Biting Cold: A Chicagoland Vampires Novel (Chicagoland Vampires, #6)

by Chloe Neill

The sixth entry in Chloe Neill's Chicagoland Vampires series, perfect for fans of Charlaine Harris and Kelley Armstrong

Turned into a vampire against her will, Merit found her way into the dark circle of Chicago's vampire underground, where she learned there was more to supernaturals than met the eye, and more supernaturals than the public ever imagined. And not all the secrets she learned were for sharing - among humans or inhumans.

Now Merit is on the hunt, charging across the stark American Midwest, tailing a rogue supernatural intent on stealing an ancient artefact that could unleash catastrophic evil on the world. But Merit is also the prey. An enemy of Chicagoland is hunting her, and he'll stop at nothing to get the book for himself. No mercy allowed. No rules apply. No lives spared. The race is on.

• ISBN10: 0575113421
• ISBN13: 9780575113428
• Publish Date: 9 August 2012 (first published 7 August 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Gollancz
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[mitabird]

3.5 stars

[Chelsea]

Still totally in love with this series. I found this book was just a little boring at times and I could have used with a lot more action. It was still fantastic though and easily worth the read. We're now finally seeing some actions being taken for Merit and Ethan's relationship as well as Cadogan house. The next books are going to be exciting!

[Berls]

This review and others by Berls can also be found at Fantasy is More Fun

My Initial Reaction...
Biting Cold was a bit of a disappointment for me - it was frustrating and didn't live up to the others in the series until maybe the last third of the book.

The Narration...
The only thing in Biting Cold better than the earlier books in the series was the narration. Admittedly it took me a little bit to get used to Sophie Eastlake, but once I did it was so much better. She uses intonation and gives characters different voices (I actually know who's speaking now based entirely on voice!). She's still not my favorite narrator - I don't think she's managed to add to the characters and bring them off the page the way really great narrators do, but there's much more distinctive personalities than with Cynthia Holloway.

The Characters...
My biggest complaint about Biting Cold was Ethan. The man has freaking come back from the dead and still he has excuses for why he can't be with Merit? Seriously!?! If you're expecting an immediate connection between Ethan and Merit (like I was) you will be disappointed. In fact by the time they did reunite, even though I did enjoy it, I was over Ethan and quite frankly, I think I'd rather see her with Jonah. I just like him better at this point. I think I'm in the minority, but I just feel like Ethan and Merit's relationship is starting to feel forced, like they'll always be at odds. Things with Jonah seem like they could be so much more natural and easy. On the other side of that though is Ethan as master vampire - there are some really touching moments in this book with him and his vampires that endeared him to me.

Merit is on an emotional roller coaster in this book - between Ethan's flimsy excuses and Mallory's having gone off the deep end; her closest relationships are tearing her up and I really felt for her. Despite her emotional distress, Merit is still kicking some serious ass as Sentinel and I thoroughly enjoyed the action scenes with her (in the last part of the book really).

The variety of supporting characters in Biting Cold seemed much more important than they have in the past. Catcher, Jeff, Malory, Gabriel, Jonah, and even Tate made variously brief but incredibly important appearances, not to mention Page, a new character that I adore. We're getting to know them better and they are all growing as characters. For me, some of the best moments in Biting Cold were carried by the supporting characters, rather than Merit and Ethan.

The Story...
The pot of Biting Cold can be divided into two principle parts - the first, tracking down Mallory and trying to keep her from unleashing the evil in the Maleficium; the second - figuring out what Tate is and stopping him from whatever havoc he wants to unleash on Chicago. The bit involving Mallory was ridiculously familiar, at least to Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans. I felt like I was reading an abbreviated and adapted version of season 6&7 of Buffy, with the previous book being the season 6 and this being season 7. You've got a good friend (Mallory/Willow) getting too powerful for her own good and falling into black magic, with our heroine (Merit/Buffy) trying to stop her and get her back on the right path. Without adding spoilers, I'll also just say that the way they handle Mallory in the long run seemed pathetically ridiculous. The bit involving Tate, however, was not disappointing. There was mystery and it was action packed; this plot line really carried the book for me.

I should also mention that events with the GP are continuing to develop along the same frustrating lines. The developments seem to fall to the background because of all the other obstacles in front of Merit, Ethan, and all of Cadogan House, but they are not minor and I expect they will be very important for the next book.

Concluding Sentiments...
Biting Cold doesn't live up to the other books in the Chicagoland Vampires series, but if you stick with it the last third of the book will excite you and leave you ready for the next, hopefully much better, book in the series.
Get Biting Cold on Amazon

[Amanda]

3.5

Back at the end of 2011, I tore through this series, devouring books two through five within a month and culminating with a signing with Chloe Neill. I hardcore LOVED this series. It seems, though, that with time, my rabid passion for this series has lost its rabidness*.

Don't get me wrong: this was a solid Chicagoland Vampires book. I liked it. Merit is still determined to save Chicago at all costs, Ethan is still as sexy as sin, and the supernatural shenanigans abound. I think the problem is me (and my reading slump) or the length of time between books (over a year for me).

One aspect I really appreciated about Biting Cold was that even though it's been more than a year since I picked up Drink Deep, I had no trouble whatsoever sliding back into Merit's world and all that was happening without doing any rereading. I liked the way that Merit's world gets more complicated without being difficult to follow along. Things are happening, but it's never confusing. And it's always fascinating. Merit's world is often a very political one--politics steeped in magic.

I think that Merit is becoming more likable with each book as she grows into her position. She's got some things going on that really work for her, but she's also quite involved in other...things that could blow up in her face eventually. (Which only makes me want to pick up House Rules, the next book in the series.)

