Anna Dressed in Blood

Kendare Blake

Publisher: Tor Teen

Publish Date: already out

Version: e-book

Series: none

She was sixteen when she died, the daughter of Finnish immigrants.  Her father was dead, he died of some disease or something, and her mom ran a boarding house downtown.  Anna was on her way to a school dance when she was killed.  Someone cut her throat, but that’s an understatement.  Someone nearly cut her head clean off.  They say she was wearing a white party dress, and when they found her, the whole thing was stained red.  That’s why they call her Anna Dressed in Blood.

Theseus Cassio Lowood or Cas, as he likes to be called, has a special talent.  He can “kill” ghosts.  His father had this same talent and died doing it.  He left Cas a knife, or athame.  Cas has been planning to avenge his father’s death and kill the ghost who killed him ever since.  Cas and his mother travel around to kill ghosts who are malevolent and are killing others.  This leads them from North Carolina where he killed the County 12 Hiker to Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.  He first learned of the ghost referred to as Anna Dressed in Blood from Rudy Bristol, a contact from New Orleans, and now he is here to take care of her.  

Cas never expected to find the things he did in Thunder Bay.  First of those, are friends – Carmel Jones and Thomas Sabin.  He only expected to kill the ghost that has been killing people and move on.  On his first day of Sir Winston Churchil Collegiate & Vocational High School, he meets the “Trojan Army” or Mike Andover, Chase Putnam, Simon Parry and Wil Rosenberg.  At this meeting, he finds out about the annual Edge of the World party, which Carmel invites him to.  It is at this party that Cas finally finds out about Anna and is taken to her house by Mike, Chase, Wil and Carmel.  There, the unexpected happens which affects all of them.

Now, Cas, Carmel, Thomas and Wil have to figure out how to get rid of Anna.  They get advice from Thomas’ grandfather, Morfran Starling Sabin and Gideon Palmer, a family friend, on how to proceed as Anna is not like any other ghost that Cas has encountered.

This book kept me entertained from beginning to end.  I never could guess what was coming next and I liked that.  It was refreshing to read a paranormal young adult book that was not main-stream.  I especially like the background stories.  I wanted to know them sooner in the book, but after reading where they were placed, it was understandable.  I loved to hear Cas' view in this book.  He does not entertain the delusion that he is infallible or cannot be killed, yet he continues on in his work.  He doesn't even think about ever stopping killing ghosts, as he is one of the few who can do it. His character and the statements he makes about normal, everyday things that high school students encounter is what makes this a good read.

Anna is also an important character in the book.  Even though you don't really learn about her or her story until the later part of the book, you can see that she is ultimately good.  I love how you can see the effects of what happened to her in her personality and the things she does.  At first glance, you would think that she is all bad since she kills everyone who enters the house, but this is not the case.

This was a difficult book to pen my likes/dislikes because it is hard to say WHY I don't like a character or like them without spoiling the book.

I’ve seen most of what there is to be afraid of in this world, and to tell you the truth, the worst of them are the ones that make you afraid in the light. The things that your eyes see plainly and can’t forget are worse than huddled black figures left to the imagination. Imagination has a poor memory; it slinks away and goes blurry. Eyes remember for much longer. 

 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.

But she, for whatever reason, spares Cas's life.

I’m staring at Anna’s house again. The logical part of my brain tells me that it’s just a house. That it’s what’s inside that makes it horrifying, that makes it dangerous, that it can’t possibly be tilting toward me like it’s hunting me through the overgrowth of weeds. It can’t possibly be trying to jerk free of its foundation and swallow me whole. But that’s what it looks like it’s doing.

•The way Thomas, Carmel and Cas stick together and help each other throughout the book.

•Cas.  I explained above some of the things that I liked about Cas.  He has this aura about him.  It is hard to explain without going into much detail.  It seems like he is always pessimistic, but he is really realistic.  His sense of duty in protecting people is what makes him strong.  Even though the things he does has cost him the life of his father, he still proceeds.  In the book, it seems like Cas is wise beyond his years and has seen too much death, but then there are times when it takes him awhile to figure things out, just like you would expect from someone high school aged.

•Anna.  Yet again, I find something that I like/do not like.  Anna is a ghost who kills everyone who enters her house…the house she was killed in.  There is not much I can tell you about why I like Anna without spoiling the book.   Just know that she does have some redeeming qualities.

•Cas's mom.  Even though Cas's father died killing ghosts, she still supports Cas's decision to do it.  Being a “wiccan girl,” she also help Cas out whenever she can.

•Mofran, Thomas' grandfather.   He has this air about him.  He is intelligent, but doesn't flaunt it.

•Maria, the boarder from Spain who helps Anna sew her white dress for the dance.

•Mike, Chase and Wil (you don't hear too much about Simon in the book.)  Yes, they are high-school students and I've had discussions before about high-school-aged characters.   They are on the wrestling team and are nick-named “The Trojan Army” by Thomas.  The trio are not very nice people, from beginning to the end in the book.  At points, it does seem like Wil has changed his tune, but that is short lived.

•The ghost.  I don't know what his name is, but I don't like him.

•The way the community reacts to the killings.  Or rather, the way they do not react.

•Anna's mother, Malvina and her soon-to-be step-father, Elias.

Girl of Nightmares (Anna Dressed in Blood #2).  I haven't found too much about this book expect it is due out in 2012.  Goodreads didn't even have a synopsis of it, but I know that this is a book I will look forward to reading.