Book Review: “The Coldest Girl in Coldtown” by Holly Black
“The Coldest Girl in Coldtown” by Holly Black (2013)
Genre: Paranormal, Fiction, Fantasy, YA
Book Length: 419 pages (hardcover edition)
Synopsis:
Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown’s gates, you can never leave.
One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself. (description from Goodreads)
Review:
Another great book by Holly Black! When I first looked at the title I thought it was going to be about zombies, even though I had read the synopsis. Cold=zombies=walkers (any Walking Dead fans?). Anyways, I really enjoyed Black’s new take on vampires, since there are already so many novels involving vamps in the YA section. I like how we are immediately thrown into the story from the beginning when the main heroine of our story, Tana, wakes up from a party surrounded by dead bodies. We then, as readers, are shown a new world where vampires roam the streets and also live in he famously, prison-like coldtowns.
The writing is detailed and the story is written at a good pace. This was the first book I’ve read by Black that didn’t involve faeries like her series “Ironside”. Which I highly recommend if you are a fan of those types of dark fairy novels. I enjoyed the cast of characters from the mysterious and dark Gavriel who ends up with Tana on the journey to the coldtown as well as almost turned vamp ex-boyfriend, Adam, who is in the phase of “I still have feelings for you even you I broke your heart”.
It is these characters, and action-packed and suspenseful story that makes “The Coldest Girl in Coldtown” such a great reading experience.
Final Verdict:
Highly recommended for fans of vampire books, suspenseful books, or are fans of Holly Black’s previous works. This is a must read! 5 out of 5 stars! 🙂
Did you read “The Coldest Girl in Coldtown”? If so, what are you thoughts on the book?
No, I haven’t read this yet but I really, really want to! I requested it from the library actually but it’s taking forever because there’s a long line. Won’t be long though hopefully! I haven’t read anything by Holly Black before, though I have her first two books in the Curseworkers series. I was really surprised that this was a standalone!
Yeah, you’ll definitely like Holly’s books, I recommend her modern faery series, it’s my favorite. I’ve never heard of the Curseworkers series, I’ll check it out! I hope you get the book soon, I know how library waiting lists can be!
Thank you 🙂 Yeah, the first book is called White Cat! There are loads of different cover editions.
After you told me about the Curseworkers, I went to look it up and realized I had read White Cat already. I just didn’t recognize the series title, lol.
Haha! Was it good 🙂
I loved it 😀 now I just have to start reading the other books!
I have two books by Holly Black loaded onto my kindle.. I just haven’t got there yet. Your stellar review here is making want to have a crack at them now though. 😀
Yay, I’m glad I motivated you read Holly’s books. She’s a fantastic writer! 🙂
I loved this book so much when I read it in the Fall! She’s brought a real violence back to YA vampire books which I was missing. Have you read the short story which inspired the book? It’s also called “The Coldest Girl In Coldtown,” but is about Matilda (I think that was her name…), who is mentioned once or twice in the novel as an early voluntary entrant into the Coldtowns. It’s in Black’s short story collection The Poison Eaters, and you should read it if you get the chance. Actually, the whole collection is pretty great.
My review of The Coldest Girl In Coldtown: http://bookshelfpiratereviews.wordpress.com/2013/09/09/book-review-the-coldest-girl-in-coldtown-by-holly-black/
My inner teenager is keeping her fingers crossed for more dark faerie stories from Holly in the eventual future. They were so good!
I just heard that there was a short story that inspired the book. I’ll definitely have to read it. And yes I’m so glad Holly brought back those dark, non-sparkly *ahem Twilight*, vampires! I also want her to write more dark faerie books too! They were sooo fantastic!:)