Mad Soul Child
Written on Jan 19, 2021
Coldtown is dangerous. A prison for the damned and those who party with them.
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Cruel Prince comes a deliciously dark YA novel for fans of Twilight and The Vampire Diaries.
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. It's an eternal party, shown on TV 24 hours a day - gorgeous, glamorous and deadly! The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown's gates, you can never leave ...
When Tana wakes up one morning after a perfectly ordinary party, she finds herself surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of the massacre are her 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 heart of Coldtown itself.
A wholly original story of rage and revenge, love and loathing from bestselling and critically acclaimed author of The Spiderwick Chronicles and The Folk of the Air series, Holly Black.
- ISBN10 178062171X
- ISBN13 9781780621715
- Publish Date 6 February 2014 (first published 1 January 2013)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 28 February 2024
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Hachette Children's Group
- Imprint Orion Children's Books
- Format Paperback (US Mass Market)
- Pages 432
- Language English
Reviews
cornerfolds
Written on Mar 31, 2019
Although I loved True Blood, I missed the bulk of the vampire craze of the 2000s. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown wasn't even on my radar until after I read The Cruel Prince. So many people have told me how amazing this book is, but I was wary of picking this up since it really didn't seem like my thing. After a recent poll, I decided to finally give it a chance and I'm so glad I did!
This is NOT your average YA vampire paranormal romance. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is dark and bloody and reminds me more of Anne Rice than L.J. Smith. Tana is the main character who finds herself in a Coldtown after possible infection with the vampire virus. She's joined by a cast of other characters including a vampire who is more than what he seems.
I found Tana to be a believable heroine, brave only when she had to be, although I didn't necessarily love her. I did, however, love Gavriel the vampire who Tana saved! We're told he's insane and I liked that I could actually kind of see it. He's the kind of tortured love interest I love. He also had such an interesting backstory. I'd love to read a book about Gavriel's life before he met Tana. THAT would be an amazing read! I did like that, while there was romance between the two, it didn't overshadow the story.
The best part of The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is the world building, hands down. I love the explanations this book makes for vampires in a realistic America. The Coldtowns are equal parts terrifying and fascinating. I'd love to be able to explore a place like this, but I'd definitely be too chicken to set foot in one without being infected. Coldtown society was interesting and realistic. I would seriously love to read more about this world.
I guess Holly Black is mostly known for her faerie stories, but she should definitely write more vampire books because this one was incredible! I definitely enjoyed it more than The Darkest Part of the Forest. If you're a fan of vampire books and haven't read this yet, I highly recommend picking it up! I'll just be sitting here hoping that Holly Black decides to return to this world in the future.
Actual rating: 4.5 stars
jesstheaudiobookworm
Written on Oct 11, 2018
When I first started The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, I was expecting it to be about zombies. I'm not sure what gave me that initial impression, but finding out that it was about vampires was a pleasant surprise. While back, I got really into Vampire Lit before indulging so much that I became burned out on it (that's a common theme with me). After that, I actively tried to stay away from vampire fiction. If I had known The Coldest Girl in Coldtown was about vampires, I probably still would have given it a shot just because of Holly Black, but I likely would have gone into it with a more guarded mindset.
I'm glad that wasn't the case, because my open-mindedness allowed me to accept whatever Black threw at me. She's such a talented writer with an inventive mind. A big complaint that I have about Vamp Lit is the cookie-cutter-ness of it all (for lack of a better term). Most vampire fiction feels the same. Sure, each author gives it their own flavoring, but it usually feels like they are working from the same recipe. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown did not give me that impression. This was trademark Holly Black from the start.
However, something about it just didn't line up for me. I really enjoyed the first 50-60%, right up until they arrived at the Coldtown. I was into Tana's story and the ragtag little group she assembled while journeying to the Coldtown. I really loved the folklore of it all. That's what Holly Black does best.
But once they reached the Coldtown, I got lost in the vampire politics. That angle really stalled the progression of the story and I had no interest in even trying to keep all of the Coldtown residents separate in my mind, much less their centuries long backstories. That part of it felt very Anne Rice to me, which was a major fail. As I've said, My favorite thing about Holly Black's writing is her originality, so seeing her try to mimic someone else was a huge disappointment.
At that point, I had become so disenchanted with the story that I actually stopped listening for several months. When I finally try to come back to it, I was unable to recapture my initial enthusiasm for the story. I appreciate what Black was trying to do with it, but I don't think vampires are her strong point.
Narration review: My favorite thing about Christine Lakin's narration was the tone of her voice. It was soothing and almost sensual, reminding me of a "whiskey voice". Needless to say, that's not something I often hear when listening to YA and I totally dug it. It made the character of Tana stand apart from all of the other teen heroines I've heard. She sounded dark and mysterious, which helped define her character.
