White Cat (Curse Workers, #1) in And So It Begins Reading Challenge

Mar 24, 2011 Nicole rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: signed-by-the-author

You can find this review and many others on my blog, The Reader's Antidote http://nicoleyalover.blogspot.com/

To be honest, I couldn't really get into this one. I felt so detached and I wondered why the author was being so vague. Coincidentally, I went to a book signing in Santa Monica with Holly Black and Cassandra Clare (as a side note: best book signing EVER!!), and Holly explained that as a noir book, the main character has a crime/mob boss mentality, and so he doesn't often show his emotions. You can find this review and many others on my blog, The Reader's Antidote http://nicoleyalover.blogspot.com/

To be honest, I couldn't really get into this one. I felt so detached and I wondered why the author was being so vague. Coincidentally, I went to a book signing in Santa Monica with Holly Black and Cassandra Clare (as a side note: best book signing EVER!!), and Holly explained that as a noir book, the main character has a crime/mob boss mentality, and so he doesn't often show his emotions. Be that as it may, that wasn't really my problem with this one. He showed his emotions just fine; especially around a certain girl character (if I tell you, it'll ruin everything). But I just couldn't visualize myself in the places in this story except for the house he grew up in, which was the only place that involved enough detail where I could picture it. I guess his parents were hoarders or something, and he's helping his Grandad clean it up. Which is, like, the whole first half of the story. I was so extremely bored. It's funny because I was thinking this all has to be a set-up for some big thing. And admittedly there were some twists, but I felt like the character was so indifferent that my heart wasn't in it, and so when it came to the climax I was like: really? I wasted my time on the first half for this??? It was a good ending though; really, it was. I made a lot of sense in the plot and it was a page turner. But the beginning just killed it.

**SPOILERS!!**
Well since this book is so wrought with said spoilers, I suppose I'll delve into the big ones.

1) Lila: Hmm, not so big surprise. The white cat (the one on the cover with someone I can so NOT see Cassel being) is in fact Lila, Cassel's childhood friend who he thought he killed maliciously and was happy about it afterward. He thinks he's a monster, but in the end he changes her back. And his two brothers knew the whole time that she hadn't died - they'd kept her locked up in a cage for God's sake - and they let Cassel beat himself up about it. There will be many more examples of the two brothers not acting much like family. I really liked Lila's spunky personality though, and I liked where her and Cassel were going...

2) Speaking of Cassel: He always thought he was the only non-worker in a family of worker's (not really up for explaining what a worker is, but if you're reading this part hopefully you've already read the book and therefore I need no further explanation). Then he finds out that he's changer or a shifter or something like that. Now here's why Lila comes back in. When his brothers ordered Cassel to kill Lila for Anton (check #3), he does it because he's sort of under their spell so to speak. He knows something's up when he starts talking to one of his brother's wife, realizes she's being worked and thinks he may be too. Skipping past everything, he finds out he's worker, takes a small revenge on his brothers and gets the girl. Except, oops, mommy who just got out of jail worked her and now she loves him because the mom charmed her. Yeah, thanks mom! Not the brothers are any better...

3)Philip (a completely normal name) and Barron (all I can think of his Nearly Headless Nick from Harry Potter): So originally we're led to think that Philip is the only bad brother because he's working his wife Maura to basically stay with him and forget everything, and doing something to Cassel thought we're not sure what. But then we find out that Barron is the real betrayer, taking Cassel's memories (and incidentally the blowback takes away some of his; if that's not ironic I don't know what is). They need to do this because they're getting him to basically be a murderer. He can change humans into anything (and that includes non-living), and apparently once you've gone inanimate you can never go back. And then Barron makes him forget he ever did it. He got them at their own game though. Once Cassel figured something was afoot, he cut his skin open (eck) and sowed 3 stone thingy's that are supposed to protect him from being worked, and finds out their using him to kill Zacharov (Lila's father, big crime boss, yadda yadda). So he turns it on them. One thing I thought was brilliant is that Barron writes stuff down in journals so he doesn't forget, and Cassel re-wrote the journals so that he has different memories and would think that him and Philip and Barron were banded together against Anton (even though he was the one that hired them to come up with the plan to kill Zacharov, his uncle, so that he can be in charge).

