to see how secure the bond between her and Remy is and how their friendship has really solidified. Found family always makes me so happy.

I don’t think I’ve seen for sure that there is a book three but based on the ending I’m assuming (AND HOPING!!!) there is cause I one thousand percent want to read it!!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!!!

This is the sequel I have been waiting for!! And, everything about this story and its characters lived up to my expectations.

Remy is heading back to Maraas, with Sena and Iska in tow, to find her friend Alora. What she finds instead is her ex-partner, Kiram, and a world at the cusp of revolution!

The details about this planet are spectacular! I loved the jungle and stormy, muddy vibes, especially during the action scenes. Just like how on Tundra, the environment played a huge role in the character's struggles.

All the characters were equally well formed and likeable (mostly). I loved seeing Iska in action on this world and getting a chance to meet more scavvers. However, Remy was everything in this book. She slowly learned more about herself and friendship while simultaneously fighting against the Corpos and taking every risk imaginable!

I highly recommend this series!

Out January 17, 2023!

I really wanted to love this one as much as I loved the first book in the series but this just didn't have the same feel. I didn't feel suspence and I didn't feel like I was on this planet like I did in the first book. The politics all got a little muddled in here and I predicted some things that were supposed to be pretty big surprises. This is still a good book it just didn't hit the same way as the first one so I was a little disapointed. I am curious to read the next book in the series with how this left off and maybe I'll like that one more. I wonder if maybe a lot of it had to do with not enjoying the jungle planet as much as I enjoyed the winter one

Swift the Storm, Fierce the Flame is scifi/fantasy at its best. The fantastic worldbuilding and characters that you can't help but fall for make this a must read. Remy crash lands her ship on the jungle planet Maraas, hoping to find her ex-partner Kiran and extract some information from him. What she finds, however, is a burgeoning rebellion that just might need her special skills in order to succeed.
I had no trouble jumping into this novel, despite not having read the first book in the series (definitely going back to read it next). This had a compelling story, great action scenes, and fun dynamics between the characters. Would recommend.

Swift the Storm, Fierce the Flame follows Remy, Sena and the vonenwolf Iska to Maraas, a jungle planet where Remy is searching for a long-lost friend and trying to make up for past mistakes.
A beautiful told story about friendship and second chances. Looking forward to the next part of this adventure.
Thank you NetGalley for the chance to review this book,

Meg Long is excellent at detailed world building. Swift the Storm follows on from Cold the Night (another brilliant read!) with genopath Remy trying to find her missing friend. Once again, the characters were relatable and the plot was fast paced. One I will definitely be recommending to people!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press and Wednesday Books for the eARC of Swift the Storm, Fierce the Flame!

I didn't realize this was a sequel/companion novel when I requested- so I had to quickly go purchase Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves. I really enjoyed reading both novels and was so happy the story continued to get better with the second book! The world building was intricate and very intriguing and continued to expand through the Swift the Storm, Fierce the Flame. Some things I really loved about this Fantasy/Sci-Fi book- Strong Female Characters, Strong Friendships, Non-stop Action, Plot Twists I most absolutely did not see coming!

Highly recommend!!

Enjoyed this but felt like its book 2 in a series. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

4.25/5⭐️

This teen/YA sci-fi/fantasy was a good follow-up to Long’s debut novel (which I recommend reading first).

This is Remy’s story, a genetically engineered corporate agent, who is focused on finding a friend that she failed to save in a coup between the syndicate and the corps two years earlier. Together with her friend Sena and her wolf Iska, and her ex-partner Kiran, who she no longer trusts, they must lead a revolution against the corp who is tampering with Mother Nature to secure more power.

There’s great world-building here (hot, muddy jungle), a great range of characters (both good and evil), a mystery or two and a cliffhanger, which I assume (and hope) leads to a next installment. Perhaps a little slow in spots with some occasional frustration with Remy’s stubbornness, but then again I enjoyed her fighting spirit and improvisations.

Will definitely look out for future adventures.

My sincere thanks to the author, NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing the free early arc for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

A vibrant jungle filled with danger - both from humans and monsters - comes to life in this page turner, filled with sympathetic, strong female characters.

Set in the same universe (but on a different planet) as Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves, this book could stand alone, but readers of the first book will recognize several characters. Remy, a genetically altered human - or genopath, is searching for a friend she lost after a mission gone wrong, while trying to stay one step ahead of her former handlers. She's brought Sena, a wolf trainer, and Iska, a wolf, from Tundra, the icy planet she was on in Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves. Though Remy arrives with no clear loyalties, she quickly finds herself drawn to a rebel faction trying to overthrow the vicious corporation exploiting the planet's resources.

In between dodging attacks from the corporations and Nova, the shadow organization that created the genopaths, several characters develop and struggle with feelings for each other. At the heart of the story is Remy's complicated relationship with Kiran, the tall, black-haired genopath trained with her, who betrayed her and dumped her in the jungle on a previous mission. He's on this world for purposes unknown, but Remy finds him at the heart of the revolution.

An action thriller with a heart of gold.

What a great book! I found myself wanting to come back to it at any chance I had! I hadn’t read the first book in the series, but it wasn’t too hard to follow the storyline. I loved the characters and would even get the next book if there were one just to see how it all wraps up. I love how the author uses the characters strengths and weaknesses to develop the story and doesn’t hold back. I like the way the author writes and uses her humor, or is it sarcasm to write the story, but it’s not phony or overly sugary either. It’s good sci-fi/fantasy writing and I would recommend it to anyone interested in reading a book of this genre.