*When I originally read this series, I was listening to Adele's 21 album on repeat. For a while, Adele's songs became synonymous with the Chicagoland Vampires. Part of me wonders if I would have been able to recapture my feelings if I had remembered to listen to Adele while reading Biting Cold.

[MurderByDeath]

I was concerned that I wouldn't like this one at all, but I was happy to find myself really enjoying the second half of the book. I hated what Ms. Neill did to Mallory, but loved the mythology she introduced. Once I got stuck in, I found I couldn't put the book down again until I finished it. A lot of action and a bit of suspense. I started to roll my eyes at the 'here we go again' feeling I was getting about Merit and Ethan, but the author thankfully took it in a better direction that I had expected.

While each of the books previous had a bit of a mystery to be solved, no such mystery existed in this book - except perhaps what Tate was, but that was never something to be saved until the end, but part of the developing plot. I sort of missed the mystery element, but not as much as I would have thought - the character development in this book was just too good for me to really miss it.

The next book should be quite interesting...

[Hixxup]

First I just want to say "flippin gnomes", haha they were too funny. But ok on a serious note, the last book left us, with Mallory trying to destroy Chicago, and bringing Ethan back into our lives, Thank you Ms. Neill. This book starts us off with Merit and Ethan heading to Nebraska, to make sure Mallory doesn't get her hands on the Malificium. On the way they encounter Tate, who pretty much made their lives flip over for a minute. Once they've regathered their wits they finally make their destination, and this is where we meet a new character in the book, the Sorceress Paige. She is the Orders, archivist. Her house is filled with books, I mean everywhere stacked in neat piles all over. But she's the current protector of the Malificium. Any way, the place where it's kept is an old military silo, and they were so sure that it was safe. That was until Mallory decided to make an appearance, but before hand during a romantic interlude between Merit and Ethan, they meet a fiesty gnome name "Todd" well Todd and the other gnomes try to help Merit and Ethan with Mallory, it didn't go as well as planned. The end result of small battle (no pun intended), was that Mallory and thus beknown Tate have gotten a hold of Paige, and wouldn't you know it, the Malificium. Mallory starts the spelled needed to whatever she needed to do, to the book but while she is doing it, Tate touches the book and Splits apart. NO JOKE, I mean literally was ripped in two. Well come to find out they're angels one on the side of good, and the other welp i'm sure you've guessed but the other was a fallen angel, who by the way is a messenger of justice. So the fallen angel Tate, who's name is Dominic, starts killing people, in the eye of justice. So in this book Merit and the gang try to help Mallory over come her addiction to dark magic, with the help of Gabriel and his pack. Deal with the GP who is still hell in their lives, and Ethan's connection to Mallory, and Dominic's need to serve Justice. Well lets just say at the end of this book, we got a few happy endings. And maybe a revolt against the GP???

[Linda]

This and other reviews can be found on my blog: (un)Conventional Bookviews.

This review contains spoilers from books 4 and 5 in the series, so if you haven't read those yet, you should probably stop reading right now...

[Cocktails and Books]

Biting Cold picks up where Drink Deep ended, with Ethan and Merit heading towards Nebraska in hopes of beating Mallory to the "safe" site the Order is hiding the Maleficium. But Mallory is the least of their worries. Sean Tate is also after the book, but for more nefarious reasons than Mallory. But no one could have imagined that they would end up in the fight of Light versus Dark when the evil in the Maleficium is released.

Merit grows into her vampire life and her role as Sentinel with each book, but the changes were very apparent in Biting Cold. As Ethan struggles with his connection to Mallory, it's Merit that proves to be the stronger of the two. She's able to give him focus when he can't deal with the emotional toll from the connection to Mallory, but she also wasn't willing to let Ethan dictate how their relationship (working or otherwise) was going to be affected by this. While Ethan went back behind his wall, all in the name of protecting Merit (which made me want to smack him), Merit refused to lose Ethan and forced him to acknowledge that they worked better as a team.

Ethan, Ethan, Ethan. Nothing made me happier than the scene at the end of Drink Deep when Ethan walked out of that fire, but I did wonder what that meant. Would he be the same Ethan? He didn't come out of his "reawakening" unscathed, but I think the man we have now is one that understands the gift he's been given. For a bit, the old Ethan made an appearance. The one that hid behind his emotional wall and dictated in the name of keeping everyone safe. But when Merit broke down that wall, we finally got the man I knew had to be lurking in the back. He's now the man that will do whatever it takes to not only ensure his vampires have what they need, but also himself.

And then Mallory. I loved that Mallory was somewhat able to redeem herself. She has a long road to go to make things up to Ethan, Catcher and Merit, but I'm hoping we'll see some good to come with her working with the pack. It'll be interesting to see how her relationship with Merit will come out in the end. While what Mallory did may have brought Ethan back, she also destroyed many years of trust. Mallory's recovery, both from her addiction and the consequences of her actions, is something that I look forward to seeing more of. I hated the slight evil turn she took, but I like the way her storyline is playing out.

Chloe Neill brings us some new characters in this story, but I loved none more than the Gnomes. Who knew garden gnomes were such fierce warriors. I hope we get to see more of them in future books.

The only thing that was missing in this book for me was more Jonah. After Merit agreed to become part of the Red Guard, I expected him to be a bit more involved. Maybe with the vote that ended Biting Cold we'll see a few more new members to the Red Guard as the fight with the GP grows.

I thought this was an absolutely fabulous read. I will admit, there were times when I was mad at Ethan and wanted to smack him, but it wouldn't be a Chicagoland Vampire story without being pissed at him for some stupid stand he's taken at least once. I was at the edge of my seat hoping and squirming that I'd find an ending that made me happy (for now). I wasn't disappointed. My only struggle now is to wait for House Rules to come out.