White Cat by Holly Black

White Cat by Holly Black
Released: May 4th, 2010
Published by: Margaret K. McElderry
Series: Curse Workers, Book One
Page Amount: 310 pages

"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. To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.

Holly Black has created a gripping tale of mobsters and dark magic where a single touch can bring love -- or death -- and your dreams might be more real than your memories."
Information from GoodReads.com

Quick Overview: Holly Black has pulled me into the world of curse working, and I am strapping on my gloves and living in Cassel's world. Thank you to Holly Black for an amazing story.

I adored Holly Black's White Cat. I know I say this a lot, but it was unlike any book I've read before. Black created an entirely different concept, although it still holds some of the classic themes of basic witchcraft. But there is a twist, you have to touch someone to work curses on them, and the world knows they exist.

There isn't much I can say about this book without giving away spoilers, but you should know that it was definitely worth the read. The way Black writes allows you to really get to know Cassel and all of the other main characters. Reading this book was like watching a movie, as most of the best books are. There is just enough details to make you understand and picture the surroundings, but not so much that you get bored and start skimming through paragraph after paragraph of pointless description.

The plot flows very smoothly through this book. I didn't feel like Black made anything happen for the strict reason of making something else happen. Every event that took place in this book seemed like a natural occurrence. With accidents and bad moves, with consequences and achievements, Holly Black wrote a life for Cassel, not a book about him.

If you're looking for something to devour, go pick up Holly Black's White Cat, because I don't think anyone will find it disappointing.


Plot: 20/20
Characters: 18/20
Creativity: 20/20
Writing: 18/20
Ending: 9/10
Cover: 10/10
=95/100=A (4.5 star equivalent)