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Tuesday, October 22, 2013

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black (Audiobook)

Author: Holly Black

Narrator: Christine Lakin
Title:The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
Publication: September 10, 2013
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Pages: 432
Length: 12 hours 6 minutes
Audience: 16 and up
Rating: 3.5 out 5
Source: Public Library

Synopsis (from the cover): 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.


My thoughts:
My coworkers kept laughing at me every time I talked about this book. I listened to it and it took most of the first disc for Tana to get out of the blasted house! It was a slow moving book. My husband hated it, we listened to it on our way to our hometown to get married actually and we listened to it on the way back home. Something about it made me keep going even if it was so slow paced. I loved the last 3 disc so about chapter 30- to the end held much more action and felt more YA. I listen and read everything. I listened to the acknowledgements at the end. Holly Black says The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a "love letter to all the vampire novels she has ever read." with that in mind it seems like she tried to pay homage to other writers in the genre and finally found her groove towards the end of the novel. So that little bit of information helped me like the book a little more.
The characters were interesting. Tana is such a head-strong, independent character. She fights for what if right no matter if she dies trying and I loved that about her. I still have questions about the scar on her arm, but not enough for it to keep me awake at night. I thought Aiden was going to be another main character, but I was wrong about that. He is a jerk and it shows. I wanted to kick him in the shins a lot. Gavriel is a character with a rich history and a lengthy story. He is a crazy vampire, but I love the way he speaks and even though he is mad, he is trying to keep some sanity about him. The vampires are typical vampires and they don't sparkle, they burn. The only characters who really got on my nerves was Tana's sister, Pearl and Midnight. I wanted both of them gone, but they help the storyline along...so I understand their purpose to the story. 
I really liked Christine Lakin's ability to change accents and characters so well. One minute she is a vampire with a Russian ancestry, then a back woods county cop, then back to Tana or one of the various characters. It was easy to differentiate as each character had a specific voice that she did not deviate from. The only thing, her voice was so calm and soothing that it made me sleepy at times. 
Overall the book was an okay read.  There were a few parts I had not guessed and was actually shocked. There were a few that I guessed or were just obvious. I would not buy this book , but if you like Holly Black, vampire novels, or need something new to read then I suggest checking this book out.
 

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