Review: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
432 PAGES
Release Date: September 3rd, 2013
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Genre: Paranormal/Vampires
Level: YA
Rating: 4.5 STARS

Goodreads 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.

There were many things that got me hooked into this book, it might have been the praise it got, the unexpected genre of vampires, or the fact that that the first quote in this book is, "Nothing can happen more beautiful than death,"-Walt Whitman. So I will say it wasn't what I was expecting and I'm quite happy it took me by surprise. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black is an original and thrilling novel I enjoyed a lot. I do feel like post paranormals out of the closet world has been something authors have been telling and some do have the same problems especially government wise and such. However, for this book, it was more of an adventure and journey more so than anything else. It was told in a way that felt like it would most definitely be a pretty awesome tv show. There are also times when a chapter leaves you hanging as the next chapter either delves into a character's memory or directs to another character's POV. The idea of Coldtowns and how much emphasis the word "cold" had was pretty fascinating and I liked how Coldtowns were shown in 2 perspectives like in real life. While it may act all fine and glamorous, actually seeing how they are it changes your view on things.

One of the things that caught my attention throughout the books were the quotes which ALL related to death. But as morbid as this sounds, they were pretty nice quotes and I actually read them unlike other books where I would just ignore them. My favorite thing about this book would be Tana. She is a great heroine, chill yet always thinking logically no matter what, Tana was a person anyone could find favorable and be able to connect to. She knows how to deal with situations or at least she's able to adapt quickly. It's a characteristic of hers that helped in her favor many times in the book. I want to briefly touch upon Aiden, the ex-boyfriend, who is IRRITATING but at the same time he grows on you and it's like, "Meh...just don't cause any trouble."

I will admit I love the romance in books. Not all love it but I do. But I do hate it when the main character's just thinking about the guy and how great he is when she has much more bigger things to worry about. It's like no. Just no. LUCKILY, this most definitely does not happen in The Coldest Girl in Coldtown! There was no instalove just an "Oh you're hot but you're a vampire soooooo..." kind of thing. I love seeing the gradual relationship between Gavriel and Tana. There actually wasn't as much of a romantic aspect as I expected but it worked well with the book so no complaints. Gavriel..oh Gavriel. I just laugh at the way he speaks it's so un-modern and crazy actually at times. He speaks in riddles and I honestly go back and reread his lines again after I've read them to make sure I actually understood what he said.

While I know that vampires are like soooo 2009, I would give The Coldest Girl in Coldtown a chance especially if  you're a paranormal reader and loved other vampire books. It definitely brought back memories on the time when there was a "vampire hype". But trust me it is different from other types of vampire books if you're still hesitant on reading it. The story unfolds itself and bit by bit you're given a piece of the puzzle and by the end it is awesome knowing how everything fits into place. You don't want to miss out on this one! Happy Readings!