The Coldest Girl in Coldtown-Holly Black

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown-Holly Black

Cover:
 
Trama:
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.

Recensione:
Allora. Premetto minacciando di morte e disgrazie varie tutti coloro che in questo momento staranno alzando le spalle per sbuffare, come ho spesso fatto anch'io <<NOOO! Un altro libro sui vampiri!!!>>.
Non fatelo.
Non osate.
Non in questo blog.
Non davanti a me.
No.
*Maggie:<<Nilla credo che tu abbia reso il concetto...>>*
Non vi permettete.
Piuttosto non leggete oltre.
Sarà meglio per voi...Ora vi spiego perché.

Ho aspettato un mucchio prima di fare questa recensione.
E nel frattempo ho riletto quel libro 4 volte.
*Sguardo indagatore*
Okay,forse 5.
*Sguardo ancora indagatore*
6...
*Sguardo*
Oh, e va bene, ho perso il conto.MA SAPPIATE CHE HO INTENZIONE DI RILEGGERLO UN'ALTRA VOLTA!
*Sguardo...*
Uffa!! Lo sto già rileggendo di nuovo, ok?
Perché? Perché è STRAFIGO!
E' il libro migliore dell'anno, anzi, del MILLENNIO! (Lasciate stare il fatto che lo dico ogni volta che incontro un bel libro, questo è davvero SUPER!)
Tana è una protagonista reale: si comporta proprio come farebbe una comune ragazza della sua età se si trovasse nei suoi panni e ti fa capire la differenza abissale fra un Personaggio con la "p" maiuscola e una misera eroina piatta e bidimensionale.
Tana ha quel briciolo di follia sufficiente a renderla simpatica al lettore, la giusta dose di sarcasmo e una razionalità intaccabile.
Seriamente, trasmette tantissimo.

E poi...Gavriel!
Bello,romantico e pazzo: è semplicemente STUPENDO!
Altro che il solito bad boy rompipalle che non sa fare niente oltre a essere bad boy e rompipalle.
Gavriel mi ha fatto letteralmente morire!
E quanto è dooooolce...
Certe frasi me le sono rilette milioni di volte per quanto erano belle!
Volevo cementificarmele (o meglio,asfaltarmele) nel cervello per non scordarle!
Solo,non credete che sia solo così semplice descrivere Gavriel.
Sto per fare uno spoiler grosso come una casa: lui è il Thorn of Istra.
Leggendo capirete cosa significa.
Si è lasciato prendere dal suo buon cuore in passato ed è deciso a non rifarlo, perché questo ha prodotto eventi assurdi che,come capirete dal libro, si ripercuotono ancora oggi.
Urge una frase che ha detto per rendere il concetto:

"This is the world I remade with my terrible mercy"

Inoltre, non date troppo per scontate le apparenze perché alla fine nulla sarà ciò che sembrava.

Okay,basta con il parlare criptico,l'ermetismo è andato da un pezzo.

Pensate che Gavriel in una scena (SPOILER)...no cosa dico,ve la copio e ve la incollo.
Tana si è fermata a un autogrill per darsi una ripulita e comprare un qualcosa da mangiare subito dopo essere fuggita in auto con Aiden (di cui per ora non dico niente, le critiche fioccheranno dopo) e Gavriel (legato e coperto per non incenerirsi al sole) dalla casa dove si era svegliata quella mattina prima di trovarli (e con loro trovare anche altri...diciamo...ospiti ben poco graditi e gradevoli).
Lei è uscita dall'auto con Aiden lasciando Gavriel dentro (POOR! *svenimento*) ma quando hanno finito e stanno tornando vedono che Gavriel è fuggito.
Aiden tenta di persuaderla a diventare anche lei Cold e,quando Tana cerca di rifiutare, lui le salta addosso per infettarla con la forza.
Ed arriva Gavriel, a staccarglielo di dosso e metterlo ko.
Dopodiché Gavriel e Tana entrano nell'auto e lui,notando che lei è distrutta,si offre di guidare.
E:

“Well, he’s gone now. It’s just you and me.” Aidan grinned lazily at her. It was the exact expression he always wore when he was about to talk her into something.

“Yeah,” said Tana. He kept staring and his expression shifted. She didn’t think he was seeing her anymore. He was seeing skin and bone and blood. She took a step back. The tire iron was on the passenger-side seat where she’d left it. She’d never reach it in time. “So let’s get back in the car and keep going. Maybe find a hotel like you said.” She was just talking, trying to say something that would distract him. “Hole up, like you said.”

“Or we could give in to temptation.” He shook his head slowly, coming closer. “Think about it.”

“You don’t mean that,” she told him.

“Why not?” he asked, advancing. “It could be fun. There’s people out there who’d kill for what we have.”

“I don’t want to be a monster,” she said, stumbling away from him. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the gleam of a security camera mounted on the aluminum siding of the mart above the door. “Let’s get in the car. You can try to convince me. I promise I’ll give it serious consideration.”

“Oh good,” Aidan said, and lunged at her.

She’d been half expecting it, given the way he was talking, but the attack still caught her off guard. He was her friend, and no matter how much she knew he wasn’t safe, all her instincts pushed her to trust him. She threw the mocha she’d been holding, hoping the hot coffee would scald, and ran. His legs were longer, though, and he was faster. He tackled her, his weight bearing her to the asphalt. She felt his cool breath on her neck, and her knees and palms stung where she’d scraped them falling. The bag of food fell next to her, cracked root beer bottle frothing as the tide of liquid spread to soak the skirt of her baby doll dress and mingle with spilled gasoline, washing away the spent stubs of cigarettes.

