Opinião: Antigoddess (Kendare Blake)

Antigoddess by Kendare Blake
Editora: Orchard Books (2013)

Formato: Capa mole | 384 páginas

Género: Ficção YA, Fantasia Urbana

Descrição: "The acclaimed author of ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD returns with an incredible story about ancient gods, modern love and an epic fight for survival

He was Apollo, the sun, and he'd burn down anything that tried to hurt her... Cassandra and Aidan are just your average high-school couple. Or so Cassandra believes. Blissfully unaware that she was once a powerful prophetess, Cassandra doesn't even know thats god exist... Until now.

Because the gods are dying - and Cassandra could hold the answer to their survival. But Aidan has a secret of his own. He is really Apollo, god of the sun, and he will do anything to protect the girl he loves from the danger that's coming for her. Even if it means war against his immortal family...

Sexy, irresistible characters; romantic and mythological intrigue; relentless action and suspense - ANTIGODDESS is the YA novel you've been waiting for."

Sempre gostei dos livros de Kendare Blake (mais especificamente, seus dois livros da série Anna [Dressed in Blood]), que misturam fantasia urbana e protagonistas interessantes com algumas cenas muito "creepy"; por isso tinha grandes expectativas relativamente a Antigoddess. Um livro sobre mitologia escrito por esta autora? Sim, por favor! Pensei que fosse garantido que os protagonistas seriam "kick-ass". E foram ... mais ou menos.

Não é que eu não tenha gostado do livro. Ou da história (ou pelo menos da ideia. Ou dos personagens. É só que este livro me pareceu um prólogo excessivamente longo (vejam esta opinião da Khanh para mais pormenores, ela é mais articulada do que eu sobre isto). Nada acontece durante o livro, excepto que algumas pessoas andam a viajar pelos Estados Unidos. Não há qualquer sugestão da verdadeira história do livro. É, pura e simplesmente, uma apresentação das personagens. Uma apresentação de mais de 300 páginas.

A história começa de forma simples. Cassandra tem 16 anos e é "vidente" (Cassandra, vidente, mitologia, onde é que isto irá parar). Ela namora com o gajo bom "do pedaço", um loiro deslumbrante chamado Aidan. Há deuses gregos a correr de um lado para o outro à procura dela  (e são emo e irritantes na sua generalidade, com excepção da Athena, na maioria das vezes). Todos convergem na cidade natal de Cassandra. Há um showdown. O fim. Não nos são dadas pistas para nada. Não sabemos porque é que os deuses estão a morrer de repente, não sabemos quem está a controlar os "vilões", nem tão pouco porque é que a Cassandra acabou por ter determinadas 'capacidades' ... nada . E isso estragou um livro que poderia ter sido bastante bom. Porque o conceito? É bom.

Quanto ao resto ... bem, suponho que gostei da ideia. E do final. 

No geral... foi bom, mas podia ter sido melhor.

English review 

Curtas: Girl of Nightmares e Croak

Não tenho andado com muita imaginação (ou vontade) para escrever no blogue, por isso aqui vão algumas impressões breves sobre alguns dos livros que li ultimamente.

Girl of Nightmares 

Autor: Kendare Blake

Série: Anna, #2

Editor: Tor Teen - 2012

Páginas: 336

Mini-Review: Nesta sequela do livro Anna Dressed in Blood voltamos a encontrar o nosso herói, Cas. 

Gostei bastante do primeiro livro desta série e era com alguma expectativa que esperava a saída do segundo. Girl of Nightmares foca-se na vida de Cas, seis meses após do desaparecimento de Anna, um fantasma poderoso que era compelido a matar devido a uma maldição.

Notei neste livro os mesmos problemas que havia notado já no primeiro: a narrativa é feita na primeira pessoa, através do nosso protagonista, mas talvez porque a autora é uma mulher, não achei que a voz de Cas fosse particularmente... masculina. Os seus processos de pensamento pareceram-me mais apropriados a uma mulher do que a um homem; um perigo que os autores incorrem quando escrevem personagens do sexo oposto ao seu, suponho.

Ao enredo falta foco e muitas coisas ficam ainda por explicar. 

No geral, uma leitura agradável para os amantes de "terror leve", mas pouco mais do que isso.

Croak

Autor: Gina Damico

Série: Croak, #1

Editor: Graphia - 2012

Páginas: 311

Mini-Review: Croak segue as aventuras de Lex Bartleby, uma rapariga com mau génio que descobre que é uma Ceifeira (Grim Reaper). 

É bastante óbvio que a autora pretendia criar uma história cheia de humor negro, mas penso que falhou redondamente. O humor é previsível, o enredo igualmente claro e as personagens estão bastante mal exploradas. O ritmo é inconsistente e algumas partes da obra são bastante aborrecidas. Admito que alguns dos conceitos são interessantes, mas são raros e não compensam as personagens estereotipadas ou o enredo mal amanhado.

No geral, uma leitura pouco estimulante e algo aborrecida, por vezes.

Review: Anna Dressed in Blood

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Publisher: Tor Teen (2011)

Format:  Hardcover | 316 pages

Genre(s): Urban Fantasy, Young Adult, Horror

Description (Goodreads): "Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

But she, for whatever reason, spares Cas's life."

WARNING: Contains minor SPOILERS!

"Anna Dressed in Blood" is one of those books that are ridiculously difficult to review. Mainly because I not only had high expectations but I actually liked it. But that doesn't mean I didn't notice some problems with plot and character development. And so I am a bit at a loss on how to give an opinion.

This book tells the story of Cas Lowood, a young ghost hunter. These ghosts, however can do a lot more than just rattle chains; they can take some kind of corporeal form and actually interfere with the living. So, since Cal has a special gift that allows him to "kill the dead" (or more accurately send them somewhere else) he travels around seeking ghosts who mean harm to people. When one of his contacts tells him about a particularly vicious ghost, Cal just knows he has to take the job.

As he encounters Anna, dubbed "Anna Dressed in Blood" by the locals, he understands that she's no ordinary ghost. His journey will bring answers about his past but also more questions about who he really is, about his powers and about the righteousness of his work.

If anyone asked me for a quick opinion on this book I'd say that it was good. Pretty good, actually. It has great pace, most of the time, it has some horror (it is rather creepy sometimes) and interesting protagonists. So would I recommend it? Sure. If you like action, mystery and a bit of Supernatural-style horror, "Anna Dressed in Blood" is the book for you.

But is it very good? Like "Chime" good? Not really. Oh, the story is definitely engaging. It makes you want to keep reading, it keeps you on the edge of your seat and Anna is a very intriguing and multi-layered character. However... Blake wasn't completely able to step away from the usual cliches that plague the genre [of YA supernatural fiction].

The romance was badly developed and unrealistic (it bordered on insta-romance, yuck) and there were some inconsistency problems. The one that bugged me the most was the fact that Cas' mother seemed perfectly okay with her son following in his father's footsteps when it was exactly his father's job that got him killed. It just didn't make sense to me. I can see why the author wrote it like that, sure, but I still don't feel like it was very realistic behavior.

Cal himself was another problem. He isn't particularly stereotyped as far as male protagonists go; but he didn't read like a boy. Probably because the book was written by a woman. Always a risk, writing a male character and frankly I don't think the author pulled it off very well.

Overall: "Anna Dressed in Blood" does stand out in this genre (which is praise-worthy indeed) and I really enjoyed reading it. But it was not without flaws. Recommended to fans of supernatural stories who aren't afraid of a few (seriously) creepy scenes.

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