White Cat by Holly Black
Posted by Sadie , Saturday, June 5, 2010 3:41 AM
They're three brothers, Cassel Baron and Philip. Cassel is the odd one out, he isn't a worker, which means can't do magic with his hands like his two brothers. For Cassel this means that he has no place in his families world, where they never tell him anything of their 'worker' lives. So when he is sent to his brothers house; he starts to notice something is missing, there is something that everyone knows but him, not that this is new to him, his entire family are mobsters and con-artists. This time is different though, for Cassel it starts to look like his sleepwalking and his brothers secrets are coming together; now he has to use all of his Con-artist talents to try to out con his family, and solve the puzzel around the the girl he murdered.
Diffinately for the older range of young adults (15+), this tale is very well put together and is a compulsive read. Holly Black some of you may remember is the co-author of the beloved Spiderwick Chronicles Series for younger readers (7+) and also the Tithe, Valiant and Ironside, A Modern Faerie Tale (15+). To be honest I haven't read The Modern Faerie Tale set, but I loved White Cat.
In White Cat it is clear that Holly Black has in vested a lot of time into developing the emtions in this book, the is a lot of anger, grief, shame, and this time has paided off, the feelings of the characters make them more real, and easier to connect with. While reading about halfway through I became concerned that this was going to turn out to be a clear cut teenage romance, where everything ends and everything is okay, thankfully I was wrong. Holly Black is more realistic then some authors (s-meyer) with the characters feelings, they are not just happy or sad, they are written to show a full range of emotions, with a lot of hate, none of which takes away from the story. I felt that they rounded it out into a way which I could relate to Cassel and how I would be feeling in his place.
Besides finding a common emotional ground with the main character other point I loved, was the use of a almost all male cast, and when the females were present they were strong, creative, fiery characters who never let the men take over (when they could help it). I also liked the ending but be warned, there is a massive Twist in the end, one I didn't see coming, after all the twists that came before it. It broke my heart but made me really love all the characters in this book despite their wicked natures.
In one word this book was, Engrossing.
Age: 15 and above, be aware there are torture scenes, murder, and death. None of which are glorified nether the less one of the major arches deals with these, so it isn't for the mature 10 yr old.
Score: 9 out of 10, only because my heart broke for Cassel multiple times, (not a bad thing, I'm just not over it yet)
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