Review: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Tags: YA, paranormal, vampires, romance

Summary

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.

Review

I'm not the type of reader to instantly dismiss all vampire stories out of vampire fatigue; as long as it's written well, I can enjoy it. And THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN is written well. It brings me back to Holly Black's Tithe era, with its grungy urban landscapes full of disaffected, multiply pierced, dyed-haired teenage characters who are simultaneously cooler and yet more vulnerable than you'll ever be. Black's narrative swirls between settings and time periods and points of view in a style that I imagine is like what being on raver drugs must feel like. Slightly disorienting, swirls of more-than-they-seem interactions and side-goings-on piquing the corners of your vision, disorienting your understanding of reality so slyly, so insidiously, that when you pause to take a breather from reading this story, you blink and for more than a second think that Black's world could very well exist, unobserved, in your own. Gavriel, the male vampire love interest, even gets me hot and bothered just like the icy-hot Roiben (Rath Roiben Rye, Rath Roiben Rye) of Tithe did.

Verdict? If you love your vampire tales slightly darker and hipper and more insane, get up this alley. If, like me, you spent your formative years gorging on Holly Black's classic urban fantasy YAs, get at this one. If you like your paranormals more romance-y and plot-driven, then this will probably not be your cup of tea.

Cover discussion: ...Wow. Somehow, in the time between when I read this (on my Kindle) and now, I had completely forgotten about the cover. I guess there's some implication in there about how uneventful this cover is...?

Little, Brown / Sept. 3, 2013 / Hardcover / 421pp. / $19.00

e-galley offered by publisher for review. Thank you!

Review: White Cat by Holly Black

Curse Workers, Book 1

Tags: YA, urban fantasy, magic, organized crime

Summary

Cassel Sharpe is the only non-worker in a family of infamous magical workers who work for the infamous Zacharov crime family. Before, his main concerns were navigating high school and trying to get over the fact that he killed his best friend, Lila Zacharov, several years earlier. Now, however, a series of increasingly scary events—sleepwalking, revelations about his brothers, secrets of what really happened to Lila—draw Cassel deeper into the world of organized crime, where workers can do illegal magic on someone else with just one touch of their hand.

Review

No pun intended, but I curse myself for not reading this book earlier because DANG was it good. WHITE CAT is a genius combination of memorable protagonist, brilliant world-building, and effortless narration.

Holly Black manages to paint for readers an alternate world in which magic is mixed with organized crime, all without sacrificing an action-filled, fast-paced plot. WHITE CAT is set in the affluent suburbs of New Jersey, and the Sharpe family’s secrets and the Zacharovs’ criminal doings clash deliciously with its idyllic setting.

While the plot of WHITE CAT is not expansive, it is fast-moving and fascinating enough to make it an unputdownable read. Occasionally I wanted more details about how working for a crime family works, but the details of curse-working are described thoroughly, and anyway, I think that the main focus of WHITE CAT is on the complexities of family loyalty. Cassel and his two older brothers share a complicated relationship with trust issues. What happens when one can’t trust one’s family?

As far as male protagonists go, Cassel is an enjoyable one. Sometimes male protagonists in contemporary YA rub me the wrong way with either their desperate attempt at coolness or their disturbingly played apathy. Cassel is neither type. Rather, Cassel is a survivor: he desires normalcy in his life, but when that inevitably cannot occur, he makes the best of his situations.

WHITE CAT is a highly engaging quality read by one of YA’s most talented speculative fiction writers. It will appeal to readers of both contemporary and speculative fiction. Don’t miss it!

Cover discussion: This cover is so bloody good. I love the high-contrast lighting and the black-white-red scheme. That white cat upon the black leather stinks of indulgent deliciousness.

Margaret K. McElderry / Feb. 8, 2011 / Paperback (reprint) / 310pp. / $8.99

Sent for review by publisher.

Waiting on Wednesday (47)

The Curse Workers, Book 1: The White Cat by Holly Black

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers -- people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail -- he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.


Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.


Holly Black has created a gripping tale of mobsters and dark magic where a single touch can bring love -- or death -- and your dreams might be more real than your memories. [summary from Amazon]

I have huge respect for Holly Black. Her first book, Tithe, was one of my favorite books all throughout high school, and it still remains a favorite even now. If there's anyone who can live up to the potential that this gasp-inducing synopsis promises, it's her. Oh, and plus: that cover is easily going to be one of the most incredible ones of 2010. The first time I saw it, I nearly screamed. It's sexy and dark, inviting yet mysterious. Perfect for this story.

The White Cat will be published in hardcover by Margaret K. McElderry on May 4, 2010.