YA Weekend: Antigoddess by Kendare Blake

Antigoddess by Kendare Blake

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Series: Book 1 of The Goddess War

Publisher: Tor Teen (September 10, 2013)

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Mogsy's Rating: 4 of 5 stars

 

Antigoddess is the second book I have read by Kendare Blake, after the fun times I had with Anna Dressed in Blood earlier this year. And as much as I appreciate a good ghost story, I have to say Antigoddess was more up my alley.

Funny story, though: When I first added this book to my reading list, I only saw the cover and thought it was going to be a story about angels. Damn feather threw me off. It wasn’t until I read the description that I realized I was wrong, but that it was actually about something even better! Not angels, but gods. Greek gods. The mythology buff in me was tickled pink. And that feather on the cover which originally misled me turned out to be a symbol for something much more sinister…

At the heart of this novel and series is an ancient conflict stemming from the events of the Trojan War. So before reading this, it might be a good idea to brush up on your Greek Mythology 101. Or rent Troy. It’s all good! In any case, you don’t have to be an expert on all the details to enjoy this, as Blake uses her prerogative to do some very cool and unique things to the legend and the characters involved. For one, the gods themselves are dying – and in the most bizarre ways. We learn of their plight through mainly Athena and Hermes’ perspectives, the former experiencing impending death by way of random feathers sprouting in her body like a cancer. This is making all the gods a little desperate, and some are driven to insanity.

Even from the very start, we’re presented a mystery. What do the gods have to do with a teenage girl named Cassandra from Kincade, New York? Granted, she appears to have some freaky psychic powers, but the character perspectives going back and forth between Athena and Cassandra cannot be any more different. The latter’s chapters show life in your typical small town high school, while Athena and Hermes’ chapters (at least in the beginning) have an almost abstract, dream-like quality to them which I really enjoyed. While the characters’ connections are revealed early on, the plot doesn’t explode until gods and mortals meet. And then the revelations are even more mind-blowing and unexpected.

The book’s greatest strength is its characters. I suppose if you’re a god you can choose to be whoever you want to be. I liked how Blake gave her gods all different and interesting identities – from Athena’s stern demeanor to Apollo’s loyalty or Hermes’ fun-loving personality and fondness for pop culture.

Most obvious weakness? This had the feel of “first book of a series” all over it. In other words, it read like one big long introduction. Voracious readers of YA fiction will probably know exactly what I’m talking about, and probably won’t find this all that surprising. It’s not hard to guess whether a book will have a satisfying ending or leave things wide open for the sequel; once it became clear that there was no way any of the conflicts would be settled by the end the novel, I admit my interest waned a little as that “let’s just bring on book two” attitude settled in.

That said, I am on board for book two. It’ll probably be one of my higher-priority sequels too, because let’s face it – how often does a book with a good Greek mythology angle come along?

YA Weekend: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Genre: Young Adult Horror, Paranormal

Series: Book 1 of Anna

Publisher: Tor Teen

Date of Publication: August 20, 2011

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Mogsy's Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars - "An intriguing young adult horror novel with perhaps a questionable romantic side plot, but otherwise a spine-chillingly good read"

I seem to be running into a lot of young adult novels with overly vague or very misleading descriptions lately. Anyway, I don't know what I was expecting when I picked up this book, but for better or worse, it wasn't this.

From what I've seen and heard, Anna Dressed in Blood is a horror novel. Everything about it screams, "Read me! I am scary!" I mean, you have ghost hunter Cas Lowood traveling the globe in search of urban legends and lore, vanquishing the evil spirits that are killing and terrorizing innocent people. He ends up following a tip to Thunder Bay, where a ghost called Anna has been the bane of the local population since her death in 1958.

A victim of a grisly murder herself, she is called "Anna Dressed in Blood" because her ghost still wears the white dress she had on the day she died, now dripping and stained red with gore. She haunts the house where she used to live, and every person who has ever stepped foot inside has met a gruesome end by her hand. If you ask me, when it comes to evil ghosts that need busting, no one deserves it more than Anna. I so looked forward to Cas ending her reign of terror.

