Brad About Books: White Cat by Holly Black

WHITE CAT
Published: February 8, 2011
Publisher: McElderry Books (Simon & Schuster)
Format: Paperback Reprint
Page Count: 310 pages
Source: Barnes and Noble
Series: Curse Workers, #1
First Line: "I wake up barefoot, standing on cold slate tiles."

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.

WHITE CAT is a dark and fantastic novel with imagination beyond belief.

Like I just stated, WHITE CAT is one of those books that has the best imagination trapped inside the story. Holly Black did an amazing job crafting and weaving this dangerous world together, and she made her characters very realistic.

Speaking of characters, our main protagonist, Cassel, is one of the best male characters I have ever read about. He is interesting and has a backstory behind him, which makes him even more interesting. And he’s so clever with all the things he says and does. And the white cat in the story? I thought that the way Holly Black introduced that key element into the story was perfect.

I felt sorrow for Lila. Once you learned what actually happened to her and her death (*NOT A SPOILER*), it makes you want to rip two specific character’s heads off.

And again, this world is incredible. I have never read a book like this, and I highly suggest that you read it.

Overall, WHITE CAT was fantastic. I need to read book two ASAP.