Review | White Cat by Holly Black

White Cat 

Author: Holly Black
Series: Curse Workers #1
Release Date: May 4, 2010
Pages: 310
Review by: Cassia

Cassel Sharpe comes from a family of curse workers: people who, with the touch of a bare hand, can make you love someone, break your leg, give you good luck, take your memories, or even kill you, depending on what type of worker they are. But Cassel isn’t a worker, and he’s an outsider in the one place he should feel like he belongs: his family. Oh, and he killed his best friend Lila when he was fourteen.

But he doesn’t know why. All he can remember is the feeling of gleefulness as he stared down at her body. When Cassel starts sleepwalking and having weird dreams about a white cat, he knows he’s being worked. What he doesn’t know is who could be doing it.

I’ve wanted to read this book for a while, and I’m glad I did read it. I really enjoy Black’s writing, and this book was very refreshing (from what, I don’t know), a fun read, and I loved it. Also, I love books where the protagonist is a boy AND it’s in first person. Oh and I love the criminal aspect of it. Like, Cassel isn’t a worker, but he’s got his own little casino going on. Black also gives the reader an insight into the mind of a conman: the properties of a mark, how to get the mark to trust you, and how to pull off the con. I really liked that.

I don’t know about you guys, but I love when authors put something about themselves in what they write. Like, sometimes they’ll put in one of their favorite movies and have their characters watch it. Well, in this book, Black does it with a musical: Pippin. I love musical, and I’m surprised someone else knows it. ;) (I saw it on Broadway last year; it was AWESOME.) Oh, and it’s also a symbol in the book. Normally, I don’t look for symbols, but it seemed like it would be, so when I thought about it, I was like, “Symbol!!!!” For those of you who know the musical and have read the book: Have you noticed how alike Pippin and Cassel are?

On to the characters! I really like Cassel. He’s kind of a broken soul type of character, if you know what I mean (*cough cough* Jace *cough*), and he isn’t at the same time. Sure, he murdered his best friend, but he just takes the burden of it and doesn’t talk to anyone about it, just goes on with his life and doesn’t lash out at those he loves (*cough cough* unlike Jace *cough*). With that, he willingly admits his faults. He even goes as far as to say that he is a bad person, and he’s really not. You probably think I’m crazy, so just read the book, you’ll see what I mean. And, yes, I’ll admit it, I have a crush on him. His brothers, Philip and Barron...they’re just stupid and power-hungry. I still don’t know what to think of them. There really aren’t a whole lot of characters besides his family, and his two friends I like, but they don’t really stand out. His grandfather I like, and he isn’t in the story a whole lot, but despite him being a death worker, he really does care about Cassel and his brothers.

Black creates a very unique fantasy world of black magic while exploring an also very unique family bound to another family by greed.

Four stars!

Goodbye for now,

Cassia