Author: Holly Black
Publisher: McElderry
Publication Date: February 18, 2011
Pages: 310
Source: Paperback/Library
Cassel comes from a family of curse workers — people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail — he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.
Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.
Holly Black has created a gripping tale of mobsters and dark magic where a single touch can bring love — or death — and your dreams might be more real than your memories.
Review: I really enjoyed this book! So it's taken me forever to finally get around to reading it but I'm so glad I did! I can definitely see why so many people love this series! The whole idea of Curse Workers is unique! The story was written very well, it made me want to keep reading! I loved learning the types of Workers and what each could do! I love the whole story in general! I knew right from the beginning that someone was probably messing with Cassel. I mean, I just found it odd that his entire family is made up of Workers but yet he wasn't one? I just found that odd and I couldn't believe it! After seeing how the pieces were slowly falling into place I knew his family was up to something. I just didn't know the extent of it. I was pretty shocked at how far they went though.
Lila... I really didn't think she was dead. I mean, Cassel did not seem like the type that would kill someone, so I found it odd that he was made to believe that. I knew deep down Lila was alive, I just didn't know how or where. I didn't put all the pieces together with the cat and Lila until I learned where the cat was and that Lila was a Dream Worker. Though once I figured that out things started making sense. I must say, things got way more interesting though once Cassel learned he is a Worker and that Lila got turned back into a person! I loved the planning to expose Anton and his betrayal to the Zacharov family and the entire scene that went down due to it. That was pretty cool. I was kinda annoyed though about what Cassel's mom did at the end to Lila though!
4 Stars!
