Curses!

Red Glove by Holly Black

It’s a new school year and Cassel Sharpe hopes that life will return to something more normal than the craziness of the previous year. Of course, this is impossible in Cassel’s world – where magic can flow through the slightest touch of fingers, and the mob and government fight over control of the magical world. After the death of his brother, Cassel is made a couple of offers he isn’t sure he can refuse. The question is: which route will he take when someone close to him will be hurt no matter what he decides?

Likes

Good vs. Evil is a common theme in literature. In this book, though, there is a bit of a conflict between which side is really the good side. Or, rather, both sides have many attributes that make them equally good and evil. As in real life, things are rarely pure black and white. The same is true in Cassel’s world, where the bad guys are around because they started protecting those who needed it (i.e. the Workers) and the good guys are engaged in some shady business practices.

The ending is nice and neat, yet leaves room for a third novel.

The mystery. Black does a great job of keeping the murderer unknown until the very end. When it is revealed, though, it isn’t something that had me wondering how I didn’t figure it out already or had me thinking there is no way it would have worked.

Dislikes

The story wasn’t as engaging to me as the previous book.

The whole Lila being cursed subplot. After a while I was more annoyed than intrigued by it.

Other

Curse Workers series, book 2