Book Review–White Cat

I read the back cover of Holly Black’s White Cat and was intrigued.

Read the first chapter and was hooked. Downloaded it to my Kindle for the trip.

What I loved most was the premise. A world in which a small percentage of the population were “workers” capable of specific curse work. There are luck workers, death workers, memory workers, transformation workers, and even emotion workers.

They have the power to influence and affect others with their curse work simply by touching them with their hands.

That’s why everyone must wear gloves. And workers are illegal.

So they exist on the fringes and as part of crime families.

Totally spellbound. Then there’s the concept of blowback. Whenever a worker uses their power it boomerangs back on them. A death worker will kill someone with a touch. But then some part of them dies. They hope it’s a finger or toe. Not their heart.

Anyway the concept was mindblowingly good.

The protagonist is a 17 year old boy, Cassel, who is the only nonworker in a family of workers.

I liked Cassel. Ms. Black did a great job capturing the teen boy voice.

The story is well woven and kept me wondering for a long time. It’s unclear who the villains are at first.

My only disappointment was in the ending. I don’t want to spoil it for you but I will say some things are unforgivable. And those things seem to be swept under the rug and make the protagonist seem weak in the end.

Otherwise a highly enjoyable read.

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