And therein lies the kicker. I wanted Cas to kill Anna, not fall in love with her! Granted, I had a suspicion this was where the book was headed given its genre, not to mention how obvious it was from the way these two characters were being handled. Still, while I did not immediately dismiss or even terribly mind the romantic side plot, I did have some issues with the way their relationship unraveled. It felt rushed and clumsy, and I did not find it remotely convincing. The way I see it, Cas has been killing far too many ghosts for far too long to just up and one day fall in love with one. And despite Anna's special circumstances, the author did not give her an engaging enough personality to persuade me that she could capture Cas' heart so effortlessly.

Also, despite the horror vibes practically leaking off this book, it is still classified as young adult and as such I did not actually expect it to be very scary. In this I was mostly right, though there are some genuinely tense and downright disturbing scenes which could possibly set off a reader's creep-out meter. If anything, I applaud Kendare Blake for being able to create this spine-chilling atmosphere, and wish she had expanded and continued this aspect throughout the entire book. This had all the potential to become one of the most unique young adult horror novels I've ever read, but it was the lukewarm romantic subplot that ended up derailing the momentum for me.

There are some other more minor things that made me stumble, including the supporting characters who felt shoehorned in and not given adequate space to really shine. Carmel, Thomas, Morfran and even Cas' mother were all very intriguing people, with personalities that I would have been delighted to see explored further. Plus, considering how little time the teens actually spent in class, the book really could have done without the school setting to begin with. Cas could have been in the area for the summer and there would have been very little difference. Massive points to Anna Dressed in Blood for taking place in Thunder Bay though, a very nice hat tip to this very nice Northwestern Ontario city.

All in all, this book gets several mixed opinions from me, though my overall experience was positive. If the romance had been handled better, I really think this could have been something more special and amazing. As it is though, it's still quite good. I'll definitely still be checking out the next book.

 3.5 of 5 stars

Character Appreciation Post: Anna Korlov from Anna Dressed in Blood

“… there she is, my goddess of death, her hair snaking out in a great black cloud, her teeth grinding hard enough to make living gums bleed.”
 – Cas Lowood, Anna Dressed in Blood

Before I get started, I thought I'd post a brief introduction since this is the first time that I've done one of these for this site. From time to time, I'll write a post about characters from books and comics that I love. I try to touch on the reasons why they've made an impression with me as a character. I tend to listen to music while reading, and certain songs stick out for scenes and characters when I'm reading. So, I'll also include a song that makes me think of them. And yes, if you watch Game of Thrones, you'll probably recognize the song I used in this post as the trailer song. Anyhow, I may include other things in these posts, but I'll try to stay mostly consistent with my format. On with it, then, yes?

Who Is Anna Korlov?

She is one of the heroes, and the main catalyst, in Kendare Blake’s Anna duology, which consists of Anna Dressed in Blood and Girl of Nightmares. She's a ghost who lives in an old Victorian house. She haunts the house wearing a white dress stained red that drips blood, the same dress she was wearing when she was murdered in 1958. She has murdered every living person who has ever entered her home except Cas Lowood, a ghost hunter.

She is snared in the fingers of a curse for reasons she doesn't quite remember, and she houses a dichotomy of feelings. She is both love and fury, anger and sorrow. She carries a heavy burden of regret and sadness. She is a ghostly goddess of death and a scared teenaged girl. She is a power not matched by many, if any–living or dead. She doesn't know if she deserves forgiveness or release, but she is tired and wants true death. Despite it all, Anna is anything but your typical ghost.

A Song I Associate with Anna



Dig up her bones, but leave the soul alone
Let her find a way to a better place
Broken dreams and silent screams
Empty churches with soulless curses
Bones by MS MR

Why I Love Her

Admittedly, the main reason I wanted to read these books was because of the covers, and while I do love Cas and his misfit group of friends, Anna Korlov, a girl relegated to an unfortunate fate, is the real hero of the story for me.The thing that really stood out for in these books is that Blake kept Anna consistent in general character and in the ghostshipping (the romance) that's presented in the book.

