Recaps of books by Holly Black

December 28, 2023

Red Glove by Holly Black

The basics

Title: Red Glove

Author:

Series: Curse Workers #2

- White Cat (2010)
- Red Glove (2011)
- Black Heart (2012)

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Goodreads Summary:

In Cassel Sharpe's world, they go together. Cassel always though he was an ordinary guy, until he realized his memories were being manipulated by his brothers. Now he knows the truth - he's the most powerful curse worker around. A touch of his hand can transform anything - or anyone - into something else.

That was how Lila, the girl he loved, became a white cat. Cassel was tricked into thinking he killed her, when actually he tried to save her. Now that she's human again, he should be overjoyed. Trouble is, Lila's been cursed to love him, a little gift from his emotion-worker mom. And if Lila's love is as phony as Cassel's made-up memories, then he can't believe anything she says or does.

When Cassel's oldest brother is murdered, the Feds recruit Cassel to help make sense of the only clue - crime-scene images of a woman in red gloves. But the mob is after Cassel too - they know how valuable he could be to them. Cassel is going to have to stay one step ahead of both sides just to survive. But where can he turn when he can't trust anyone - least of all, himself?

Love is a curse and the con is the only answer in a game too dangerous to lose.
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February 11, 2022

White Cat by Holly Black

The basics

Title: White Cat

Author:

Series: Curse Workers #1

- White Cat (2010)
- Red Glove (2011)
- Black Heart (2012)

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Goodreads Summary:

Cassel is cursed. Cursed by the memory of the fourteen year old girl he murdered. Life at school is a constant trial. Life at home even worse. No-one at home is ever going to forget that Cassel is a killer. No-one at home is ever going to forget that he isn't a magic worker.

Cassel's family are one of the big five crime families in America. Ever since magic was prohibited in 1929 magic workers have been driven underground and into crime. And while people still need their touch, their curses, their magical killings, their transformations, times have been hard. His granddad has been driven to drink, his mother is in prison and his brothers detest him as the only one of their family who can't do magic.

But there is a secret at the centre of Cassel's family and he's about to inherit it. It's terrfying and that's the truth.
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May 24, 2021

The Silver Mask by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

The basics

Title: The Silver Mask

Author: and

Series: Magesterium #4

- The Iron Trial (2014)
- The Copper Gauntlet (2015)
- The Bronze Key (2016)
- The Silver Mask (2017)
- The Golden Tower (2018)

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Goodreads Summary:

A generation ago, Constantine Madden came close to achieving what no magician had ever achieved: the ability to bring back the dead. He didn't succeed . . . but he did find a way to keep himself alive, inside a young child named Callum Hunt. Now Call is one of the most feared and reviled students in the history of the Magisterium, thought to be responsible for a devastating death and an ever-present threat of war. As a result, Call has been imprisoned and interrogated. Everyone wants to know what Constantine was up to-and how he lives on. But Call has no idea. It is only when he's broken out of prison that the full potential of Constantine's plan is suddenly in his hands . . . and he must decide what to do with his power. In this spellbinding fourth book of Magisterium, bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare take us beyond the realm of the living and into the dangers of the dead.
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April 26, 2021

The Bronze Key by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

The basics

Title: The Bronze Key

Author: and

Series: Magesterium #3

- The Iron Trial (2014)
- The Copper Gauntlet (2015)
- The Bronze Key (2016)
- The Silver Mask (2017)
- The Golden Tower (2018)

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Goodreads Summary:

Magic can save you.
Magic can kill you.
Students at the Magisterium are supposed to be safe. Under the watchful eyes of the mages, they are taught to use magic to bring order to a chaotic world.

But now the chaos is fighting back. Call, Tamara, and Aaron should be worrying about things like pop quizzes and magic contests. Instead, after the shocking death of one of their classmates, they must track down a sinister killer… and risk their own lives in the process.

As Call, Tamara, and Aaron discover, magic can only be as good as the person who wields it. In evil hands, it has the capacity to do immeasurable harm, unless it is stopped in time.

In this striking third book of Magisterium, bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare present us with a school where anything, good or evil, can happen, and the only way to unlock the truth is to risk everything to find it.
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November 15, 2019

The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

the copper gauntlet cover

The basics

Title: The Copper Gauntlet

Author: and

Series: Magesterium #2

- The Iron Trial (2014)
- The Copper Gauntlet (2015)
- The Bronze Key (2016)
- The Silver Mask (2017)
- The Golden Tower (2018)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

Callum Hunt’s summer break isn’t like other kids’. His closest companion is a Chaos-ridden wolf, Havoc. His father suspects him of being secretly evil. And, of course, most kids aren’t heading back to the magical world of the Magisterium in the fall.

It’s not easy for Call . . . and it gets even harder after he checks out his basement and discovers that his dad might be trying to destroy both him and Havoc.

Call escapes to the Magisterium -- but things only intensify there. The Alkahest -- a copper gauntlet capable of separating certain magicians from their magic -- has been stolen. And in their search to discover the culprit, Call and his friends Aaron and Tamara awaken the attention of some very dangerous foes -- and get closer to an even more dangerous truth.
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April 20, 2019

The Wicked King by Holly Black

The basics

Title: The Wicked King

Author:

Series: The Folk of the Air #2

- The Cruel Prince (2018)
- The Wicked King (2019)
- The Queen of Nothing (2020)

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Goodreads Summary:

You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.

The first lesson is to make yourself strong.

After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her younger brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.

When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.
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Posted by Amber • One comment
April 18, 2019

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

The basics

Title: The Cruel Prince

Author:

Series: The Folk of the Air #1

- The Cruel Prince (2018)
- The Wicked King (2019)
- The Queen of Nothing (2020)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.
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Posted by Amber • 2 comments
January 16, 2019

The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

The basics

Title: The Iron Trial

Author: and

Series: Magesterium #1

- The Iron Trial (2014)
- The Copper Gauntlet (2015)
- The Bronze Key (2016)
- The Silver Mask (2017)
- The Golden Tower (2018)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

Most kids would do anything to pass the Iron Trial.

Not Callum Hunt. He wants to fail.

All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at the Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can only mean bad things for him.

So he tries his best to do his worst -- and fails at failing.

Now the Magisterium awaits him. It's a place that's both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future.

The Iron Trial is just the beginning, for the biggest test is still to come . . .
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