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The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
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The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
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The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
Audiobook12 hours

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Written by Holly Black

Narrated by Christine Lakin

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

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.

A Hachette Audio production.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 3, 2013
ISBN9781478924708
Unavailable
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
Author

Holly Black

Holly Black is the #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of speculative and fantasy novels, short stories, and comics. She has been a finalist for an Eisner and a Lodestar Award, and the recipient of the Mythopoeic and Nebula Awards and a Newbery Honor. She has sold over twenty-six million books worldwide, and her work has been translated into over thirty languages and adapted for film. She currently lives in New England with her husband and son in a house with a secret library. Visit her at BlackHolly.com.

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Reviews for The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book is a fun little modern vampire story. It's hard to write a new kind of vampire tale, but the author does a good job of pulling it off.

    The popularity of vampires has trailed off a bit, but it has elements of action, friendship, romance, and love that most readers would enjoy.

    The audiobook has some cheesy dramatic music that plays from time to time, but I didn't hate it. Just be aware of that if you choose the audiobook and are a hater of background music.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I’ve just found myself a new heroine, as well as a new vampire and a super new cast of supporting characters to fangirl over. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black was an amazing story and as left me with a lot to ponder.

    I loved the world Ms. Black as created, a real world (like the one we currently live in) where vampires have come out of the closet so to speak. Not an entirely new concept, but the vampire concept in this story has it’s own origins. As well as an heroine who added that extra element to the story. And a dynamic cast of characters who brought another level of intrigue, and made this story stand all on it’s own.

    The World
    Vampires exist! In this world vampires are segregated from the living population, and are seen as pop icons in some cases. Entire cities are sacrificed in order to house vampires and their obsessed hanger-oners, called ColdTowns. This particular ColdTown in Tana’s world is portrayed to the masses as very glamorous but in reality it’s not someplace any well adjusted person would want to reside.

    Our Heroine
    Tana is a laid back girl, not dull and not overly excited. I liked that Tana had emotions and personality without all that anxiousness, I also liked that she was kinda fearless. Like all teenagers, Tana had curiosities, and also being pushed by guilt and being a good friend, she decides to make her way to ColdTown. This is when the story took off as they say. The saying curiosity killed the cat was on my mind during this part of the story a lot. Tana thought it would be as simple as, get in take care of things and get out, but oh no, it wasn’t so simple at all.

    Are Vampires Good or Bad?
    Don’t answer that. Okay, in theory they should be, I mean, they drink blood and are suppose to be dead, with out of this world abilities. At first I thought that the vampires in this story were going to be all baddy bad. Vampires in this story were portrayed as evil incarnate (by the haters or maybe the sensible) and I thought, okay, it’s going to be one of those kind of books. I should note that it was strange at first to read books where vampires were seen as monsters and weren’t the all caring and obsessive creatures their mostly portrayed to be. Now that I’ve broadened my vampire horizons I’ve come to accept that vampires are suppose to be bad, since they drink blood and live forever, that’s a lot of time on their hands to cause trouble. Anyway, the vampires in this story were a mix bag, kinda typical in most vampire books I think. They weren’t uncontrollably bad, they were able to control themselves, but not all the vampires in this story made that choice. Some were blood gorgers, some fame seekers, but overall they were vampires, don’t get too relaxed around one.

    Supportive and Unscrupulous Characters
    The Coldest Girl in Coldtown had a mix of secondary characters, from the really likable, to the really messed up that make you just want to reach into the book and slap them.

    First we have Gavriel, he was the main vampire and Tana’s crush. I would describe him as functionally nuts. Gavriel was blamed for the outing of vampires, and a part of a vampire policing group that protects the existence of vampires. It was…different to see a vampire not obsessive over the heroine, you could tell that Tana intrigued him and that he cared about her well being, but he respected her space and that she could handle whatever trouble she decide she wants to get into.

    Next we have Aidan, I didn’t a hundred percent know if I should like him. I thought he was needy and a user. He was certainly likable, very charming and a flirt. I just wanted him to care about someone else other than himself. He did redeem himself in my eyes in the end.

    As for the crazies, the story was made even more dynamic with a whole crap load of screwed up characters. Especially the brother and sister twins, Midnight(the sister) and Winter, not their real names and that should say a lot about them that they created new names for themselves. It was obvious that Midnight was the most screwed up of the two. The twins wanted to be a part of the life behind the walls of Coldtown and join the other damaged crazies. They turned out to be even more worse than I would’ve expected.

