Also, a disclaimer: Minor spoilers to come, though a few are also in the blurb.
This was a case of having seen it for a long time in a local bookshop and not really knowing a lot about it. I bought it and then began reading it the same day due to a really long bus journey thanks to traffic. The death quotes at the beginning of each chapter were...is interesting the right word?? Well, anyway, they were.
​Over the years, I've read quite a few books on vampires and have a slight love/hate relationship with them, though I think the majority is leaning to the good side. Once I'd read far enough to realise that this book is, in fact, about vampires, I decided that Holly Black would write a good story about them. While I've only previously read The Darkest Part of the Forest by her, I trust her to write well about the Fae, whom I by far prefer and read lots about. So I figured vampires would be safe in her hands.
​This is not a book that shies away from the death and blood and gruesome-ness, but also manages to inject some glamour into their lives. Everyone knows vampires exist and many people want to be them. Tana is the main character, who wakes up at a party to find all but two other people dead- though one is clearly a vampire himself. She decides the best thing to do would be to take all three of them to the nearest Coldtown- the city-like place where all vampires or infected humans are closed off from the outside world to stop vampirism becoming a world-wide thing.
​By the way- for a third of the book, my brain was automatically pronouncing her name Tanya, but of course it's not. Oops. :) Almost all of these characters have slightly unusual but really interesting names. Anyway, my other favourite character was Gavriel. He's the aforementioned vampire and is...well...rather insane at times. But I still really liked him and wanted to protect him.
​I enjoyed how these characters all had both simple and complex relationships with each other and, once Tana had reached the Coldtown, that the people she'd left behind reacted normally and were worried for her, ect. The details inside the Coldtown were well done and made it seem so real. There were a few things early on in the book which confused me a bit, but things made sense in the end.
​The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a bit of a slow burn for a while early on, and I changed my star rating a few times, but overall it's worth reading. I did end up enjoying it more than I thought and give it a 4 out of 5 stars.
​I'm also looking forward to reading more by this author in the future- starting with her new series on the Fae next year! I've heard nothing but good things from people on Goodreads who have read ARC's and am excited for it.
That's it for today. ​Have you read The Coldest Girl in Coldtown and what did you think? Any other of Holly Black's books?
​As always, all the best and happy reading.