Review: The Coldest Girl In Coldtown by Holly Black

Title:  The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
Author: Holly Black

Publisher:  Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Publishing Date: September 3rd 2013

Pages: 432
Genre:  YA Dystopian Horror

Series: Stand Alone
Source: Audio

  

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.

I was very excited to read this book, love the cover, the title, and the synopsis. Everything about the book excited me. It’s hard to find a well written dark vampire book these days, so I was hoping for the best when I started this book. It was pretty darn awesome. It was dark, it was dangerous, it was a little bit twisted and I loved it.

Vampires are bad very bad. The world has been infected by the vamperic virus and now vampires are everywhere. To save others from being infected and turned Coldtowns were created. Anyone bitten or turned is captured and turned over to Coldtown. When Tana was young her mother was bitten. Her father decided to lock her in the basement instead of turning her over to a Coldtown. This in the end led to Tana being bitten. Tana survived the virus. Now older she is at a party where vampires attack and she believes she is infected again. She heads to Coldtown with her bitten ex boyfriend, a vampire, and two vampire obsessed teenagers. Once they get to Coldtown all heck breaks out and Tana is in the mist of some pretty dangerous vampires and she must figure out how to survive the virus once again.

Wowzers, awesome book. I didn’t quite know what to expect when I started but I know I wanted to read the book. The story didn't take long to grab hold of me very tightly. Holly Black is a beautiful writer. She knows how to capture the reader with the mood, characters, and story line. I loved how dark the book was. It was nice to see there wasn’t a clear cut good vampire vs. evil vampire. They were all evil and some were just a bit better at controlling their urges but still evil deep down. Tana didn’t love vampires, didn’t obsess over vampires, didn’t want to be around vampires. She hated them… they were evil. This also was a welcome change, a main character that knew vampires equals bad... even when they are sexy.  All throughout the book Tana hated vampires and I loved it. She knew them at their best and at their worst and it was always bad so she had no problem wanting to stay far away from them all.
 I really liked Tana, she was strong, determined, snarky, a bit on the dramatic side. I loved every aspect of her personality. Most girls that hate vampires would walk away from an ex boyfriend after a vampire attack, she decides to stick around and help him… even if  the only way to help is with the aid of a vampire. She ignores her hatred and takes a chance just to keep her ex from becoming what she hates. Not for her but for him. She was a pretty awesome character. She had some pretty hefty kick butt skills too. She was probably one of my top characters this year.

The supporting characters in the book were pretty top notch too. Holly Black took us into the mind of quite a few characters.  This was very helpful for the story line. I liked how each of the characters had a bit of background and a present story going on.  My favorite back story was Gavriel for sure. The vampire Gavriel was of course pretty hot but he was a bit on the sadistic side. In his back story he went from good guy to bad guy then to vampire. He was a bit of a romantic but not gushy more twisted, and I kind of enjoyed it.. not the actual twisted but the idea that he was twisted instead of smooth. Well OK he was kind of smooth too but for sure not the ideal catch to take home to meet the parents. I didn’t swoon over him but I for sure fell for him, even if he was evil.

The pacing of the book was a bit hard for me, but I have issues with heavily detailed books. I didn’t mind the details in the story but I found myself fighting hard at times to stay focused. There were a few times I had to reel myself back in but only because my mind is a bit ADD. The story would have not been the same without the many layers that were woven together so even when I found myself veering I was enjoying the ride. I do believe the level of details in this book are beautiful and well done and most readers will love them.

The ending was my favorite part of the entire book. It was just…. Um… lovely. I teared up a bit and found myself with a big huge grin on my face. It was beautiful for me even though it was rough. I could reread the last bit of the book over and over again.

It was exactly what I needed in a vampire read and I will find myself reading it over and over. It’s a keeper. It was an a amazing story with more ups than downs and in the end I was emotional but extremely satisfied.