    Among the likable people in the story were Jameson and Valentina, they leveled out the certifiable and unscrupulous folks living in Coldtown.

    Emulating Real Life
    There are a few things about this book that I loved and appreciated seeing. The most simplest was how technology as changed how stories are told in books today. In the seclusion of Cold Town the outside world was privy to a lot of what happened inside because of video uploads and blogging. There were even a couple chapters that were just blog posts by characters in the story. The most touching one was towards the end. I actually had goose bumps reading it.

    I also wasn’t expecting to see a Bisexual and a Transgender character in a YA paranormal book and it wasn’t the vampires. Since it was a YA there was no delving deeper into this. But what I liked was that there was no flinching and shock over this, it was just so.

    The End
    The Coldest Girl in Coldtown did not have a typical ending. I actually liked that Tana and her friends were able to tie up their loose ends but didn’t feel the need to walk off into the sunset with a love interest, but instead I was left with imagining how I would have liked the story to end. Do I want Tana to become a vampire and live happily ever after with Gavriel, or do I want her to leave Cold Town and go home to her sister and go off to college with her bff? There’s a part of me that wants the sensible path for Tana, and there’s the romanticizing part of me that wants the former.

    The Coldest Girl in Coldtown was a nice reading adventure. I enjoyed seeing these characters lives and being in this world. And with a open ended ending it’s like the story continues in my mind, not with sad feelings, but more pleasing ones.

    I loved reading those quotes about death at the beginning of ever chapter. It made me think deeper into what this story was about. I think the core of this story was about death and dying and how some people run head long towards it and can we make the choice how we die and still have life after death?
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I am SUCH a sucker for bloody YA vampire books with a female protagonist. It wasn't perfect--a lot of the thematic imagery would have benefited from one more close edit--but it was also incredibly exciting and I lost several decent nights' sleep trying to make time to read. Definitely recommend!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A fun, quick read! It's been a while since I've read a vampire book, and I liked the technology element to this story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book was fantastic! I've been wary of vampires since the Twilight mishap, but Holly Black is a great author and I love her vampires.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Brilliant.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I have to say that the moment I say that a novel by Holly Black was up for review, I was thrilled and I jumped at like I am sure many other people did. Because, who wouldn't want to read it? Plus it's about vampires and who doesn't want to read about vampires? This book holds a little bit of a twist on how people embraced or ran away from vampire when they first made their presence known. Places called "coldtowns" opened up everywhere and people that lived in these towns were free game essentially for vampires to feed off of. Many come because they seek the glamorous life of the vampires and eternal beauty that comes along with it. The premise of this novel seems pretty realistic to me. The characters bring to life this world perfectly, proving that not everyone wants to be a vampire and not every monster is as bad as you think they are. There are secrets, lies, betrayals, and twists that caught me off guard. You'll see that love and friendships develop in even the odds of places and the darkest of circumstances. I have fallen in love with this story and I am sure you will too! I always worry about whether I will like a main character because that is almost a make or break for me. If I don't like a character then it makes it hard to want to read the book but I really loved Tana from this book. She remains true to herself throughout the course of the novel and that is a rare thing to see in books now-a-days. Most characters flipflop continually and never make a steady choice that they are willing to stick to, especially if there is a horrible outcome but Tana holds her head up high and lets whatever happens happen. Of course, I still faced the frustration with her when she didn't make the choices I want her to but that is part of her appeal because she doesn't change for anyone. She is loyal to those that she loves, which is undeniably admirable, and never gives up until the best outcome happens. She is a strong female character and I adore her for it. Aiden, oh Aiden, how many bad choices can you make? All of the information you collect about this ex-boyfriend certainly doesn't make you his biggest fan. I learned a lot about how he once was and by the end, I got to see how much he has truly grown throughout the novel which is a ton. He went from the crappy ex who I would've left to die at the hands of vampires to the boy that you want to be happy and silently cheer for despite your original opinion of him. I definitely came to admire him for his choices by the time I shut the book but who knows whether he was the crappy guy he once was or whether it had been a front. Love this guy but no... he didn't seem like the best choice for the lovely main character.There always has to be a secretive, brooding type that has to be absolutely gorgeous and the main character just can't seem to get over his good looks. Well, to a certain extent that was Gavriel, who is an attractive, nay, beautiful vampire that captures a lot of the typical ideals of being an immortal without going crazy. Tana, despite her best instincts, cannot keep away from the guy that is everything everyone hates. He's a vampire. She knows that she should stay away but even I will admit that I wouldn't keep away from someone like him. He's too awesome. As the story continues though, you realize that you don't really know who Gavriel actually is. The secrets surface at what can either be the most opportune moment or the worst moment possible. He really comes into himself near the end of the book, proving that he could quite possibly be insane in every sense of the word. Yet, he is so attractive and wonderful! I wish I could talk about more characters and some more of the plot but you really just need to check it out. It is such an amazing book that it deserves your attention, trust me.**This book was received from the publisher via NetGalley. None of the review was influenced by the author or the publisher. This is a completely original review. The thoughts and feelings of the reviewer are entirely her own and have no ties to the publisher.**
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I'm not a fan of vampires or insta-love so the fact that both seemed to exist in The Coldest Girl in Coldtown made me worried that I wouldn't enjoy it. However, this book was actually quite enjoyable.