Other than that, there's not much else to say about Lakin's narration. She did an adequate job providing character distinction for the secondary characters, but nothing extraordinary. The way she voiced the vampires put me off a little. It was too stereotypical (think Dracula). Overall, it was just sort of "Meh" for me, but so was the book. I'll have to hear Lakin perform another title to know how much my opinion of the story was influencing my assessment of her narration. ♣︎
leahrosereads
Written on Jan 16, 2016
Enjoyed the story. Didn't love the romance til end, really like the friendships.
littleread1
Written on Sep 20, 2015
nannah
Written on Jan 3, 2015
Trigger warnings:
ablest language
ableism
unhealthy relationships
abuse
lots of gore, as you can expect
I came into this book with the promise that it “wasn't like other vampire books.” And as neat as the concept of coldtowns are (quarantined towns for vampires to live in), this book really didn't offer anything new to the vampire genre. There are ancient vampires feuding, speaking in formal, stiff language (because vampires who adapt technology and put live-feed cameras all over their houses surely can't adapt to language changes over the years), and a vampire who falls in love with a main girl–even creating a sort of love triangle. Even if it really didn't go anywhere.
The writing, though, is fantastic. Holly Black can really write some beautiful prose. It kind of borders on purple prose, but it's beautiful nonetheless. The only problem with this is that it does need to take you somewhere. The plot seems to wander rather than drive towards something. Characters drifted around this coldtown, and things happened, but they didn't seem to happen for a singular goal or anything focused like that.
I feel like this kind of book could have maybe stuck with just Tana's PoV, instead of venturing into other's: Gavriel's, Pearl's, etc. . . . especially because these didn't happen at times where it would make an impact. Flashbacks didn't occur on a need-to-know basis, and they felt more like filler than anything else. Maybe the alternate point of views/flashbacks are supposed to help distract from how aimless the plot seems to be, but they just seem to distract altogether.
This book also lacked in character development. Characters ended the same way they began (altogether unlikable). I'm not sure how I was even supposed to feel about the character Aiden, who is introduced as a rather abusive ex-boyfriend (who is also a very harmful and stereotypical representation of an unfaithful bisexual). Was there supposed to be a love triangle? The relationship between Tana and Aiden was left stagnating, and I'm not even sure why he was in the book in the first place.
There are other characters like Aiden, such as Valentina and Jameson, who add diversity to the cast (a trans girl and a Latino boy) but who also don't have any real character and don't offer anything to the book other than being convenient plot devices for the main character to use when she needs them. It all left me with a very tinny taste in my mouth, as if I were being robbed of something.
Maybe I am just completely done with vampire books, but this wasn't for me.
stefu1
Written on Dec 29, 2014
Basically. I LOVED IT!!!
melanchalina
Written on Oct 5, 2014
«Холодная девочка в холодном городе» начинается с атмосферной, пугающей сцены смерти и крови, задавай идеальный тон этой мрачной истории о мире, где вампиры – реальность.
Начало погружает нас в историю, знакомит с главной героиней и ее историей, вампирами и историей их появления… и многим другим.
Я действительно наслаждалась этой историей по началу. Атмосфера была мрачной, загадочной, а героиня интересной и решительной. Мне нравился немного сумасшедший, непонятный главный герой и химия между героями. Но примерно на ¼ книги повествование стало слишком растянутым. Очень мало событий на протяжении многих страниц. К моменту, когда я думала, что прочитала половину, я с удивлением поняла, что с трудом добралась до четверти. События разворачиваются очень медленно, и в конечном итоге положительное впечатление от начала книги начинает рассеиваться.
И Холли Блэк действительно перестаралась с героями. Она через чур изуродовала второстепенных героев, слишком явно, слишком заметно. Словно кроме героини в мире нет ни одного адекватного человека (ну или вампира). Я понимаю, что в любой истории нужны отрицательные персонажи, но я больше люблю читать истории, где неоднозначные, сложные герои, полные как положительных, так и отрицательных черт. В этой истории такой лишь главный мужской персонаж, и это расстроило меня. Но героиня была хорошей: смелая, добрая и достаточно умная. Она так же не совершенно не ныла на протяжении всей книги, как большинство других книжных героинь.
Плюсом книги является хорошая мифология. Мне понравилась идея Холодных Городов, отрезанных от другого мира, городов в которых нет никаких законов и правил и тяжело выжить. Мне понравились вампиры (хотя я явно перечитала о них, и они немного надоели мне) и идея того, что вампиризм – болезнь. Это было необычно. Но мне не понравилось, что так много людей было помешано на вампирах, и мечтали стать такими же, эти люди спокойно принимали смерть окружающих и рисковали жизнями других. Без вяких угрызений совести. Мне так же не очень понравились скачки в повествование: от одного персонажа к другому, от настоящего к будущему. Это было утомительно.
В итоге: это довольно интересная история, но не до конца «моя». Я в любом случае советую ее почитать всем, кто ценит в книгах мифологию и просто любит книги о вампирах.
