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hellybobs's review
3.0
CW: Rape, sexual assault, graphic violence.
This was initially a difficult read... The content dark, heavy, traumatic and deeply upsetting with a focus on violent assaults against Anna, our female lead character. I was at the point of maybe not continuing the book, as intrigued as I was with the narrative, when part one ended and part two began, with a change of pace and environment. I found then I wanted to read on, to see if there could be some resolution, happiness, peace? This doesn't detract from how well this is written though, and is more personal with regard to my own reaction to that content.
The book is extremely well written, and the difficult subjects aren't shied away from. I would have liked to know more about the fall of the world as we know it, and how the world came to be in this bleak, dystopian future, but the vagueness around that doesn't detract from the impact of Anna's story. A gripping read, but do take heed of the Content Warnings if such topics are likely to trigger or upset you in anyway.
**Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC**
This was initially a difficult read... The content dark, heavy, traumatic and deeply upsetting with a focus on violent assaults against Anna, our female lead character. I was at the point of maybe not continuing the book, as intrigued as I was with the narrative, when part one ended and part two began, with a change of pace and environment. I found then I wanted to read on, to see if there could be some resolution, happiness, peace? This doesn't detract from how well this is written though, and is more personal with regard to my own reaction to that content.
The book is extremely well written, and the difficult subjects aren't shied away from. I would have liked to know more about the fall of the world as we know it, and how the world came to be in this bleak, dystopian future, but the vagueness around that doesn't detract from the impact of Anna's story. A gripping read, but do take heed of the Content Warnings if such topics are likely to trigger or upset you in anyway.
**Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC**
girlglitch's review
3.0
Anna is an engaging dystopian thriller about survival, adaptation and humanity.
I always find speculative fiction gripping. Anna features some nice echoes to Atwood and other dystopian greats - although the worldbuilding is a little haphazard at times. It's a recognisable world of the near future, filled with characters who remember what they have come from and all they have lost. A society in the process of rebuilding itself makes for a brilliant setting to explore the themes of power, community and freedom.
The problem is, those themes sometimes get a little bit lost. All the elements for a great novel are there, but not necessarily in the right order. It feels like a sharper edit and a little more structure could've really brought out the bite in this story.
*Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review*
I always find speculative fiction gripping. Anna features some nice echoes to Atwood and other dystopian greats - although the worldbuilding is a little haphazard at times. It's a recognisable world of the near future, filled with characters who remember what they have come from and all they have lost. A society in the process of rebuilding itself makes for a brilliant setting to explore the themes of power, community and freedom.
The problem is, those themes sometimes get a little bit lost. All the elements for a great novel are there, but not necessarily in the right order. It feels like a sharper edit and a little more structure could've really brought out the bite in this story.
*Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review*
ameserole's review
2.0
I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Anna definitely seemed like it was going to be a pretty interesting and dark book. While it had it's dark and very cringe-worthy moments I honestly just couldn't get into the actual book.
What Anna went through was very gruesome and at times I had to take a breather from it all. I even opened a bottle of wine to help ease everything too. I just felt bad for the girl and what she was going through and it went on for half of this book!
I will be completely honest here - I wanted to throat punch Will repeatedly. He was awful and I absolutely hated him. The way he tried to break Anna and eventually succeed made me want to throw up. So when she became pregnant? Oh man - I just had a bad feeling.
After getting through the hard stuff, the second half just felt way different to me. Things moved a lot slower and I honestly had so many questions as to why things weren't always lining up or making sense to me. I'm not even sure how I feel now after finishing it late last night. Tons of questions are roaming around in my head and I really wanted answers before reading the very last word.
In the end, it was slightly disappointing but I am glad that I got the chance to dive into this one. It had potential to be a great dark book but ended up being okay.
Anna definitely seemed like it was going to be a pretty interesting and dark book. While it had it's dark and very cringe-worthy moments I honestly just couldn't get into the actual book.
What Anna went through was very gruesome and at times I had to take a breather from it all. I even opened a bottle of wine to help ease everything too. I just felt bad for the girl and what she was going through and it went on for half of this book!