    What I loved most is that it jumped all over the place and kept my attention. (That can be a hard thing to do.) Each chapter seemed to jump to various characters and their various stories so not only were the characters well-developed but I was also always interested in the book.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Firstly, I'll admit that I love the idea of this book. While there are some aspects of the world building that simply don't work (for example, how do vampires seem to keep getting out of the supposedly sealed Coldtown), for the large part it's very well thought out and a unique take on the tried and tested vampire-lore. The tone touches upon the post-apocalyptic in places, setting up a world where both vampires and vampire hunters are celebrities and people, and does a great job of illustrating the pros and cons of turning.However, the story isn't fantastic. The actual plot of the story is fairly short in simple, padded by poor pacing and long chapters of exposition. While some is relevant, a lot could have been cut from the story or better integrated so it didn't have to be written en mass. The twists of the story were too well sign posted to be especially surprising and the ending was a little downplayed. I won't spoil it here, but I was left feeling that the story had ended with more of a whimper than a bang.Then there was the characters. I just didn't understand Tana at all. Her motivations skewed wildly, sometimes wanting to be a vampire and other times not. She was also master of making poor decisions. Constantly. Tana seemed wilfully dense at times, having no apparent sense of risk and frequently making rash decisions. Like interring herself into a Coldtown when NOT EVEN KNOWING THAT SHE'S INFECTED.Beyond that, the characters were neither especially memorable or likeable. The only one that I actually grew attached to was Valentina, but I was disappointed that she barely featured in the story at all. It felt like a waste, as her reasons for coming to Coldtown were probably the most interesting and I'd like to have learned more about her.So, all in all, I was left disappointed. I loved the concept and setting but, beyond this, the novel went down hill pretty quickly after its admittedly gripping opening. I'm sure there are people that it will appeal to, but it's not one for me.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is one of those book aimed at the vampire loving teenage girl genre, but manages to turn the story into something a bit more deep. This isn't a great work of fiction by any means, but its doable. First - we have a leading lady who is strong, and know what she wants. She is decisive, takes action, doe the right thing. Of course, the vampires are still sexy, still dangerous, and still hold the fascination of the world. The only difference is that Tana is actually smartHolly Black managed to right a vampire story that stays to true to recent genre, while at the same time pointing out out just how in human these creatures are. Overall, well writte, interesting, but fairly standard.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Vampires. I have a love/hate relationship with them. Once upon a time I enjoyed Anne Rice's sexy, brooding, glamorous vampires. I loved Matt Haig's suburban vamps in The Radleys; his portrayal of an abstaining vampire family and their struggles to fit into the vanilla world of everyday life was a funny and incisive take on contemporary society. And I like the feral vampiric creatures of Justin Cronin's The Passage. I even kind of like the vampires that Sookie Stackhouse plays with in Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire series (and I really like Sookie, who's a tough little cookie). But Stephenie Meyer's glittery Twilight vampires and the vapid Bella, she of the ever-dimishing returns, pretty much ruined them for me.I'm happy to report that Holly Black, in her latest novel The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, has restored the allure of the vampire for me. It opens with a bang--blood, death, white-knuckled heart-racing terror--as 17-year-old Tana Bach awakens cotton-mouthed, muzzy-headed, and hungover in a bathtub. As the previous night's sundown party--that's a party that goes into lockdown at sunset, because of the curfew...and the vampires, doncha know--comes back to her, she's somewhat relieved. At least she's still wearing her clothes, and she's pretty sure she didn't do anything, besides playing a stupid drinking game, to regret. 'Tis a pity, then, that the morning's dead silence is quickly shattered by--the silence of the dead. That's right, the dead, who were once Tana's friends and are now strewn about the floor in pools of their own blood, crumpled among their own entrails, room after room full of the dead. But as it turns out Tana isn't the last living person at the party; she stumbles into a darkened bedroom (opaque garbage bags duct-taped to the windows to keep the rising sun out) and discovers her ex-boyfriend, the very pretty, very charming, Aidan tied to the bed. Nearby, also trussed up, is a ruby-eyed vampire boy.Things start happening very fast and Tana makes the decision that any honorable, brave, foolhardy person would: she races to save these two dangerous men--oh yes, Aidan's been bitten and all he needs is a good drink of human blood to complete the transformation to vampire. See, that's how it works. You get bit, you get the hunger, and you either feed and turn or sweat it out for eighty-eight days and get cured. During that time between infection and cure (or curse) one is said to be cold.Which leads us to Coldtown. Coldtowns--for there are a number of them across the United States--are places where vampires and the infected and wannabes live in gloriously, glamorously, unabashed debauchery. If you're infected, death or Coldtown are your options. Either way, it's a life sentence.Tana's journey involves getting from death scene to death scene--and what a glorious scene Coldtown is!-- with her passengers intact and her humanity unscathed. And, maybe, to kill a couple of vampires. And keep her little sister Pearl safe. Falling in love would be nice, too, although it's not even a blip on her radar for most of the story.Holly Black has written an original, well-written, and only very occasionally angsty novel, which has all of the great vampire tropes--immense beauty and power, behavior that's at best amoral, at worst evil, and one of my favorites, aversion to sunlight--without being cliched. Tana is a great heroine: strong, loyal, persistent, honest, funny, and not at all enthralled by the idea of being subsumed by a man, be he human or vampire...which may be the most important quality of all in the heroine of a young adult novel. A quick note on the audience for The Coldest Girl in Coldtown: the publisher classifies it for ages fifteen and up, and I concur. The overt violence is minimal (but present), but the descriptions of its aftermath--delicious though they may be--are often over-the-top and quite graphic. There's an awful lot of talk about kissing, but no actual sex, and the language is fairly tame. If your young reader is under fifteen, make sure she or he will be okay with the gross-out factor.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great book. I listened to it in 3 days while working showering and driving.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I always love holly blacks books. It was perfect.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really enjoyed this book and the creepy music was a nice touch.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Good concept. Did seem to lose my attention a little.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I LOVE Holly Black!! This book was just another unsurprising wonderful, delightfully written, delicious to bite into books of hers! Highly recommend!!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This was a fun and entertaining read. This book was different from other vampire reads.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Holly Black has a great imagination and a great writing style, I just didn’t care much for the characters, or the story plot! I will continue to read her books though! They’re always quite interesting! This one just wasn’t quite my cup of tea!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    omg!! This book is amazing!! There were many twists and turns that are very unexpected and it had a happy ending. I love happy endings!!!!!!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Actual rating: 3.5. Rounded to 4.

