Girl of Nightmares (Anna Dressed in Blood, #2)

by Kendare Blake

[Amanda]

Original review (10/22/2012): http://onabookbender.com/2012/10/22/review-girl-of-nightmares-by-kendare-blake

This is the end of Cas and Anna’s story, so you know that THINGS are going to HAPPEN. And they did. This is kind of one of those stories where you wonder how it could possibly end without ripping your heart out completely. And no, I won’t tell you anything about the ending (only that I think someone gets a better ending than someone else), so you’ll just have to read the book yourself. I actually kind of like that the ending both tied things up and left things open. But enough with the ending.

Cas goes through a lot more angst in this book. Whereas in the first book, Cas was fighting for his life (which is an important thing to do, I admit, and is nothing to sneeze at or make light of), in this book, he struggles with losing Anna and how to move on–or not move on, as the case may be. In that sense, going into this book expecting to get the same feelings and type of actions from the first book may lead to some disappointment. Cas’s fight here was internal. And when it wasn’t internal, it was justifying his feelings to others. Most of you know my feelings toward angst, but Cas’s never bothered me. I think his angst was justified, even when it seemed like he was stupid for continuing his quest and risking his life for a dead girl.

Girl of Nightmares expands our knowledge of Cas’s world a bit, and gives us some answers [that are often more confusing than not] about the athame and its purpose. We also meet new characters and acquaint ourselves with old ones. The new characters (or rather, one in particular) give us a particularly new insight into what Cas does as a ghost hunter and why he may not be as alone in the world as he thinks. But even then, we get a look at how Cas’s ghost hunting code of ethics (for lack of a better term) are in place for a reason.

If you read and loved Anna Dressed in Blood, Girl of Nightmares is a must-read, even only for the conclusion of Cas and Anna’s story. They needed it. You need it.