The Curse Workers
#6003.88 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 3 books Status Complete 2010–2012 Reading commitment Low Holly Black Last reviewed 2026-08-21
Overview
The Curse Workers is a complete trilogy by Holly Black set in an alternate present-day United States where a small number of people, "curse workers," can alter luck, memory, emotion, or physical form with a touch, and organized crime runs on that power, having gone underground decades earlier after work-based crime led to a constitutional amendment banning the practice outright. It follows Cassel Sharpe, a teenage con artist from a family of workers who believes himself to be the only member of his family without a magical curse-working ability, and whose carefully maintained normal-kid facade at boarding school begins to unravel as he is pulled back into his family's criminal entanglements. White Cat (2010), Red Glove (2011) and Black Heart (2012) build a detailed alternate history around the workers' underground economy, including gloves worn in public as a social norm to prevent accidental cursework.
Urban fantasy · For YA
Core Canon: Reading Order (3 works) counts toward ranking
The Curse Workers Holly Black
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | White Cat | 2010 | 1 | core | 3.79 (51,512 ratings) |
 | Red Glove | 2011 | 2 | core | 3.94 (25,667 ratings) |
 | Black Heart | 2012 | 3 | core | 4.05 (19,722 ratings) |
A complete trilogy of contemporary curse-magic crime novels (con-artist families whose touch can curse, in an alternate present-day where working curses is illegal), a different setting from both Modern Faerie Tales and Folk of the Air.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Curse Workers? The Curse Workers's Core Canon is 3 books.
- What is the reading order for The Curse Workers? Publication order, starting with White Cat. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Curse Workers finished? Complete (2010–2012).
- How much reading does The Curse Workers take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 3 Core Canon books · ~934 pages).
- How is The Curse Workers ranked? #600 in this site's official ranking, based on 96,901 reader ratings across 3 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #600?
Ranked #600 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.88 across 3 core books.
- A smaller readership (96,901 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #599, The Radiant Emperor Duology (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Rated · 3 books · Complete · 97k ratings · Ranks #600 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment urban fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (3 Core Canon books)
- White Cat (2010)
- Red Glove (2011)
- Black Heart (2012)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- No independently-verified awards on file for this universe.
You might also like
Suggestions computed from what The Curse Workers and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Elatsoe Urban fantasy / Mythic fantasy · Ongoing · Low commitment · 3.98
- The Mither Mages Urban fantasy / Portal fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.75
- The Iron Fey Urban fantasy / Portal fantasy · Ongoing · Medium commitment · 4.03
- The Power of Five Dark fantasy / Urban fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.01
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.88 across 96,901 ratings on 3 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: The Curse Workers admitted as a new universe accepted 2026-08-21
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Holly Black - Wikipedia Tier 2
- Wikipedia: White Cat (novel) Tier 2
- Wikipedia: Red Glove (novel) Tier 2
- Wikipedia: Black Heart (Black novel) Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-08-21
Rule: Core Canon is the complete trilogy: White Cat, Red Glove, and Black Heart.