Published: August 30, 2011
Publisher: Tor Teen
Pages: 320
Series: Anna #1
My Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Synopsis: 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.
My Review: I believe in ghosts. I admit it. They freak me out almost as much as zombies do and I'm terrified of zombies. So when I finally decided to read this I thought I'd be up all night. But I actually wasn't that scared. I was more afraid of what I thought would happen but when the part of the book that I thought would be really scary and freaky happened I wasn't scared. It was disappointing. I wanted be scared.
I'm not that hard to scare. I will jump at practically anything but for some reason this book just wasn't scary to me. I mean for a few pages I could feel myself starting to feel just the slightest bit scared but then nothing scary would happen. I would say that books don't scare me but that wouldn't be true.
I did love Cas and Anna's relationship even if I didn't really like it at first. At first I wanted Anna to just rip Cas in half (or try to) even though I really liked Cas because that would freak me out but that would also mean the end of the book so I settled for her tossing him around a little. Besides that Anna was a great character. She was a murderous ghost but she was also just a girl when she was alone with Cas. Anna was just wonderful.
What really made this book for me was the ghosts and Anna's story. From the moment the book started talking about how she died I needed to know. It kept me reading. I wanted to meet this Anna Dressed in Blood. The beginning also did a good job of dragging me into story. A kid who kills ghosts? Sign me up!
Another bonus! Anna Dressed in Blood is narrated by a male. Yes! Kendare Blake you blew me away with Cas. He seemed real to me. He sounded like guys I know. It was perfect.
I loved almost everything about this book. The characters, the plot, and the writing were great. My only problem was that I don't think it ever explained why Anna spared Cas and it wasn't that scary. I hope that we get to find out why Anna spared him in the next book. I can't wait for Girl of Nightmares!
Great review! This book sounds sooo good!!
ReplyDeleteI cannot wait to read it!
I will say, that I get scared easily too, so the fact that it isnt scary would actually be a plus for me :)
Thanks! The book was really good! You have to read it.
DeleteGood review! I bought this book just because of the cover haha but I'm glad to know that it's a good book. I followed your blog btw.
ReplyDelete