A review by librarymouse
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

adventurous dark funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I read this book for the first time when it came out in 2013. Over a decade later, I am so happy that this book has held up against the memory I had of reading it for the first time. It does hit some of the pitfalls of other vampire fiction, like a man who looks young but is nearly a century old falling in love with a seventeen year old girl. However, Holly Black's exploration of the characters and the reasoning behind the formation of their mutual interest being rooted in something other than just physical attraction, made it far less icky than it could have been. With the impulsivity of the young vampires and the impulsivity and hedonism of the vampires who were turned at a young age, it makes me wonder if there is a halting of mental and emotional development at the age at which they were turned in this iteration of vampire lore. This book is absolutely blood-soaked, with descriptive explanations of viscera and torture, but it is also incredibly funny, and oddly very human.
I really thought Aiden was going to kill Pearl after his shenanigans and coercion after being turned. It was a nice twist to see that even as they've become morally gray, they're still the same characters - the existential question underlying the entire book
Expand filter menu Content Warnings