Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake Series: Anna #1
Published by Tor on September 2011
Genres: Fantasy, YA, Young Adult
Goodreads
as 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. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.
Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: 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.
Yet she spares Cas's life.
I was chatting with Octavia and Stormy for a little bit, we decided to look at books that take place in Canada. We discovered that Anna Dressed in Blood made that list and then I received to get a lecture from Octavia telling me that I must read it. And the result is this review, of course.
Basically, Cas is a pretty messed up teenager. He moves around a lot, doesn’t really care about school, is a little sadistic and let’s not forget that he kills ghosts. OK you got me. Ghosts are already dead, technically, but Cas basically makes sure the ghosts stay dead. Kind of like banishment to an unknown place? I’m not sure how to explain it but basically Cas makes sure that ghosts disappear and that the dead stay in the ground.
With any awesome ghost story, there has to be THE GHOST. Well in this case, THE ghost is Anna (a.k.a Anna Dressed in Blood). She basically spends her time haunting an old house in Thunder Bay (hello old-timey Canadian city!). Let me just tell you that Anna is creepy as HECK. Like super terrifying. Like blood running down the walls terrifying. I think you get the picture.
I’m not sure how to describe this book. Cas was kick-ass, Anna was creepy. The side characters were AWESOME and were shipped a lot. I enjoyed the ghostbusting elements (but don’t tell Cas I called it that) and all the awesome stuff. I should mention that there was a romance as well. It was pretty good but I did not ship the characters. Actually, I kind of had no feelings towards the romance, it just sort of happened.
In general, I thought Anna Dressed in Blood was pretty awesome. I loved Cas and all the ghostbusting/unique elements. I loved all the humorous parts of the book but I thought the romance was pretty bland. I am a little disappointed with the ending but I have to keep in mind that there is a sequel so we shall see. I definitely recommend Anna Dressed in Blood for people looking for a humorous ghost story.
