White Cat, by Holly Black

(4.5/5 stars)

(also, there are multiple covers for this book, but this is the one I had)

Well, well, well, where do I even start? This book had everything I wanted, even if I didn't know I wanted it: paranormal magic, boarding school, con-artists, complicated relationships, danger and death, suspense, the list goes on. Basically, this is now my all time favorite Holly Black book and here's why:

What I liked: I want to say everything, I really do, but how does that help anyone? So instead, I'm going to go with I liked 99.9% of the book. I'm not even kidding. The characters are great, especially Cassel. He has a lot of flaws, a lot, and yet we still find ourselves rooting for him to succeed. His life is convoluted in ways you can't even begin to imagine so it's a bit amazing that he's still a very likable character. He has identity crisis after identity crisis--not being a curse worker in a family of curse workers, not knowing what race he actually is, thinking he killed his childhood best friend--you know, the normal stuff teens deal with on a daily basis. But it's great. The family dynamic is Italian mob-like, except with a cool form of magic: curse working. This all brings me to the world building. Holy musical world building! There's so much detail and complication in the world of the curse workers, and yet there was never a time when I was confused or didn't know what something meant. Holly Black shows us the world without really having to explain anything, in typical Holly Black fashion, but it so completely works.

What I didn't like: Well, apparently I committed to not liking .1% of the book so I'm just going to run with it. The secondary characters--besides the family--didn't play as big of a part as I wanted them to. I really liked Daneca and her social justice causes, so I would have liked to see more of that I guess. But like I said, I'm being extremely picky because I can be.

This book fascinated me in every way and couldn't put it down (I tried unsuccessfully). All the relationships tied together in an awesome way and it made the book so enjoyable. I definitely recommend it if you're looking for something different (and totally awesome) in the paranormal genre!

-Annie