The Ninja Reviews. . .The White Cat by Holly Black

Three years ago, Cassel killed his best friend Lila. At least, that's what he thinks. He doesn't actually remember doing it.

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers, a minority of the world's population who each have a different ability, such as influencing someone's emotions, their luck, or even their memory. There is even talk of people who can transform objects. Cassel was born without a power, but he comes from a family of con artists with connections to the mob, so being bad enough to kill his own best friend doesn't seem like too much of a stretch, even if he loved her.

When Cassel wakes in the middle of the night to find himself standing on the edge of his dorm roof, his world slowly begins to unravel. He realizes that he can't trust people he thought he could, that some friends and family aren't what they seem, and that there is a very big secret his family has been hiding for a very long time.

I have been a fan of Holly Black's teen fiction for years. She's not for everyone, because her writing tends to be very dark and definitely does not talk down to teens. Bearing that in mind, The White Cat does NOT disappoint. I was hooked from the first page and didn't stop reading until I was at least a third of the way through. It is very easy to feel sympathy for Cassel and every character is interesting and necessary to the story. The world that Holly Black has built is slowly revealed, piece by piece, which makes the mystery of what happened to Lily and what is going on with Cassel and his family even more intriguing.

I would recommend this book to older teens as well as fans of Melissa Marr. If you've already read The White Cat, try one of these:

The Poison Eaters by Holly Black

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan

The Ninja Reviews. . .Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside by Holly Black

Holly Black is known mostly for co-writing The Spiderwick Chronicles, but I knew her first as an author of young adult books about a very dark version of our world inhabited by faeries.


The first of these books is Tithe (the cover has been re-done a number of times, which I've always found an interesting thing for a publisher to do). Kaye is 16 and has always felt like a freak. She is a blonde-haired Asian, which is strange enough, she grew up in seedy bars because of her rocker-wannabe mom, and she has vague memories of conversing with faeries when she was a little girl. When she ends up back at her Gram's house, she rescues a wounded man who is obviously not of this world. Her faerie friends from childhood reappear to warn her, but Kaye is quickly sucked into the world of faerie.

This is actually a re-telling of the Scottish legend of Tam Lin, but it is incredibly dark, very edgy, and not your typical faery story. In traditional folklore, faeries were not usually beautiful creatures who performed good deeds; They were something to be feared. Holly Black definitely uses this in her novels, and to great effect. I have read some reviews online in which readers have complained about the language and some of the contest in these books. However, it all serves to build the Kaye's character and explain what type of life she has had. If you keep in mind that she's led a really rough life around rough people, you just might come to understand her and her eventual involvement in the macabre world of the fae.

I highly suggest these books to fans of Melissa Marr. If you love her books, then you will certainly enjoy Holly Black's. Here are the two books that follow Tithe:

Valiant by Holly Black

Ironside by Holly Black

Books the Ninja can't wait to read

The Ninja can't wait for these titles to arrive on library shelves. Be the first to request them!

The Silver Blade by Sally Gardner Gypsies, magic, danger, Paris, and the French Revolution. Good times! (Sequel to The Red Necklace.)	Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater Lonely girl, lonelier werewolf, snowy Minnesota = supernatural love. Yum. (Author of Lament.)	Fire by Kristin Cashore Features a gorgeous human-monster in a kingdom at war. Prequel to Graceling.
Going Bovine by Libba Bray A boy with mad cow disease road trips with a dwarf. Big change from Bray's Victorian-era fairies.	Pop by Gordon Korman Teen boy meets retired pro football player, who is helps train him, but is really. . .strange. Korman's never fails to please.	The Eternal Kiss: 13 vampire tales of blood and desire Holly Black, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Rachel Caine. . .to name a few.

Keep An Eye Out For. . .The Good Neighbors: Kin AND Tales From Outer Suburbia

I'm really excited because two of my favorite illustrated works will soon be on the shelves at the library.

The Good Neighbors, book one: Kin is written by Holly Black and illustrated by Ted Naifeh.

Rue is 16. Her mother has just disappeared and her father can't seem to function. To make matters worse, she has started seeing strange things around town: people with wings and strange faces, plants that grow where they shouldn't. Is she losing her mind? Or is her town full of faeries?

This is a dark tale illustrated with angular, punk-ish images. One reason I love this book so much is that I'm a fan of Holly Black's teen faerie books (Tithe, Valiant, Ironside). When I read The Good Neighbors, I kept picturing some of the characters from Holly's other books in the way that artist Ted Naifeh had drawn Rue and her friends. It was pretty cool to kind of have a visual interpretation of Holly's characters that I'd been reading about for so long.


Then we have Shaun Tan's Tales From Outer Suburbia. This is one of my most favorite illustrated books EVER. Shaun's style is what you might call "whimsical", what with the strange little creatures and situations he comes up with. He also throws in some dark tones to keep things a bit balanced.

Tales From Outer Suburbia is 15 stories, illustrated and odd, and is some of the most creative, strange storytelling I've ever read. I love it! While you're waiting for the book to show up on our shelves, check out Shaun Tan's website to for some illustrations and excerpts from his book.



While you're waiting, try these titles!