White Cat by Holly Black
25 Jun 2010 Leave a Comment
in 4 Stars Tags: Holly Black, YA
Synopsis (from Goodreads): Cassel comes from a family of curse workers — people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they’re all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn’t got the magic touch, so he’s an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail — he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He’s noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he’s part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.Holly Black has created a gripping tale of mobsters and dark magic where a single touch can bring love — or death — and your dreams might be more real than your memories.
Review:
In these pages you will find a world where the simple act of shaking ungloved hands is unheard of and the very idea would make people cringe. Where a bare hand can become risque and the simple act of brushing up accidentally against another person can be seen as a hostile act. This idea alone is enough to interest me, but Black takes it farther yet. She’s developed a world where such powers are just as dangerous to possess as they are awesome. Where crime lords have spawned in order to take advantage of the ensuing wrath of a public that doesn’t share the same gifts. Different families are akin to the mob bosses in our own very real history. It’s all so intriguing, even before the history of being a worker comes to light, you feel like you could know these people.
Cassel is a wonderful protagonist. He’s easy to identify with, to sympathize with and to root for up to the very end. Although I wouldn’t want to say much else about the characters, because as a reader you’re in for a bumpy ride, full of twists and turns that are so much fun! Like the synopsis says, “he will have to outcon the conmen”. (4 out of 5-stars)
Until next time! -Samantha
