Monday, July 29, 2013

Review: Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

* This review may contain spoilers for the previous book, Anna Dressed in Blood. *

Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake
Girl of Nightmares (Anna #2)
By Kendare Blake
Publisher:
Tor Teen

To Sum It Up:

The ghost of Anna Korlov saved Cas Lowood and his friends, but now Anna is trapped in Hell. Cas sees visions of her being tortured, and despite being told that there’s no way to bring Anna back, he’s determined to help her. Cas faces a lot of obstacles to his plan, including a secret organization that believes all ghosts, regardless of whether they’re peaceful or evil, should be permanently banished from the mortal world.

Review:

I’d seen quite a few mixed reviews for Girl of Nightmares from readers who, like me, had loved Anna Dresssed in Blood. So I didn’t really know what to anticipate from the sequel and maybe even went into reading it with slightly lowered expectations. While I can now see why this may not have garnered quite as much love as the first book did, I was far from disappointed with Girl of Nightmares.

I think the most common gripe I’d seen about this novel was how little Anna was in it. And she really isn’t, at least not to the extent you might assume from the title and the cover (which is fantastic, by the way). Yes, I felt a little let down about this, but my biggest concern was how Cas was going to handle her loss. I was worried that he was going to act all mopey and angsty throughout the book. Now that would have upset me immensely because one of the things I loved about Anna was Cas’s snarky narration. Fortunately, he holds himself together reasonably well. I mean, I wouldn’t call him cheerful, and his distraction over seeing glimpses of Anna being tortured in Hell nearly gets his friends, Thomas and Carmel, killed. On the whole, though, Cas avoids turning into a one-man pity party and still manages to make plenty of biting comments, a Cas Lowood specialty.

Speaking of Thomas and Carmel, I’ve really grown to like these two. Okay, so I was kind of mad at Carmel for a few chapters while reading this, but I understood her reasons for her actions. Plus, she eventually worked her way back into my good graces (Yay, Carmel! I knew you were a good person at heart!). To think that I found Thomas sort of annoying when I first met him in Anna—man, I love that kid! I love his geekiness and his loyalty to his friends, and I love that he’s found a clique with Cas and Carmel. Thomas seems a lot more confident here, too, and at times his wit rivals even Cas’s. Oh, and I’d also just like to say that Thomas’s grandfather, Morfran, is like one of the coolest, if not the coolest, grandpas in YA.

You know which character I didn’t like in Girl of Nightmares? Gideon Palmer, the friend of Cas’s family whom Cas consulted for advice in Anna. Here I was thinking that Gideon was this happy-go-lucky English chap/supernatural expert, and he turned out to be a secretive jerk, emphasis on “secretive.” I felt foolish for taking a liking to him in the previous book. He’s not a villain here, exactly, but I’d certainly never trust the guy again.

So why didn’t Girl of Nightmares quite measure up to Anna Dressed in Blood in my mind? Well, I didn’t think it was as scary as the first book, and the fright factor was, surprisingly for a chicken like me, a big reason why I enjoyed Anna so much. There’s also a lot of focus in Girl of Nightmares on how Cas’s athame (i.e. his ghost killing knife) might be more than merely a weapon. The knife probably ended up in more pages than Anna did, and really, I wasn’t all that interested in the athame’s story. But, this was still a very, very good sequel, and I was sad to see the story come to a close.

All in All:

I really liked this, even though I had a few small quibbles with it. It’s not the all-out horror read that Anna Dressed in Blood was, but I still think Girl of Nightmares is totally worth reading.

12 comments:

  1. Can't wait to get started on this series. Great review, Lee.

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    1. I really enjoyed it, and I'm not that big on horror. I loved Cas's snarky demeanor- that's what really got me into the books.

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  2. I read this book a while ago, but I also remember enjoying the clique. I love when people find that group of people they're comfortable with, and Cas, Carmel, and Thomas were adorable together. I also enjoyed Cas' narration too. Great review!

    -P.E. @ The Sirenic Codex

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    1. I really liked how they had such different personalities and didn't seem likely to become friends, yet they did, and very good ones at that.

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  3. Haven't had the chance to read this book. I'm so bummed that I didn't get a copy when it went on sale at Amazon last year.

    Hopefully the third book will be as frightening as the first one. That's the reason why I want to read this, everyone is saying how scary the scenes are!

    Braine

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    1. I got a bit freaked out reading Anna Dressed in Blood in the middle of the night; there was some pretty creepy stuff in there, at least to me. I didn't think this book was as scary, but I still really enjoyed it.

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  4. I pretty much agree with you in your review - I think it mostly suffers from having to come after the awesomeness of the first book. :) I did enjoy it though, and I thought it was a fitting ending to the series. Great review!

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    1. After seeing some reviewers express their disappointment with the sequel, I was prepared to feel similarly. This wasn't quite up there with Anna Dressed in Blood, which was fantastic, but I was also far from disappointed with it.

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  5. Glad to hear you like it..I need to read this finally but I keep waiting until October when I will be in the mood for this type of reading! I am looking forward to anti-goddess!

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    1. It's a perfect October read! I'm excited for Antigoddess, too; it should be awesome!

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  6. I couldn't pick this one up for some reason. I liked how the story ended and didn't see a need for more, especially when I know how the series will ultimately end. I, too, surprisingly liked the scare factor the best even though I barely sat through ten minutes of the Grudge. But you've also made this more appealing than most people who've done their best to make sure you know that it doesn't live up. Talk about off-putting. But now... considering how awesome the characters are in this one, I might just give it a try. :)

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    1. Haha! My cousins keep telling me that I need to watch The Grudge, and I'm just like, "Noooo! I'm too much of a wimp for such movies!" I was quite worried about reading this because of all the reviews that said it was disappointing, but I don't know, I was pretty happy with it.

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