Hey everyone! I'm so glad I finished this book today, because I have a serious case of Blogger's Block right now..
Anyway, this is a review of Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake!
Page count- 316
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.
Plot- This book took me a while to read, not even because it's long, just because I've been so busy with school, and the fact that it's November, NaNoWriMo.
When I started out this book, I was worried, because some people weren't too impressed with it. But I mean, that pitch, it sounds so cool and unique, I just had to read it to see what it was all about.
And sure enough, it was really cool and very unique.
I mean, who the heck has a crazy awesome brain to come up with a story idea like this? Kendare Blake, apparently! Yeah, ghosts, we've all heard of them, but she put a crazy, exciting, spooky new twist on them!
Then the whole ghost hunter career thing, that is really different. But, I loved it.
This story line doesn't waste any time, it goes right into it, no stalling involved.
It hooks you in right away, and it kept me interested the entire time. I don't think there was a moment when I was bored, because there was always something happening.
There's a lot of action in this book, which is exciting. I loved the voice and the writing style.
THE. FONT. IS. RED. How cool is that? It just fits the whole theme of the novel so well!
On a more negative note, some of the things in this book were a little hard to believe and take in, considering I don't normally read Paranormal/ Fantasy. And also, some parts are really gruesome.
THE ENDING. The end is such a cliffhanger! The next one needs to come out now! I can't wait until August, gah.
Setting- An average town called Thunder Bay somewhere in Canada. Well.. not really average.. but seemingly average on the outside. It was refreshing to have a story set in Canada, I've never read one with that type of setting before.
Characters- I. LOVE. CAS. <3
Even though he has the most strange career and past, he is so realistic, that's what I liked about him. He's also hilarious! I loved his voice and just the way he said things. The way he described things and different situation really helped me get a feel for his character.
I'm not usually a fan of books narrated by boys, actually, I try to stray away from them. Because I feel like since it's a boy narrator, I can't relate.
That definitely wasn't the case here. I loved Cas, and I couldn't imagine the story told by any other character.
Anna.... Anna... she was also simply amazing. When we first meet her, she is scary, just plain scary. Cas builds up this excitement and interest in meeting her, which therefore excites the reader too.
I was definitely, extremely excited.
I didn't like her at first because well, she's a killer. But then as the story went on and we got to know her tragic story and how realistic she was for a ghost who was killed 50 years ago, I loved her.
All of the characters were pretty good. I wasn't a fan of all the minor characters though, especially Carmel. What the heck kind of name is Carmel? And if she was really the IT girl at school she, she wouldn't be hanging out with a random new guy like Cas right away. Their friendship was very unrealistic.
Other than that, characters were great.
Cover- *Mouth drops* I LOVE IT.
The beautiful cover is what honestly made me want to find out more about this book. Once I saw it, I was like woah... that must be an interesting and spooky book. It definitely fits the story really well and gives me a clear image of Anna.
Overall- This was a really spooky, frightening, exciting, action packed, shocking, and romantic book. I'm glad I read it. It was really interesting and definitely not a normal ghost story.
It's anything but normal.
Overall, I was impressed with it. It was a really fun read and leaves you shivering and wondering.
I give this book 5/5 stars! It was an amazing read, and I recommend it to you all!
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| New rating system! I just love it! |
A little NaNoWriMo update- I'm. So. Behind. Like over 4k behind. I need to catch up, and fast. I'm glad I have Thanksgiving break next week so I can WRITE WRITE WRITE!