This is it, she thought, this is where I’m going to die. And it’s going to be on film, watched by the clerk from behind his wall of glass, taped on the camera and maybe broadcast later for her father and sister.

Aidan made a sound like a gurgling scream, and Tana winced, waiting for the inevitable pain. But instead of the blunt burn of teeth, she felt him releasing his grip on her and heard him shout. She rolled onto her back, one hand reaching for the broken bottle, the only weapon available. Her fingers closed on it and she swept it out in a wide arc, hoping to hit skin.

Then she gasped.

Gavriel was standing in front of her, his arms around Aidan’s chest, his mouth on Aidan’s neck, his eyes shut. There was a terrible peace in his face as he lifted Aidan off the ground, a terrible pleasure as his throat moved, drinking down swallow after swallow of blood. Aidan’s eyes were half open, heavy-lidded, and focused on nothing. He wasn’t struggling anymore, his mouth hung open in sensual bliss, his body shuddering with sensation.

For one long moment, Tana couldn’t move. It was more than the fear of drawing attention to herself, more than the fear of being hurt. She ought to be horrified, but she found herself mesmerized instead.

Aidan moaned, low in his throat. Gavriel’s fingers tightened, pulling Aidan’s body against his.

Slowly, painfully, Tana pushed herself to her feet. Blood and gravel stuck to her knees and palms. Her once-white dress was filthy.

“Gavriel,” she said as firmly as she could manage, and prayed her voice wouldn’t shake. She thought of the way you were supposed to talk to wild animals, the way you couldn’t let them know you were afraid. “Gavriel! Let him go.”

He didn’t move, didn’t even seem to notice.

She grabbed his arm, half expecting him to whirl on her. “Please let Aidan go. He’s going to die!”

The vampire pulled back his head, eyes shut, fangs red, and mouth split in a wide grin. Then his eyes did open, bright as torches, and she stumbled back, terrified. Aidan’s body sagged from his arms to the pavement.

From the way Gavriel was looking at her, she wondered if he was thinking about the blood rising to her cheeks, of the way it pounded along with her speeding heart, the flush of it on her skin and the way it colored her lips.

It came to her, all of a sudden, the words he’d said to her in Lance’s house.

If I’m hurt, you must be very careful. No, Tana, you must listen. You must be careful of me.

He hadn’t been worried he was going to get hurt. He’d been worried that he was going to hurt someone else.

“Don’t,” she said, shrinking back, the jagged bottle stem she still had clenched in her hand seeming hopelessly inadequate, a bright piece of glass and nothing more. “Please.”

Gavriel wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of one hand. “Come, Tana. The night is young and your friend is very tired. We should make him a bed—a cap of flowers and a kirtle, embroidered all with leaves of myrtle.” His voice sounded odd, abstracted.

She bent down to where Aidan was lying and touched his chest. It rose and fell as if he was, indeed, only sleeping. “Is he going to—will he live?”

“No,” said Gavriel. “No chance of that. He wants to die, so he will. But not tonight and not because of me.”

“Oh,” Tana said. “So he’s okay?”

Under the floodlights, Gavriel’s skin looked nearly white, his mouth stained red despite his rubbing it. It was the first time she’d seen him standing and again she was struck by the incongruity of him—tall, bare feet, jeans, and a black T-shirt turned inside out, messy black hair, chains gone, looking like the shadow of a regular boy, a boy her age, who wasn’t a boy at all.

And there was a body slumped at his feet.

“Yes,” he said, reaching out a hand. “But you’re hurt.”

She looked down at herself, at the mess of her dress and the mess of her knees and the mess of everything. “I haven’t had a very good day. I think I might still be hung over and everyone’s dead and my root beer’s gone.” Horrifyingly, she felt her eyes prick with sudden tears.

He bent down and picked up Aidan, slinging him over one shoulder. “We’ll get you another day,” Gavriel said, with such odd sincerity that she had to smile.

 

Cavolo!! Sto andando in tachicardia.

Se potessi incollar il final... Vale la pena di leggerlo solo per quello!

E aspettate di leggere il resto...

Mi è persino passata la voglia di sputare fiele su Aiden!

Scherzo.

Mi è tornata.

Avete presente prima,quando dicevo che Gavriel fa capire il gap fra un buon protagonista maschile e il classico e stra-abusato bad boy?

Anche Aiden lo fa.

Perché lui è il classico e stra-abusato bad boy.

Alias una esimia testa di cazzo (scusate il termine maleducato ma ci vuole proprio).

Egoista,affabulatore,stronzo come pochi (scusate di nuovo) e manipolatore.

Non fa altro che causare problemi alla povera Tana! E tutto per quello "sguardo da cucciolo abbandonato" o,come lo chiamo io "occhioni da Bambi strozzato con del filo spinato".

Quello che Aiden non sa e di cui neanche Tana si rende conto fino alla fine è che esistono i canili,luoghi appositi dove persone di gran cuore e spirito di sacrificio si prendono cura dei suddetti cuccioli.

Luoghi dove Tana avrebbe dovuto rinchiudere il suo Bambi all'inizio della storia.

E poi andarsene.

E lasciarlo lì.

Solo come merita di stare.

 

Davvero, l'ho odiato.

Volevo ucciderlo.

*Io che mi rendo conto di aver usato accidentalmente un tempo verbale passato*

VOGLIO ucciderlo.

 Tanto.

L'unica cosa buona che fa la fa alla fine finissima finalissima (ultimi capitoli per intenderci, e pure di sfuggita perché la Black ha di meglio da raccontare in quel momento), e comunque è troppo stupido per tutto il resto del romanzo per farmi spoilerare quell'UNICA miserevole buona azione.

Grr.

 

Voto:

***** Cinque asterischi e lode bis!

 

Autrice:

Petronilla in love <3