Review: Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Tor Teen; First Edition edition (August 30, 2011)

Goodreads Description:

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.

****************************************

In my honest opinion this book is one of the best YA releases of 2011. I was absolutely shocked at how much I ended up loving this story. I tend to be a bit of a wuss and this sounded pretty spooky to me (and trust me, it is) but I was so captivated that I couldn't have stopped reading it even if I wanted to. I was hooked and loved every minute of it.

Each character stood out and brought something special to the table. Cas is a ghost hunter who travels around with his mom to places with homicidal ghosts that he dispatches to...wherever. He is an interesting and unusual boy with a lot of weight on his shoulders. What really sucked me in was that I felt like I was in the story and that I was Cas. I was personally invested in what happened and for me that is what makes a book truly great. If I can forget that I am reading a book and think that the story is mine then the author has accomplished something wonderful.

Anna was even more than what I thought. I didn't realize she would be much of a real character. I assumed she would be this mindless ghost that kills and that would be that. Could I have been more wrong? She is a character that evolves ans has more sides to her than expected. Don't get me wrong though, she is one super scary ghost and pretty gruesome too.

The entire time I was reading this book I kept thinking "please let this be the start of a series," over and over. I checked that author's blog and apparently my wish was granted (YAY!). It will be called Girl of Nightmares.

5/5
I received a copy of this book for review. Any opinions expressed are my own.