Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
Praise for Anna Dressed in Blood:
"At once as eerie and terrible as it is sad and romantic, Anna Dressed in Blood is not your normal ghost story. […] This captivating story pulls no punches, making for a breathless read that lingers in the imagination long after the last page is turned."—NPR
"Abundantly original, marvelously inventive and enormous fun, this can stand alongside the best horror fiction out there. We demand sequels."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"Anna Dressed in Blood is a dark and intricate tale, with a hero who kills the dead but is half in love with death himself. By the end of the book, you will be too. Spellbinding and romantic."—Cassandra Clare, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Mortal Instruments series
"Cinematic and compelling. Blakes smooth combination of gore and romance should have little problem attracting the Twilight crowd.”—Booklist
"It's the old boy meets girl story, if the boy is a wry, self-destructive ghost-hunter bent on avenging his father and the girl is a homicidal ghost trapped in a house full of everyone she's ever murdered. Needless to say, Cas and Anna are my new favorite twosome. When I got to the last page, I flipped back to the first."—Holly Black, New York Times bestselling author of Red Glove
Synopsis
Ghost-hunter Cas Lowood returns to find out what happened to Anna Dressed in Blood.
Synopsis
Girl of Nightmares, the thrilling sequel to Kendare Blake's critically acclaimed Anna Dressed in Blood.
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.
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.
Synopsis
Ghost-hunter Cas Lowood returns to find out what happened to Anna Dressed in Blood.
Synopsis
This follow-up to Anna Dressed in Blood follows Cas and his new friends, Thomas and Carmel, on their hunt to discover what has happened to Anna.
Video
About the Author
KENDARE BLAKE holds an MA in Creative Writing from Middlesex University in northern London. She lives and writes in Lynnwood, Washington.
Reading Group Guide
* Note that these questions reveal much of the novels plot; to preserve your reading pleasure, please dont look at these questions until after youve finished reading the book.
1. In the opening chapter of Girl of Nightmares, Carmel tries to help Cas develop a normal social life. What are three reasons this is a doomed effort?
2. Why is Cass encounter with the ghost in the Grand Marais barn unusual? How does it affect his relationships with Thomas and Carmel?
3. Why do you think Gideon and Morfran are so reticent to discuss Cass lingering sense of Annas presence? What finally makes Cas decide to travel to England?
4. Who is Jestine? Does the fact that she is being groomed to “replace” Cas alter your understanding of his power or the nature of the athame? Explain your answer.
5. Why does the Order want Cas? What do you think Cas hopes to find in agreeing to take the journey to find them? Do you think he is right to allow Jestine to lead them? Why or why not?
6. How does Jestine betray Cas and his friend when they stop at the inn en route to the Order? What does this reveal about the very different understanding Cas and Jestine have of ghosts?
7. In Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas says to Anna, “Im the only one in the world who can do this. Doesnt that mean its what Im supposed to do?” (p. 139) Can you imagine Jestine saying a similar thing to Cas in Girl of Nightmares? How might Cas and Jestine explain this notion of obligation in different ways?
8. How does Cas at first misunderstand the nature of the ritual the Order asks him to undergo? Why do you think he chooses Thomas to be his anchor instead of Gideon?
9. What is the Obeahman? How is he different than an “ordinary” ghost? How is the Obeahman tied to Anna and to the athame? How does Cas free the other ghosts? Do Cass actions toward the Obeahman change the athame itself?
10. What happens in the final moments Anna and Cas share before he returns to his friends? What do you think it means that Cas can see himself in the doorway to the Victorian house, as well as hear himself beckon from the chamber where Thomas and the others wait?
11. Do you think Carmel will remain loyal to Cas—and to Thomas—after the novel concludes? Do you think she has a right to a “normal” life without the risks and heartaches that the boys magical powers cause them to suffer? What advice would you give to Carmel?
12. Do you think Cas is right in his distaste for the Order? If you were Cas, would you choose to abandon the order entirely or would you take a different approach? Explain your answer.
13. Girl of Nightmares asks an important moral question: Is a doctrine true simply because it has been taught to you since you were small? What, if anything, makes one ideology more “right” than another?