The Curse Workers: White Cat by Holly Black

About the Book:

The Curse Workers: White Cat is about a young man, Cassel, who comes from a family of Curse Workers. These are people with extraordinary talents that are often used by powerful people for criminal pursuits. Most curse workers are harmless with the ability to give people good or bad luck, change their memories, or change emotions. But there are some that are very dangerous who are death workers, or people who can break your bones by just touching you. Cassel was born into a family of Curse Workers, but he has no working ability. What he does have is a horrible half memory of killing his best friend, the girl he was in love with. But when he starts sleep walking and gets kicked out of his boarding school, Cassel starts to question his memories and his family!

My Opinion:

This is a book I didn’t want to put down.  I received it in the mail Friday and was finished with it by Monday night.  I even read it while watching T.V. because I couldn’t put the book down.  From the first page, you’re captured into Cassel’s world of Curse Workers and trying to figure out what his dreams and his sleep walking are all about.  Even though I was able to guess pretty quickly some of the twists and turns, the story line and characters were well written enough that I still wanted to see THEM figure it out!

This is the type of book and story like X-men or Harry Potter.  It's set in present day with the added characters that have extraordinary abilities called "Curse Workers".  The government is plotting to have all Curse Workers "register", and working is already illegal to do.  This books takes  you through the world of Curse Workers and Cassel and his family, and you learn there's more to Cassel than even he thinks is there!

This is a fun book to read.  The characters are likable, interesting, and fun.  Cassel, the main character in the book, is a good young man, who thinks he's a terrible person, but learns more about himself and his family as he hunts down clues to his own personal mystery.  He's the kind of character that most teens can relate too, always feeling like an outsider, no one understands them, with a little bit of paranoia.  Of course, it's not really paranoia if people really ARE out to get you!

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes magic, fantasy, and action books… great for teens and above.  Although there are some spots that might be too mature for younger teens, say below 14, it would totally depend on the teenager and their parents.  I’m recommending my son, who is 16, to read it.  It's definitely a series of books that I can't wait to continue reading!

My rating: 5.0 stars