The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black | Spoiler free 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. 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.

Rating: 3/5
Genres: YA, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance

There were enough unanswered questions and wishes for more information that while I enjoyed this novel, I still wanted more. The plot Black had in mind fit very well for a stand-alone, but there was potential for more—especially because of how little the characters developed but how intense some relationships between them became. Which isn't to say that development needs to happen for relationships to work, but people naturally change, learn more about themselves and others, and that's how relationships become stronger. So it was all a bit jarring and a whole lot of skeptical.

The pacing and scene cuts first of all were awkward—I felt like there were more background and flashback scenes than there were present ones. It could be an exaggeration since I didn't actually count the number of present and past scenes, but it's still an issue if it felt like it dragged that much. The traveling that happened felt more like aimless wandering even though there was a destination in mind. And strangely enough, even with all that, it still seemed too rushed. Things would slow down, then pick back up going twice as fast in present scenes. It's all a bit hard to explain, but expect some pacing issues if you read it.

The best thing about this novel is the vampiric world Black made up. The biting and turning process is different than the usual ones we see in novels, and the small pieces of the vampire world discussed also make it unique. The influence it had on the present human world was intriguing and creative as well; Coldtowns are an interesting concept, and I'm still not completely sure how I feel about them. But it seemed like it was a cool setting to play with since it was fun (but a bit horrifying) to read.

Lastly, I wanted to talk about Tana. She was a well-flushed out character, and we were given lots of scenes to understand how her personality came to be, but there wasn't much change that happened past that. So I wish we could have seen more of how Tana changed after all that happened, especially after the last chapter, but I still appreciated her character. She's loyal to her family and friends, tries to be tough on the outside but is scared at heart, and that's something I've always found appealing in a character. It really shows the perseverance of a person, and I'm always interested in how an author spins that character trait in their own way.

Overall, the creativity and the Black-style of flowing and magical writing helps the novel tremendously, but there were a lot of other aspects that were lacking. I would recommend this to anyone who wants a new take on the vampire genre.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater | Spoiler free review

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.” 

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive. 

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her. 

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble. 

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little. 

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

Rating: 3/5
Genre: YA, Paranormal, Fantasy, Romance

I enjoyed the characters and the overall idea of The Raven Boys a lot, and I think a good amount happened for the first in a series, but for some reason I never truly got excited about this book. There was something about it that didn't hook me, and I think it mostly centered around the pacing, narration, and point of view.

Firstly, I began to lose a bit of interest thanks to the slow pacing towards the first half; things were slowed down in order to introduce all the characters and their goals, which took a good amount of time. Also, the first meeting scene, in my opinion, could have been taken out and replaced by an event that was already being set-up. It did add a bit more to a later scene because characters were somewhat-kinda acquainted, but not enough that I think it was truly needed. The pacing was better throughout the rest of the book, but it still seemed a bit disjointed overall.

Moving on to the characters and narration, I think this was what bothered me the most. There were multiple narrators in this book, and sometimes it wasn't obvious at first who was telling a chapter. I'm not a fan of more than two narrators in books anyway because even though we do gain more information from different characters that way, I also think we lost a bit of the authenticity. Even if I know that the narrator is biased, and shouldn't be trusted, I could at least trust that their voice is true. That trust gets harder once you throw in four different eyes to see through.

Similarly, I know characters are layered, and that makes them interesting and real, but I struggled to find the true character beneath these ones. They all were well-developed in a checklist sort of way, but I wasn't 100% sure of their true personality. I questioned the actions and thoughts of them too much to be comfortable, and thus began to lose interest.

Overall, the creative setting and theme of the novel may be enough to continue the series, but I'm sadly not too impressed with The Raven Boys. The series is a quartet known as The Raven Cycle, and the third book came out last year. If you're interested in paranormal YA, I would still recommend this to those who want to try it out.