The Curseworkers by Holly Black
So it’s no secret by now that I really like the fantasy genre. But if there’s anything that I love, it’s magic in our world, or at least something very close to it. Ladies and gents, I give you: The Curseworkers.
I have a little literary crush on Cassel Sharpe. A clever boy with more than a little charisma and a strong desire to be good and do the right thing, even with his criminal family and their ties to the mafia making that extremely difficult. Imagine, if you will, a world like ours except magic is accepted as something that a significant portion of the population can use. To do so, they need skin contact through their hands with the flesh of their intended target. Therefore, everyone (and I do mean everyone) wears gloves. Magic, or curseworking, as it is called in the series, is illegal and the general populous lives in fear of those who have the ability, going so far as to attempt to have such people tested and accounted for. This is Cassel’s world, the only non-curseworker in his family. The story follows his attempts to find his place in the world, preferably one that doesn’t require him to be a criminal or betray his family. A near impossibility, but if anyone can do it, it’s Cassel.
Holly Black’s writing can only be described as dynamic. I could not put the book down either because I was laughing so hard, or I was anxious to read what happened next, or I couldn’t bear to leave them where they were, and all of a sudden they were over. If the Hunger Games books were about revolution and the ugliness of war, The Curseworkers is about political activism and the ugliness of racial discrimination. But because Holly lets you root for Cassel and hope for the good in him to win out, these books have worked their way into my heart.
Definitely a permanent favorite! (10 of 10)
