Book Review of Holly Black's The Coldest Girl in ColdTown

Author: Holly Black


Title: The Coldest Girl in ColdTown


Publisher: Little, Brown Books


Publication Date : September 3rd 2013


Genre:  Paranormal, YA, Vampires,Fantasy



My Rating: 5/5 stars (A)






Blurb: 

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.


My Review: 

This is not " another vampire book ", the tale is captivating , dark, and embraces the Vampire Cult perfectly. The Coldest Girl in ColdTown reminded me of my favorite vampire book, A Darker Dream by Amanda Ashley, which i have reread it about 4 times because I could not find something as awesome as it. I guess it is Holly Black's The Coldest Girl in ColdTown turn for a future of multiple rereads !


I love how each chapter is marked with a dark quote from many writers, a few of which are my all time favorite. This book being my first read to any of Holly's books, she gained my respect just with the mention of Edgar Allan Poe, Emily and Charlotte Bronte , Emily Dickinson ,and Charles Dickens . Although the those quotes where written in cursive, which i struggle to read, I still loved the concept of it.


The chapters are sometimes told from different point of views, but it does not have a specific pattern. The story is mainly told from Tana's point of view, but sometimes other characters get to show us  flashbacks or something else in the story.


There are a few of Holly's quotes that I don't agree with, so that is just an opinion ,but  I loved most of the quotes.


I was really engaged with what you call a story within a story, it is full of symbolism and the beauty of creativity, all of which were drowning in the element of darkness.


I wanted more, i was really sad when I saw that the book was about to end. I wish there was an extra chapter or that maybe in the future we would get a Novella with more flashbacks and perhaps a few more chapters :)


Although I had a kind of a slow start, I end up loving the story as well as the style of writing. Holly Black is officially one of my favorite authors, and I can't wait to read more of her books. I also liked how she stated the vampire books she read that she read and kind of inspired her to write this book, so now I have a couple of book recommendations to add to my TBR.


If you like Neil Gaiman, Tim Burton, Edgar Allan Poe, then I highly recommend that you read The Coldest Girl in ColdTown.


I give this book 5/5 stars and according to my own rating scale an A.

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