Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

WARNING:SPOILERS FOR ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD

Synopsis

It's been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can't move on. 

His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live—not walk around half dead. He knows they're right, but in Cas's eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.


Now he's seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he's asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong...these aren't just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.


Cas doesn't know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn't deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it's time for him to return the favor.

Anna Dressed in Blood was my favourite book of last year - hands down. In fact Liz and I have a little Anna fan club going on - no, really, we have badges and everything. I was so looking forward to reading book two and getting immersed in the world again. At the end of book one, Anna has sacrificed herself by passing on to another place taking the awful Obeahman with her. Cas is aware that he should be moving on, his athame has been purified so he can get back to the business of sending malevolent ghosts on their way - right? Well, not quite because Anna is turning up in Cas's dreams and eventually into his daylight hours and it's obvious that she hasn't passed on to a peaceful place. He's tormented with the knowledge that she's clearly in trouble but he can't help. He turns to his friends, Thomas and Carmel who encourage him to let it go. Even Gideon, his dad's advisor and voodoo practitioner Morfran warn him about messing with the door to the other side.

Cas won't let it go though, of course, and his search for help takes him to London so my wish at the end of book one to find out more about Gideon is fulfilled. However, it's in the UK that the story gets very scary. I compared Kendare Blake to Stephen King before and I say it again now - this lady can certainly write horror. I got chills as they entered the forests of Scotland - it was, without a doubt, one of the creepiest passages I've read. I won't spoil it for you but I think what happens to them there is loosely based on a real forest in Japan that I saw on television years ago. I also especially enjoyed the trip they make to see Thomas's aunt - I'll never look at gingersnaps the same way again!

I really enjoyed this book. My enjoyment of YA, whether it be contemporary, horror or fantasy, is always based upon the journey that the protagonist makes. Girl of Nightmares portrays some of the heartbreaking aspects of growing up - like first loves and succumbing to peer pressure. I loved the characters even more in book two despite the fact that I wanted to bash their heads together. There wasn't the urgency for me in this book though, despite the subject matter and their journey. At times it's quite a somber read with little let-up and when I finished I did a little internet searching to find that (as far as I'm aware) there'll be no book three. I feel that there should be another. Of course I'm going to say this, I'm heavily invested in Anna and the gang. However, if this is to be a duo then once I've come to terms with that I'm sure I'll be happy with the outcome. I can't say more without giving it away - there's so much I want to discuss with you about this! 

Anna, Cas, Thomas and Carmel - I've loved you guys - farewell. 

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Synopsis

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 was looking up at my freshly organised shelves the other day and wondering what was going to make it into my picks of 2011. I've read some great books this year, books I've loved, books that I'd never let you borrow as I'd gaze at the empty space on my shelf and grind my teeth. But this year I've been feeling a little worried as there hasn't been a book that you'd have to attempt to prise out of my hands as I kicked out at you. Well, thank everything that's in the world, I've found it and it's Anna Dressed in Blood.

As the synopsis suggest, Cas lives a strange and disjointed life. He moves from city to town killing troublesome ghosts all the while knowing that this is what killed his dad. As a result he tries not to connect with anyone but drift though people's lives like the ghosts he seeks. But Thunder Bay is different. What Cas expects to be a quick stab and done turns into his biggest nightmare. People get killed and he finds that he can't work alone on this one, he might have to actually seek help. And then there's Anna who spared him the first time she saw him. He can't stop going to see her and before long he finds himself in a difficult situation.

So why do I love this book so much? First off, the voice is perfect. Cas is both worldy-wise and nonchalant but also vulnerable. He's smart too and the book crackles with humour. I found myself laughing openly to the Ghostbusters references and the way that he both reaches out to his new friends then tries to push them away. As he's initially quite a detached character, an observer, he reads people in an instant. This book also broke my heart a little as it's full of beautiful moments. I haven't even started on Anna who starts the book as a monster and then …? Well, then she becomes something else but also doesn't. I know that sounds kind of shady but I just don't want to spoil it for you so I'll leave it there.

This is no pseudo-horror either. I lived on Stephen King and Shaun Hutson at one point and some of the scenes in Anna are on a level footing of anything by them. At one point I was reading in broad daylight and still felt a chill. Cas has got himself mixed up with some magic that he doesn't quite understand. Fortunately his new friend (and psychic) Thomas's grandfather knows about all manner of things. The adults in this book are almost as appealing as the kids and I would have loved to have seen more of Gideon with his dusty books and Morfan's antique shop.

The book was a joy to read; a spooky, icky and disturbing joy. As an aside the cover is gorgeous and the print is the colour of dried blood. No, it really is. Now you'll have to buy it to see if I'm fibbing.