    I don’t really tend to read a lot of vampire books anymore, especially when they’ve been labeled young adult. Holly Black’s The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is definitely an exception to that habit. I needed a break from flipping pages and wanted to get in a little bit of time gaming. When I saw The Coldest Girl in Coldtown available for an immediate audio book borrow from OverDrive, I decided to give it a shot. I’d heard of Holly Black, even if I hadn’t read any of her work.

    Black’s novel takes vampirism and spreads it in the same manner that most post-apocalyptic novels spread the infectious diseases that create zombies. Vampires are romanticized, as they often are, especially in young adult books, and in this case, they no longer live in the shadows; rather, they have taken up residence in government organized areas known as Coldtowns. Those that have been infected with the vampire virus are also holed up within the walls of this cities, and there’s no shortage of food, because people are dying to get in.

    Waking up after passing out at a party, the main character, a young woman named Tana, finds herself amidst a massacre: people she knows have been slaughtered by vampires. The only survivors are her, an ex-boyfriend, and a strange boy. Her ex is infected, and the boy is a vampire. Deciding to turn him in for a bounty, and worried that her ex will become a vampire himself, the trio travel to Coldtown. It isn’t long before Tana finds herself caught up in what could loosely be described as vampire politics. Amongst betrayal, she must persevere in order to guarantee her own survival.

