White Cat (Curse Workers, #1)

by Holly Black

[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 :)