White Cat (Curse Workers, #1)

by Holly Black

CASSEL IS CURSED

Cursed by a memory. He murdered the girl he loved - and he doesn't remember why.
In a world where magic is illegal and his family is branded criminal, Cassel doesn't fit in. He has no magical talent - just a gift for getting into trouble.
Boarding school offers an escape, but then the dreams start. Dreams that drive him home to unravel his past. Dreams that force him to confront who he really is and what he's really done. Cassel is about to discover that his family hides an incredible secret - one that will transform his life for ever.

A sensational new novel from the bestselling author of The Spiderwick Chronicles.

• ISBN10: 1780620551
• ISBN13: 9781780620558
• Publish Date: 1 March 2012 (first published 4 May 2010)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 5 March 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Hachette Children's Group
• Imprint: Indigo (an Imprint of Orion Children's)
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[jesstheaudiobookworm]

4.75★ Audiobook I’ve had my eye on White Cat since discovering my love of Holly Black’s writing while listening to The Darkest Part of the Forest. I had my mind set on saving it for October, because it gave me strong Halloween vibes. But I’ve been going through a bit a listening slump recently and that means all hands [books] on deck. Desperate times and all that…

White Cat did not disappoint! I can’t understand why I haven’t heard more about it in the book community. I realize that it was published seven years ago, so I may have missed the hype, but this kind of awesomeness should withstand the test of time.

I can’t express to you how elated I am to have discovered this series at the peak of my listening drought. Everything about White Cat is just so on point. But what else would be expected from Holly Black? For starters, the blending of inspirations behind White Cat is genius. Magical mobsters, need I say more? I love reading great family development and the Sharpe family gave off this Scoundrels vibe that I adored, especially Mama Sharpe.

There was also this infusion of a Russian mafia-esque crime ring that was fortified with a legislative backstory and political inner workings. Curse working is illegal in this world, giving rise to the criminal underbelly of society to which the main character’s family belongs. Black superbly developed the concept of curse working, complete with the various types and “blowbacks” each gives off.

White Cat was both informative, as a debut installment, and enthralling, with great action. The world-building was phenomenal and I can only see it getting better from here. But the character development takes the cake. Cassel (the protagonist) is a self-proclaimed “big-mouth” and often gets in trouble for it with his older brothers. He was endearing and relatable. Even the side characters were distinctive and well-developed. They were flawed enough to make them realistic, even in a paranormally fictional setting.

My discovery of this series has solidified Holly Black’s standing as one of my newest favorite authors. I’m bumping the rest of her work up several notches in my TBR pile and I recommend that you do the same, beginning with White Cat.

Narration review: Jesse Eisenberg’s narration has really surprised me. He has a very versatile voice, making him able to sound young enough to pass as a high schooler, but mature enough to lend credibility to the high stakes storyline. Speaking from listening experience, that is a really hard balance to strike. I get the feeling that Jesse could adapt his voice to fit multiple age ranges. Even though the character voices could have been a little more distinct, I still had no trouble distinguishing them from one another, probably because I was listening so intently. It’s just that kind of story. I 100% recommend listening to this series on audiobook. ♣︎

[elysium]

DNF page 49

Just couldn't get into the story or the world.

[Amanda]

I love how seamlessly Holly Black has woven organized crime and magic together. The world in Curse Workers is so real and well-thought out that it is easy to imagine how something like this would play out in real life.

The story itself was a bit twisty turny and it was fabulous. Cassel was an intriguing mixture of both good and bad, and so very fascinating when he is on the con. When he starts to unravel the mystery, just... wow. As Alissa said, it's intense.

This was a solid start to the series. I will definitely pick up Red Glove, though I will likely not seek out the audiobook.

Audiobook specific: Meh. Not my favorite narrator, and often hard to distinguish between characters.

[wyvernfriend]

What if there were people in the world who could work magic? What if it had consequences? What if your consequences could be deadly? What if people wore gloves all the time to avoid appearing to want to touch people to work magic? What if the use of this magic was banned and forced underground, like alcohol prohibition? These are some of the what ifs that Holly Black confront us with in this story of a world quite like our own and what happens after Cassel finds himself on a roof after a sleepwalking episode.

Cassel is from a criminal family, his family work cons, each have different skills and are trying to survive in a world that thinks they're too dangerous.

It didn't quite work for me, some of it was grand but I just didn't care about the cons and how the cons worked that Cassel explaned, it would probably appeal to fans of Leverage. I have no urgent urge to read the next in the series, but didn't dislike the read.