I will be completely honest here - I wanted to throat punch Will repeatedly. He was awful and I absolutely hated him. The way he tried to break Anna and eventually succeed made me want to throw up. So when she became pregnant? Oh man - I just had a bad feeling.
After getting through the hard stuff, the second half just felt way different to me. Things moved a lot slower and I honestly had so many questions as to why things weren't always lining up or making sense to me. I'm not even sure how I feel now after finishing it late last night. Tons of questions are roaming around in my head and I really wanted answers before reading the very last word.
In the end, it was slightly disappointing but I am glad that I got the chance to dive into this one. It had potential to be a great dark book but ended up being okay.
thejulyrosereads's review
2.0
Well, where to start with Anna.
Firstly, I think it is appropriate to advise that there are trigger warnings warranted here. There are several topics throughout this book which readers should be aware of, those being physical and mental abuse, domestic abuse and rape.
I found this a hard book in parts to read, it was uncomfortable. The story starts well, it immediately grasped my attention and even though it was hard to read, I was still left wanting to carry on to find out what happens. The story starts with our main character, Anna. Whilst wandering through the forest, trying to survive following on from the fall out of a world war, where society is left lawless and cruel, she is captured by Will. She becomes his property. This sets the tone for the horrific abuse, and isolation that is to follow within the warped dystopian society that is now in place. As a reader, I felt so many emotions reading the first half of this book, as a female, I was often left wondering what would I do?
Throughout the whole book, I had comparisons of The Handmaids Tale running through my mind, also The Walking Dead (minus the zombies of course). Individuals have formed small communities to survive, they have adopted their own laws and enforcement. Although the story itself does not go into this in any particular detail, nor do we really find out what actually happened to the world to have led to such dramatic changes.
The story itself is in what I would call two parts, the first in which Anna is captured, abused and owned by Will. The second where we find a different community that Anna (now Kate) has become part of. The second part of the book is slower-paced, this reflects the pace of their life I believe as the most important thing seems to be setting up a Library which when compared with the first half of the book this is somewhat a contrast of topic.
I don't want to give spoilers away but I did predict certain things happening in part two which only builds up to quite a good end to the book. As a reader, I was left wanting justice for Anna and I hoped that this would prevail.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Rebellion Publishing for the digital ARC in return for an honest review.
Firstly, I think it is appropriate to advise that there are trigger warnings warranted here. There are several topics throughout this book which readers should be aware of, those being physical and mental abuse, domestic abuse and rape.
I found this a hard book in parts to read, it was uncomfortable. The story starts well, it immediately grasped my attention and even though it was hard to read, I was still left wanting to carry on to find out what happens. The story starts with our main character, Anna. Whilst wandering through the forest, trying to survive following on from the fall out of a world war, where society is left lawless and cruel, she is captured by Will. She becomes his property. This sets the tone for the horrific abuse, and isolation that is to follow within the warped dystopian society that is now in place. As a reader, I felt so many emotions reading the first half of this book, as a female, I was often left wondering what would I do?
Throughout the whole book, I had comparisons of The Handmaids Tale running through my mind, also The Walking Dead (minus the zombies of course). Individuals have formed small communities to survive, they have adopted their own laws and enforcement. Although the story itself does not go into this in any particular detail, nor do we really find out what actually happened to the world to have led to such dramatic changes.
The story itself is in what I would call two parts, the first in which Anna is captured, abused and owned by Will. The second where we find a different community that Anna (now Kate) has become part of. The second part of the book is slower-paced, this reflects the pace of their life I believe as the most important thing seems to be setting up a Library which when compared with the first half of the book this is somewhat a contrast of topic.
I don't want to give spoilers away but I did predict certain things happening in part two which only builds up to quite a good end to the book. As a reader, I was left wanting justice for Anna and I hoped that this would prevail.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Rebellion Publishing for the digital ARC in return for an honest review.
everlaerian's review
5.0
I absolutely enjoyed this book and this can be seen by how quickly I read it at work.
