Publisher: Tor Teen
Pages: 336
Series: Anna #2
Review Source: eARC from Macmillan through Raincoast Books
Synopsis: (from Goodreads)
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.
My Thoughts:
This book really disappointed me. I was excited to check it out, and everyone was giving it rave reviews. Then I started to read it and I wondered what I was missing. The humour of the first book is almost completely lost here. There are still funny parts, sure, but they are few and far between. The whole Supernatural (TV series) feel is gone, and that made me especially sad, because that's one of the main reasons I loved the first book so much.
I can understand that after the events of the first book this one would be more somber, but the way 'Girl of Nightmares' was written I found myself not caring at all about the characters. Cass spends all his time moping over the loss of Anna. He starts seeing and hearing her, and wants to save her. He's almost zombie-like trying to find out where she might be and how she's connected to him. I just found it really hard to identify with a guy who is willing to repeatedly risk his own life, and his friends' lives, for the remote chance of rescuing an unstable dead girl.
The second half of the book was definitely stronger than the first, simply because there was more action. The end of the book was actually quite awesome, though not good enough to redeem the whole book. Tons of people really loved 'Girl of Nightmares', but it just failed to grasp me like the first book did. I was really bored by the characters and how the plot was so circular. Kendare Blake definitely does have a talent for horror, and I would probably pick up a novel by her again, but I would definitely do so with more caution based on this reading experience.
The Cover:
Super creepy and pretty awesome.
Rating:
[2/5]Find Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake on Goodreads, Book Depository, & Amazon.
Great review, Ashley ... thanks for being honest! I admit that I really want this, though it's been hyped up A LOT. I might be putting it on the back burner for a while until I can maybe reread the first one and then this one in succession ...
ReplyDeleteI also dislike when a book is slow to start and only strong in the last half ... makes for a LONG read.
It really had a ton of hype, but I was hoping for the best since the first book had hype as well and I thought it was brilliant.
DeleteOoh, sorry. I read a ton of ravers about a month ago but lately I've read more meh ones. Second novel issues? I really liked the first book. Boo on Cas being a pouty baby in this one!
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm being unsympathetic to his ghost love issues, haha. I kind of just wanted to tell him to get over it. =b
DeleteI am really curious to what my thoughts on this one will be. I liked the first one but I feel I might have some of the issues you did. I really appreciate your honesty in your review. :)
ReplyDeleteGotta be honest. =)
DeleteFor some reason I have yet to read ANNA, but after learning that it is like Supernatural? Well, you've convinced me to pick it up Ashley!
ReplyDeleteSorry this one was a let-down... :/
Yes, it was REALLY good! The tone of it was just the perfect mix of creepy (but not TOO scary) and funny and loved the friendship. Really could've done without the romance, though, so maybe that's why this one didn't do much for me.
DeleteOh how disappointing. Which do you think contributed more to your disappointment, the book or the expectations brought by all the rave reviews?
ReplyDeleteI think it was a little of both, probably? I loved the first book so I had high expectations myself, and everyone else seems to be LOVING it, so I thought "yay, it's going to be so awesome" and then when I actually started reading it was I just put off by the main character and how slow/repetitive everything seemed.
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