The Flutterby Room

THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN is a stand-alone novel written by the fabulous Holly Black. It tells the story of Tana a seventeen-year-old girl who wakes up the night after a party to a silent house. As she stumbles through the house, she discovers that vampires attacked whilst she slept. In THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN Holly Black takes on the vampire myth, and adds her own twist in this compelling tale.

I am a fan of Holly Black’s CURSE WORKERS trilogy, and have enjoyed reading IRONSIDE: A MODERN FAIRY TALE. I have also read her short story with the same title as this novel, THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN. So when I heard about this book I was really excited to see what Black would do with vampire mythology AND how the novel would differ from the short story and what would stay the same. Whilst reading THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN (the novel) I completely forgot about the short story, which I think says a lot about the story itself and Black’s writing.

THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN is Tana’s story; when she wakes up after a party to discover that vampires attacked the house whilst she slept, she has some choices to make. I really liked the fact that as the story progresses we learn more about Tana’s past. At heart, Tana is a really nice person – the kind of person who, even when she knows she shouldn’t, will do her best to help someone. She faces a lot of difficult choices in the book, and I really enjoyed watching her progress and grow as a character. Her first difficult choice comes when she discovers that she isn’t the only survivor of the attack – this is where we first meet Aidan and Gavriel. Black does a good job making these two characters into believable characters and I really enjoyed discovering their back stories.

At its heart THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN is a vampire novel. Now, if you’re looking for sparkly vampires who want to be human, then I’m afraid this book probably won’t be your cup of tea. The vampires in this book are closer to the vampires I grew up with in VAMPIRE CHRONICLES or in the NIGHT WORLD: seductive and dangerous. With THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN I think Black really adds to the vampire genre, and puts her own spin on the story. The idea of Coldtowns is actually rather cool, in a scarily realistic kinda way. The reason they exist, and the reality of what goes on inside their walls was brilliantly handled. I also thought the way Black uses social media within the novel was a brilliant idea – and, if vampires were to exist, exactly what would happen.

If you are a fan of vampire novels and are looking for something to read, then you should definitely check out Holly Black’s THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN. Especially if you are looking for something a little more “old school” than the current vampire fiction trend.

Originally posted on The Flutterby Room.