Review – The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

by Holly Black

I just started this book. I am on page 15 and I had to say – I cannot put it down! It has been a while since I read a book that sucked me in, grabbed me by the back of the neck and bossed me around so quickly!  I hope it keeps it up!!!

It reminds me a tiny bit of Sunshine by Robin McKinley where she helps a vampire…

Anyway, this is a dark future dystopia where vampires have come out to the general population and are kept “safe” from humans by being fenced into ghettos or coldtowns.  The most famous coldtown sends video feeds night and day through the internet, which of course makes things seem glamorous and people are entranced with the lifestyle and want to become vampires.  To become a vampire you need to only be bitten once, then drink human blood.  So seemingly easy…

Tana ends up heading towards a coldtown with a few other folks, but she has felt she was heading there her whole life because of her past.  The events leading up to going to coldtown were crazy!  I could not put the book down.  It was awesome.

Then we follow a little bit of a course.  It is great, just a little slower.  New people are introduced and stupid things are done.  Then it kicks you in the butt, then it is crazy, then I loved the ending.  It is a YA book, so there is some teen stupidity and angst, just gotta deal with it as we all went through it growing up.

Black creates a dark world and gives us star-struck teens, runaways, heroes and anti-heroes, leaders and followers.  Things are bleak, dirty, bloody, and dire.  No promises are made about sexy loving vampires, they are all predators.  They aren’t evil necessarily, any more than people can be, but they are predators and they have a harder time controlling themselves.  But human kindness shines through in the bleakest of times.  It changes things in little ways, little ways that allow hope to take hold.  Don’t expect a panacea, regardless of what you think you are promised.  There is only blood, sweat, grit and tears and making the most of what you are given.  I really enjoyed this book with all the blood, death and dying, the tears and the madness sprinkled with little bits of joy.  I want to reread it because I love Black’s writing and I missed getting to savor a lot of the beauty as I gobbled up story.

So, if you like your vampires bloodthirsty and conniving, maybe insane, this is the book for you.  If you prefer the vegetarian vamps or the sexy ones, steer clear.  I give this 5 stars that sing the refrain “twinkle, twinkle little bat”.  I was going to give it a little less, just because of a little slowness in the beginning of the second half, but you know what – I can’t stop thinking about the pictures and people Black stuffed in my head.  The ending knocked it out of the park for me.  Loved it.