[jnikkir]

Would've given this three stars, except the last few scenes really made up for all the confusion and inconsistency I was feeling from previous chapters. Hoping the next book keeps things moving in the right direction!

[Stephanie]

I don't know what really put me off while reading, but I was just 'meh' the whole time.

The story line was really interesting, and was what essentially kept me reading. But about 30 pages in, I figured out what the twist was going to be and I did skip a few scenes because I didn't care about what was happening, and I knew how it was going to end anyways.

A big reason I wasn't into the story much was because I'm not interested in mob/mafia families, which is basically what the book is centered around. If I knew that, I probably wouldn't have been interested in reading this.

But the whole curse work thing was really unique and interesting. I really liked the idea of people being able to use magic on someone just by touching them. That was the main reason I picked this book to read.

Overall, the book is not bad at all! It's a really easy, fast read and can keep you on the edge of your seat. It just wasn't a book for me.

[Amber]

Review here: http://www.booksofamber.com/2012/02/white-cat-by-holly-black.html

First and foremost I want to talk about the world that Holly Black has created. Taken directly from my notes: "THE WORLD IS AWESOME!!!" I love books about people with powers, and that's what this book is. The entire concept of curseworkers and the gangs and the different laws surrounding curseworkers in each country was amazing and really weel set up. There is a lot of rich history there as well, which I loved reading about and I hope with be explored more in the next two books in the trilogy.

I did find this book to be very predictable and I was shouting (in my head, of course) at Cassel because he just wasn't figuring things out fast enough. I don't think the predictable plot took away from the story, although Cassel did frustrate me because I alreayd knew what was going to happen to him if he didn't figure things out. It was kind of like dramatic irony in a Shakespeare play, but the audience wasn't supposed to know in this case.

Cassel was an adorable main character. He was a guy, obviously. YAY for male MCs! He was really loyal and kind, yet he was also cunning at times when he needed to be.

The writing was also great. This is the first Holly Black book I've read, but I can say that after reading this I will be reading more of her books in the near future!

Overall this was a fantastic book, with awesome characters - especially the bad guys - and POWERS!

Question for those of you who have read the book: If you had been born a curseworker, which curse would you rather work? Not that you could choose or anything.

[liz089]

I loved this book ! It's an entire different world with the curseworkers !! I LOVED IT I LOVED IT !!! I want the next book !!!

[notajammiedodger]

I had no idea what to expect from this book. I hadn't heard anything about it, only some people on a The Mortal Instruments group that I am a part of telling me that's it's good and that I should read it. I am actually really glad that I did. It was good :) Full of lots of twists. And that ending! Those of you who have read the book will know what I'm talking about. You think that all is well everything is finally happy, he's got everything he ever wanted. And then BAM!! They throw that at you.

Cassel is a killer. Nobody but his family members know about what he did to poor Lila. When Cassel begins to learn some of the secrets about his family and himself that they have all kept so well from him, his whole world is turned upside down. Cassel is the youngest in a family of course workers. His mother is an Emotion Worker, his Grand Father a Death worker. Cassel is the only one in his family not able to do Curse Work. This and the girl that he killed always make him feel like the odd one out in his family. Everyone is always excluding him from their "secret worker business" and his brother hasn't looked him in the eye for three years. All Cassel wants is to be normal, or to be perceived as normal anyway. He just wants to be like the rest of his family, be included.

Cassel annoyed me a little to begin with. It just seemed so much that he just did whatever anyone told him to. He didn't fight for what he wanted, he just went a long with anything. But closer to the end of the book you see that that isn't really the case. He sort of has to do what he is told. And he does fight for what he wants. And he is very smart :P So by the end of the book I really did like Cassel's character. Cassel's brothers were very interesting. I can't say too much without it being spoilers. But I didn't like Phillip very much, and Barron I'm a bit unsure about. Zacharov was pretty awsome for a powerful criminal, and I loved Cassel's Grandfather.

I knew from about half way through the book that I was going to have a hard time reviewing this book. I don't know what I can say about it. I just want to gush about all the twists. At first the story was a little confusing. When it comes to stories like these, set in different worlds, you have to first wrap your head around how they work. There wasn't much explanation behind a lot of things, you have to sort of pick things up as you go along, which I really enjoy. There is a lot of twists and surprises all through the book, there is not really any major ones, but a lot of small things that Cassel learns and you never would have expected (well I didn't anyway). So all in all, I really enjoyed this book. I definitely want to go out and get my hands on a copy for myself (I borrowed it out from the library), as well as a copy of the sequel Red Glove

This review is also on my blog The Confessions of a Book Nerd :)