The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

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Dark, violent, sensuous vampire tale best for older teens. Holly Black Horror Sign in or join to save for later. Parents say No reviews yet Add your rating.

Based on 3 reviews. Get it now Searching for streaming and purchasing options Common Sense is a nonprofit organization. Your purchase helps us remain independent and ad-free. Get it now on Searching for streaming and purchasing options A lot or a little? The parents' guide to what's in this book. Oodles about vampires, including newly invented vampire lore. Continue reading Show less.

Stay up to date on new reviews. Get full reviews, ratings, and advice delivered weekly to your inbox. So it felt weak Oh wow. So it felt weak to me, and I also worried that I'd misread things because they didn't make sense. That aaaall sorts out. I got my answers. It became crystal clear. It's turning into the kind of book that grows on you. The more I think about it, the more I realise I loved it. Just get past the initial, "So you wanna run the plot be me again, luv? The writing is gorgeous.

It really reminds me of Cassandra Clare's writing actually. It's HUGE on the details, but they're make the world real and you can see and taste it. Which is a bit scary in this book, because everything is covered in blood. But seriously, if you're dubious about vampires but LOVE epic world-building, then this is for you. I'd say the writing style is the strongest part. I wasn't so keen on.

Our narrator is Tana. But I struggle to describe her character to you. She was tugged along by circumstances, but definitely brave and capable. Just maybe a little unrelatable to me. Totally could be just me though. Gavriel is the psycho vampire she rescues. That actually confused me SO much why she helped him.

Why was he tied up? Why would she help him? I guess to sum Tana up you'd say: And what I loved about her is she could rescue herself. Gav took a while to grow on me, but he was insane. I like insane characters. I also loved the death quotes omg, that sounds bad at the beginning of each chapter. I feel really inspired after reading this! Like I want to go write something epic and urban fantasy! Or I want to make my own writing worlds strong and more detailed.

That's how I know I've read a good book. It makes me want to improve my own storytelling abilities. What I had a problem with, though was view spoiler [ Lucien and Gav. I didn't really get them. It wasn't until the end of the book where it told how Gav had been so brutally tortured and that's what broke his mind, that I GOT why he was a bit weird. Everyone called him insane, but I didn't really feel it so much until the end.

After all, he does drop out of the book for a huge while. I didn't get his and Lucien's relationship for a while This is all why it didn't get 5-stars, but I'm pretty sure this is just me and my brain not catching on very fast. The last chapter is my very, very favourite. I wasn't sure what you'd like, so there's a bit of everything.

Dec 21, Stacia the club rated it liked it Recommended to Stacia the club by: Holly Black is one of those authors who I struggle with when it comes to putting her style of writing into a category. She's a little bit dark, a little bit snarky, and I get the distinct impression that she's going to write what she wants, the way she wants to, and screw anyone who doesn't like it. Because of this, I have both a love and frustration with her work. Every time I pick up a book of hers, I read it and get caught up in the story. However, every time I pick up a book of hers, I find Holly Black is one of those authors who I struggle with when it comes to putting her style of writing into a category.

However, every time I pick up a book of hers, I find myself annoyed with at least one of the characters; usually it's the lead female or one of the "sidekicks. It's just that generally the male leads tend to have more dimension to them than the females do. And what is up with these side characters who seem to be weird ass parodies of people? In Tithe , it was Corny that name still kills me.

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With this book, it was the strangeling twins although the way their story ended was a sickeningly good shocker. In some way, I feel like I'm doing a disservice to Black's kick-ass style of writing by not rating higher. This chick is a natural-born idea machine.

She's also quite clever with her character banter and interaction. But outside the fabulous-ness of the Curse Workers series which holds a special place in my heart , I find myself closing the pages of a Holly Black book ready to move on, no matter how much the story entertained me. Where I give Black serious credit is with her bravery to write evil and gore in a genre saturated with a romanticized version of what vampires should be. Heads were rolling, blood was spurting, and the body count piled up. It would have been great to see the author just run with it and make this more of an actual horror story, instead of a romance with some dark elements.

