Meagen Today I’m sharing my full review of The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black! Holly Black has written so many amazing books and a few of my favorite series’ but this amazing vampire standalone is on a shelf all its own!
If you like vampire stories you will thoroughly enjoy The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. It’s a really unique look at vampirism and the way Holly Black turns it into something both controlled by the government and live streamed for reality TV is so…awesome.
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I haven’t posted reviews for them yet…I know…I’m a slacker…but I got hooked on Holly Black when I read The Folk of The Air trilogy. It consists of The Cruel Prince, The Wicked King, and The Queen of Nothing. Jude and Cardan are two of my favorite characters.
Like most of her characters the mains in The Coldest Girl in Coldtown (Tana, Aiden, and Gavriel) are equal parts tough as nails and sustained by sass. I think what I love most about her writing is that Holly Black is able to write females who are believable badasses.
The entire time they’re doing the hard thing they’re thinking exactly what I’d be thinking “if you can just get through this next bit…if you can just get through this next bit.” These ladies keep pushing through the terrible things in front of them one little bit at a time…because that’s life.
What is The Coldest Girl in Coldtown about?
The plot follows our main character, Tana, through her typical teenaged life. The only difference is that in her world there are walled cities called Coldtowns where vampires are quarantined alongside anyone who might be infected.
Humans also go to coldtowns but they go in the hopes of being turned or living the glamorous life they see advertised through the live streams coming out of the lavish mansions owned by the oldest vampires.
That all changes for Tana when she wakes up one morning after a “sundown” party, where all the kids stay locked up in a house together until dawn when it’s safe to be outdoors again, she finds nearly everyone at the party dead.
Tana fights through the horror and manages to find two other people alive…well…mostly. Her ex-boyfriend Aiden and a mysterious boy who isn’t at all what he seems to be. The three of them must escape if they want to live and head to the one place that they’ll be welcome…Coldtown.
The thing about Coldtown is that once you get in, there’s no way out, unless you have a marker. A marker is granted to someone who turns in a vampire that is found outside of a coldtown. Without one, no human can ever leave a coldtown, even if they aren’t infected. So for Tana, there might literally be ‘no turning back’ if she goes into a coldtown.
What did you love about this book?
One of the things I really loved about The Coldest Girl in Coldtown was the mythos of vampirism. Holly Black’s take on the infection and incubation time, the process by which vampires can be turned, the idea that there are humans at parties with IV’s in their arms so they can give blood without being infected, it’s a really unique take.
I enjoyed Tana’s backstory and her complicated history with her family. It plays into the plot line really well but it’s also really understandable. In a world where you have to choose between the people you love and something that might be eating them alive, there’s bound to be grey areas.
Tana’s struggles with her family make her the perfect heroine for this storyline where we have quite a few people who need saving but perhaps don’t deserve to be saved!
Finally, I love love loveeeedddd Tana. I want to be her best friend. I want us to hunt vampires together…or maybe run some kind of detox facility to sweat the infection out of people. I want to see her happy, undead or otherwise. She’s a great character and even if everything else about this book sucked (it didn’t) it would be worth the read just for her.
What did you not love about this book?
The ending of this book is making me crazy. I have questions. I mean, I only have questions because I can’t stop thinking about it…but still!
The book wraps up perfectly well, don’t get hung up on thinking there’s a cliffhanger or something. This is definitely a standalone…but I want more so I hate that 😉
Another thing I didn’t love was Aiden. Even though Tana seems to accept him on a level that is beyond anything he deserves, he makes me crazy. I assume that’s the point but be prepared…I wanted to strangle him no less than seven times.
Will you read more in this series?
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a standalone, which is unfortunate because it’s an awesome world and a great story populated with some of my newest favorite characters.
If on some off chance this turns into more I would definitely be interested in reading more in this series!
Overall opinions of this book:
Here’s my quick and tidy review that I’ll share on my other platforms as well!
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown 5/5 Stars! This is such a fun read, a world full of super interesting characters. The best take on a vampire novel I’ve read in awhile!
Tana Bach is the tougher than nails, fierce as all hell, staring down vampires alongside her own demons, heroine we all want. She wakes up hungover in a bathtub at a party and upon finding pretty much everyone she knows dead all around her…she doesn’t fall apart…she makes a plan and starts about the messy business of saving the day.
Along the way she’s battered, betrayed, terrified, lonely, offered up as a blood sacrifice, and occasionally too trusting of the monsters all around her, she still manages to do the right thing and she never stops fighting or being funny and sarcastic. She’s my favorite kind of person.
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown also takes a wholly unique look at the world of vampires. Black’s vampires are nocturnal only, can infect you when they bite, but you if you are strong enough you can sweat out the infection for 88 days and hold onto your humanity, and they’re oddly selective of who they turn.
It was a fun ride, an easy read, and left me wanting more. I’ve found lately that my favorite standalone are books like this that end well enough but leave me wishing I had 8 or 10 more books to tear through in the same world!
Where can I buy this book for myself?
I borrowed this one from my local library but upon finishing it last night I went in search of a copy for myself because I know this is one I will want to reread!
I’m including links to the physical copies and the kindle books below so you can check it out for yourself! It’s an awesome read and definitely something worth having in your library if you are a fan of the vampire novel!
Paperback Version Below:
Kindle Version Below:
Hardcover Link:
Kindle Unlimited Membership PlansWhat else has Holly Black written?
Holly Black has been killing it in the fantasy world for a long time. There’s so much to choose from. You can check out her Amazon Author page here.
I’ll include some links and image to some of my favorites that she’s written so you know where to start with her books!!
Looking for more reviews to check out?
Check out these other book reviews and bookish posts. I think you’ll love them! Make sure to let me know in the comments what kinds of books you like to read and what you’d like to see more of.
I’d love to hear about your favorite books, I’m always adding to my TBR (to be read) pile so leave those suggestions below!
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