ANTIGODDESS Cover Reveal + Guest Post by Kendare Blake

I don't really like horror-ish books. Actually, horror-ish books would be terrible for me, because I am such a scaredy-cat it's hilarious. (Unless you're me.) But there is one horror-ish book/series that I loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove, and hey, if I, as a horror-NO reader can fall in love with a horror-ish series, then I think it's pretty obvious that that series is absolutely amazing.

It's Anna Dressed in Blood and the creepalicious (<--always wanted to use that word) sequel, Girl of Nightmares, by Kendare Blake. (Here is my starred review of Anna!)

Yeah yeah yeah, I know, you want to see the darn freaking cover already. But before I can reveal it, you should probably know what Antigoddess is.

Antigoddess is Kendare's new series's first book. Here's the synopsis:

Antigoddess
By: Kendare Blake


Old Gods never die…

Or so Athena thought. But then the feathers started sprouting beneath her skin, invading her lungs like a strange cancer, and Hermes showed up with a fever eating away his flesh. So much for living a quiet eternity in perpetual health.

Desperately seeking the cause of their slow, miserable deaths, Athena and Hermes travel the world, gathering allies and discovering enemies both new and old. Their search leads them to Cassandra—an ordinary girl who was once an extraordinary prophetess, protected and loved by a god.

These days, Cassandra doesn’t involve herself in the business of gods—in fact, she doesn’t even know they exist. But she could be the key in a war that is only just beginning.

Because Hera, the queen of the gods, has aligned herself with other of the ancient Olympians, who are killing off rivals in an attempt to prolong their own lives. But these anti-gods have become corrupted in their desperation to survive, horrific caricatures of their former glory. Athena will need every advantage she can get, because immortals don’t just flicker out.

Every one of them dies in their own way. Some choke on feathers. Others become monsters. All of them rage against their last breath.

The Goddess War is about to begin.

-Summary from Goodreads
Release Date: September 10th, 2013
Publisher: Tor Teen
Pre-order: Mrs. Nelson's (support indie stores!) || Book Depository

JADJGA;RJGJ;JGA.


AND DUDE. Just wait until you see the cover-

 
I love the awesome contrast between the white feather and the blood. The ripple in the water is so cool. Not to be negative or anything (just throwing it out there), I think I would've liked the feather to be a teeny bit stained with blood at the bottom, just to make it clearer that the blood is falling from the feather, but seriously? It's awesome as it is. I am just me. Le sigh.

So! What did Kendare have to say about this coolio cover?

The first time my editor and I talked about the cover of ANTIGODDESS was over lunch at ALA this past June. It was the first time she and I had met face to face, and I was worried I would make an ass of myself. Because self-ass-making is pretty common for me. And sure enough, I blurted out that I loved her. I actually said, "I love you." And I barely say that to my mom.

But I had a good reason. Well, sort of. When she started talking about the cover,I was paralyzed with fear, afraid her idea would be something I couldn't immediately visualize and I'd get caught with the look on my face. You know the look. The look you have when you get a sweater with a cat on it from your aunt, or a waffle-maker from your boyfriend for your birthday and he's the only one who eats waffles (true story). Only,I didn't get that look. Because the image she described was as close to the one I pictured as possible without creepy levels of clairvoyance.

She wanted to go with one iconic image. Something bold. Wasn't sure what that image might be. Turns out, it's a bleeding feather. We both wanted something that would convey the darkness of the story, the ominous action, and if at all possible, badassery. I think the pristine white of the feather hints at some innocence as well, and some sweetness. Which is in the book too, believe it or not.

Well, Kendare, it is bold alright. :D

So, what do you think of the cover? Will you read the book or will you read the book? ;)

Top 10 Book Covers of 2011

My Top 10 Book Covers of 2011 (in no particular order):

Anna Dressed in Blood

Anna Dressed in Blood
By: Kendare Blake
Reported by: Juli Helms

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. 

-Summary from Goodreads

Now, if you read my blog, you know that I like to play around with the name of the review. I almost never use the actual name of the book as the title of the review. When I do, there is only one explanation:

The title is unbelievably awesome.

The cover of this book is unbelievably awesome.

This entire book is unbelievably awesome.

Anna Dressed in Blood is unlike anything I've ever read before. It's a haunting story, but the book itself is almost like a spell because you just can't stop reading it, you're almost trapped by it, and every emotion you can possibly feel boil just beneath the surface and reaches out to you like tentacles.

This book is, in its essence, very, very clever. When I first started reading it, the descriptions felt jumbled, disorientating. The plot felt dragged on.

And here's where I was wrong.

Anna Dressed in Blood is not at all what it seems. Not the characters, not the plot, not the prose. This is a book that you won't really realize the wonderfulness of until after you finish reading it. Kendare Blake writes some of the best descriptions I've ever read, yet I never noticed until I finished the book and went back, looked at it, and oh, it is just beautiful.

Here, read this:

The city smells like smoke and things that rot in the summer. It's more haunted than I thought it would be, an entire layer of activity just under the dirt: whispers behind  peoples' laughter or movement you shouldn't see in the corner of your eye. Most of them are harmless--sad little cold spots or groans in the dark. Blurry patches of white that only show up in a Polaroid. I have no business with them.

But somewhere out there is one that matters. Somewhere out there is the one that I came for, one who is strong enough to squeeze the breath out of living throats.

Actually, that was on the back cover, but I don't want to spoil anything for you.

Overall, Anna Dressed in Blood is a book that you have to read. The ending broke my heart, the characters won my heart, and my heart devoured this book.