If you're new to Holly Black and would like to try out her writing, I'd recommend to start with her Curse Workers trilogy. I have a certain fondness for Cassel and his mafia style family who can destroy a person with the touch of an ungloved hand. Mar 28, emma rated it it was ok Shelves: Jan 15, Justine rated it it was amazing Shelves: I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did an amazing job. There isn't much new or fresh in the way of vampire lore here, but I thought it was an exceptionally well done vampire story.

I loved Black's exquisite writing and excellent characterisation, which gave the story a feel of both modern and gothic decadence and decline. For me, it struck exactly the right balance. I see that my GR friends are a bit divided on this one.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

I think if you are someone who really likes vampire books, you will enjoy this. It's an excellent addition to the genre. She'd seen a lot of old movies, and that was definitely the way to go out. There are five major Coldtowns set up across the US, where vampires and those who have gone cold -- who've been infected by a vampire's bite -- are sent to spend the rest of their days in order to keep the rest of human civilization safe. Humans must also take extra precaution after nightfall because all of the usual vampire stigmas are present in this novel: Anyway, I received a review copy from the publisher, but after enjoying the Curse Workers series on audio so much, I decided to download the audiobook for The Coldest Girl in Coldtown.

A search on Audible showed me that I've never listened to Christine Lakin narrate a novel because this is the only one listed under her name, but I would definitely give future audiobooks narrated by her a chance. She presented Tana in such a matter-of-fact way, much the way I envisioned her: Tana's situation is very different. She's been bitten before and survived. So when an attack at a sundown party -- which sounds like a terrible idea to me, when vampires are running rampant -- results in a small bite on her leg, she has faith that she can fight the infection again.

I rather love the self-deprecating character, the one who's humble and never gives up no matter how the odds are stacked against them. She hopes to wait out the infection there, along with her ex-boyfriend Aidan who has gone cold after the attack at the same party where Tana was infected. It was the vampire Gavriel that captivated me the most.

Give this girl a hottie with a Russian accent, especially one who seems to be channeling Dimka, and you have a fan for life. Not that I wasn't already a super fan of Black's other work. I loved the background we get on each of the characters as the story progresses, though I did wish this information would have been provided as dialogue between characters rather than flashbacks. Whenever one of these flashbacks would occur, the transition between character perspectives was hard to decipher on the audio without some sort of heading preceding them.

Though, that's not to say that these flashbacks didn't provide valuable insight into the characters and their motivations. I could have done without Pearl as a character on the whole, but her presence was necessary in order for that ending to play out the way it did. And so I can also see why it was necessary to include her present-day perspective at times, despite how boring it might have been. I just didn't much care for what was going on outside of Coldtown at the time.

I was pleasantly surprised by that ending. It wasn't perfect, but it was fitting for these particular characters. I really hope this remains a stand-alone. I'm left with a sense of satisfaction that I read another vampire book that might just revitalize this overdone creature and make me love vampires again. For now, I like that this book showed both sides of vampires: In other words, fun to read about, but I hope I never truly cross paths with one.

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This review can also be found at The Starry-Eyed Revue. Jun 02, Ashley rated it it was amazing Shelves: This book starts off with a bang, and I promise it's a sign of what's to follow. It's dark, gruesome, and gory. There's lots and lots of blood, brutal deaths, and terrifying scenes. These vampires aren't like the ones in Twilight where they try to not be monsters Every time I thought something was so crazy and so vile, I figured, "Well this is it. This is the most creepy and violent scene of the book, there's no topping that. Because Holly Black always topped it.

He didn't seem older than he must have been when he died; just entirely stranger. It's like when there's an accident on the freeway and you CAN'T. It's horrible, it's sad, but you can't not look. This is the same thing. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is all kinds of twisted, with bloodbaths, murders, and no happily ever afters. Sometimes in books I think, "Well these characters obviously won't die. Holly Black has no mercy and that's what makes this book terrifyingly realistic. It's the ultimate kind of dangerous, forbidden love.

But it's not cheesy. I kind of couldn't figure it out, but that's why it was so awesome! The whole relationship was so unexpected—the way they acted, the things they said.. But it wasn't unexpected in the way that it doesn't work. It worked, and it was so sweet, but it kept you on your toes. I'll admit that I haven't read a ton of vampire books, but this one was so different from everything I thought to expect in one.. It's dark, twisted, wrong, and so addicting!! What I love most about this book is how it caught me by surprise. I didn't expect to love it nearly as much as I did, and I kind of love it when that happens!

