Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

34 reviews

louisepea's review

adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A little too young adult to be fully enjoyable for me, but Holly Black's story-telling was beautiful and immersive, as always. 

Unlike her Folk of the Air series, this is one YA book I think is best suited to teenagers. Especially those who've ever thought about running away from home to become or befriend a vampire.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Violence, Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Toxic friendship, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child death, and Confinement

smuttymcbookface's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

There was a lot to love about this, and some things I didn't like so much.

The darkness of the world-building was great, and it was nice that this had a vampire-human romance that did not romanticise vampirism. I loved the "in-between" chapters which gave extra information. The length of them was perfect so that you didn't feel like you were being pulled away from the story.

There was something very compelling and relatable about Tana and Aiden. It was nice to see through the "cool although kid" mask into the real fear of not fitting in and not finding yourself. Although I found it a little annoying that everyone was alt, it did make the world-building more fun.

I liked that Tana wasn't a Mary Sue; she made so many mistakes, and kept going back and forgiving people she really shouldn't have.

I love how the story unravelled, with more and more slowly revealed. However, I did not like the final climax,

and that she went dancing with her 12 year old sister and friends directly afterwards as if nothing had happened and she wasn't traumatised from parties or in the process of turning?

I did like the final chapter though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, and Self harm

Moderate: Torture and Grief

librarymouse's review

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I read this book for the first time when it came out in 2013. Over a decade later, I am so happy that this book has held up against the memory I had of reading it for the first time. It does hit some of the pitfalls of other vampire fiction, like a man who looks young but is nearly a century old falling in love with a seventeen year old girl. However, Holly Black's exploration of the characters and the reasoning behind the formation of their mutual interest being rooted in something other than just physical attraction, made it far less icky than it could have been. With the impulsivity of the young vampires and the impulsivity and hedonism of the vampires who were turned at a young age, it makes me wonder if there is a halting of mental and emotional development at the age at which they were turned in this iteration of vampire lore. This book is absolutely blood-soaked, with descriptive explanations of viscera and torture, but it is also incredibly funny, and oddly very human.

I really thought Aiden was going to kill Pearl after his shenanigans and coercion after being turned. It was a nice twist to see that even as they've become morally gray, they're still the same characters - the existential question underlying the entire book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Body horror, Murder, Violence, Confinement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Death, Mental illness, and Suicide

Moderate: Drug use and Infidelity

Minor: Dysphoria and Excrement

batgirl_bethany's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Gore

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic and Suicide

folkofthebook's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

We all wind up drawn to what we’re afraid of, drawn to try to find a way to make ourselves safe from a thing by crawling inside of it, by loving it, by becoming it.

tana became it so jude could become so much worse.

this was unexpected. dystopian meets gothic horror, with that unique, macabre holly black etherealness.

Every hero is the villain of his own story, wouldn't you say?"

tana wakes up to a party full of dead friends with her ex-boyfriend tied to a bed and a chained-up vampire in the next room.

“You are more dangerous than daybreak.”

a slower-paced standalone with eery imagery of locked-down cities full of vampires and vampire chasers and their gore, with glimpses of a haunting romance.

And if she could go back and do all those crazy, impossible things, then maybe she could be crazy enough to go forward and save herself, too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Gore

Minor: Death of parent

vexatiousbird's review

adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Solid YA - good appealing world building, clever and fun read, classic vampire swoons. Believable teenage stupidity and the right dash of courage for a hero. Lots of grey morality.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Blood

Moderate: Death of parent and Gore

Minor: Drug use, Torture, and Suicide

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Medical content, Animal death, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Classism, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Child death, Death, Blood, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Cannibalism, Addiction, Alcohol, Confinement, Cursing, Dysphoria, Gore, Murder, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Torture, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Violence

laurenevlyn's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

One of the most entertaining books I’ve ever read. I’m in awe at Holly Black and her ability to create such complex characters and stories. This books was as much a commentary on society and romanticization as it was a story. I loved both aspects of it. I believe I may be thoroughly in love with both Tana and Gavriel. Speaking of, I also adored how Tana got shit done. She had such reasonable thought processes and the kind of common sense that is rare among YA protagonists. All in all, an incredible book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Torture, Gore, Death of parent, Murder, Child death, Confinement, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gun violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

Minor: Self harm and Suicidal thoughts

nuanua's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
fav line: “My lady, the tiger.” LIKE BABY PLEASEEEEE  <gavriel is everything ❤️❤️>

OMG THIS BOOK WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING I LITERALLY JUST FINISHED!!! MY BOO BADDY GAV ❤️❤️❤️ WILL ABSOLUTELY LOVE HIM FOREVER 😩😩😩

anyway an actual review:
this was top tier. a veryyy veryyy solid book. the way miss black writes this book and keeps you literally hook, line, and sinking for the next page 😩 like there’s literally a cliffhanger AT THE END OF EVERY CHAPTER!! 

at one chapter im like i dont want this to end and when i get to the next chapter i don’t want to read it but after i finish it im like what happens next i wanna know?? but now im at the continuation of the chapter from before and all i want to read is the chapter that i just finished??!!!

 it’s the way she jumps from povs and prinkles in the past of gavriel and the pov of the other characters. 

COULD BE A MOVIE MA’AM!!

anyway this is my longest review and i have to say this is hands down one the best vanilla romance books ive read in a while. honestly tops cruel prince (im sorry cardan 😔🤞)

DEFINITELY RECOMMEND!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Death, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent

ghostlyprince's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Grief, Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Cannibalism, Death, Child death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, and Torture

Moderate: Confinement, Abandonment, Suicide, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Animal cruelty, Police brutality, Sexual content, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Body horror, Animal death, Body shaming, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, and Vomit