The novel isn't perfect but it deserved 5 stars in my opinion.
I enjoy gritty, dark novels and Anna hit the mark. And I must admit if it was written in three person instead of first person, it would have lost its charm. Smith intended for us to feel if not experience Anna instead of just reading about her. By doing so, I went through a few hickups where I wished "Anna" would have done or said something. Anything. You can almost feel the prison and shackles on yourself. You may also be able to see the change in the narrative tone as the story progresses.
The first issue I had was the synopsis. It was nearly perfect until the second paragraph describing her escape, her pregnancy and the danger her new home would face. Why? Because it would have been details that would be new, surprising and keep you more on the age. "OMG Anna is pregnant now!!?? What will she do?!!" The synopsis took that away and instead I just counted the pages until I found out she was pregnant and her escape. This extra info given for free felt like watching a movie trailer and the 90 to 180 minutes of the entire movie is shown to you in a 3 minutes trailer. You get all the details. If the synopsis was kept to the first paragraph only, the reader would only know that she was captured and broken. What will she do? How long will she be enslaved? Beaten? Will she fall for him or found a way to save herself? Uncertainty - best kind of suspense.
The second was part one and two/ three. Part one was simply too short (150 out of 408). I wish we had spend more time. Part two/ three felt very long. Part felt a bit repetitive. I believe Simon and the Enforcers should have been a bit more explored especially since some stuff could have been very easily foreseen. But I did enjoy the role reversal Between the hunter and the hunted. I preferred that part over the entire part two.
As for the ending, I do understand why certain people have an issue with it. It is a bit ambiguous. But the "Anna" is very secretive. Why would she divulge the information she as finally able to obtain? Even to us the readers. To me it was perfect. Yes I re-read the last 3 pages it maybe two times and once more after getting a good night's sleep, but it isn't flawed. People have secrets. "Anna" keeping this priceless info is exactly what she has been about the entire novel. We dont even know her true name, or if her husband's name was truly Michael or Stephen or her pet's name was Oscar.
People are talking how this isn't really a feminist book. So? Each person defines feminist in their own way. The character here defined themselves after much struggles and abuse and no one can tell them or anyone how we should describe "true" feminisms. Get over yourselves, its a book. It is ridiculous to say a book and its themes, messages aren't up to your standards, expectations and your beliefs. Its a good book, its not perfect. Just because you don't agree with it, doesn't make it bad.
The novel isn't perfect but it deserved 5 stars in my opinion.
I enjoy gritty, dark novels and Anna hit the mark. And I must admit if it was written in three person instead of first person, it would have lost its charm. Smith intended for us to feel if not experience Anna instead of just reading about her. By doing so, I went through a few hickups where I wished "Anna" would have done or said something. Anything. You can almost feel the prison and shackles on yourself. You may also be able to see the change in the narrative tone as the story progresses.
The first issue I had was the synopsis. It was nearly perfect until the second paragraph describing her escape, her pregnancy and the danger her new home would face. Why? Because it would have been details that would be new, surprising and keep you more on the age. "OMG Anna is pregnant now!!?? What will she do?!!" The synopsis took that away and instead I just counted the pages until I found out she was pregnant and her escape. This extra info given for free felt like watching a movie trailer and the 90 to 180 minutes of the entire movie is shown to you in a 3 minutes trailer. You get all the details. If the synopsis was kept to the first paragraph only, the reader would only know that she was captured and broken. What will she do? How long will she be enslaved? Beaten? Will she fall for him or found a way to save herself? Uncertainty - best kind of suspense.
The second was part one and two/ three. Part one was simply too short (150 out of 408). I wish we had spend more time. Part two/ three felt very long. Part felt a bit repetitive. I believe Simon and the Enforcers should have been a bit more explored especially since some stuff could have been very easily foreseen. But I did enjoy the role reversal Between the hunter and the hunted. I preferred that part over the entire part two.
