TITLE: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
AUTHOR: Holly Black
GENRE: YA Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
PUBLISHED: 2013; Little, Brown BFYR
SOURCE: Netgalley
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.
It’s been such a long time since I read a vampire book I enjoyed this much — I was well and truly impressed with the gritty and yet oddly glamorous world of Holly Black’s vampires and the humans who co-exist with them. I loved that the story was full of both beauty and blood. I loved the entire pop culture phenomenon she created around vampirism. I loved her heroine. I JUST LOVED IT OKAY.
The thing about the world we see in this novel is that it’s so very believable, especially when you consider modern culture and the things society values and finds entertaining right now, as we speak. Holly Black’s vampires are relegated to Coldtowns, where they are walled away from the rest of the population but still the center of a universe that is inexorably drawn to their allure. Magnetic, fascinating, and infinitely dangerous, they are both feared and yet hopelessly admired. It was crazy seeing vampirism from this angle. There are vampire tourist traps, vampire blogs, vampire hunter shows littered with crossbows and imagery that ranges from the grotesquely fascinating to just plain grotesque.
Immortal, the vampires celebrate a night that never ends, which in turn is accessible to anyone with cable. This atmosphere was conveyed with masterful execution that gave the reader insight into a lot of different perspectives, from the blogger obsessed with being immortal to the rest of the population that lives outside all of that glory and gore, still striving to live the most normal lives possible in the wake of a vampirism epidemic.
This vividly rendered world would be pointless without the right kind of heroine, and I’m happy to say that Tana is absolutely right for her role. I loved that she was so determined to hang on to who she was, even when it would have been easier to give in and let go of every shred of humanity she possessed. She’s a fighter in so many ways. I liked her attitude, her practical acceptance that in order to get through this ordeal she would have to do things that would not only hurt her, but possibly hurt others as well. I guess I just like that kind of personality in my heroines. When you’re faced with a terrible situation, do you panic and fall apart, or do you get a grip and keep moving on? Tana chooses the latter. A lot of shit goes down, but she sticks to her ideals and what’s important to her. I can’t help but respect that in a character.
I mean, Tana manages to stay true to herself even with GAVRIEL to deal with. Guys, we can’t talk about him, okay? Because I will start screaming and flailing and just turn into a pile of slush. Here is a complex character in every sense of the word. We never know what’s going on with him. We’re never entirely sure where his allegiance lies. He proves to be both unpredictable and slightly deranged, but it’s somehow perfect. The attraction between these two is ridiculous and heart-stopping and again, somehow perfect. I have to say that Gavriel is one of my favorite leading men (and vampires) ever.
RATING: 4.5/5
Absolutely loved it. And it’s not part of a series, but this is one of those rare occasions when I kind of found myself wishing it was a series, because I just couldn’t get enough of the world and the characters (and Gavriel, ahem) in only one book. That being said, I also love that it was a standalone in a genre dominated by series. You get closure, even if you don’t get to have more delicious vampire men. /sigh/ Oh, fine. Anyway, highly recommended — definitely the best vampire book I’ve read since Robin McKinley’s Sunshine, which is saying something when you consider that Sunshine happens to be one of my favorite books of all time AND combines the immortal undead with tons of cinnamon rolls. I mean, could you get a higher recommendation from me based on this??? No. So go get this book!! (And Sunshine too, okay??)
