Stand Alone and Shine - The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Holly Black is an amazing author. Let's just put that out there. And for this Stand Alone and Shine post, we are going to be focusing on her recently released novel, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. 

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.

          This book really begins with a bang. Tana wakes up in a bathtub after a raging party and walks outside to see that everyone is dead. Bit of a wake up call, and then to top it off she finds her ex tied to a bed in the same room as some mysterious vampire who is also restrained in a chair. So, what's Tana to do? Apparently jump right into being an awesome, take charge heroine who does what she needs to in order to protect the people she cares about. Tana's had a rough life- flashbacks of her past definitely prove that. But she doesn't let the past ruin her, and she really is a strong protagonist- I think she was a fantastic central character.
           As awesome as Tana was, my favorite character by far was Gavriel. Gavriel was mysterious, mad, and poetic. He was this totally unique fellow who lived in his own world and words. But he would be the most fascinating character I'd read and I loved each and every scene Gavriel was in. His interactions with the other characters were always interesting, because you can never predict another mad lapse into poetic prose. However, Gavriel is definitely mysterious, but a great character as well. He really made this book special, and I truly enjoyed every Gavriel moment.
          In a more technical sense, I really enjoyed the narration of this book. It reminded me a lot of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern in that there were multiple narrators, with some chapters in Tana's point of view, some in her younger sister Pearl's, and other assorted characters were given their moments to shine as well. I really appreciated that. I think it made the story more well rounded and brought so many more characters to life. I definitely think that was the right narration choice for this book, and I hope to see more of that style in YA. 
        Overall, I highly reccomend this novel. I gave it 4 stars, but I would say it's really more of 4.5, and there was one main reason for that- I wanted to see more of Gavriel! He is a genuinely interesting character and I would have loved to see more of him. The ending of the story seemed open enough to me for a sequel, so fingers crossed for this potentially not being a stand alone. I would definitely recommend checking this book out!!

See the book on Goodreads               Visit the Author's Website
From the paper world,

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