After reading this book (and loving it!), I went back and found my review of [b:White Cat|6087756|White Cat (Curse Workers, #1)|Holly Black|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358274572s/6087756.jpg|6264661] and looked at my one con, which was "The backstory is a bit shallow and you are just dropped right into the world."Wow, does Holly Black do a great job of flushing out the characters and the backstory in this one. There is a lot of great history that unfolds in a very natural way. There are no "information dumps," just careful, natural conversations and twists.And, what I loved about the first novel, I love even more about this one. Holly Black does a great job of adding magic to our existing world in a very natural way. The plot to this one was a little odd (and why I gave this four stars). It felt a little more like the way to move the story from A to B, rather than the characters being in any real danger.