Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake

PLOT: Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story...Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.
So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder 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: move, 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, but now stained red and dripping 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.
And she, for whatever reason, spares his life...

My Review:

I enjoyed this book, but I did not enjoy it as much as others have. There are many aspects of the book that I enjoyed such as interesting plot, characters, male perspective . But there are some issues I had with the book which I'll get to later.

Firstly, the characters. Cas, our ghost butt kicking protagonist, is your normal everyday teen... that kills ghosts. I really did like the characters of Cas , he was witty, sarcastic and portrayed to be an overall normal teenager underneath his ghost hunting front.  Although he was a little vain. I enjoyed the relationships he develops with his friends and Anna. I found it fun and different to read a book from a male perspective. The relationship he develops with Anna is very bizarre . A boy falling for a dead ghost is something I have never ever encountered before. Their relationship was strong from the beginning, constant tension beneath the surface, and I felt that this relationship was as developeed as it could have been.

Anna was a character I felt great empathy for as it almost seemed as if she was part demon. Or at least part-something that is much stronger than your average ghost. When we see the flashback I felt so sad for her. She was greatly misunderstood and I liked her character. Thomas and Carmel were great side characters also. They were loyal friends. Thomas was so sweet yet shy. When I first encountered Carmel, I though she was going to be a horrible person, such is the stereotype of the high school queen bee. But Pleasantly suprised that she was actually a nice girl and a loyal friend.

The book was quite scary and I would not recommend reading it in the middle of the night....especially when it is quiet and your heating is making creepy sounds. I probably shouldn't have read it in the dark but I felt as if I needed to just keep reading and to finish it!

The pacing was something I had an issue with. It was so slow and tedious until about 50 + pages in. I felt as if I couldn't get into the story, and almost gave up . The pacing then started to get a little faster as the plot became more interesting but then slowed down for a very anti-climatic ending. The ending really dissapointed me. I'm not going to spoil anything, but If you feel the same way let me know in the comments.

Another problem I had was the hype. There is so much hype surrounding this book that even though I enjoyed it, I felt dissapointed that it didn't live up to the expectations I had built up from hearing everyone "Fan-Girl" over the book .

Overall, a spooky book thats great for this time of year. Happy Halloween ~

Rating:  Four Star Book

* * * *