justanotherbookblogger

Book Review

'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. It's an eternal party, shown on TV 24 hours a day - gorgeous, glamorous, deadly! Because, once you pass through Coldtown's gates, you can never leave'

When I first picked up this book I had no idea what it was about. Initially I thought it was a prison (a bit like Death Race, but with no cars) but I have to say I was rather surprised when vampires popped up.

I am not a lover of Vampire or dark romance novels (I feel they are over played and a bit boring) so I hesitated in opening this one up. But after reading the first chapter I couldn't put it down until it was finished, a weekend well spent.

Tana as a main character is a great choice, she is strong and independent and doesn't let anything faze her, never letting her true feelings show in front of those she is leading. We see her battle with her own conscience, should she save her bitten ex, should she help this clearly dangerous Vampire who's eyes look so sad, will she become the monster. Holly Black gives us action from page one and doesn't let it stumble, there is action and always something happening but it doesn't feel like its bogged down in action. There are lots of elements to this novel and Black explores them all not leaving any questions unanswered. There is a romantic side to the story as well, but its not like all those other soppy vampire love stories *cough* twilight *cough*.

Synopsis with spoilers

The book is set over 3 or 4 days and follows the character Tana, a young girl who wakes up after a party to find all her school friends brutally murdered by vampires. After rescuing her ex Aiden and a vampire Gavriel they set out to Cold Town, a walled in city were vampires and wanna be vampires live. Along the way they meet twins Midnight and Winter who want nothing more then to be vampires and live it large in Cold town. The 5 of them drive to the gates and give their lives up to enter the city, once inside thing don't go exactly to plan, Gavriel disappears, Midnight and Winter drug and kidnap Tana and Aiden (who having been bitten by a vamp is now on the brink of turning)and lock them up waiting for Aiden to snap and kill his friend. Tana manages to escape her crazed ex boyfriend only to be left alone to navigate the undead city, she meet some allies and plans to get out of the city. And her plan would have worked if her baby sister hadn't have shown up forcing Tana to give up her freedom to save her family. With her sister safe at home Tana is left in Cold town, but she's not along, she has Aiden and many allies as well as Gavriel who has promised to stay by Tana's side forever and to always love her.

This was a excellent buy for me, I loved every moment, every sentence, every comma. And I would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone who loves the fantasy/horror/romance/supernatural genre (I have recommended it to all my friends and a few random people I have seen in book stores, your welcome!)