Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Review of: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Anna Dressed in Blood (Anna, #1)
Title: Anna Dressed in Blood
Author: Kendare Blake
Published by: TOR Teen
Released: 2011
Summary: Cas Lockwood has an unusual occupation, he hunts ghosts just like his father and grandfather before him. When his father died during one of the hunts, the torch and athame passed onto Cas. Cas, his mother, and their cat travel from place to place killing ghosts.
Cas gets a tip about a new ghost in Thunder Bay, Ontario. A ghost named Anna Dressed in Blood. Anna lives/haunts the boarding house where she grew up and where nobody has left alive since. Every person who enters Anna's house dies, everybody that is, except Cas.
My Thoughts: I'm glad I finally got to read Anna Dressed in Blood. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I won't say I was amazed by the story or so scared by it that I couldn't get to sleep. Maybe it was a tad over-hyped, but I did greatly enjoy it.
First off, I loved the subject matter. It reminded me a lot of the television show Supernatural. One thing I really appreciated was the story behind the ghosts. There is a sort of grim fascination with what happened to the person to cause them to spend the rest of their afterlife haunting a place. There were also some well done gory bits. Not anything super frightening or scary, but definitely enough to make one go ick!
I also really liked Cas. He was a pretty cool kid, but maybe not as tough as he thinks he is. Blake made a very believable character who, for all his bravado and ghost-hunting skills, is still a rather lonely boy who could do with some true friends.
The feelings Cas and Anna had for each other didn't seem that far-fetched either. There was a reason Cas was fascinated with her from the start and why he was so reluctant to kill her. The end love story bit was a little rushed and didn't feel genuine. I think the relationship would have felt more natural at the end if they had had more time to nurture it and discover their feelings for one another.
I recommend Anna Dressed in Blood to anybody and everybody that likes a good old ghost story. Very enjoyable reading and can't wait to see what happens next for Cas and Anna.
BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 4/5
What a pretty dress, too bad it's covered in blood.

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