Friday, November 4, 2011

Book Review: Anna Dressed in Blood



Anna Dressed in Blood

by Kendare Blake
Series: Anna #1
Release date: 30th August, 2011
Publisher: Tor Teen
Pages: 316 (Hardcover bought by me)
Next book: Girl of Nightmares

Summary from Goodreads:

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered 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: track, 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, now stained red and dripping with 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.

But she, for whatever reason, spares Cas's life.

Review By Alaiel Kreuz:

The first thing that urged me to read this book was the cover, it's compelling don't you think? Like it's telling you to take it from the bookshelf. And there's also the name of course because, I don't know you but as soon as I read the name I thought:"why is she covered in blood?! I want to know why".
And I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of horror books, not even the YA ones but with this book I had to do an exception and I'm glad I did. Sure there are a couple of scenes where blood is involved and spooky things happen (I know, I know, that's what horror books are about but, well, I can handle programs like Supernatural, Criminal Minds or Fringe but not horror books^^U) but the way the book is written and the story are far too good to stop reading.

Now for the book: At the beginning of the book we meet Cas, the main character who is giving a ride to some random guy who was hitchhiking but as we keep reading we get that this random guy is dead and that Cas has being waiting for this moment to happen for months because he wants to kill him. Yes, the guy is already dead but Cas needs to stop him. Want to know why? Well, Mr. Hitchhiker here has been killing people since he was murdered in the same road they are going now and Cas is a hunter, just like his father was. He hunts these things in order to stop them from killing.
He doesn't know where they go after and he doesn't hate them, in fact, most of the ghosts he goes after don't even know they are dead, they just have to kill.

And after completing his job Cas and his mom move to a new town, almost like always. But this time is different, this time he is going after a particular ghost, a ghost that is special even if he doesn't know why or how he knows that.

He is right, of course, because Anna "knows" she is dead and remembers everything that happened the night she died. And she is probably one of the most terrible ghosts out there. But for some reason, when she has the chance to kill Cas she doesn't and he needs to know why.

For When we first meet Cas he is a lonely boy and by his own choice. The reason is that he only wants one thing: revenge for his father's death and the only person that reaches his heart is her mother. But everything changes in this new town when he meets Carmel, the popular girl of school and Thomas, the not-at-all popular boy. These two somehow become his best friends in a fight that might kill all of them.

And Anna... She was just great. At the beginning of the book it's impossible to like her for all the things she has done but when we get to know her story it's impossible not to like her. That's why I like this book: Kendara's writing flows and creates a super story that continues in the next book of this series.

If you haven't read it give it a try, even in you are not a fan of scary stories this one is worth the exception, trust me.

Alaiel's Rating:


If you really like it, you can find it here:

10 comments:

  1. Fantastic review! Glad you enjoyed it as well. I really enjoyed Cas as a protagonist he was awesome - and male, which was refreshing.

    Giselle
    Xpresso Reads

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  2. Great review! Hearing many good things about this one and have added it to my bday/xmas list! That gives me a little over a month to knock some books off my TBR pile so there's room for this one!

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  3. Yay, so glad you enjoyed it! I absolutely loved it myself, in all it's horrific uniqueness. Anna was my favorite character and I longed for the scenes with her in them! Great review. :)

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  4. I can't wait to read this one.

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  5. This book will be my next read, I just got my copy :) I'm a little worried about the horror storyline, I don't really like scary books, but I keep hearing it's amazing, so I'm gonna read it!

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  6. This sounds like an awesome book. AND let me say, I LOVE Fringe :) lol Thanks for doing this review. I've been wondering about this book!

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  7. I've been curious about this book because of the cover (I agree, it is great). After reading your review, I think I have to check it out.

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  8. Love the review! I've been wanting to read this book for awhile, but since I'm not a big fan of horror stories, I haven't give this book a second thought. Now, it's on the top of my TBR list, and hope I'll enjoy this book as much as you do :)

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  9. I loved it - more so than the second one.
    Pabkins @ My Shelf Confessions

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