Meg Long's first novel "Cold The Night, Fast The Wolves" was so good. Original story, unique characters, and who doesn't love reading of a genetically engineered wolf being rescued from an abusive owner? So I was very much looking forward to the author's sophmore effort, and continuing the saga of Sena and Iska, the vonenwolf.

Well, don't read this thinking you will read more about Sena and Iska. They are relegated to background characters with very little to do. This entry is first and foremost about Remy, the gene-altered girl who was part of the ice race in the first novel. The story begins with Remy, Sena and Iska crashing Remy's flyer on a planet that is one big, steaming hot jungle. It goes downhill from there. The first half of the novel we spend inside Remy's head, hearing her thoughts, reviewing events that happened in the past, rehashing her prior life with her partner, Kiran, and her best friend Alora. We are introduced to a myriad of new characters but none of them interact much with Remy, and nothing much happens. In all honesty, at approximately the halfway mark I was so bored I was making grocery lists in my head while trying to get through the next excruciatingly long paragraph describing, again, the steamy, muddy jungle.

It is completely obvious that Kiran, the boy she grew up with in the labs of Nova and is also gene-enhanced, is in love with Remy. And it is also broadly hinted at that Remy is in love with Alora, the girl she was assigned to bodyguard. Alora has disappeared, her father (the planet's former director) has been killed, and Remy blames Kiran.

By three fourths of the way in, I hope to never read again that a boy 'smirks' or a girl 'rolls her eyes' . Please, use a thesaurus and put those two old tropes away for good. The action does finally pick up, but just a little. And although Remy's senses are enhanced, she still seems to come away the loser in each conflict.

As for the ending, it's a cliffhanger that leaves the storyline open for a third installment. But if it focuses on Remy again and not Sena and Iska, I'm not sure I care enough to read it.

I adored "Cold the Night," so it pains me to say that I was super disappointed in "Swift the Storm" (I am apparently in the minority in that opinion). Other than solid action scenes, this book was, IMO, lacking the heart the previous book had.

I think for me, the change in narrator just didn't work. I really loved Sena and her wolf and got very emotionally invested in the narrative arch in the first book. However, Remy, by her very nature is more of a cipher, keeping her feeling locked away. This means some readers (like me) may have a harder time connecting with her.

Because of this, this book's pacing felt off to me, mostly because I had a hard time becoming invested in Remy's story. The first half of the book mainly consists of introducing characters, describing the this new planet, and Remy's flashbacks. In other words, we're mostly trapped in Remy's head while she thinks and talks (but rarely relates to others) and that's a perspective I found kind of dull.

Remy doesn't really have any deep relationships. Clearly she is a bit in love with Alora. Clearly Kiran is in love with her (please stop with his "onyx eyes." We get it. They're dark.) None of those feelings get explored in this book.

And most disappointingly Sena is relegated to background window dressing--she is a sounding board for Remy's exposition in the beginning of the book, and off working on parallel projects in the second half. She apparently also develops some sort of relationship with Emeko, but it's never explored.

So, I guess in the end, this comes down to a simply matter of perspective. I think Sena deserved better and I like like her more than Remy. Maaaaaybe I'd be down to read a third book in the series, but only if the narrator changes again to someone else.

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Good book to read, kept me pulled into it, 5 star book, unsure if I'll reread this book next year but it still was a good book to read. Might know a few people who might read this book so I'll let them know about it.

*I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review*

I really enjoyed this book, but not quite as much as I liked the first. I felt like there were a few too many flashback scenes that were drawing me out of what was presently happening. I did like the friendship between Remy and Sena, and Iska's journey of being free on a new world. I did find it a bit frustrating that there were so many nods to Remy's past, but very vague and it wasn't cleared up until almost the end of the book. I do think this is a solid continuation of the first story, and I can't wait for more (Hopefully back to being from Sena's point of view!)

Thank you to St. Martin Press, Wednesday Books and NetGalley for an electronic ARC of this novel.

I really enjoyed reading Meg Long's Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves, and was super excited to get a chance to read the sequel. This story continues the adventures of Sena and her trusty wolf Iska, but the main character of this novel is Remy Castell, who teamed up with Sena and Iska at the end of the first novel. Remy is a genetically enhanced human who was forced to run missions for a shady corporation, and she is on a mission to find her friend Alora. In the past, Remy was ordered to become Alora's bodyguard to get closer to Alora's father, who was a crime lord on the planet Maraas, a jungle planet.

Remy reunites with her ex partner, Kiran, who betrayed her and left her in the jungle when a mob takeover happened on Maraas and led to Alora's disappearance. Kiran offers her info about Alora in exchange for her help in overthrowing the current government.

Both Remy and Sena are trying to figure out who they are and also come to terms with their past. Remy is an interesting character as she heals quickly, moves fast and can think super fast ahead of everyone else. But she grew up being forced to follow corporate orders and is trying to live her own live without those constraints and trying to stay away from being put into their hands once again.

Maraas was a fun setting, a huge contrast to the frozen world of Tundar, which was the setting of the first novel. I enjoyed that this novel continued the storylines of Sena and Iska but from a different person's point of view. I'm hoping for a third novel, maybe from yet another character! I liked the action, the plot and the characterization.

I really enjoyed this novel and am hoping for another book to continue this universe!

Thank you, St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books. for allowing me to read Swift the Storm, Fierce the Flame early!

Meg Long's sophomore book was better than her first, which I wasn't a fan of. This one had an original plot, a fierce protagonist and interesting intrigues. I enjoyed it a lot.