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A review by thejulyrosereads
Anna by Sammy H.K. Smith
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.