In so many books, once a male counterpart enters the story, the female character becomes a bit useless, especially in young adult books. Let me stop here for a moment to clarify “useless” in the sense that I mean. Anna has fears. She has desires, wants, and needs. She has feelings that run deep. She is not a shell of a person… er… ghost. I’m not saying that she shouldn’t be allowed these things and feelings. Quite the contrary.

A strong character for me doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be allowed their weaknesses or that they shouldn’t need someone to save them from time to time. I don’t mean that, sometimes, they don’t break when things overwhelm them. However, when a character loses complete sense of self and suddenly becomes nothing more than “that chick that needs saving by her oh-so-strong man all the time,” I get pissed. Vulnerability as well as strength should be shown. There needs to be a balance, and I think Blake did an excellent job with that. She also seemed to do a great job of having Anna and Cas complement each other.

In the story, Anna did not suddenly become a weepy girl ghost who needed Cas to protect her after he helps her reconcile her duality, which makes her a near unstoppable force. Anna already outpaces the average ghost with her strength and awareness (most vengeful ghosts in the story don’t realize they’re dead and are unaware that the world has changed at all). She becomes Cas’ protector in some ways. She doesn't run in always saving him. She allows Cas to be the person that he is, and she doesn't underestimate his abilities or formidability.

Cas gives her the same respect. But they both are there for the other to lend strength when needed. And there have been scenarios when they have both needed the other in extreme cases. Anna doesn’t ignore her feelings for Cas, but she tries not to mourn what she can’t have with Cas. It pains her and she quietly shows it, but she she is more willing than Cas to accept that a relationship between them is impossible. I really liked the dynamics between Cas and Anna, and I appreciate the love story didn't eclipse the rest of the story.

Anna doesn't excuse herself from what she's done. She understands that she's taken lives and she's disgusted and saddened by it. Her living companions--Cas, Thomas, and Carmel--are much more sympathetic to her and her plight than Anna is to herself even though they've seen what her fury can do firsthand. She doesn't know if she's deserving of the kindness that she's given. She doesn't know if her final rest should be peaceful because of the horror she's perpetrated over the years.

Anna is presented as a realist, and she's pragmatic about her situation and the situations surrounding her. She won't lie to herself or to any of the others just to dull an ache. She's not some over-romanticized wisp of a ghost who spends time sighing about life and the living. She seemed more practical about what was going on than her living companions. And this doesn't seem like something she only gained in death. In the brief glimpses of her life we are given, Anna was respectful and kind, but she would not be cowed.

She shows impossible courage along with the rest of the gang. Despite her fears, she stands her ground, even in one of her weakest moments, and she makes a sacrifice far greater because she knows she's the only one who can despite the fact that she may be sending herself to some unknown fate. Anna has earned her place on my list of favorite fictional characters.

Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

I've just finished reading this book. It's 3:30 in the morning, and my Nexus 7 is on its last leg because I was too enthralled to plug it up. When I bookmarked the last page I'd read in GRRM's 4th book, I told myself that I'd read a few pages of this to catch up and call it a night. I didn't expect to fall so quickly.

In a matter of a few pages, the story started going many interesting places with a battle-weary Carmel breaking up with the gang (and by extension Thomas) because she no longer thinks she can handle the supernatural part of her life and the normal part of her life clashing any longer. We witness Thomas come into his own as a black witch and become much more confident with his powers, and, in his search to free Anna from hell, Can learns a few more secrets about his father and his blade, how it can aid him in saving Anna, and the price you sometimes have to pay for those you love.

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

I’ve been watching horror movies and reading horror books nearly as long as I’ve been reading. Nothing much scares me or surprises me anymore with the genre, but I still enjoy the genre because of the atmosphere the stories present as well as how the stories are told. I think horror novels are some of the more inventive lords of fiction. And while the BIG BAD may not scare me, I always find that there’s a certain amount of trepidation I feel for the characters, for lack of better word, when viewing/reading horror if the story is well crafted—even though I know 90% of the time they’re going to make it out of the story mostly intact. Anna Dressed in Blood was no different. I didn’t find the story scary, but I loved this certain level of eeriness this story possessed.