Review: White Cat (Curse Workers #1) by Holly Black

Hiya!

White Cat (Curse Workers #1) by Holly Black

Goodreads summary: 

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers — people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail — he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.

 Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen. 

My thoughts: The Curse Workers by Holly Black just became one of my favorite YA series. White Cat was like a breath of fresh air for me – it gave the me the feeling that YA fiction is finally back on track. Though I enjoyed all the YA books I read lately, I always felt like there was something missing. I’m not sure what that was, but I found it in White Cat.:D (Maybe a cool male lead character? A story that was not just another love story between a human and a supernatural or about teenage angst? A refreshing male POV? Some paranormal elements that seemed real, believable? All of the above?:)) I don't know, but it worked perfectly for me.)

Black introduces us to the world of cons and mobsters, where using magic is illegal. Each member of Cassel’s family can use a different kind magic, and they all take advantage of it – except for Cassel. That’s why he’s always felt the outcast, the black sheep of the family. At least, he tries to blend in and make friends at the fancy boarding school where he goes, but even that changes after he starts sleepwalking. Smart and intuitive as he is, he soon realizes that his family not only hides things from him, but they played him. I'm not going to get into details, I can't say more than the goodreads summary says already anyway, but I really liked how the plot developed. The suspense and the mystery kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. And I liked that Cassel wasn't intimidated by his family games - or of the Zacharov family for that matter - that he knew he couldn't trust anyone entirely and decided to find out everything by himself. Even if that meant turning their own weapons against them in the process.

So I really liked Cassel : "Clever as the Devil, and twice as pretty.":)) His dry humor and his attitude make of him a lovely character – someone I’d like to hang out with in real life. He’s smart, funny and sarcastic and his only flaw is…well, his family. They’re all mysterious untrustworthy mobsters, who play dangerous games with their magic abilities and have no respect for anything or anyone - not even for their own siblings. Even so, they 're still complex characters that help the story progress in a very intriguing way. His older brothers, Philip and Barron, are pretty scary. His mother is in jail and his grandfather, though he seems to be the only person Cassel can count on, can kill anyone just with a touch of his hand.*shivers*

The beginning of the book was a little confusing, but once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. I liked everything about it: the original plot, the cons world, the characters, the mystery, the touch of romance... And Black's writing style is brilliant and very compelling. I really recommend this book to any paranormal lover who's looking for an original story and a new voice.;) 4.5/5*





I LOVED it!!! It's a must read!
(When I started reading this book, I wanted to smack myself in the head for not reading it sooner, but after I finished reading it, I actually wanted to pat myself on the back for waiting till the sequel was out, considering the way it ended. LOL And I've just started reading Red Glove, I can't wait to see what happens next!).


xoxo