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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
I did not like it and i will not be reading anymore in the series.
Cassel is the lone member of his family who doesn't have a curse. His mother is an emotion worker. His brothers are a physical and a luck worker. His grandfather is a death worker. All of them use their curses on the black market, working for crime families or on crimes, in order to get by. They all have secrets. Unfortunately for Cassel, many of them revolve around him. Can he figure out what they are keeping from him before it is too late?
Holly Black does an excellent job of detailing the different motivations of all the characters in this fracas, impressive because she maintains Cassel as the viewpoint character throughout. No-one is entirely who they seem, but Cassel has to quickly determine who he can trust and who he will have to fool. It is a complicated scheme, but Black is up to the challenge. An involving and disturbing heist novel. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Red Glove.
Holly Black does an excellent job of detailing the different motivations of all the characters in this fracas, impressive because she maintains Cassel as the viewpoint character throughout. No-one is entirely who they seem, but Cassel has to quickly determine who he can trust and who he will have to fool. It is a complicated scheme, but Black is up to the challenge. An involving and disturbing heist novel. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Red Glove.
This one took me a little while to get into. The start felt a bit tepid to me; a cool and distant narrating character, the inability to really describe people, places or... Well, anything much made the whole this feel a bit to vague and nebulous. I fully expected to end up DNF'ing purely because it wasn't holding my attention. But the concept of the "curse workers" and the little details about this sort-of magic system gleaned from those early pages made me persevere. The payoff - as in, reaching a part of the story that was actually interesting - took far too long, but the ending helped redeem it.
Simply put, it's set in an alternate reality where a certain group of people known as curse workers have different magical skills. Via skin contact, some can manipulate luck, others emotions; there's quite a lot of variation. Most of them run in big mafia-style crime family gangs, what with curse working being illegal and all. Cassel is the youngest of a brood of curse workers, and yet shows no aptitude for it. His mother's in jail, his brothers dismiss him, and to top it off, the only girl he ever loved died by his hand and he can't even remember why. Now he's sleepwalking onto the roof of his fancy school, haunted by the image of a white cat...
Yeah, that's some big teen drama right there. The dead girlfriend thing was what confused me most about Cassel - he recounted this so casually, rarely did I get a feel for his emotions through his narration. He came across as aloof, and it took a very long time for me to really be able to pin him down as a character. I just didn't buy him as the wheeler-dealer type at first because it was all tell without the show. The same goes for his "love" of the girl Lila; I just didn't believe it. He does a lot of meandering down memory lane, often splitting short paragraphs of past and present, which didn't help with the flow.
Descriptions also bugged me. Or should I say, lack of them. I don't know what people and places looked like (except lovely lovely Lila), and some characters are just name-dropped like I should already know them (the entire cast of Cassel's schoolmates just appear and vanish, and I had no idea what their relationships were like). I didn't get much of a sense of any of the characters; they all seemed a little bit flat. They could have been interesting, but I wish we'd gotten to see something a bit more rounded than the one-note Point Of Interest they'd all been assigned. I feel like I should have understood at least Phillip and Barron better, but they seemed generic mobster-types.
The story didn't really take off until about 60% of the way through, and that first part could be so frustrating. You spent ages waiting for Cassel to put the pieces together while you'd probably already completed the jigsaw and seen the whole picture. The ending was much more satisfying, the pace picking up and Cassel finally showing off his con-man skills to great effect. Here you could suspect his plans, but still appreciate them as they unfolded.
Maybe I just don't get on with Holly Black's YA characters. I find them cold and unrelatable, and the insta-romances aren't my thing (luckily there's very little romance in this one; I just wasn't feeling what was implied). The plot was pretty good when it got going and the world building seemed very imaginitive, so the series does interest me even if the characters and their relationships feel a little under-cooked.
