The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
3.5 stars – This book seemed to be on a lot of most anticipated book lists this year so I was excited when I got my hands on a copy at ALA this year! I’m new to Holly Black – this was my first book by her and I wasn’t disappointed.
From the first pages I was intrigued by the story that was unraveling. Tana, our protagonist wakes up after a night of partying in the bathroom of a friend’s farmhouse. After stumbling out into the main rooms, she is met with complete carnage. Friends and acquaintances laying everywhere and enough blood to know something horrible had happened and she got lucky. The only other person to survive the massacre is her ex-boyfriend, who’s been bitten and is infected. Yes, infected. By Vampires. See, Tana’s world is filled with them, and most are supposed to live in gated off communities called Coldtowns. She doesn’t only encounter her ex-boyfriend though, a mysterious boy is chained in the room with him and rather than leave them to the monsters that are still in the house, Tana gets them in her car and they head for the nearest Coldtown.
But as sometimes happens, people romanticize things they don’t entirely understand and that is what has happened with the Vampires. People begging to be turned and then realizing the life they wanted and were shown isn’t exactly the life they end up with. Enter Midnight and Winter. Midnight is dead set on becoming a vampire and chronicling it for her blog but of course things don’t go smoothly for anyone as they enter the Coldtown.
I kinda love Vampire books, I won’t lie. I love the different twists that authors take to make them original and different and Holly Black did her story justice here. I was immediately drawn to the mysterious boy that Tana encounters, he’s different and a bit strange, and yes, a vampire, but there were times that I honestly didn’t think of him as one. His history, when it’s finally revealed had me cheering for him the most.
He grinned, a subtly odd grin that somehow made her smile back. “You drove him off again. Sleep, Tana. I will guard you from Death, for I have no fear of him. We have been adversaries for so long that we are closer than friends.”
What I was most intrigued with in this story though, was the idea of the Coldtowns. Tana was able to enter and because she turned in a vampire was given a token that should she not be infected she would be allowed back out. But as I said above… nothing ever really goes as planned.
I’m not going to tell you much more about the story itself.
What I will tell you is that Holly Black is a wonderful storyteller. The world she’s created here is unique and interesting and I was completely engrossed. The characters were well done, she even had me cheering for the crazy, maniacal vampire in the end.
I’m excited, based on the end of this, to see if there will be another book. If not, I’m perfectly happy with where we left everyone, but if so, I will definitely be picking it up to see what happens with everyone left in this cold cold town!
If you’re looking for something different in the way of a vampire tale you’re going to want to pick this one up!
Thank you to Little Brown for the advance copy for review!
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