May 08, samantha books-are-my-life20 rated it really liked it. Tana, the main character, wakes up in a bathtub after a party and finds everyone dead. In the book, when a person gets bit by a vampire they immediately get sick but don't actually turn into a vampire right away after a week you start to go crazy if you don't have human blood which in turn kills you making you in to a vampire but if you can go for a 88 days without feeding on human blood you can go back to your normal life but many don't survive.

There are Coldtowns set up wit Tana, the main character, wakes up in a bathtub after a party and finds everyone dead. There are Coldtowns set up with barriers where the new vampires and humans who wish to be turned mingle and play together. It's a weird society where people actually long to become a vampire. Holly Black told a great story and overall I really enjoyed this book. But sometimes I felt like it dragged, and I wasn't as attached to the main characters as I could have been, And I didn't really like the switches in perspective.

Since the book was almost entirely focused on Tana, the chapters from other characters POV drew me out of the story a bit, especially those that looked at the past. But still i wish this was a series i think this world has a lot more to tell. Mar 10, Evelyn devours and digests words rated it liked it Shelves: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is no exception. It is both written well, and original. Once again, I find myself getting immersed in her words.

I refused to even skim which I guiltily do sometimes in other books because I want to drink in and savour every beautifully constructed sentences she had written. I mostly read her Faerie books so naturally, I was interested to try out this one since it does look like something new from the author.

This book is a vampire story mashed up with dystopia with a touch of post-apolcalyptic feel to it. Tana found out that only she and her ex-boyfriend, Aidan, were spared - by some coincidence or miracle. However, at the foot of the bed where Aidan was tied up, lay another being. A shackled vampire, Gavriel. Tana freed the two guys yes, she freed a blood-sucking corpse! They then decided to journey to a quarantined area called Coldtown where walls were built high to keep and cage all the vampires separating them from the living.

Along with the vampires were the rest of the infected and runaway wannabes who serve as the vampires's food by donating their blood willingly clustering around together. Once entered, none can exit. And once you're bitten by a vampire, consider yourself a goner unless you wish to quarantine yourself for 12 weeks to sweat out the venom. But even that could kill you. This book is peppered with gore, a shit load of blood and grime. It's gritty and there is a lot of hot make out sessions. This pretty little book satisfied my bloodlust, at least.

But oh god, the amount of flashbacks! It's enough to tick me off and made me want to skim, skim and SKIM the rest of the pages. Nothing really happened after Tana got out of the farmhouse. It was all flashbacks and lots of decision making, internal conflicts and oh yes, making out. I'm aware the back stories were added in to flesh out the characters and it succeeded.. Tana had a traumatic past in which her infected mother tried to rip her apart when she was younger.

She still bore the scars to prove it. Tana saw the ugliness of being a monster vampire and she had no wish to ever turn into one. I let the flashbacks slide after a few chapters in but they're slowly becoming an anti-climax, an unnecessary addition as the story progresses.

Black would end a chapter in the middle of a huge action but when you open the next chapter, it's not a continuation of the fight. They take up space in the story and I feel that a lot could have been cut off. There are times when I feel that this book is incredibly plotless and that the author really has no idea where to go with it.

So she just waffled on. Another issue I have is Gavriel. Tall, dark, handsome Gavriel who sprout out the randomest poetic phrases. Lean back your seat. If you let me borrow your car for tonight, I promise I will repay you. So again, I let it slide but that doesn't make me like Gavriel much. Plus, he's the usual dark, brooding vampire. How often do I see this in many other vampire novels. Is that suppose to be sexy and mysterious? Not to mention that Tana seem to fall way too easily for him. I can't see why she would. I honest to god don't feel that sizzling chemistry between them.

I would say the romance is too abrupt for me but there are still sweet moments between them that would trigger a smile from me.

Also there are the punk blue-haired twins, Midnight Jennifer Gan and Winter Jack Gan who are major vampire wannabes and wished to pay Coldtown a permanent visit. Their appearances are cool, unique, bad-ass in dressing up. But I couldn't help but feel that their roles are simply random and that they only serve as a huge device to push forward the story.