Simply put, it's set in an alternate reality where a certain group of people known as curse workers have different magical skills. Via skin contact, some can manipulate luck, others emotions; there's quite a lot of variation. Most of them run in big mafia-style crime family gangs, what with curse working being illegal and all. Cassel is the youngest of a brood of curse workers, and yet shows no aptitude for it. His mother's in jail, his brothers dismiss him, and to top it off, the only girl he ever loved died by his hand and he can't even remember why. Now he's sleepwalking onto the roof of his fancy school, haunted by the image of a white cat...
Yeah, that's some big teen drama right there. The dead girlfriend thing was what confused me most about Cassel - he recounted this so casually, rarely did I get a feel for his emotions through his narration. He came across as aloof, and it took a very long time for me to really be able to pin him down as a character. I just didn't buy him as the wheeler-dealer type at first because it was all tell without the show. The same goes for his "love" of the girl Lila; I just didn't believe it
Spoiler
even later on when she's back, it's like insta-love "yay let's make out because YA" rather than feeling like they ever had anything between them which made it a little bit meh for meDescriptions also bugged me. Or should I say, lack of them. I don't know what people and places looked like (except lovely lovely Lila), and some characters are just name-dropped like I should already know them (the entire cast of Cassel's schoolmates just appear and vanish, and I had no idea what their relationships were like). I didn't get much of a sense of any of the characters; they all seemed a little bit flat. They could have been interesting, but I wish we'd gotten to see something a bit more rounded than the one-note Point Of Interest they'd all been assigned. I feel like I should have understood at least Phillip and Barron better, but they seemed generic mobster-types.
The story didn't really take off until about 60% of the way through, and that first part could be so frustrating. You spent ages waiting for Cassel to put the pieces together while you'd probably already completed the jigsaw and seen the whole picture. The ending was much more satisfying, the pace picking up and Cassel finally showing off his con-man skills to great effect. Here you could suspect his plans, but still appreciate them as they unfolded.
Maybe I just don't get on with Holly Black's YA characters. I find them cold and unrelatable, and the insta-romances aren't my thing (luckily there's very little romance in this one; I just wasn't feeling what was implied). The plot was pretty good when it got going and the world building seemed very imaginitive, so the series does interest me even if the characters and their relationships feel a little under-cooked.
Great read! Nothing in is perfect. All decisions, whether made for the right reasons or not, lead to uncomfortable results. Holly Black writes Young Adult fiction for adults. Cassel's story has the right amount of grit. It doesn't fall into the common pitfall of teenage angst (hello, [b:New Moon|49041|New Moon (Twilight, #2)|Stephenie Meyer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275698709s/49041.jpg|3203964]!). Cassel's lives between two worlds: one of his privileged schoolmates and one of his outcast criminal family. He won't let himself trust the former and can't trust the latter.
Interesting and with great characters but a little fast with its plot twists. More time could have been spent on them maybe. But all in all a good read, definitely want to read the rest, and I adore Lila okay wow
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I first read this book eight years ago, when I was 15. At the time, I really hadn't read any urban fantasy before. I was confused by the totally frank, matter-of-fact descriptions of amazing and bizarre happenings. I left feeling the book was fairly disjointed, but found myself intrigued by the concept of a world where magic is a central, non-hidden part of the modern world.
Reading it again, after years of familiarity with urban fantasy, I have a much greater appreciation for it. This time around, the world made perfect sense, and I found the book to be well crafted and not at all confusing. One thing still held true: I love Cassel and his story. His character and development stuck with me even when I forgot all the details of the world, and it still shines through years later. I deeply enjoyed this read; 15-year-old me gave it a 3 stars, but 23-year-old me gives it 5 stars.
Reading it again, after years of familiarity with urban fantasy, I have a much greater appreciation for it. This time around, the world made perfect sense, and I found the book to be well crafted and not at all confusing. One thing still held true: I love Cassel and his story. His character and development stuck with me even when I forgot all the details of the world, and it still shines through years later. I deeply enjoyed this read; 15-year-old me gave it a 3 stars, but 23-year-old me gives it 5 stars.