    The majority of the story is told from Tana’s perspective, with a few chapters written in Gavriel, the vampire’s, and another one, maybe two, from her younger sister’s, Pearl’s, point-of-view. These changes exist solely to expound on certain events that have led the characters to where they are, such as Gavriel’s past — which is, undoubtedly, one of my favorite parts of the book. Each chapter also begins with an excerpt, usually from a poem that deals with death, the undead, or vampires.

    Voices make a huge impact on listening to audio books, especially for me. If I can’t stand the voice, I will not finish the book more than likely. In the case of The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, the narrator, Christine Lakin, is absolutely amazing. Her voice is pleasant to listen to, and there is a clear difference between the way each of the characters speak.

    The Coldest Girl in Coldtown isn’t among my favorite reads, perhaps because I prefer the more traditional approaches to vampires, but it is, undoubtedly, an fun journey. If you like your vampires a bit on the softer side of the spectrum, this one is definitely worth picking up.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    So maybe it's not fair, but when I hear “vampires” around the realm of YA fiction, my initial reaction is not to jump in and give it a try. Like, I know it's not fair – my favorite TV series ever is Buffy, and that wasn't light on the vampires or the YA – but it happens. And so I put off reading this book, even though I'd heard some pretty positive things about it, because, well, vampires. But then I got through the Darkest Part of the Forest, and the Curse Workers Trilogy, and I wanted some more Holly Black, and, well. Here we are!And I'm really glad I tried it, because man, this book actually worked really well for me. So here we have a world where there are vampires, and very publicly so: from within the government-established vampire/vampire-hangers-on safe zones called Coldtowns, media-savvy and internet-enabled vampires send out alluring images into the rest of the world of all the parties and debauchery taking place within. It can seem glamorous to a lot of people.But not so much to our main character, Tana - she's not really enamored with vampires, particularly when she wakes up in the bathroom in the morning following a house party that turned into a blood-sucking massacre. All that's left alive in the house are her ex-boyfriend Aidan, and a vampire chained to the bed, Gavriel. And the vampires who did this? They're probably still in the house. AND Aidan isn't actually okay; he's been bitten, and left to go cold.Yes, of course the vampires here don't have to work the same way as vampires elsewhere, so here's how they do here: if you get bitten, then you have the vampire virus in your veins; after a short incubation period, you start craving blood, but you're not a vampire yet. No, you have to actually taste some blood for that. If you do, congratulations, you get to die and become a vampire for real! if you don't, your bloodlust will get worse and worse, but after months of waiting with it, you will pass it from your system and return to normal. A mechanism with much potential for tension, and it works well for the book.So Tana ends up having to try getting everyone to safety, and she takes the vampire, too - and here, safety means to Coldtown, where at least if they have vampires about, they won't hurt any more random people. First they have to get there, though.I don't want to go into more plot details here, but I will say I was generally quite satisfied with it - there are some pretty horrifying turns, but they're earned, and the story's really quite well thought and written out. I definitely churned through the book quickly, which is a real testament, because there were parts that were uncomfortably gory to read, too.But it's not just the plot that really works - there are some very real, complex characters in this book, that play off each other well. Tana's view of herself, and Aidan and other people's views of her, have a real tension to them - Tana makes herself do things she might not otherwise want to or feel comfortable with because she doesn't want people to define her boundaries, almost defensively. And other people view this (particularly Aidan) as bravery. And there's similar sorts of character points, too. I also liked Aidan a bunch - the cockiness, the degrees of caring and daring, the shading over into hunger and impatience. And Gavriel and other characters (like a pair of twins who really, probably, likely want to be vampires, maybe) also come through well.Beyond which... I love the way Black handles representation. I love that it's so little remarked upon when various racial or LGBTQ people saunter through the story just being people. Aidan is actually probably the best-realized bisexual character I've ever read in anything, and there's a trans character who really works and where again, it's just treated as part of a personal story.Minuses? Well, I do feel like the main villain could have used a bit more time and build-up as an actual character than they got. Gavriel is probably not quite as solid to me as the other characters, which may be slightly on purpose? And there's some world-building stuff I'd have loved to see more of, but it was full enough and long enough that I can't really ding it much for that.All told, this is a really good book that does a lot of things with a fairly high degree of difficulty well, and even if I wouldn't start with this book if you haven't read any Black (*cough Darkest Part of the Forest *cough*), it's also a good standalone story, and I give it quite the high recommendation.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I liked the story, but I couldn't get a connection to the characters.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Cool concept, interesting plot, but I never felt super engaged.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Vampires are real, and they've become a barely-contained plague on humanity. In some parts of the world humans and vampires are engaged in open war or have embraced each other, but in the US they exist in an uneasy detente. Humans of Tana's generation are used to barring their windows with garlic, examining cuts for a bluish tint, and watching live feeds of vampires partying in Coldtown. When Tana wakes up in the bathtub after a party, surrounded by the bloody corpses of her friends and classmates, she knows exactly what happened. She's just not sure what to do next.