Plus, I feel like tearing out Midnight's blue hair strand by strand most of the time. She annoys me to death pun intended with her obsession. There were times when I feel that she romanticised Death too much and However if I look past the dullness, the flashbacks and the bleak romance I can safely say that it's still a good book with a lot of potential.

The writing is great!! View all 8 comments. Jul 31, Rebekah rated it really liked it Shelves: I was impressed with the writing of Holly Black. This is the first book of her's that I've read and I found myself enraptured by her story! I couldn't find any fault in her writing. The story itself is nothing really new. Hey at least there wasn't any half naked werewolves running around all the time! I was still interested because this book is not a smal 3.

I was still interested because this book is not a small book but is also a book you can't put down! From chapter ONE you meet the main character Tana who wakes up in a bathtub after a wild party to find all her friends dead, drained of blood. As she tries to escape she comes across her ex-boyfriend tied to a bed, bitten. Plus a vampire tied up next to the bed. And she decided to save them both. In is book vampires are just that. No sparkling going on, just thirty blood suckers that have no feelings except The story held me captive till I was done, and I was a fabulous story.

One I enjoyed completely. Now let me tell you the things that drove me nuts: In the story Tana her travels with her ex-boyfriend who mistreated her in a way that completely turned me off from this book. But to whom Tana is just powerless against. This ex-boyfriend spends the entire novel manipulating Tana into doing what he wants. It's weird, she can kill centuries old vampires, but when it comes to seventeen-year-old boys, she just melts.? Is it because he wasn't fully turned into a vampire?

Or because she had a past with him? This strong female character who is crazy bad A giving up her strength for "forbidden" kisses and being pressured into awkward situations, just bothered me. Oh, and what's with some of these side characters? A random character who plays a small role not necessary I believe and who is a trans-gender? I don't get it?! It felt useless and not necessary, it played no real part in having to acknowledge that a character is in love with a boy but may think that the reason the boy doesn't like her is because she wasn't born a girl.

It just felt over dramatic and not needed. Did the author need word count or something? Overall I loved the story, the writing, it captured me till the very end but found somethings pointless and stupid. I don't remember but there could've been some serious language Violence: Mar 25, Pinky rated it liked it. Tana lives in a world where all humans know about vampires. There are quarantined areas in her world called Coldtowns, where vampires and humans can live a regular life.

If a vampire bites a human and drinks their blood, but stops right before they die, the human becomes Cold. Or if a vampire scrapes there teeth on any part of the human skin, the human becomes Cold. Once you are Cold, all you think about is blood. But if you drink the blood when you're Cold, you become a vampire. Unfortunately, Tana lives in a world where all humans know about vampires. Unfortunately, once you've entered Coldtown, you cannot leave. I didn't enjoy the book as much as I hoped to.

Although some parts were interesting, I found a few areas slow paced, in this book. At the beginning, it had an interesting start and it got my attention. But when I went through more and more pages, I started getting bored. However, Tana escapes, and Aidan kills another girl who set them up.

Tana gets help by Jameson and Valentina, two humans in Coldtown.

See a Problem?

She goes to Lucien's famous party with Valentina to get back her pass to the outside which Aidan had stolen. Midnight has turned into a vampire, after killing her twin brother, and she attacks Tana, who officially becomes infected with the Cold. Gavriel is at the party but appears to make a truce with Lucien, and they decide to kill the head vampire, the Spider. Valentina is captured and put into the dungeon, and Tana kills a vampire to save her. She drinks the vampire blood before being caught and put back into her room.

She learns Lucien is going to turn on Gavriel and that her little sister, Pearl, has come to Coldtown to find her. She helps Valentina escape with Jameson's mom who is one of the vampires who works for Lucien. Jameson, his mom, and Valentina promise to help find Pearl to keep her safe. Tana goes back into the mansion to kill Lucien and save Gavriel. She fails in her attempt, but then realizes that Gavriel is the Spider. He reveals this fact to Lucien, who gets scared.

Then, Tana kills Lucien after he attacks her. At the end of the story, Aidan saves Pearl, who is given the pass out of Coldtown by Tana. Jameson finds a place where Tana can hole up to wait out the infection and Gavriel comes down to be with Tana and tells her that he loves her.

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