Well, this was lovely. And by “lovely” I mean “full of betrayal, secrets, danger, cons, and adventures”. White Cat, while outside a genre I typically read(urban fantasy), was a great book. White Cat takes place in a world that seems mostly just like the normal universe–except for the addition of curse workers. There are all different kinds of workers, and it’s something that you’re either born with or your not. There’s luck workers, death workers, love workers, memory workers, etc. Black really takes this idea and runs with it, tying it into the world via history. There are all sorts of laws and mandates against curse workers using their magic, though of course it doesn’t stop most of them. Since curses are worked via touch, everyone wears gloves, but other than that it’s a pretty normal world.
Cassel is an awesome main character–he’s also a bit of an unreliable one, because the lines between his dreams/reality/memories are becoming blurred quickly, and he realizes that early on. He does his best to ward against it, but in a world full of magic with people who can take your memory from you, there’s only so much he can do. Sometimes when books use this type of plot device, I find it tiring and just meant to create suspense for the reader(like in The Maze Runner), but in White Cat it works so well because there’s a definite in-universe example of why Cassel might have trouble remembering certain bits of his life.
This book starts with Cassel of a roof edge, wondering how he got there, and then finding himself temporarily suspended from his school for mental health-related reasons. From there, Cassel starts putting the pieces together and realizes something really isn’t right here. I won’t go too much into the plot because it’s better the kind of thing you discover for yourself, but it’s filled with magic, lies, and most importantly–con men.
White Cat relies a lot on cons and trickery to work, and it does so well. I think this is really to the book’s advantage because if it had focused on JUST the magic system it could have easily fell flat. The way curses work is interesting, but not terribly original. The addition of deceit and crime families, though? It totally took the book to the next level, especially playing on the way Cassel and his brothers interacted with the descendants of the most powerful crime family.
The pacing in White Cat was spot-on. I was thrown right into the story and never wanted to surface. I listened to the audiobook, which just made everything better. It’s narrated by Jesse Eisenberg, who does a fantastic job with Cassel’s voice. Cassel is a bit of a dry and sarcastic character, so it fits really well. I was hooked until the beginning chapter, and there wasn’t a time I was ever disappointed in how the story was going. The latter half of the book especially made good use of side characters and deception.
Cassel is an awesome main character–he’s also a bit of an unreliable one, because the lines between his dreams/reality/memories are becoming blurred quickly, and he realizes that early on. He does his best to ward against it, but in a world full of magic with people who can take your memory from you, there’s only so much he can do. Sometimes when books use this type of plot device, I find it tiring and just meant to create suspense for the reader(like in The Maze Runner), but in White Cat it works so well because there’s a definite in-universe example of why Cassel might have trouble remembering certain bits of his life.
This book starts with Cassel of a roof edge, wondering how he got there, and then finding himself temporarily suspended from his school for mental health-related reasons. From there, Cassel starts putting the pieces together and realizes something really isn’t right here. I won’t go too much into the plot because it’s better the kind of thing you discover for yourself, but it’s filled with magic, lies, and most importantly–con men.
White Cat relies a lot on cons and trickery to work, and it does so well. I think this is really to the book’s advantage because if it had focused on JUST the magic system it could have easily fell flat. The way curses work is interesting, but not terribly original. The addition of deceit and crime families, though? It totally took the book to the next level, especially playing on the way Cassel and his brothers interacted with the descendants of the most powerful crime family.
The pacing in White Cat was spot-on. I was thrown right into the story and never wanted to surface. I listened to the audiobook, which just made everything better. It’s narrated by Jesse Eisenberg, who does a fantastic job with Cassel’s voice. Cassel is a bit of a dry and sarcastic character, so it fits really well. I was hooked until the beginning chapter, and there wasn’t a time I was ever disappointed in how the story was going. The latter half of the book especially made good use of side characters and deception.