    Tana is a fantastic character from the first page: she's unique but also recognizable, like someone you could actually know. The plot progresses at a breakneck pace that kept me breathless. And I loved the way the vampires (and the ghettos that develop around them) are unflinchingly portrayed--Gavriel and his ilk are beautiful and tantalizing, but the reader can never forget that they're predators with a taste for gore.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Death has his favorites, like anyone. Those who are beloved of Death will not die.
    -Chapter 9


    Because the villain knows that without the hero to hate, his life would be empty. Once he's murdered his adversary, he's alone.
    -Chapter 27

    Tana wakes up after a sundown party to discover all of her friends but one has been killed. She finds her friend Aidan tied to a bed with a vampire tied up next to him. Tana knows about vampires, everyone does. Vampires used to be very cautious and protective of who they turned. After all, they needed to keep their food supply around. One rogue vampire ran around turning people into vampires without caution. Next thing you know, vampires were everywhere, like a virus. The military barricaded the towns where the vampire infections broke out and those towns became known as Coldtowns (when people get infected, they become "cold"). Everyone knows about vampires, there are even blogs and reality shows broadcasted from Coldtowns. Rebellious teenagers want to go to Coldtowns because they are portrayed as glamorous places where the party never ends.

    This was an interesting look at the vampire world. Tana is a likable character, flaws and all. She helps her friend and a strange vampire. She isn't fooled by the fake glamour, but even she had no idea what Coldtowns were really like. She makes some foolish decisions, but she tries her best to protect those she loves. She is attracted to the vampire she saves (girls always seem to be a sucker for the "bad boys" in these kinds of stories). There is no real love triangle, so that was refreshing. There was some unexpected surprises and some very predictable things. I liked how the author incorporated the social media and reality shows that seem to be everywhere today. It was a fun twist.

    This is a good story, fast paced and fun to read. I do have to warn parents that this book is not for middle grade students. It is better for high school and up I think. There were some sexual situations and a lot of talk about sex.

    Recommended to:
    Young adults (high school and above) & fans of YA.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I like Holly Black's writing and this book evolved from a short story she wrote a while back, which I vaguely remembered reading. Let me say first off that I generally try to avoid reading about vampires. They've been done to death (some of them literally). I'm afraid this book didn't bring anything spectacular to the table. The scenario is that a vampire outbreak happened and several quarantine zones, called Coldtowns, sprang up across America. The protagonist winds up in one and is caught up in some centuries-old feud between two vampires. I kept hoping for things to get a little more engaging but they never did; it was a promising setup, but I never felt connected to the characters enough to care what happened to any of them. If there's a sequel, I will give it a pass.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This seemed like a teen version of the HBO series True Blood, not to be mistaken with the Charlaine Harris book version. Dangerous glam and vampire hierarchy but lacking the sex and much of the violence. I thought the idea of Coldtowns, walled vampire cities, and the use of social media and reality shows to connect the vampire world with the mainstream human world made the story seem pretty on point for today's teens. Possibly because I listened to it on audio, it was hard to keep the characters straight and they seemed a bit flat. There wasn't enough back story to the characters to make me like or dislike them which is why I rated it three instead of four stars.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    4.5 out of 5 stars. I really liked this! And this was really a reintroduction for me to Holly Black because I had only read Tithe and that was years and years ago. This book reminded me why I adore her. It's absolutely great. Ms. Black hit a home run with this one and I'll definitely read it again someday.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    So I pretty much like everything that Holly Black writes. I really adored Tana b/c she was an incredibly strong lead character. I liked that the romance between her and Gavriel was never the fore of the story. I will say the atmospheric music did not always work with the tone of what was going on in the story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book isn't big on logic, or on originality, really, either.
    But I am a simple creature with simple needs. And a half-insane Russian vampire as the romantic lead fulfills pretty much every single one of those needs. So I pretty much adored every second of this.