The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black Review

Name: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
Author: Holly Black
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: September 17th, 2013
Format: ARC Copy
Buy the book on Amazon
432 pages

Summary:

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.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a wholly original story of rage and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing from bestselling and acclaimed author Holly Black.

Goodreads

My Review:

I was fortunate enough to get a copy of Holly Black riveting new book at BEA earlier this month, and all I can say is that I loved every minute that I spent reading The Coldest Girl in Coldtown.  I need to read some more to say for sure, but I have a feeling that this will remain my favorite book from BEA 2013.

What a great and original spin on vampires!  Just when I thought I was completely and utterly done with vampire stories, Black comes in with this amazingly crafted novel, making me question why I ever told myself to never read another vampire book again.  It took me until I got halfway through the book to realize that I was reading a story about vampires; and throughout the entire book I never once compared it to any other vampire stories that I've read in the past, which I always end up unconsciously doing.

I was captivated by Tara's character right from the beginning, when she woke up in a house surrounded by dead bodies.  Black did an excellent job of creating a perfectly real character that was easy to connect with and exciting to route for.  Tara a (both literally and figuratively) scarred young girl, was not afraid to be afraid; she was also perpetually selfless and brave even while she was frightened, which made her even more likable.  The romance really took a back seat in this book, which instead focused more on ideas such as rage and guilt and horror; but even with the lack of romance, I was still completely enamored with Tara's love interest, the wise and unpredictable vampire, Gavriel.

I absolutely loved the world that Black created in this book.  It was intricate with many rules, regulations, and stipulations, but at the same time it was somber, sinister, creepy, and all around wonderful.  This may make me somewhat weird, but what I loved most about this book was the atmosphere crafted by Black.  Her world was deliciously dark and horror-filled, and I loved every second of it!

My Rating: