The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

This review is also posted on my site Behind the Pages: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Vampires have been romanticized for years. The alluring suitors that will make your darkest dreams come true. Distant stories that soon became a reality when the first outbreak occurred. A single bite can infect you, turn you cold and give a thirst for blood. And a single drop of blood once you're infected can turn you into a full-fledged vampire. In an attempt to keep the vampires contained, Coldtowns were created to seal them behind walls. But monsters are never easy to trap. Tana wakes up from a party to find the house littered with corpses and her ex-boyfriend infected by a vampire. She starts a desperate race to reach a Coldtown. A vampire is willing to help them reach it, but will they make it in time before they cave into their blood cravings?

This was a dark and haunting tale, filled with blood and betrayal. Written in a style that blends past and present, the story unfolds piece by piece. It reveals broken and flawed characters, each with their own burdens from a tormented past. As the plot progresses, they must face their fears in an attempt to overcome the chains holding them back. It's a difficult and violent road, one that refused to let me leave.

The only downfall to The Coldest Girl in Coldtown was the romance. I'm not one for romance in books, but if it is justified then I roll with it. I understand it's a high selling point, and most readers enjoy it. But the romance in this book felt random. It seemed to be an afterthought added in a later draft once the story was completed. There was no build-up, not even an instant connection, it was sort of just...there.

Despite the slip up with romance, Holly Black never fails to put her characters through hell and back to push them forward. It makes the journey they undertake all the more rewarding, or heartbreaking depending on how it goes. This isn't a book for those who like a quick light read. Taking on this experience is going to require a taste for horror.

Even from the beginning, that was the problem. People liked pretty things. People even liked pretty things that wanted to kill and eat them.

I will start by saying that I was drawn in by both the summary of the book and the cover.

I was very intrigued by the setting, it seemed a refreshing take on the vampire universe. The idea of the vampires co-existing with humans through these “coldtowns” was a nice touch. I've had some problems with the logistics of it all, but I decided to just go along with it.

The beginning was pretty shaky. I wasn't very fond of what went down before they reached the Coldtown. Tana's character wasn't particularly likable or relatable. I couldn't understand her affection for Aidan, whom I absolutely loathed, or her outrageous lack of basic reasoning and self-preservation. To be honest, I just saw her as dumb as rock. There I've said it. Hold your tomatoes! I eventually warmed up to her throughout the book, but my opinion was definitely justified by a lot of her actions and reactions. Her inner monologue was not that fascinating, either. Her back-story, tough, was quite griping and I enjoyed reading those snippets from the past. She did mature a bit, eventually. She even became quite brave, truth be told, in a primitive sort of way, but that's still better that nothing.

The love angle was just ridiculous. It was a very predictable & boring insta-love. I saw it coming from miles away and I would've appreciated at least a tiny bitsy element of surprise. I wish she'd been more weary of Gavriel. She was barely afraid of him and barely doubted anything he was saying. It wasn't due to their “magical connection”, but because of her inability to use her brain. Also that kiss was way too steamy for two people who just met each other. Let alone the other scene, with the blood sucking... Rolling my eyes

Gavriel, Gavriel. Why, oh why? Of all the Russian names, this is what was best for this story? I've just had it with these stupid names in YA books. It might as well have been Dracula instead. Right about now Edward sounds amazing to me. Other than his name, he didn't bother me too much. He was just the stereotypical blindingly handsome, brooding, yet sensitive bad boy. The kind you find in 90% of YA and romance books. I mean it's not all bad. At least he wasn't a misogynistic douche. He had that polite, back-in-the days gentleman-like way about him. He was a complete psychopath, but the redeemable kind. Sort of reminded me of Stephan, Damon and Klaus from Vampire Diaries (which is a guilty pleasure of mine). He's a combination of all three.

If I think about it that's why I ended up enjoying this book. After they set foot in the Coldtown I kept making connections with The Vampire Diaries episodes. Barely anything makes sense in that show, but for whatever reason, I find it entertaining. Tana was pretty much like Elena, when she was human. I hated her guts in beginning because she was always so impulsive and getting herself into trouble by ignoring thinking. I got used to her, eventually, and just amused myself watching her perfect the art of being annoying.

As for rest of the characters in this book, they either irritated me or I just did not care for them. I found it very unrealistic that most of them lacked almost any fear of vampires. Those creatures were so dangerous, yet people barely flinched. Which is completely unnatural. I hated Aidan because he was such a train wreck of a human being/newborn vampire. So sleazy and manipulative. I was hoping someone would put him out of his misery, but he lived to tell the tale. Raising my arms to the sky Same feelings about Midnight. And then there's Tana's little sister... So messed up at such a young age. So sad.

This book has been so hyped up in reading community that I expected it to be so much better. Unfortunately, it wasn't that good. Too many things bugged me about it. Nonetheless, the writing was pretty decent and the plot was mildly entertaining so I'm not too upset that I picked it up.

Eh, let's say 2.5 stars. This was fine. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good. It felt like a goth teen wrote a vampire book. At the end there's all the acknowledgements of all the vampire books Black read growing up, and that added to the feeling of it being teen-y; here's all these vampirey things I've read about! Together! I finished it though, so it wasn't awful. But. Meh.

For those of you wondering, yes this is a vampire book. But it is by no means just a vampire book.

As I tend to do with books that I wholly adore, I blew through all 400+ pages in 48 hours. Right off the bat, I knew I was reading a fantastic book—I was gripped from the first page to the last and I loved every moment of it.

Granted, I'm not anti-paranormal or sick of vampires, but even if I was, I suspect I would have loved this book just as much. This isn't a girl-meets-super-sexy-vampire book, this is a book about survival and making difficult decisions to protect the people you love. This is a book with truly memorable and complicated characters and incredible twists. And as a bonus to some, it's a standalone novel.

I'm going to continue to recommend this book to anyone who will listen, because I loved it that much. It immediately jumped onto my favorite books list and I hope to see more vampire books that are just as compelling and ultimately, perfect.