Black Heart: The Curse Workers Book 3 [Kindle Edition]

Black Heart is the third and final instalment of The Curse Worker Trilogy by Holly Black. We follow Cassel Sharpe, as he decides what do with his life and who he can trust. Cassel has come a long way from The White Cat (Curse Workers, Book 1).

If you have been reading The Curse Worker Trilogy then you will absolutely fall in love with this book. I certainly did. This is Holly Black at her best, and Cassel Sharpe at his best. It was a joy to read. I don't really want to go into any detail in this review, because I don't want to spoil this book for you. It doesn't deserve it.

First off, I just wanted to say that I absolutely adore the cover. It is positively gorgeous. The picture with this review does not do it justice at all. I think this is my absolute favourite cover of The Curse Worker Trilogy.

Black Heart wraps up The Curse Worker Trilogy with all the style and pizzazz I have come to expect from Holly Black. All my questions were answered, and boy was I led on a merry chase to discover the answers! This, like the rest of the trilogy, was a really fun book to read. We are reunited with Cassel, Sam, Dancea, Lila, Barron, and Cassel's mother and grandfather. And what a reunion it is. I did not see the events of this book coming at all. To start with the plot seems pretty simple - Cassel is learning how to be `straight' - but then the plot seems to twist and it's not that simple any more. In this book Holly Black really pushes Cassel to his limits.

This is one of the best endings of a series that I have read. First books and last books are hard, and I think Holly Black pulls this book off brilliantly.... I'm kinda sad to see the back of all the characters that I have fallen in love and in like with over the series, but I'm not disappointed things have come to an end either. I think that this was exactly the right place to end. Thanks Holly Black for taking me on this journey.

Originally posted on TheFlutterbyRoom.com Read more ›

I've really enjoyed the entire series and I think this book brings it to a good end. I liked it as much as the first two and I would recommend it (the whole series) to anybody.

(3.5 stars)

Holly Black continues her theme of unreliable characters in the final instalment of The Curse Workers series. In some ways this was the best novel in the series and in other ways the worst.

Firstly, the good points. I loved the fact that all of the characters were vying for the trust of Cassel and all of them were completely untrustworthy. I loved the fact that Cassel himself never stopped lying even when he was trying to go straight. Cassel very much remains an unreliable narrator, neglecting to tell the reader information. Holly Black writes ambiguous characters so well and, when I was reading, I never knew who the good guys or the bad guys were. Even after finishing the novel I'm unsure, such is the skill Black has. In terms of characters taken as a whole, this was the best in the series by a mile.

However, I feel Black spent too much time dwelling on the romantic entanglements of the characters. Cassel and Lila and Sam and Daneca, I can't honestly say I cared enough to spend that much time reading about it. Particularly when, for most of the book, the two couples were barely even on speaking terms. It just didn't do anything for me at all and I was hankering for the story to go back to being about the cons.

Character-wise, I found this to be an excellent read. Plot-wise, though, it fell short of my, admittedly high, expectations and the storylines of the previous novels.

It's several months after RED GLOVE. Lila's started work for the Zaharov family as a foot soldier. Cass's mother's on the run after working Governor Patton to stop him from supporting a proposed law that would restrict Workers' rights. His brother Barron is a junior agent for the FBI and Cass himself is working with a secret FBI teen Worker unit run by Agent Yulikova, despite the fact that Lila's dad is pressuring him to work for the Zaharov family.

When Governor Patton resurrects plans to restrict Worker freedoms, Yukilova reveals that the curse worked by Cass's mother has made Patton emotionally unstable. The only way to stop him is for Cass to use his transformation powers, but having been used previously by his brothers to kill, Cass has sworn never to murder again.

With the line between good and evil blurred, the only way out is for Cass to pull the biggest con of his life ...

Holly Black's bestselling Curse Worker Trilogy concludes with a peculiar mix of con tricks and obsessive love but despite some great world building it didn't quite gel together for me.

Obsessed with Lila, guilt-riddled over the murders he committed while under his brothers' control and uncertain whether his deal with the FBI was a good thing, I really enjoyed the personal journey that Black gives Cass in this book. The scenes between him and Yukilova are well executed as are his scenes with Barron, who remains amoral and self-serving but who calls Cass on his creepy behaviour.

Unfortunately the book centres on Cass's relationship with Lila and I never quite understood what she sees in him given what he did to her (albeit against his will) and so much of their relationship is based on not talking to each other.... Similarly disappointing is the Governor Patton storyline, which turns on Cass simply not telling the reader key things, which feels artificial. The civil rights story is underdeveloped, which is a shame given the richness of Black's world building and so too is a plot line involving Daneca, Sam and Daneca's new boyfriend, which could have really fleshed out those characters.

Ultimately I wished this book was twice its length because what's there is fine but feels under baked and could have done with more room to breathe. Although romance fans will be satisfied, the trilogy had promised so much more. Read more ›