Title: “Anna Dressed in Blood”
Series: (Anna, #1)
Author: Kendare Blake
Publisher: Tor Teen
Publication Date: July 3, 2012
Genre: YA, Horror
Reviewed by: Books4Tomorrow
Source: Purchased
My star rating: 4/5
SUMMARY
Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story...
Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.
So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.
When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.
And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.
Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.
So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.
When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.
And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.
REVIEW
Anna Dressed in Blood is a
combination of two of my favorite genres: YA and horror. I couldn’t wait to get
around to reading it, though I’ll admit that I was a little skeptical at first,
fearing it might be just your average YA love story. But after reading only a
few chapters I discovered that Kendare Blake is not your average, YA love story
writer.
One
of the many reasons I enjoyed this book so much is because it breaks out of every
typical, overused YA mould imaginable. It’s also one of the few YA books I’ve
ever read from a male protagonist’s point of view. And the author nails it! The
ending is unpredictable and it’s not a happy ending, but not an unhappy one
either. It doesn’t leave you hanging, but leaves you satisfied and curious
enough to want to read the next book, Girl
of Nightmares. I would’ve happily given it five stars, but the pacing is
not consistent and from time to time it slows down a lot - especially after Cas
discovered how Anna died – before picking up again and throwing the reader head
first back into the action. Another thing I loved about this story was all the
different characters. Even the bullies weren’t your usual cartoon cut-out
bullies. All the characters complemented each other in different ways to
further the plot. Of course, my favorite character was the cat, Tybalt. Nothing
average about this feline, I tell you. And Anna…wow! What a surprise this
goddess of death turned out to be.
As
a fan of horror, I can’t really classify this as a true blue horror, because I
didn’t find anything scary about it. It does have lots of gore though and for
readers who don’t usually read horror, there are definitely a lot of terrifying
scenes in this book. The only scene that had me freaked out was when Cas and
his mom were standing in his room and they could hear something coming down the
attic stairs and they had absolutely no clue what it was. That sure had the
hairs on my neck rising. This is something the author is really good at. She
knows how to build up the suspense to that point where you have to put down the
book for a minute, take a few deep breaths to bring your heart rate back to
normal before you continue reading.
Fans
of the tv series, Supernatural, will
love this book. Yes, I’m also a fan of the Winchester brothers and although Anna Dressed in Blood is not a carbon
copy of this tv series, you can’t help being reminded thereof while reading
this fantastic book. I can easily see why this is a bestseller and I’m happy to
add my voice to the thousands who loved this book. Kendare Blake, you rock!
READ more REVIEWS
Anna Dressed in Blood by
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PURCHASE
LINKS
ABOUT the AUTHOR
Kendare Blake grew up in the small
city of Cambridge, Minnesota. She is a graduate of Ithaca College, in Ithaca,
New York and received a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from Middlesex
University in London, England. She loves to travel, is an advocate for animals,
and cheats a lot when she plays Final Fantasy. Adopted from South Korea at the
age of seven months, she arrived with the following instruction: "Feed her
chocolate." Though not medically advisable, she and her parents are
eternally grateful for this advice.
Kendare
Blake's short fiction has appeared in numerous markets, including The Momaya
Press Annual Review and Mirror Dance Magazine, among others. Her debut novel,
Sleepwalk Society, deals with four friends coming of age post 9/11. ANNA
DRESSED IN BLOOD (2011), and GIRL OF NIGHTMARES (2012), are YA horror
chronicling the strange life of Cassio Lowood, a teenage ghost hunter who falls
in love with the dead girl he was supposed to kill.
The
ANTIGODDESS series launches in 2013.
AUTHOR
LINKS
1 comment:
I'm glad you enjoyed the book! Kendare Blake is a great writer. I have to admit, just like you, I expected it to be a little more horrorish. There was maybe a few moments that did have horror parts like when Anna ripped the guy in half, but it was still a great book. Great review :)
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