August 30 2011, Tor Teen316 Pages, Hardcover
Purchased from Amazon
Anna #1
YA Horror
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.
Opinion:
O, How I must gush forth my love of this book like big arterial vein spurts of hot red blood! Too melodramatic? So I liked it a lot cut me a little….slack.
Blake’s writing style drew me in immediately from page one – with our first ghost, a sweet yet vengeful hitchhiker. We learn that the ghosts Cas spends his time dispatching are more often than not the unfortunate victims of horrible murders. Knowing they were the victims in life makes you want to sympathize with them. There is some excellent skills here in the descriptive writing department that I feel give you just enough without being too much. Kudos to the Editor as well. I hate it when an author over does it; but Blake writes in such a way that I ate it all up. No, she’s grabs you by the eyelashes and forces you to see every little bit.
The character development was done well for the main character and supporting cast – though I wish there were more for Anna. I think the romance element could have been delved into a bit deeper. The latter half of the book went by so fast that I had some issues keeping straight just how much time had passed. So much so that when I finished I was already contemplating reading it over again. Though this is considered horror, I liked the open ending for the reason that it gave me that feeling like maybe there could be a “happy” ending to come. My favorite thing about this book was that it was serious yet still had plenty of humor. These moments helped keep the book from sinking into creep you out, horror.
Odd Thoughts while reading: The name Carmel kept making me want to eat a Twix, I had the urge to fill a mason jar with salt then stick it on my windowsill and I wondered what dried chicken feet looked like. Oh yes, and I felt like watching Hocus Pocus.
Rating:
5 out of 5!!
5 out of 5!!
Here’s a peak at the cover for the next book Girl of Nightmares!
Pabkins
Countess of Crazy, Insane babbler, Giver of the Evil Eye, Walking Hazard Zone, Maker of Monsters, but above all Lover of a Zombie and those things that are creepy crawly. Step in to my library my pretties…
Glad you like this book! I really want to read it! And I want it to be so good!
ReplyDeleteI was a big fan of this book, too, though I agree that latter half got a wee bit confusing.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I'm not the only one who thought so! Loved it though - I plan to read it again before the next one comes out - so I can be sure I understood the timeline at the end correctly.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely is very good! Thought I didn't find it to be as scary as some people think. I loved the description on the gore though - awesome!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read this dude!!!!
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