Holly Black’s White Cat is the first book in the Curse Workers series.
The world of Curse Workers is one with people possessing magical abilities. For all of history, people known as curse workers possessed the ability to alter emotions, dreams, memories, or luck. Curse workers have always lived among humanity, altering the history we know, but culminating in a world that is similar but different from ours. As curse work is illegal in most places, many curse workers join powerful mob families. Cassel was born into a family of curse workers without the any magic. He has been an outsider in his family of criminals and con artists, but he soon begins to suspect that he is the center of a large con.
Cassel Sharpe is an enigmatic kid. He was born into a family of criminals and curse workers. Despite his genetics, he never developed any power, but he did learn how to con others. He is a brilliant liar and a talented schemer. Unfortunately, that isn’t enough in his family, so he is often left out of his family’s business. He would have been the one angel in a family of devils if it wasn’t for the fact that he killed his best friend Lila. Now he sleepwalks and has dreams about a mysterious white cat. He soon notices that his brothers are keeping secrets from. To discover the truth, he must unravel his memories and discover the con he is entangled in.
White Cat is a good read. The plot drops you into the interesting and exciting world of the Curse Workers. The plot begins quite slow as it attempts to explain the world of the Curse Workers and establish an unsettling mystery tone. Like many mystery books, the plot picked up suspense at an exponential rate before exploding to a finale. In addition to an engaging plot, many of the characters were interesting and complex. The book plays around with the idea that personality is shaped by memories. This provides another interesting dynamic to the characters as you question how much you can trust the narrator. Each character is buried in secrets and uncovering them is unsettling and thrilling. Many of the characters also possess magical powers and are known as Curse Workers. This magic system is intriguing and refreshing, as magic user must pay a powerful price for their abilities. The book also provides an interesting setting for its magic users. Instead of hiding them under organizations and rules, Curse Workers live among everyone else. This comes with many unfortunate drawbacks. Throughout history, curse workers have been persecuted and in the story’s present, many of them join gangs and crime families. This does nothing to improve the inherent stigma that curse workers are evil. White Cat touches on the shared history between people and curse workers as well as the fight against the stereotype. While it doesn’t go into detail, it will probably come up in future installments.
I give this 308 page book 4.5 stars.
Curse Workers
For all of history, a few people have been born with special abilities. These powers can alter emotions, luck or memories with a single touch. The people with these powers are known as curse workers. They were often persecuted in the past, but now join large crime families.