I LOVE reading about cons and how people can pull them off.
I’m always impressed to see how clever some people can be, probably because I
don’t have a sly, sneaky bone in my body. Sometimes I wish I do but then I
think it’s probably a good thing I’m so honest and unable to pull off any
awesome cons…
Cassel
Sharpe was born the only non-worker in a worker family. Going to a prestigious
boarding school, he thinks that he can fit in and pretend that he’s just a
normal kid with a normal family. He thinks it’s almost too good to be true
until he wakes up nearly naked on the roof of the dormitory, about to fall off.
Getting suspended from school is the least of his worries when he continues
sleepwalking and the same character shows up every time: a white cat. This
white cat is similar to someone he once knew: Lila, childhood friend and murder
victim. And Cassel was the murderer. As the daughter of the Zacharovs, the
largest crime family in the United States, Cassel and his brothers successfully
hid the fact that he supposedly killed her (he has no memory of the actual
event, just an image of him standing over her with a knife after it was done).
When things spin out of control even further, with his brothers getting him
unknowingly involved in some kind of coup, Cassel will discover something about
himself and about the cat that he never thought possible. Will he be able to
forgive those that betrayed him, even though they are his family, the ones that
are supposed to protect him? Will he even live through the ordeal to be able to
do so?
“Clever as the devil and twice as pretty,”
is the perfect way to describe Cassel Sharpe. I loved seeing him pull cons on
people; it was SO AWESOME. He was really smart. I mean I’m pretty smart, but I
never would have been able to pull off, or even think of the things that he
did. He was truly a con artist at its best... though I’m not really sure that’s
a good thing J
He was also really funny and I felt really bad for him because his family was
so horrible (dead father, mother in jail, horrible brothers) My views on the
other characters are mostly pleasant, but I had a lot of hate for Cassel’s
brothers. They were complete jerks and overall terrible people. Like super bad.
But I think that’s the point.
Admittedly,
it took me a while to really get into this story. The first 120 pages or so
were not very exciting, but after that I got pulled into the story really
intensely. Once again, the cons were awesome to watch, but that wasn’t all that
made this a great story. I thought that I guessed the whole story about 150
pages in, and while everything I guessed was correct, I only guessed a small
part of the story. Everything else was a complete surprise. I must say that
Holly Black has a really unique style of writing. Usually I don’t really notice
anything about the writing of a book that makes it stand out (I’m a plot and
character type of girl), but I must say that Black’s writing was really
special. At times the writing was funny and kind of awkward, but in a good way.
At other times, the writing was so beautiful and eloquent; I especially loved
those parts because they were really quotable and just likable.
I’m so super excited for the next book! The ending was AMAZING!
Good thing I got all three of the books for Christmas! J
This book was awesome! 4 Smileys!!
