Review: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Series: Standalone

Published: September 3rd, 2013

Publisher: Little, Brown Books For Young Readers

419 pages (hardcover)

Genre: Young adult paranormal

Acquired this book: From the library

Warning: May contain spoilers

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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.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown starts off strong. It’s gruesome and horrifying, and it draws you in, making you wonder what’s happening, while also fearing for the main character’s life. But then…I don’t want to say this book was boring, because that’s not the case. It was, however, very slow and I felt at times like I was slogging through it. I started it a few days before Halloween, thinking it would be the perfect creepy (and hopefully quick) read for my favourite holiday, but it took me over a week to get through it.

If I was able to rate on concept alone, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown could get five stars. It's something I've never seen before - when a person is bitten by a vampire, they become Cold. From there, they can bite someone else, die, and be reborn a vampire, or they can go into quarantine (usually self-imposed and unsuccessful) for eighty-eight days, and as long as they don’t drink blood they’ll be okay. Vampires and people who are infected are supposed to go to Coldtowns to keep from spreading vampirism. But it’s not just vampires and people who have been bitten who popular Coldtowns - people who want to be bitten or want that lifestyle can voluntarily go into Coldtowns.

Great concept, right? And I think Black executed it well, but there was an uneven mix of action and then just basically waiting for stuff to happen. I also didn’t really feel myself connecting to any of the characters. I liked Tana, but I didn’t feel much for her. I felt really meh toward Gavriel at first, but then I slowly became intrigued, especially when we started getting scenes from his history - how and when he became a vampire, his dealings with his maker, who later became a famous Coldtown vampire - those parts I found fascinating and engaging. Gavriel was hard to read, but I liked his unpredictability and felt it worked well.

I wanted to love this book, and I wish I could say I did, but there were just too many parts that fell flat for me. I loved the action, the fact that Black wasn’t afraid to shy away from gore and horror and disturbing scenes (which I learned when I read Tithe a few years ago), and a lot of other little things, but there was just something lacking that prevented me from loving it. I’m sure there will be plenty of people who love The Coldest Girl in Coldtown - in fact, I hope there are. I just wish I were one of them.  

 

 

Have you read The Coldest Girl in Coldtown? What did you think? If you haven't read it, does it sound like something you'd be interested in? Have you read any of Holly Black's other books?

 

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What's Next #1 ~ The Library Edition

What's Next is a weekly feature hosted by Icey Books, where bloggers can help other bloggers pick their next read. Sounds like fun, right? Head on over to Icey Books for more details and to join in the fun!

Even though I go to the library at least once a week, I haven't actually checked out many books this year because I've been reading so many review books and books I own. Over the last few months I requested a ton of books that were 'on order' and figured it would take ages for them to come in, but of course a bunch of them came at the same time, so those are the books I'm trying to decide between this week. They are...

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.

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Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan...

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

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It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer.

She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street. Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.

With characters as captivating as those in her internationally bestselling novel Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys skillfully creates a rich story of secrets, lies, and the haunting reminder that decisions can shape our destiny.

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So which book do you think I should read next - The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, Fangirl, or Out of the Easy?

 

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WWW Wednesdays: Week 7

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading.  All you have to do is answer these 3 questions:

1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you'll read next?

Simple right?  I love to read and love to know what other people are reading!

\

What are you currently reading?

I'm about halfway through Across the Universe by Beth Revis.  It's really good - completely different from anything I've ever read and I'm really curious to find out what's going to happen.

What did you recently finish reading?

Recently, I've read Tithe - A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black (you can read my review here), The Iron King by Julie Kagawa, and The Violets of March by Sarah Jio (both of which I'm in the process of writing reviews for, and both of which received 5 stars from me). 

What do you think you'll read next?

Well, I still have about 10 library books, so I need to pick from those.  More and more books keep coming in on reserve - some that I've had reserved for weeks or even months - so I feel like I never make a dent in my pile before I'm adding more to it!

What are you reading this week?  Have you read any of the books on my list?  Have any suggestions?  I'd love to hear from you!

Book Review: Tithe - A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black

Tithe by Holly Black

Published: October 1st, 2002
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
310 pages (paperback)
Genre: Young adult fantasy
Acquired this book: at the library
Warning: may include spoilers

Synopsis, taken from dust jacket of book: Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad.  Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother's rock band until an ominous attack forces the sixteen-year-old back to her childhood home.  There, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms - a struggle that could very well mean her death.

To be perfectly honest, when I first started this book, I didn't think I was going to like it.  I don't know why exactly, or at what point I really got into it, but I ended up really enjoying it.  I love any book having to do with faeries, and this was completely different from anything I've read - it was not only the dark side of faeries, but a bit of the dark side of teens, too.  I guess that was part of what I didn't like at first - Kaye was rebellious in a way that I never was as a teenager, and did things I didn't do - drink, smoke, shoplift, drop out of school.  And although I couldn't relate to her on those levels, she was still a great character, very real and believable.

I enjoyed the darker side of faerie in a way I didn't think I would.  I like the magic of faerie - the harmless trickery, the glittery wings, the sex appeal of a bad-boy faerie - but Tithe was much more about the sick and twisted things that faeries do to each other, and to mortals.  The not-so-innocent tricks they play, the dangerous, disturbing side of things, and there were certainly parts that were disturbing.

