The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

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.
This book started out so promising, with so much potential, that it is such a shame to have to say the second half bored me to tears.

It’s starts off with a bang, with lots of action, quick pacing, and, though it does not have the most unique characters or situations, the story does hold the reader’s attention. Somewhere in the middle, however, the plot unravels. The characters start to behave both predictably and completely out of character, which I didn’t think was possible. Too many other names are thrown into the mix as soon as our protagonists get to Coldtown, and, since none of those characters are actually developed enough, they start blurring together, leaving the reader trying to figure out who exactly is who. Gavriel and Tana, our protagonists, are of course somehow attracted to each other without too much reason, and out “villain” is laughable at best.

There isn’t much more to say because, honestly, I was bored enough that my mind wandered through a bit of the last chapters. I really was hoping I’d have better news about this one, but I have to say this one is not on my recommendation list.