Моя оценка: 6/10
Nessa Luna
Written on May 20, 2014
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is about Tana, who wakes up to find the majority of her classmates dead. She barely escapes the house, with Aidan (her infected ex-boyfriend) and Gavriel (a vampire), and together they make their way to the nearest Coldtown, a place where all the vampires, and humans that were infected go to. Either by choice, or because they were sent there. On their way there, they meet Winter and Midnight, a brother and sister determined to get into Coldtown, to tell the world how awesome and exciting it is.
I felt kind of tricked into reading this book, because when I first read the summary on the back of the book I had no idea this book would be about vampires. As I really really dislike books about vampires, I was a bit skeptical about reading further, even though I was very intrigued by the book. Because basically, after only three or four pages, you read about a pile of corpses, and I really like stories that start like that (yes, I’m one of those people).
What I liked:
This book was filled with action, and I like it when that happens in a book. From their daring escape from the land house, to the attacks and fights inside the Coldtown, I loved every bit of those scenes. This was also one of the few (I think the first one I read) dystopia books that told you what happened outside of America. Not really in great detail, but there still was some news about what was going on there.
I also liked the entries made by Midnight (though I didn’t like her character much), I really wanted to read more of those entries, but unfortunately there weren’t a lot of them. I am just a fan of reading a story written like diary entries, which is why I enjoyed Life As We Knew It so much.
With the whole broadcasts and all the cameras being everywhere, it kind of felt like the Hunger Games, and that’s also what I kind of expected of this story. A bunch of kids locked up inside the Coldtown, with monsters (I imagined actual monsters, like big hairy animals).
What I didn’t like:
What I didn’t like were the many flashbacks in this story. Sure, they were probably needed to tell the story, but honestly I don’t really think the flashbacks of Gavriel were that much needed. There were some small things that I found very predictive, like certain romances.
I couldn’t really relate to any of the characters. Maybe I could relate to Pearl a bit, I would probably be fascinated by the Coldtowns, watch the feeds every now and then (not as obsessively as Pearl did) but I would never ever want to go there. Personally, I wanted to punch Aidan in the face every time he opened his mouth, because to me he felt like such a manipulative asshole, I can’t believe Tana even listened to him. (Sure, he saved Pearl near the end of the story, but that doesn’t make up for all the stupid things he did throughout the rest of the book).
I thought Midnight and Winter (and everyone who had the same idea as them) were the most stupid people in the whole planet. The only character I really liked were Jameson and Valentina, who were just really kind and didn’t do anything stupid at all, in my opinion.
I also had a tiny bit of a problem with the third person narrative of the book. I am used to reading books in the first person narrative, and this was quite a difference for me. Sometimes, the author liked to use ‘she/he’ a lot instead of the persons name, especially after there was a moment of describing something (like the house Lucien lived in). At those moments, I would be quite confused which she/he the author was talking about (nine out of ten times, it would be Tana, but still it was a bit annoying).
In my opinion, the book ended quite abruptly. I would really love to read if Tana makes it out of Coldtown, if she turns into a vampire, what happened to Pearl and Pauline, and yeah, I just have a lot of questions at the end of the book. But I liked it. I wouldn’t say it’s in my list of favourite books, but – for a book about vampires – it was quite enjoyable. If you are a fan of vampire novels, I definitely recommend you read the Coldest Girl in Coldtown.
Rinn
Written on May 7, 2014
Opening with one of the most horrific beginnings I can remember in Young Adult fiction, The Coldest Girl In Coldtown starts with a young girl named Tana waking up after a party. After extricating herself from the bathtub in which she slept, she emerges into the living room to find the usual remains of a alcohol-fueled house party – empty bottles, bowls of half-eaten nibbles, clothes strewn around the room – along with the corpses of her friends and classmates. The only other person left alive happens to be her ex-boyfriend Aidan, whom she finds tied to a bed, and in the company of a vampire.
I have read in a couple of reviews that some people were put off by Tana’s ‘party girl image’. I don’t really understand this criticism: if I stopped reading a book because a character had an interest or trait that was unfamiliar to me then I’d never finish a book. Needless to say, I wouldn’t get very far in fantasy or science fiction. However, I did not really like Tana very much – for one, she was incredibly fickle. I was mostly confused about what she actually wanted: she couldn’t seem to decide whether she wanted to remain human or become a vampire, at times she was both strongly against and for the idea. Her relationship with Aidan was also pretty twisted and she allowed herself to be used as well as using him, which was sad. She’s obviously quite a troubled soul. Unlike Midnight and Winter, who were pretty much the ultimate ‘typical’ angsty Goth teens, who probably have a perfectly normal home life than they’re unhappy with for reasons unknown. They just annoyed me more than anything.
I can’t really explain why, but this book just did not live up to the hype for me. In a world that’s over-saturated with vampire books and films, this didn’t feel like anything particularly original. I did like the idea of Coldtowns and mixing the archaic view of vampires with the new by introducing a reality TV show, but it just wasn’t enough. I felt the book really dragging in some spots; I don’t know if it was because I had about a week where I didn’t have time to read so the story sort of got broken into two.
Overall, not particularly my cup of tea. A good read for paranormal and vampire fans, but there was nothing of note for me here.