Okay, I honestly don't see where it can go from here, except for the "thing" between Lila and Cassel. I feel like the bad guy's gone, learned his lesson, whatever. I just wonder how the sequel is going to be any more exciting. ...more

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Sep 30, 2011 CrystalBookSnob rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, reviewd

When I first heard bloggers raving about this book, I was excited to get it and experience it for myself. But then I heard that the author is Holly Black and I had some major second thoughts. I read about half of her book Tithe and it freaked me out so bad that I literally wanted to put it in the freezer like Joey from Friends. But I put my fears aside to read White Cat and I ended up loving it!

I love the uniqueness of this book. It's unlike any other paranormal book that I've read before. The c ...more

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Jan 05, 2013 Darlene rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-literary-exploration-challenge, 2013-dusty-bookshelf-challenge, audiobook, read-in-2013, 2013-ya-audiobook-challenge

This book has won a number of literary awards, including:
Kirkus Reviews Best Books List for Teens (2010), ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults 2011 List, ALA Amazing Audiobooks List, and Andre Norton 2010 Award Nominee for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Black has created an alternate reality where people called "curse workers" exist. A curse worker is someone who has the ability to make things happen by touch with a bare hand. Some workers can manipulate emotions, while others can transfig This book has won a number of literary awards, including:
Kirkus Reviews Best Books List for Teens (2010), ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults 2011 List, ALA Amazing Audiobooks List, and Andre Norton 2010 Award Nominee for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Black has created an alternate reality where people called "curse workers" exist. A curse worker is someone who has the ability to make things happen by touch with a bare hand. Some workers can manipulate emotions, while others can transfigure objects and even cause death. A worker will experience something called "blowback" after using their skills, which is a reaction that affects the worker. For example, a memory worker's own memories might become compromised. Curse work has been banned, and everyone wears gloves. Some people are not even aware that they have the ability to do curse work. Because of the nature of their abilities, curse workers are often employed by the mob.

At the beginning of the book, we are introduced to a 17 year-old boy named Cassel Sharpe. He attends Wallingford Preparatory School in New Jersey. He has had a dream of a white cat and awakens to discover that he is on the roof of the school. Students and teachers assume that he is contemplating suicide, and he tries to explain that he must have been sleepwalking. The headmaster bans him from the dormitory and, to protect the school from a liability, insists that Cassel provide a clean bill of health from a doctor before he is permitted to return to the dorms. Cassel has to return to his childhood home, which has been vacant a long time since his mother is in prison. His grandfather stays there with them.

Cassel is the only member of the family who is not a curse worker, so he feels a bit like the odd man out. His mother is an emotion worker, and she can make anyone trust her. She can convince people they are in love with a stroke of her hand. His brother, Phillip, is a body worker and can break someone's leg with a touch of his finger. His grandfather is a death worker, and the blowback has caused some of his fingers to blacken and fall off. He discovers that his family is hiding something, and Cassel must use his wits to survive.

Cassel is fantastic male protagonist! He is smart as a whip, and he runs a gambling ring in the school and takes bets from students on silly things, such as whether the dormitory mouse will get stuck in the glue trap or survive another day. He is witty, sarcastic, and has a snarky sense of humour that I really enjoyed! The addition of paranormal abilities and the danger of the mafia made this a thrilling read!

Black is a new-to-me author, and I really enjoyed this book. The premise of the story was unique, and I can't wait to read the next one in the series, Red Glove.

Narrator Jesse Eisenberg did a bang-up job of capturing the attitude of Cassel. He was a pleasure to listen to, and I hope he narrates the rest of the series. ...more

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