Cornelius (Corny) was a character you don't see too often in books.  The guy friend who's kind of dark and twisted, looking for an escape from his boring life and the people in town who think he's strange.  He finds that escape in Kaye and her journey, and although they make an odd team, they compliment each other - they're both outsiders, both seen in a certain way, and both looking for something more.

Then there's Roiben, the Seelie knight who's been traded to the Unseelie Queen to do her bidding, and who Kaye stumbles upon one night and finds herself almost instantly attracted to.  Because Roiben's bound to the Unseelie Queen, he has to do whatever she says, no matter how much he hates it, which makes him one of those characters that you're unsure of from the beginning but that you can't wait to learn more about.  Dark, mysterious, tortured.  He and Kaye are drawn to each other, even though they both try to fight it, and the tension between them makes for an interesting line of the bigger story.

I'm anxious to find out what happens in the next book, Valiant.

*I belong to Amazon Affiliates - anything that you buy from my blog through Amazon gets me a small commission, and as a struggling freelance writer, I can use every cent I can get!  If you're considering buying this book or any other book I review, if you go to Amazon through the links on my blog to buy, I'll be eternally grateful!*

WWW Wednesdays: Week 6

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading.  All you have to do is answer these 3 questions:

1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you'll read next?

Simple right?  I love to read and love to know what other people are reading!

What are you currently reading?

I'm about to start reading The Iron King by Julie Kagawa.  I've had this on my list for ages and even had it from the library a month or two ago but didn't have time to read it so had to return it.  I got it again 2 weeks ago and it's due Saturday and can't be renewed, so I've gotta get a move on!

What did you recently finish reading?

Last night, I finished reading Tithe - A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black.  It was a different and interesting spin on faerie - very dark and slightly disturbing but I actually really enjoyed it.  I'll be starting my review on it later today, so stay tuned!

What do you think you'll read next?

Well, I have 7 library books and another couple on hold to pick up Saturday when I go, so I'll have to see what's due the soonest.  My choices are: Delicious and Suspicious by Riley Adams, When it Happens by Susane Colasanti, From Notting Hill With Love - Actually by Ali McNamara, Phanton Evil by Heather Graham, The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton, The Violets of March by Sarah Jio, Skipping a Beat by Sarah Pekkanen, and whatever's waiting for me at the library, I can't remember what it is.  Decisions, decisions!

So, what are you reading this week?  Have you read any of the books on my list?  Have any suggestions?  I'd love to hear from you!

Library Loot: June 4th - 11th

 

Library Loot is a weekly theme hosted by  Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader. 

Since I'm currently scraping by as a freelance writer, I unfortunately can't afford to buy books right now *insert sad face here* which I hate, but luckily I have an awesome library in my city, so until I can have my own personal library filled with wall-to-wall books, the public library's the next best thing.

  
This week, I was back to my usual style of picking more books than I could possibly read but that I was compelled to get anyway.  My choices were divided up between Tuesday's visit, and Saturday's.  Saturday was the library's 5th 'birthday' and they had a party to celebrate.  My mum, sister-in-law and 2 nephews went, had cake, and played in the children's section for awhile.

Here are this week's selections:

Delicious and Suspicious by Riley Adams.  A month or two ago, Elizabeth S Craig - aka Riley Adams - started following me on Twitter.  I couldn't believe it, I was so flattered.  I immediately checked out her books and added them to my list and finally just got around to picking up this one, which I can't wait to read.  Oh wait, did I mention this amazing woman also follows my blog?  How cool is that?  It doesn't take much to make me happy, but it's rare that I feel special, and that made me feel special!  Thank you Elizabeth!

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa and Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black.  Two faerie books - if you've been reading my blog, you'll know that I love faerie books, and that I have an idea for one of my own that I plan to start writing as soon as I'm done editing my current novel.  Besides just plain loving books about faeries, I figure reading them is research - it's good to see what's out there, what's been done, and what hasn't been done so that my story can be unique.
 

Moonlight by Rachel Hawthorne - I can't remember where I saw this book or what made me add it to my list, whether someone mentioned it or reviewed it on a blog, or I came across it randomly, but anyway, I had it on my list and the reserve came in Saturday. 

When It Happens by Susane Colasanti - I saw a few of Susane's books in the library a couple weeks ago, wrote down her name to check her out (I always do that with authors that I'm unfamiliar with because so many books are part of a series these days that I don't like picking up books and then finding out they're mid-series).  I have a few other books by her on my list but this was the one I chose first.

*The linked titles of the books lead to each book on Amazon.  I belong to Amazon Affiliates - anything that you buy from my blog through Amazon gets me a small commission, and as a struggling freelance writer, I can use every cent I can get!  If you're considering buying any of the books I mention on this blog, if you go to Amazon through the links on my blog to buy, it would really help me, and I'll be eternally grateful!*

What are you reading this week?  What have you read lately that you really enjoyed?  Do you have any suggestions for my library loot picks next week?  I read just about any genre, and I'm always looking for suggestions!