Anna Dressed in Blood Review

Title: Anna Dressed in Blood
Author: Kendare Blake
Publisher: Tor
Publish Date: August 30, 2011
Genre: YA, Paranormal
Pages: 316
Source: Publisher

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.

Cassius Theseus Lowood is as unusual as his name implies. The only son of a white witch and a ghost hunter, Cas inherited his strange trade at the tender age of fourteen when his father was brutally murdered by the ghost he was hunting. Now, while other kids his age are thinking about college, Cas is armed with an atheme and preparing to meet the most dangerous ghost he may ever meet. Her name is Anna, and the white dress she was murdered in over fifty years ago is stained with her own blood. Cas has been planning it for a long time, but the time has come. Daring to enter Anna's domain is one thing. Expecting to come out alive is another. But Cas and Anna have a lot more than blood and vengeance in common though.

It's no secret that I'm a fan of horror (even if I do have to watch the aforementioned horror movies with my ears plugged so I'm not as terrified.) Truthfully though, books that are dark, or slightly unhinged, or perhaps just tinged with the macabre are books that I seek and don't often find. Anna Dressed in Blood, however, wholeheartedly fit all my criteria. Author Kendare Blake has written an inspired debut that is bone-chillingly gruesome and graphic, all the while spellbinding you with rich, vivid and breathtaking prose that mesmerizes you and keeps you transfixed. With an intense and action-packed plot and a story that very well leaps from the pages, Anna Dressed in Blood is sure to captivate even the most reluctant horror fan.

Anna Dressed in Blood was a bit of a mystery from the start. Cas's fate was sealed when his father died. He knew he wanted to avenge his father's death, and he wanted to carry on his father's legacy by dispatching the angry dead who haunt their former haunts. His life is a maze of complexities though. He's balancing an attempt at teenage normalcy as instructed by his mother, all the while attempted to banish the most gruesome ghost he's ever encountered. His anger is acrid, and his fear is tangible, but so is his heart. Then there's Anna. Anna, was a million things at once, making her a character that I loved and feared throughout Anna Dressed in Blood. The visual of Anna in her bloodstained dress is gory, as his her daunting reputation, but the beauty of her character is that she was equal parts a murderer and a victim. She's a vicious killing machine, but there are shreds of the little girl she once was underneath her morbid facade. The relationship between Anna and Cas in Anna Dressed in Blood is going down as one of the most memorable I've read in a very long time. The combination of Cas's wit and sarcasm met head-to-head with Anna's vengeful, yet captivating demeanor was a web that slowly unravels, but keeps you guessing until the very end. Above all else though, Anna Dressed in Blood is a perfect blend of shock value and utter entertainment, offering both the best of horror and the best of character-driven plots.

Anna Dressed in Blood is one of those rare books with near-perfect execution. Flawlessly engaging and original, it's sure to be on my list of re-reads for a very long time. I give it a 5 out of 5, and I highly recommend it to all YA fans, especially those who enjoy paranormal stories and ghost stories. Fans of the television show, Supernatural, are sure to love this book.

I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.