White Cat by Holly Black
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
White Cat is the first book in a new series about curse workers. It takes place in an alternate reality where some people can manipulate certain things by just touching them with their hands. With just a touch, someone could change your luck, emotions, dreams, or memories. They could break your leg, kill you, or transform you into a cardboard box with nothing more than their pinkie finger. Naturally, everyone wears gloves as a precaution. Magic is illegal, but large crime families control most of the underground magic workers.
The story centers on a teen who is the only non magical person in his entire family. Cassel tries desperately to try to be normal at an elite prep school while the rest of his family works for the mob or is currently in jail for running cons. He has a horrible secret that has nothing to do with magic. He does fine until a strange dream causes him to sleepwalk right onto the school roof. Thinking Cassel was trying to kill himself, the school administration decides he has to leave campus, and his “normal” life to stay with his estranged family.
Cassel begins desperately trying to con his way back into school and deal with his meddling family. The more time he spends digging through his past, the further away his normal life becomes.
The magical elements in this book add a great layer to the usual story of a teen trying to deal with an adult world. He’s an outsider in his own family and has trouble making real connections with others. The stakes get larger and larger as his past, the criminal underworld, and magic collide. I liked that the book was realistic in the way it dealt with people and relationships and didn’t sugarcoat much. Things keep getting thrown at Cassel and he keeps trying to deal with it the best he can, but things don’t go the way anyone expects in the end.
- posted 16 hours ago
