Reading Level:Young Adult
Publisher:Tor Teen
Source:Publisher
First book in Anna series
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.
Review
This book was so amazingly epic. I'm not joking it was amazing. I never read books that scare me but this one did. It was insanely suspenseful and a little gruesome at times. It left me dying for more. I can't wait for the sequel.
I love Cas. He reminded me of Cassel Sharpe from the curse workers and that's high praise. He has that sarcastically strong personality. I liked how there was two sides to Anna. The good and the evil. I liked how she was shy at first but then kinda came into herself. I like how innocent the relationship between Cas and Anna was. They really got to know each other first. I also like how much faith Cas had in Anna.
I really liked the secondary characters in this. Thomas was my favorite. He's adorable. I hope he gets with Carmel. I liked that Carmel was the popular girl who was hanging out in the not popular crowd.
This book has a really exciting concept. It's also very creepy. All the deaths freaked me out. I was screaming and my parents had to come check on me. When I finished this I went insane. I need more. I don't even have that long to wait and I'm going crazy. Overall I adored this in case you can't tell. Also the red print was very cool. I can't wait toe the sequel and I highly recommend. 5/5 stars
Jasmine :)
This YA ghost story is definitely marketed towards the older end of the YA market. It was a bit adult with some gratuitous cursing, and some rather grizzly violence but on the whole had a pretty exciting plot and a terrific central ghost story which the book is titled after. Blake definitely created a great premise. There were plenty of pop-culture references (though surprisingly none to the FOX show Supernatural which was rather surprising considering the similarities)and the 17-year-old ghost hunter male narrator was overall well constructed. Unfortunately, the female author didn't completely sell me on the male perspective, and the central romance fell a bit flat for me (though if you liked the Cristina Ricci version of Casper, maybe the romance would have a greater appeal). The writing too was a bit uneven, with a plethora of passive verbs slowing down the action. The ending is open enough that a sequel just may follow.
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