taylorreadsbooks's review against another edition
4.0
I was really surprised at how much I liked this. I listened to the audiobook version with Jesse Eisenberg narrating and he nailed it!
ebabs's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
erinarkin20's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this book. It was a bit slow to begin but mainly due to the getting all of the background. I won't get into a ton of detail here as I don't want to spoil it...as it is, there are a lot of spoilers here...be warned.
I won't go into the whole backstory on Cassel and his family here but I found Cassel to be an interesting main character. He comes from a family of workers and has been told all his life that he is the only one in his family that doesn't have a power or curse. His family also told him that he killed his best friend, Lila, when he was younger. Come to find that
I felt so bad for Cassel throughout the story.
I did like the relationship that Cassel has with his grandpa. I also liked seeing the friendships with Sam and Daneca develop. I got the sense that Cassel felt like an outsider for pretty much his entire life and to see him establish some roots at school was important.
I am looking forward to the next book. I want to see how things advance between Cassel and Lila with the way things were left off. Also, I need for him to get away from his family. They only seem to make things worse for him and I get the sense that he sees this but because they are family feels like he needs to help/be with them.
I won't go into the whole backstory on Cassel and his family here but I found Cassel to be an interesting main character. He comes from a family of workers and has been told all his life that he is the only one in his family that doesn't have a power or curse. His family also told him that he killed his best friend, Lila, when he was younger. Come to find that
Spoiler
they have all been lying to him and working him. Oh..Cassel also has one of the rarest curses, transformation, and he ended up turning Lila into a cat not killing her.I felt so bad for Cassel throughout the story.
Spoiler
His brothers are jealous of his power and are just plain mean. They lie to him and beat him up and the whole time I just wanted Cassel to do something to get them to respect him. Barron has lost a lot of his memory because of all the work he has been doing but that didn't make me feel anything other than anger toward the way he treated Cassel. Philip just appears to be a bully and out to do whatever helps him get ahead.I did like the relationship that Cassel has with his grandpa. I also liked seeing the friendships with Sam and Daneca develop. I got the sense that Cassel felt like an outsider for pretty much his entire life and to see him establish some roots at school was important.
I am looking forward to the next book. I want to see how things advance between Cassel and Lila with the way things were left off. Also, I need for him to get away from his family. They only seem to make things worse for him and I get the sense that he sees this but because they are family feels like he needs to help/be with them.
marmar_16's review against another edition
5.0
Liked it just as much as I did the first time. Can't wait to get to the rest of the trilogy now š
scrollsofdragons's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoyed it but not in love. My second Holly Black book and same feeling for both.
blakehalsey's review
4.0
I loved this first installment of Black's Curse Workers trilogy. A little slow at first and sort of light of the fantasy elements, it was still a compelling, emotional, and interesting read. I thought the weaving of fantasy with the mafia in New Jersey was really well done and at the end I just ached for Cassel. And I'm pretty sure I have a crush on him.
myrebecca's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
fantasy_eater's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
ellenpenleysmith's review against another edition
2.0
When it comes to this Curse Workers series, there seems to be no end to the amount of praise it gets. Iāve heard almost every wonderful thing you could say about a book. However, White Cat fell short in some many ways.
The problem with this con book is the fact that itās in first person. I wholeheartedly feel like con books always work better in third person. Why? Because in third person you donāt know the characters every thought, you arenāt looking through their eyes. Third person is more observing, so you see the character do something weird and you have no idea about it. Then itās revealed and youāre like āah-uh! Eureka!ā The problem with first person is the expectation of thoughts. I just donāt think the person narrative was handled well.
The other problem with White Cat for me is the world building. I simply did not understand the world at all. It was too all over the place with its explanations. Yes, authors arenāt meant to info dump. But why would you put the two paragraph explanation on the social standings of workers at the end of the book (literally last chapter) instead of the beginning of the book? This wasnāt intriguing, it was frustrating.
I also found the shifts between ācursesā and āworkersā and where the hell cons and mobsters fit into it all so confusing. Nothing was explained and I had to set the book down to really think over it. Curse workers and works and curses are all the same people... So why give them three different titles? Who knows.
The confusion between when Cas did and did not have his memory, according to his brothers, was no handelling well at all. I felt like Black expected us to be on the same wave length so didnāt bother explaining that his brothers donāt think he has his memory when he actually does. Yes, there are the stones, but with all my other confusing thoughts I simply couldnāt keep up.
This leads me to the third part of the review. Characters. Iām going to call it: why would Cas love Lila? Lila, the entire time, is portrayed as rather stuck up and bossy. Sheās mean, blunt in a non-appreciative way, and I just donāt understand the attraction.
I also feel like there were five hundred too many secondary characters for us to really understand them and for them to be fleshed out besides: Sam is a genius, Audrey is his ex, Danecaās mum runs HEX meetings. And Iāll save my rant on the mother. Sheās just... unexplainable.
I think itās needless to say that despite the fact that Iāve actually borrowed out books two and three, I wonāt be reading them.
This review also appears on Elle-Osophy.
The problem with this con book is the fact that itās in first person. I wholeheartedly feel like con books always work better in third person. Why? Because in third person you donāt know the characters every thought, you arenāt looking through their eyes. Third person is more observing, so you see the character do something weird and you have no idea about it. Then itās revealed and youāre like āah-uh! Eureka!ā The problem with first person is the expectation of thoughts. I just donāt think the person narrative was handled well.
The other problem with White Cat for me is the world building. I simply did not understand the world at all. It was too all over the place with its explanations. Yes, authors arenāt meant to info dump. But why would you put the two paragraph explanation on the social standings of workers at the end of the book (literally last chapter) instead of the beginning of the book? This wasnāt intriguing, it was frustrating.
I also found the shifts between ācursesā and āworkersā and where the hell cons and mobsters fit into it all so confusing. Nothing was explained and I had to set the book down to really think over it. Curse workers and works and curses are all the same people... So why give them three different titles? Who knows.
The confusion between when Cas did and did not have his memory, according to his brothers, was no handelling well at all. I felt like Black expected us to be on the same wave length so didnāt bother explaining that his brothers donāt think he has his memory when he actually does. Yes, there are the stones, but with all my other confusing thoughts I simply couldnāt keep up.
This leads me to the third part of the review. Characters. Iām going to call it: why would Cas love Lila? Lila, the entire time, is portrayed as rather stuck up and bossy. Sheās mean, blunt in a non-appreciative way, and I just donāt understand the attraction.
I also feel like there were five hundred too many secondary characters for us to really understand them and for them to be fleshed out besides: Sam is a genius, Audrey is his ex, Danecaās mum runs HEX meetings. And Iāll save my rant on the mother. Sheās just... unexplainable.
I think itās needless to say that despite the fact that Iāve actually borrowed out books two and three, I wonāt be reading them.
This review also appears on Elle-Osophy.