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Thursday, September 12, 2013

White Cat by Holly Black

White Cat
(Curse Workers, #1)
by Holly Black
Released |May 4th 2010 by Margaret K. McElderry Books|
Edition |Audio|
Source |Library|
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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 don't really know how to describe my thoughts on White Cat. This is the first book that I've read by the author and I listened to the audio. The audio was interesting since I haven't listened to too many that was read by a male. The book itself was okay. I enjoyed it, but it took me awhile to get into the actual story of the book. I really liked the idea of the curse workers. It was like a new take on witches, but all the magic was done with the touch of a finger. Overall, I enjoyed the book and will definitely pick up the second from the library soon :)


As stated before, I couldn't get into the story until I got 2/6 parts through the book. I think it was a mix of not being use to listening to a male reading on an audio book and just the book in general. But after awhile things got pretty interested in the story and I was curious to know about the characters and the curse workers. Cassel, the main character, was very interesting. He wanted to be all these things, but couldn't because he was told all his life that he was the only one in his family who was not a worker. I liked Cassel, but he was one of those strange characters that you really have to get use to. His way of thinking is definitely different and he can be a true con artist. But he grew on me and I really came to like him. Cassel found out that he was losing his memory. Someone was stealing his memories and replacing them with new ones. Horrible right?! And then we had his weird brothers who I did not like one bit. But I never really grew to like Lila. I didn't understand her and I also felt that her character was a tad bit under develop when things came to the light. I still feel as though I don't know her at all.

I will say that this book had a good bit of action in it. All the conning and scheming made the book very interesting. Romance wise, I wasn't really feeling it. Maybe in book 2, I will like it a bit more. I mean, there wasn't much of it to begin with, but the parts that was there I didn't really like it. I'm curious to see what happens in book 2 so I will definitely continue on.


21 comments:

  1. My friend Zemira is a huge fan of these books. I really want to read them and they sound like a really great story. I actually love it when it takes me some time to connect all the dots in the story. Great review Janina :)

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  2. Oooh it's a shame the romance wasn't up to par! But at least is was action-filled and kept your interest enough for you to want book 2 :)

    Great review!

    - Allie @ Little Birdie Books

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    1. I was hoping there would be a bit more in the romance department. Thanks :)

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  3. Sorry you weren't feeling it romance wise, but good to hear that the action was good

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  4. I am curious about this one. I've never read anything by Holly Black either. I don't know if I'll start here though. Glad you want to continue with the second though.

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  5. It sounds like the audio ruined it a bit for you, which is a shame. I liked it because Jesse Eisenberg is the narrator, but I DID read it first. I thoroghly enjoyed this series and I hope you'll like the next one.
    GReat review.

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    1. Now that I'm on the second book and am use the male speaker, it's a lot better :) I'm glad for that!

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  6. It's so great to see a review of this book because I'm so conflicted on whether or not I want to read it. I agree with the above, the audio sounds like may have affected your experience, so I will be sure to skip out on that! Thanks for sharing!

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    1. I definitely think you should give the actual book a try! It was interesting and fun :)

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  7. I've been really curious about this series for ages now but I've heard that the author is hit or miss so I'm going to give this one a go when I borrow it from the library. Great review :)

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    1. I hope you do! I'm on the second one now and am already almost finished with it.

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  8. I don't know would I like it as audio book. I have few audios, I tried to listen to them, but I just can't get over the part where they are imitating different voices. I think that audio books are not for me.
    On the other hand, I've heard only good things about this series.

    Glass @ Way Too Hot Books

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    1. Some people just can't get into them, but I really like them. Especially when I don't have time to actually sit down and read a book.

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  9. I have the paperback of this book and I'm a huge fan of the series! I haven't read the last one yet, but I hope to soon. Great review! It made me want to try out the audiobook, because I've never heard a male narrator before.

    Marianne @ Boricuan Bookworms

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  10. aww... sucks that you weren't feeling the romance! lol! For me, I never enjoy listening to audiobooks.. they just never work out for me. Like you, most of the time I couldn't get into the story until third of the book. Great review!
    - Farah @ MajiBookshelf

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    1. The first audio I listened to was Cinder and I loved, so I've been listening to them ever since lol!

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  11. I sometimes like it when you have to get used to the character. It can be fun to grow to love a character :) I like the concept of this book.

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