White Cat

Holly Black has created another dark and mystical world full of grit and mystery. Cassel Sharpe is the black sheep of his family. Meaning he is the only good one, his family happen to be powerful curse workers. Curse workers have special abilities through touch. Cassel is struggling to find himself and the truth behind his painful past.

Can you imagine waking up one day to find everything you thought to be true about yourself to be a lie. Cassel is living in a hazy world full of confusion. He can't trust his family, and he can't even trust his own memories.  His dreams are plagued by a mysterious white cat, and everyone around him is acting strange. With the help of his two friends Sam and Daneca Cassel must unravel the seams of his twisted life. You get an in depth look into a dysfunctional criminal family, but a dysfunctional criminal family with special abilities. The mystery of this story is detailed and complicated. I found myself thinking of the movie Inception at several different points. Cassel is a very emotional dark character, and his train of thought reminded me of Holden Caulfied from Catcher in The Rye. The side characters are really just there to enhance Cassel in my opinion. They are strong and present, but I found myself only worrying about Cassel's feelings or actions. I got really attached to him, and his problems. I was invested in the story enough to stay up late to finish it. The ending was perfect, and everything I could hope for. It faked me out at first, and it had me angry. Then Holly Black ended with a bang, and totally left me interested in finding out what happens next. I certainly recommend this especially for Holly Black fans.





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Valiant & Ironside

Valiant is a tale about Val and Ravus. It is set in the Holly Black world form the first book Tithe. However its really different.

Ironside is basically the sequal to Tithe even though it comes third. It picks up where Tithe left off with Kaye and Roiben.

Lets start with Valiant since it is second. This book is so amazing I was hooked and finished it in record breaking time. I was just shocked within the first few chapters I mean Val was so unlike any character I have ever encountered. Then she meanders her way into the scary underbelly of New York City with some extremely strange yet fascinating people. Lolli, Dave, and Luis are really intriguing you wonder what makes them the way they are. Why do they live in scary tunnels? Why do they not have homes? Why are they so weird? Most imporantly why are they working for a supposedly scary troll..you know crazy. The lives they lead are just so foreign to me that I just have to be nosy. I feel like a neighbor craning my neck over a fence to stare at them. Then Val meets Ravus...and OH MY LORD I love him. From the first sentence about him I know he is going to trump Roiben. I feel kind of bad for Roiben but hey Ravus is what does it for me. The way he speaks, and the way you can tell he thinks he is a monster. He is really self deprecating, and I could instantly tell he cared about Val. He didn't want her to risk her life, and he was in my opinion shocked that she would defend him in any way. The relationship between Val and Ravus was just so human to me. Even though Ravus is a troll that never really entered my mind..well it did but not that often. At times I wanted to slap Val and tell her to quit being a stupid addict, and just enjoy how awesome Ravus is. All the characters struggle with something in this story, addiction, confusion, self hatred, revenge..its all really juicy and fantastic. Plus all the fairy monarchy drama that is quite page turning in itself. This story is so gritty and real its hard to believe its set in fairyland.

Alright alright on to Ironside oh poor Ironside I truly feel for you. I'm sorry that you had to come after the super coolness that is Valiant. We pick up where we left off basically a little time has passed. Kaye is struggling with her identity its really sad. She doesn't feel like she belongs with Roiben, and she doesn't feel at home well at home. Roiben is acting all strange dealing with his new Kingly duties. Corny is being Corny all creepy and wanting to kill people. The Seelie Queen is being the "other women" classic she is making little quips and digs at Kaye making her feel less than. Roiben is well still in love with the Seelie Queen even though she is the baddest bitch in fairyland. She is like one major DIVA that needs slapped and knocked off her high horse. Kaye gets a little jealous and declares herself meaning she must go on a quest like Roiben had to do to win the love of his Queen. A quest he completed by the way, so he can go be her luva anytime he feels the inkling. He is really upset that Kaye declares herself because he doesn't wish that on anyone so he gives her a bogus quest that no one can complete. She is depressed and hurt over it, so she is swimming in the murky waters of confusion. A lot of fighting goes down, Corny and Luis develop an interesting friendship, the Queen performs some characteristically diva moves, and Roiben shockingly enough does some self sacrificing things. The story is really action packed, and it answers a lot of questions. Sadly Ravus is in it a tiny bit certainly not enough for my tastes, but I liked the book well enough.

Lets take a moment to discuss these?????

Cover number one, I'm ok with Kaye I picture her like that basically in my mind BUT Roiben seriously is that what we are suppose to be picturing because if so I failed I'm sorry. I am not a fan of this Roiben he is just not at all what I imagined. I mean the hair yes but that face NO NO NO. What do you guys think if you have read the books is that what you see????

Cover number two not so bad I personally do not picture either character this way, but I can see Val looking like that before. She is cutting her hair on the cover so I can buy that. Ravus he is a little off for me at least. I can work with it though if I must.

Waiting on Wednesday

Its Wednesday and that means its time for WOW. Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking The Spine. Its to showcase a book that you can't wait to be released.


May 14th 2010

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.

I'm excited for White Cat because I have been reading lots of Holly Black lately I finished Ironside so I'm all out of Holly Black for now. I love the cover to its really beautiful and creepy. Plus I'm excited because the release date doesn't seem so far away since a lot of other bloggers have already got the ARC.