Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake
Dec. 20th, 2012 10:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Cas Lowood is no ordinary guy – he hunts dead people.
People like Anna Dressed in Blood. A beautiful, murderous ghost entangled in curses and rage. Cas knows he must destroy her, but as her tragic past is revealed, he starts to understand why Anna has killed everyone who’s ever dared to enter her spooky home.
Everyone, that is, except Cas …
Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills people story.
17-year-old Cas Lowood is a ghost hunter. Ever since the death of his father during a ghost hunt that went wrong, he and his mum travel around America and Canada checking out local legends of ghosts, which Cas then despatches using his father’s athame (a kind of knife). Together they travel to Thunder Bay, Ontario so that Cas can investigate the mystery of Anna-Dressed-In-Blood, the ghost of a murdered girl who kills anyone who stays in her former home.
While settling into the local high school, Cas attracts the attention of queen bee, Carmel and loner Thomas who join his hunt despite his protests. But none of them are prepared for what they find at Anna’s house because Anna herself is unlike any ghost Cas has previously encountered and Cas finds himself drawn to her. But there are other forces at play in Thunder Bay – both natural and supernatural and those forces threaten to destroy both Cas and Anna …
Kendare Blake’s YA novel (the first in a series) is a creepy gothic romance with fascinating characters, a great pace and a terrific atmosphere.
Cas has a great first person voice, driven and a little bit arrogant he’s haunted (no pun intended) by the death of his father and his determination to follow his path to avenge his death. His relationship with his mother was an interesting one and I liked the way that she doesn’t approve of what he’s doing but also doesn’t try to stop him either. Carmel is an interesting spin on the normal ‘popular girl’ and I liked her determination and her refusal to go along with the other popular kids. Thomas was a little too much like the stereotypical loner kid and I guessed his secret and I thought that Anna was actually a little under-developed, although what was there was interesting and Blake does really well in introducing her backstory.
I’m not normally a romance fan anyway, but I thought the romance between Cas and Anna was undercooked. They didn’t spend enough time together for me to believe in the mutual attraction and given the violence that Cas experiences, it was difficult for me to believe his feelings.
That said, the plot had plenty of twists and turns to keep me turning the pages and an unresolved plot strand means that I will definitely be checking out the sequel.
The Verdict:
Kendare Blake’s YA novel (the first in a series) is a creepy gothic romance with fascinating characters, a great pace and a terrific atmosphere. I did think that the romance was a little undercooked (but I’m not a romance fan anyway) but the plot had more than enough twists and turns to keep me turning the pages and I’ll definitely be checking out the sequel.
People like Anna Dressed in Blood. A beautiful, murderous ghost entangled in curses and rage. Cas knows he must destroy her, but as her tragic past is revealed, he starts to understand why Anna has killed everyone who’s ever dared to enter her spooky home.
Everyone, that is, except Cas …
17-year-old Cas Lowood is a ghost hunter. Ever since the death of his father during a ghost hunt that went wrong, he and his mum travel around America and Canada checking out local legends of ghosts, which Cas then despatches using his father’s athame (a kind of knife). Together they travel to Thunder Bay, Ontario so that Cas can investigate the mystery of Anna-Dressed-In-Blood, the ghost of a murdered girl who kills anyone who stays in her former home.
While settling into the local high school, Cas attracts the attention of queen bee, Carmel and loner Thomas who join his hunt despite his protests. But none of them are prepared for what they find at Anna’s house because Anna herself is unlike any ghost Cas has previously encountered and Cas finds himself drawn to her. But there are other forces at play in Thunder Bay – both natural and supernatural and those forces threaten to destroy both Cas and Anna …
Kendare Blake’s YA novel (the first in a series) is a creepy gothic romance with fascinating characters, a great pace and a terrific atmosphere.
Cas has a great first person voice, driven and a little bit arrogant he’s haunted (no pun intended) by the death of his father and his determination to follow his path to avenge his death. His relationship with his mother was an interesting one and I liked the way that she doesn’t approve of what he’s doing but also doesn’t try to stop him either. Carmel is an interesting spin on the normal ‘popular girl’ and I liked her determination and her refusal to go along with the other popular kids. Thomas was a little too much like the stereotypical loner kid and I guessed his secret and I thought that Anna was actually a little under-developed, although what was there was interesting and Blake does really well in introducing her backstory.
I’m not normally a romance fan anyway, but I thought the romance between Cas and Anna was undercooked. They didn’t spend enough time together for me to believe in the mutual attraction and given the violence that Cas experiences, it was difficult for me to believe his feelings.
That said, the plot had plenty of twists and turns to keep me turning the pages and an unresolved plot strand means that I will definitely be checking out the sequel.
The Verdict:
Kendare Blake’s YA novel (the first in a series) is a creepy gothic romance with fascinating characters, a great pace and a terrific atmosphere. I did think that the romance was a little undercooked (but I’m not a romance fan anyway) but the plot had more than enough twists and turns to keep me turning the pages and I’ll definitely be checking out the sequel.