As for the ending, I do understand why certain people have an issue with it. It is a bit ambiguous. But the "Anna" is very secretive. Why would she divulge the information she as finally able to obtain? Even to us the readers. To me it was perfect. Yes I re-read the last 3 pages it maybe two times and once more after getting a good night's sleep, but it isn't flawed. People have secrets. "Anna" keeping this priceless info is exactly what she has been about the entire novel. We dont even know her true name, or if her husband's name was truly Michael or Stephen or her pet's name was Oscar.
People are talking how this isn't really a feminist book. So? Each person defines feminist in their own way. The character here defined themselves after much struggles and abuse and no one can tell them or anyone how we should describe "true" feminisms. Get over yourselves, its a book. It is ridiculous to say a book and its themes, messages aren't up to your standards, expectations and your beliefs. Its a good book, its not perfect. Just because you don't agree with it, doesn't make it bad.
katiiing's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.0
brooke_review's review
2.0
Sammy H.K. Smith’s Anna should be a book that I love. A dystopian tale about a captured woman who escapes only to discover her past has come back to haunt her? Anna sounded like a book akin to Room, albeit much darker, and I couldn’t wait to read it. However, this novel unfortunately was flat in all aspects. With little world-building and character development, and only vague descriptions of people and places, this novel never fleshed out to its true potential. I felt myself bored throughout most of this narrative, and found it a chore to pick up this novel.
raebrock's review
2.0
Ugh this is the second book this month that I could barely bring myself to finish. The first half was more brutal than I would’ve liked but there are women out there who’ve experienced much worse so do with that what you will.
There was no segue at all into the second half, it felt like reading a completely different book and it was so mind-numbingly dull. A lot of new characters are introduced but honestly none of them have any personality and I could not distinguish one from the other apart from their names which I’ve already forgotten.
Spoiler coming up although I feel like it’s to be expected: bad stuff finds her again. The two halves of the story come together - but only kind of, and a lot is never resolved or explained at all.
None of the characters had much substance, not even the protagonists. The plot was never fully flushed out, the flashbacks to her life before with her husband didn’t really give us much which made them feel pointless, and overall there were just too many things that didn’t work. I don’t know, the premise had potential but I hated the way it was executed.
There was no segue at all into the second half, it felt like reading a completely different book and it was so mind-numbingly dull. A lot of new characters are introduced but honestly none of them have any personality and I could not distinguish one from the other apart from their names which I’ve already forgotten.
Spoiler coming up although I feel like it’s to be expected: bad stuff finds her again. The two halves of the story come together - but only kind of, and a lot is never resolved or explained at all.
None of the characters had much substance, not even the protagonists. The plot was never fully flushed out, the flashbacks to her life before with her husband didn’t really give us much which made them feel pointless, and overall there were just too many things that didn’t work. I don’t know, the premise had potential but I hated the way it was executed.
cafeyre's review
4.0
Synopsis
Anna is a possession. She was taken away from her place of hiding and possessed by a man called Will. He believes he loves her, and that he needs to protect her from the outside world. However, he does not see that by the same time he breaks her. After few tries to get away, she becomes obedient to stop the abuse. She loses her hope to win her life back and gives him everything he needs.
However, when she gets pregnant, she finds strength again, and when there comes an opportunity to run away, she takes it. This leads her to her new life in a safe community where she can go back to her name Kate. She opens a library and is awaiting her child to be born. However, she doesn’t expect Will to appear in the town and bring the fear back to her life.
Book Review:
Anna is a book in which you never know what will happen next. I think I could see through the story, but the characters and the plot were still surprising at each step. This is a major advantage of this book. I don’t think there was any moment in the book I didn’t like. Everything was written in a way to make the whole story sense and perfect connection between the scenes.
I think this book can be a part of the books that were painful to read. Already from the first scene when Kate is abducted, I knew this is not going to be an easy book. Saying that I was disgusted by Will would not be enough. The way he was thinking a treating her was triggering me each time. I could not believe that he was believing that he is protecting her and that she could fall in love with him. Watching her fighting for so long to get away from him was already hard, but it got even harder when she gave up. She knew that there is no way out and that’s her life now, she needs to accept it. It would stay like this if she wouldn’t get pregnant. This pushes her to fight even harder to protect her baby and leave before he finds out about the pregnancy.
