Anna Dressed in Blood

By: Kendare Blake

Narrated by: August Ross

Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

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 atheme, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage. She still wears the dress she wore in the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, it is 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. Yet she spares Cas's life.

©2011 Kendare Blake (P)2012 AudioGO

Interesting Twisty Story, Terrible Narration

Every time I thought I could predict what would happen next, the plot through me for a loop! Genuinely enjoyed the story and all the characters within.

But the narrator didn't have enough range. His voice for a teenage girl was vapid, even though the character was not. Similar to the male best friend. His Haitian accent was non-existent, so I was a bit disappointed.

But I did enjoy the story.

Great story, not so great narration

This tale was fun and pretty fast after you get into it. I really enjoyed it after I got past the poor narrative.

Mild but intriguing ...

Although I would rate this story as pretty mild, I really enjoyed the premise of the overall story. The characters were well written and enjoyable. The only qualm I have is that the narrator is very robotic.

Meh story, meh narration

I did finish this book, but the story didn't make sense at times and the character development was really lacking. The narrator made the popular but smart girl sound like the girl from Clueless but even more dumb, and used the same bro voice for all the teenage guys. The narrator didn't even attempt a Cajun accent when it was called for, and totally missed an opportunity to use a super creepy voice when called for. Overall not terrible, but I think the author and narrator are both pretty new at their trades.

awesome

such a good book dude I love this book I hope Kendra makes the rest soon

Great story for YA readers but ...

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narration was a bit off - full of odd pauses and unnatural emphasis on words. Also the accents and voice characterizations were awful and distracting.

Was Anna Dressed in Blood worth the listening time?

No. Do not listen to the audio version of this book. This is a great book for YA readers looking for a "creepy" read, but this audio version does not do the story justice and is very disappointing.

Finally a great ghost story with weird romance

Love Kendareblakes work! Every single one of her storys are dark, twisted with a hint of romace. Love her.

GHOST HUNTING AWESOMENESS :)

Any additional comments?

Cas is a ghost hunter. He and his mother move around to new places in search of ghosts. Some are ghosts people report seeing and want to get rid of them, and some are ghost Cas happens upon. Cas's mother is a witch, that comes in very handy during some very crucial moments in this book. Cas's late father was a ghost hunter as well, and when he died his weapon called an athame was passed onto Cas.

Cas has been summoned to another town that is haunted by a horrible ghost that has been killing people for 60 years. Anna.

Cas's introduction to Anna was by a group of people at a party he went to "to get to know" people. Cas starts asking questions about if the town is haunted (which he knows it is, but he wants to gather as much info as possible). The kids start going on about this house that is haunted by a ghost they call Anna Dressed in Blood. The kids tell Cas that once someone goes into Anna's house they never come out. A few town Jocks and a friend he just met decide to drive to Anna's house to scare Cas.

What follows is an interesting story. This book kept me on my toes. I wish I could say it scared the pants off me, but it didn't. Although it was a really, really good book. Once Cas meets Anna, the whole town seems to be turned upside down. Cas cannot figure out what makes Anna the way she is. She is a killing machine.

While Cas has faced Anna she proves to be far more difficult to kill than he planned on.

I cannot even say much more, because I know I will give too much away. I don't know if it was because I listened to it, and the narrator sounded very young, but it wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be. It was more suspenseful. It was very well done. I enjoyed it from the minute I started and it was always hard to turn off.

If you like "ghost" stories this will be a great one to pick up and read. There is a lot going on in the book. It's a lot of fun to follow. I am anxious to see what the next installment brings :)!

amazing story

Well written and full of twists i love it and need the next one now!! I wasnt the biggest fan of the narrator but diffently not so bad I couldnt enjoy the story.

The character voices almost ruined it

The voice actor was awful, and he almost ruined the book for me. The way he did girl voices, especially Carmel, sounded like how a high school footballer dressed up as a cheerleader for a school skit would sound like.

He also made an already annoyingly high school boy inter-monologue from the writing even worse to listen to. I’m just hoping he didn’t voice the sequel…