Contains spoilers for White Cat by Holly Black. Already read it? Check out my discussion post here.
Cassel’s life hasn’t gotten any easier. His mom is out of jail and wreaking havoc on his life. His one brother hates him. His other brother only likes him because he doesn’t remember that he hates him. His best friend isn’t dead any more, but she thinks she’s in love with him, which would be great if it was actually true (see: mom wreaking havoc). Then there’s that pesky business of both the mob and the police wanting Cassel to work for them, and as everyone knows tug-of-war rarely ends well for the rope.
I have mixed feelings about this book. I preferred the plot in White Cat to the plot in Red Glove. The main plot was still good, but I didn’t find myself caring as much, and the subplot of the government vs. Workers was much more interesting to me.
I’d like to say that we get to see more of the secondary characters, but I still feel like they’re underused even though a few of them make some pretty big character developments. Maybe it’s just that the book feels so short because I want MORE. I adore the world building so much. Black is a genius at combining our world with something completely awesome to create a great mesh of the familiar and the unfamiliar.
One thing that bothered me was Lila because she is just so…broken. She’s lived several years as cat, basically going through psychological torture and then her emotions get completely messed with, turning her into this love sick girl. You see her trying to fight it, but she goes about it in the worst way possible. And then the ending is just like a slap in the face because I can’t decide if it’s a good thing or a bad thing and I don’t understand the reasons and I just want Lila to have the chance to get her shit together because why can’t strong women have the chance to be strong!
Sorry, I get overly attached to imaginary characters.
In other news, I kind of felt more of a connection to Cassel this time around, so yay for that. Also, although I didn’t feel any of the twists were anything super fantastic, it did keep me guessing right up until the reveal of the big clue.
The third (and final?) book in the series, Black Heart, is due to be released April 3rd. Here’s the trailer for the entire series:
recommended to fans of gritty description and a series that doesn’t lag
not recommended to those searching for purely a romance
I loved Cassel. This is one series where the first book really threw me off. I had NO idea where she was going. Which I love about her <3
I didn’t like him at first, but he’s grown on me. It is a really original series because it doesn’t follow the same conventions that you’ll find in a lot of current YA fiction.