Another thing for me that was hard to accept is that even when she got away from him, I knew that he would find his way back to her. With his obsession with her and imagined love I knew he won’t give up on the stop. Only his death would stop him from finding her. She knew it as well, and I think that’s one reason why she couldn’t give herself fully to the new community. As hard as she would try, the past would still find her.
This book was a painful journey of a woman fighting for her life. I wouldn’t recommend it to faint-hearted people. It’s not an easy read but it’s worth reading! I would like to thank NetGalley, Sammy H. K. Smith, and the Rebellion for providing me with a copy of this book. I enjoyed reading this book very much and I’m happy to recommend it to other people.
Anna is a possession. She was taken away from her place of hiding and possessed by a man called Will. He believes he loves her, and that he needs to protect her from the outside world. However, he does not see that by the same time he breaks her. After few tries to get away, she becomes obedient to stop the abuse. She loses her hope to win her life back and gives him everything he needs.
However, when she gets pregnant, she finds strength again, and when there comes an opportunity to run away, she takes it. This leads her to her new life in a safe community where she can go back to her name Kate. She opens a library and is awaiting her child to be born. However, she doesn’t expect Will to appear in the town and bring the fear back to her life.
Book Review:
Anna is a book in which you never know what will happen next. I think I could see through the story, but the characters and the plot were still surprising at each step. This is a major advantage of this book. I don’t think there was any moment in the book I didn’t like. Everything was written in a way to make the whole story sense and perfect connection between the scenes.
I think this book can be a part of the books that were painful to read. Already from the first scene when Kate is abducted, I knew this is not going to be an easy book. Saying that I was disgusted by Will would not be enough. The way he was thinking a treating her was triggering me each time. I could not believe that he was believing that he is protecting her and that she could fall in love with him. Watching her fighting for so long to get away from him was already hard, but it got even harder when she gave up. She knew that there is no way out and that’s her life now, she needs to accept it. It would stay like this if she wouldn’t get pregnant. This pushes her to fight even harder to protect her baby and leave before he finds out about the pregnancy.
Another thing for me that was hard to accept is that even when she got away from him, I knew that he would find his way back to her. With his obsession with her and imagined love I knew he won’t give up on the stop. Only his death would stop him from finding her. She knew it as well, and I think that’s one reason why she couldn’t give herself fully to the new community. As hard as she would try, the past would still find her.
This book was a painful journey of a woman fighting for her life. I wouldn’t recommend it to faint-hearted people. It’s not an easy read but it’s worth reading! I would like to thank NetGalley, Sammy H. K. Smith, and the Rebellion for providing me with a copy of this book. I enjoyed reading this book very much and I’m happy to recommend it to other people.
55_sallymander's review
1.0
ANNA by Sammy H.K. Smith
A futuristic, dystopian novel of the failure of society as we know it today. Women and others are routinely captured and kept as slaves, branded, and abused for the sadistic pleasure of their owners.
Anna has managed to survive in the broken world by following strict guidelines, never trusting anyone, and staying to herself. Her world changes when she is captured by Will. He is a psychopath who wants to control her every movement. Very hard to adjust, when you are used to being on your own.
Trigger warnings: Rape and abuse.
This is not a romantic novel. This is a novel about survival.
Highly recommend.
Many thanks to #netgalley for the complimentary copy of #anna I was under no obligation to post a review.
A futuristic, dystopian novel of the failure of society as we know it today. Women and others are routinely captured and kept as slaves, branded, and abused for the sadistic pleasure of their owners.
Anna has managed to survive in the broken world by following strict guidelines, never trusting anyone, and staying to herself. Her world changes when she is captured by Will. He is a psychopath who wants to control her every movement. Very hard to adjust, when you are used to being on your own.
Trigger warnings: Rape and abuse.
This is not a romantic novel. This is a novel about survival.
Highly recommend.
Many thanks to #netgalley for the complimentary copy of #anna I was under no obligation to post a review.