"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!