"Red Glove" by Holly Black (Curse Workers Series #2)

**Spoilers!**

In this continuation of the Curse Workers series by Holly Black, and follows Cassel struggle with not only trying to maintain is normal life at school in this last couple years, but dealing with the discovery of his new Transformative powers. Things get more difficult when Lila joins his school, making it even harder to separate his lives, as well as his confusing feelings for Lila. But a new mystery emerges when Cassel learns that his brother, Phillip, has been murdered, and all they know about the killer is that she's  a woman. A woman with Red Gloves.

I really liked this book as a continuation of the series. The book at many strong points that helped elaborate on the world of the story and the characters, their relationships.

Cassel and his mother's relationship is definitely developed, especially during the exchanges during Phillip's funeral and toward the beginning of the book when Cassel discovers his mother has curse-worked Lila into 'loving' him. Cassel's mother is seemingly trying to help, but at this same time, knowingly not helping Cassel much at all in the long run. Lila's feelings, being produced by emotion working, will fade, so no matter how much Cassel's mother wants or thinks she is helping, she must know this will happen. The mother's character itself is very fickle and irresponsible. I also find it interesting her interactions with the other family, like Barron, and family friends, during many of the scenes involving Phillip's death. She seems obviously melodramatic, but it's clear she does love her children, and almost as though she just doesn't know how to get that message across.

I want to know about why the mother is like this. Maybe she felt bad about attaching to her children while she was bringing them up in such an unstable and corrupted environment, or maybe because of this environment she never had the time to learn how to communicate with her children.

I'm already started with the next book, Black Heart, but I'm very excited to see where this story goes!

"White Cat" by Holly Black (Curse Workers Series #1)

I've almost come to the end of the book, "White Cat" by Holly Black, the first book of the Curse Workers series. The book tells the story of Cassel, a non-worker in a well known family of workers who work for one infamous working crime families. In the world of the book, "workers" are gifted individuals who can manipulate certain elements of a person- whether it is their emotions, luck, or even their very life. I've really enjoyed this book so far for multiple reasons.

I really liked the unique mythology and magic in this book, specifically the workers. Though the abilities they possess aren't unique only to the book, the way the author portrays these powers make them very interesting. I like the idea of "blowback" being established in the book, putting a limit on these very powerful powers. I also love that the powers are used in a mob or mafia style setting. In many books using magic, most of the people using this magic are good, but when you think about it, unfortunately, most would be using the magic for their own advantage, such as crime in the mob. People are selfish, it's the bottom line.

I also like how Holly Black wrote the characters in the book. She made the main chara
cter, Cassel, quite weak, but is a boy. It breaks the boundaries of female characters having to be weak, and men always having to save them. In fact, towards the end of the book, a stronger female character mostly controls the events that occur that change the plot. Holly Black as an author, to me, has shown she can write many different kind of characters as well. I've read a lot of her work and am further impressed with the diversity in her characters that make each one of them interesting on their own way. Many authors seem to reuse the same kind of character in each other their books.

As I've mentioned before in posts about Holly Black and her work, she creates an amazing universe around her books, one that makes sense and that you can get lost in, which is one of my favorite parts of her books. I can't wait to read the rest of the series, and to further 'get lost' in the Curse Workers world!

"Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale" by Holly Black

Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale is the story of Kaye, a "modern nomad" who travels around with her mother's band until she's sixteen- when someone tries to kill her mom, Ellen. Ellen and Kaye travel back to Kaye's original home in New Jersey with her grandmother to get some time off while Ellen tries to scrounge up a new band and to score on free housing. For Kaye, this brings back memories of her childhood, where her imaginary faerie friends, Lutie-Loo, Spike, and Gristle played with her, and her actual friend, Janet, as well as all the kids who teased her for being weird and believing in faerie tales. But when Kaye discovers a strange man in the woods with an arrow sticking out of him, she begins to doubt that she was just imaginative as a kid.

Worst. Summary. Ever. ANYWAY....

I loved this book! LOVED IT. The writing was so descriptive and intense, but still traditional in tone. I've read the Spiderwick Chronicles as well, and I noticed that Holly Black's style of writing isn't a lot like many modern writers, another thing that makes her so special as an artist. She can weave the modern tone and language into the story perfectly with the fantasy while still keeping her tone as a writer. I liked this book more than the Spiderwick Chronicles as well, probably because this book was a  lot more mature than the Spiderwick Chronicles.

One thing I also liked was how Black dealt with mature topics, like sexuality and problems at home. Corny, though fairly secure in his sexuality, still wasn't happy with himself. He (though he was under a spell) wanted Nephamael because he wasn't going out there to try to find someone for himself, but also was angered that he was so shallow as to enjoy the things they did.

Black also comments on family life and teenage behavior in her book. Both Kaye and Janet's families are not very happy, and they deal with them in the same way. I think Kaye feels like Ellen doesn't care and mother Kaye enough, no matter how tough Kaye tries to act. She deals with pulling Ellen's head out of the toilet, and she likes not going to school, but she needs help sometimes too. Corny doesn't refer by name of "Dad" to his and Janets step-father, and mentions that his mother deals with things through Star-Trek. Janet and Kaye deal with their families by drinking and partying, and Corny just chooses not to talk to people, keeps his feelings pent inside.

Overall, I loved this book. I can't wait to read Valiant: A Modern Faerie Tale and Ironside: A Modern Faerie Tale (because you know I will).