Review: White Cat by Holly Black

White Cat (Curse Workers, Book 1)-Holly Black
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Publication Date: 5/10
Author Website
Source: Purchased


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.
(Amazon description)

I loved White Cat. No, I didn't just love White Cat, I LOVED it. All caps. Exclamation Points. Glittery Hearts! I have to admit I was hooked when I read the title of the series. Curse Workers. It just rolls off the tongue. I bought White Cat the day after it came out, which is pretty rare for me. The last book I bought so quickly was the last Harry Potter book!


Cassel is an engaging narrator. It's not too often that I read YA novels with a male narrator, as I don't often find myself wanting to be inside the mind of a teenage boy, but Cassel is wise beyond his years. By all reasoning, I shouldn't care for this book, because the main characters are less than reliable. You have to wonder if you as the reader are being conned. They're also not that likable, but Cassel manages to be. I had to put down Holly Black's Tithe for that reason, I could care not a whit about any of the characters. Well, that and I really hate fairies. So, there's that.

But I digress. White Cat takes you on an engaging journey and flips you through plot twist after plot twist. It's kind of hard to do a proper review of this book without revealing spoilers, but one of the twists left me for a loop and I'm usually the type of reader that sees things coming a long way off.

 I'll be bringing my copy to ALA with me, hopefully I can get Holly to sign it, as there are a few other great signings going on the same time as hers! Eeek.