16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Black's Art of 'White Cat', March 27, 2010
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I thoroughly enjoyed Holly Black's first installment of The Curse Workers series: White Cat. In it, we're introduced to Cassel Sharpe and the world in which he lives--one much like our own save for the fact that "workers" exist who can work magic by touch alone. Cassel is the misfit in a family full of workers and con artists: since he wasn't born a worker, he has made up for his lack of gifts by perfecting the art of the con. With Cassel's mother in jail for working a man as a part of a con, and his boarding school kicking him out over an episode of sleepwalking, Cassel is left to the unstable care of his two brothers Phillip and Barron, and their grandfather. Haunted by his past, he works on conning his way back into school, uncovering some evidence that he himself is being worked--but by who? And can he save his family in the process of saving himself?
This was one of the best YA fantasy reads I've read in a while. I love the world that Black has created in this first installment of the series. Cassel is a great character whom the reader is going to love. Plus, his conniving family has enough interpersonal problems to keep things interesting as he tries to get to the bottom of the appearance of a mysterious white cat. The ending was a nice twist that left the reader pleasantly hanging for the second installment--while most of the questions have been answered, we know there's still more to the story! I'm looking forward to Book 2, and I hope we get to read more about Cassel and his family in the next one.
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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cassel Can't Seem To Stop Working the Angles, March 28, 2010
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The bad first, to get it out of the way: this book isn't always the most subtle thing going. I was about an eighth of the way into the story when one of the big plot twists telegraphed itself so clearly I couldn't miss it. Another significant, connected twist became obvious once I'd spotted the first. I've been reading fantasy for a long time, but I'm not exactly the Sherlock Holmes of the genre, so other readers will figure this stuff out too. That was a bit of a bummer.
Now the good, and there's more of that! There were a lot of twists and turns in the story I didn't see coming, some intricate and some delightful and some a measure of both. I got fond of Cassel Sharpe over the course of his story, because sure, he's a con man and if we met in real life he'd see me as some kind of mark, but he has a soul to go with his brain. Morality's a complicated issue in the Sharpe family--it makes all kinds of things rather interesting, from simple doctor's appointments to crimes in progress, death, and love.
In Cassel's version of Earth a few members of humanity have always been able to work magic on others, changing their luck, or their dreams, or their memories. It's been illegal for years, but why would that stop the magical Mafia? Everyone wears gloves to protect themselves from 'the touch.' One bare hand touching another is shocking, taboo. When you try and eat Tater Tots, the grease gets all over the leather. Small things like this made the setting more complex than just 'our world, except there's magic, but everything else is the same!' Cassel's reality is a lot like ours, but the devil is in the details....
I want the next book to be out *now* so I can find out what happens next, and that's maybe the best recommendation a series book can have. It's been awhile since I've jonesed so for a sequel, so I'll round four-and-a-half stars up to five and hope Holly Black's a fast writer.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dreams of the white cat, April 21, 2010
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Curse workers -- they can change luck, emotions, dreams and even more just by touching your skin. And since curse work is illegal, they work as con artists or part of mob families.
Having sparked off the teen-girl-encounters-faerie-world craze, Holly Black easily slips into a very different kind of urban fantasy in "White Cat," the first book in the Curse Workers series. The idea is a pretty simple one, but Black twists and knots it into an elaborate, many-shaded fantasy story, with plenty of blood, mystery and magic.
Years ago, Cassel Sharpe killed his best friend Lila -- he doesn't know why or what happened, but he knows he did. And after Cassel sleepwalks onto a roof (and into Youtube fame), he ends up suspended from his school and back in the junk-filled family mansion. As he waits to get back in, he encounters a white stray cat hanging around the barn -- the same cat that has been in his dreams recently.
Other strange clues begin to crop up: a memory charm, strange behavior from his sister-in-law, and the gaps in his own memory. Little by little, Cassel begins to realize that the cat is Lila -- someone with the rarest kind of power has transformed her into a cat, and to change her back he'll have to find out who it is. But as he tries to figure out who transformed Lila and why, he discovers the secrets that have been painstakingly removed from his own head -- and the elaborate, deadly scheme that he's being forced into.
It's pretty obvious from the beginning of "White Cat" that there is more going on than meets the eye, and Holly Black spends most of the book delicately unwinding the various tangled schemes and secrets. The world she conjures up is pretty much like our own, except that there are some people who have magical powers -- it's gritty, prejudiced, and has some real dangers for Cass.
She also comes up with some pretty cool ideas, such as the curse work -- by touching your skin, the workers can instantly break your bones, manipulate your memories, enter your dreams and even transform your body. Fortunately, the "blowback" keeps the workers from seeming all-powerful.
And Black's prose slips onto the story like a worn leather jacket -- the story is gritty, grimy and jaded, and there's always shadows lurking around the corner. But there's a raw beauty to it, especially during scenes like Cass's "pebble" ritual. And she threads the story with the luminous, bright flashbacks of Cassel's time with Lila (think golden cat-globes, ear-piercing and vintage movies). The dialogue is snappy and darkly humorous, and Black knows how to add twists you'll never see coming.
Cassel is that rarest of characters -- a teenage anti-hero. He's a likable, pleasant kid who dislikes the amoral con jobs and brutal mob work that his family engages in, but he also has a weakness for a brilliant lie or a little clever gambling. He's perfectly matched with the luminously quirky Lila, who hangs over the book like DuMaurier's Rebecca (although not as evil or absent).
"White Cat" is a clever and unique urban fantasy, with some shocking twists and a grimy, dark atmosphere -- definitely Holly Black at her best. Can't wait to see what happens with the Curse Workers next.
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