Anna Dressed In Blood
Aspen Cuff
By Kendare Blake
Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
Canada
Critical Response
"Spellbinding and romantic" -Cassandra Clare
"Abundantly original, marvelously inventive and enormous fun, this can stand alongside the best horror fiction out there. We demand sequels." -Kirkus Reviews
"Cinematic and compelling." -Booklist
Aspen's Review
To say the least, I was very disappointed by this book. I had picked up Anna Dressed In Blood because of its interesting name and cover and its positive reviews. I had high expectations of this book, but they were all smashed to pieces as the story line progressed. I really can't fathom why this book has been getting so many positive reviews, because I wouldn't care if we burned every copy of this book. The characters and plot were underdeveloped and seemed to be hastily put together. The romance in it reminded me of two little kids in elementary school. It was that ridiculous and petty. When I read the reviews and the back cover, I thought that I was going to be reading a horror book about ghosts and demons. The closest this book gets to being scary is when someone gets ripped in half, but after that nothing remotely frightening happens. At certain points in this book I felt like it was a badly written children's book trying to be a scary adult horror novel. All in all, this wasn't the worst book I've read, but it is definitely nowhere close to being one of my favorites. As long as I still have the majority of my brain functioning, I will never re-read or buy this book.
Conflict
The main conflict is between Cas and Anna. Cas, being a ghost hunter is supposed to "kill" Anna because she is a troubled ghost who has a bad habit of dismembering everyone who walks into her haunted house. For some odd reason, Anna doesn't feel the need to violently murder Cas, which somehow makes him develop a crush on her. Then you have Cas' internal conflict over whether or not he should kill Anna and send her to the underworld. You also have Cas' dad's murderer coming back and trying to eat Cas and devour Anna's essence and power. Cas is also going to high school, so you have all the drama with him, bullies and Carmel - the queen bee of the school. In the end of the book you have a big showdown between Anna, Cas, and his Dad's murderer. So in this book you have various relationship issues and powerful demons and ghosts that are trying to consume you so they become more powerful.
The Main Character
Cas has been a ghost hunter ever since his father got eaten by a demon while ghost hunting. He carries a magical dagger called the athame that sends the ghosts to the after-life. Cas believes his purpose in life is to kill murderous ghosts and to avenge his father's death. Cas and his mother, who is a white witch, travel around North America slaying ghosts who kill innocent civilians. He has a dark and gloomy disposition but has some funny and witty moments every once in a while. Upon hearing a tip about the ghost known as Anna dressed in blood, Cas and his mom move to a town in Canada to kill Anna, who is responsible for twenty-seven deaths. Cas is about seventeen years old and soon after meeting Anna becomes infatuated with her. He is later faced with a difficult decision, kill Anna, who he loves, and send her to the underworld, or fulfill his father's duty of ridding the world of evil ghosts.
Kendare Blake
Kendare Blake was adopted from South Korea and raised in the United States. She is a huge animal lover and loves Greek Mythology. Kendare graduated Ithaca College and Middlesex University with degrees in business and creative writing. She currently lives in Washington. She currently has a new novel coming out in September.
Website: http://kendareblake.com/
Location: Washington
Aspen Cuff
Aspen was born in California and currently lives in North Carolina. She is socially awkward and aspires to be a hermit in the mountains raising thirteen to forty-two Alpacas. Aspen enjoys science, hiking, music, movies, and walking in circles. The majority of her family can be classified as insane and are well-known for being the weirdos of the neighborhood. Aspen has a dog named Nigel and two cats named Skeeter and Do-do.