The White Cat

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 criminals. Many become mobsters and con artists. But not Cassel. He hasn't got magic, 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.

Cassel has carefully built up a facade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his facade starts to crumble when he finds himself 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. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he must unravel his past and his memories. To find out the truth, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.

I hadn't read that much about this book before I picked it up so I got really surprised when I found out it was about magic. It's a great idea with the curse workers and it's very interesting to read about but I wish there were something more. Spoiler alert! When Lila is transformed back to a human, you couldn't even tell she had been a cat for the last three years. What happened to her behaviour for example? It would have been more realistic if she had some of the cat-stuff left.

I really like that the protagonist in this book was a guy, Cassel. I liked him from the very beginning! His family is a bit messy and I bet it's hard to know who to trust. I also really liked Maura and I hope to read more about here in the second book in this trilogy.

The ending was the best part and I wanted to read the second book right away!

The White Cat by Holly Black
Paperback, 311 pages
Gollancz
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