DNF at 30%. I really wanted a dystopian/ feminist/ empowering novel but it's clear to me that this is just not the book I was hoping for. The worldbuilding is lacking, and the characters felt two dimensional. Since most of the narration is through Anna's POV, it all felt hurried and oversimplified. I'm interested in a dystopian setting but I also want to have clear insight as to what caused the downfall of a society.

The repetitive "I was Anna" did not help as well.

I loved the premise and I did want to like this one. But something about the violence and abuse made me uncomfortable. I normally have high tolerance for violence but first I have to feel a certain connection, an emotional investment towards the story and the characters. Sadly, I wasn’t able to find it.

Based on the other glowing reviews I encourage everyone to pick up this book and judge for themselves. You might end up loving it more than I did. Make sure to check TW: rape/ abuse/ domestic violence / pregnancy

Big thanks to Netgalley and Rebellion/ Solaris for the opportunity to read an ARC.

I stopped watching The Handmaid's Tale because of the abuse.

I couldn't finish this book because of the abuse.

This is a well written book but it's just too hard to read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Anna is a novel set in the not-too-distant future, where a catastrophe has led to the breakdown of civilisation. People live in fear of violence. Our protagonist is a woman who has been living in the Unlands for years, fending for herself in relative peace.

One day, she is captured by a man, and becomes his property. The rest of the novel chronicles her anguish in captivity, and attempts to escape to a peaceful, quiet life.

Okay, so first thing's first: this book does require trigger warnings. Anna is not a book for anyone uncomfortable with domestic abuse, rape, gaslighting, or violence.

It's important to note that this isn't a super-cool action novel. It's not a book about someone getting crazy revenge on their rapist. The violence and horrors within Anna are very personal to a character, and are not supposed to be read as entertainment. If you see "violence" in the review and expect it to be part of a fun-filled rampaging romp, you'll be sorely disappointed.

Anna comes at a time in history where the rhetoric surrounding male-on-female violence has become more prominent, but it is crucial to understand there is still such a long way to go to ensure that the horrific patriarchal views on women as seen as the norm in this book do not become so accepted in our life. Anna, for me, is a warning. This is how bad things could be if we allow it to happen.

What is so good about Smith's writing, however, is it doesn't feel as though we are being preached to. The violence and emotional abuse in the book are there because that's what the characters do. Our main character keeps her voice and personality in spite of what is happening to her.

One thing that really struck me with this novel is how well written Will is. He is absolutely diabolical. I haven't disliked many fictional characters as much as I have with this guy. He is vile. I think one of the reasons that he is so terrible is that he is all too believable. I don't feel that I have to stretch my imagination much to envisage this man, and that in itself is terrifying. The self-entitlement that Will has is beyond frustrating, and I inflicted lots of horrible deaths upon him in my imagination.

This was a difficult review to write. Not because I didn't like the book; on the contrary, it's a brilliant novel, and deserves massive success. It is because I feel Anna is an important book, and I hope to give it justice.

Many thanks to Sammy H.K Smith, Solaris books, and NetGalley for this copy.

Anna was not an easy read, dealing with topics of abuse and rape, and anyone planning to read this book should definitely check the trigger warnings beforehand. I genuinely found this book so hard to put down, simply because I was SO worried about Anna (the mc) and knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep until I’d gotten to the end of her story. It was so gripping and I think Sammy H.K. Smith did an great job with the writing because with a hard tale such as this, it was executed so well and the constant state of dread I was feeling never left. The ending was so satisfying yet haunting, I had to process my thoughts for the next several hours after I’d finished. Anna is definitely a book that remains with you long after the last page.

Trigger warnings:

Sexual abuse, violence, domestic abuse, rape

*spoiler alert*

Thanks to NetGalley and Rebellion for the ARC in exchange of a honest review.

Now. Where do I start? TW for abuse (domestic and sexual) and violence.

When I read the blurb of the book, I was so excited to read it! A woman who escapes from her brutal captor? In a dystopian world? Sign me up! Part one was so intriguing! I couldn't stop reading. We see Anna being held captive by a man named Will. He is violent and abusive under the guise of 'love'. Will really believes he loved Anna. But Anna didn't relent. She never gave up and was able to escape her abuser.

Part two she ends up in a town after discovering she is pregnant with her captor's baby! This for me is where the book fell flat. I lost all interest and it was so boring! It really slows down here. Anna spends time in this town where she becomes Kate. Kate is a different woman and she makes friends but she still isn't happy. Kate finds it hard to adjust to this new place because of her trauma. This part I was getting confused because there were loads of different characters who I honestly didn't really care for. I pushed through and kept reading because I wanted to know what happened to Will. Will he find Anna?

Part three also is a bit slow but picks up in the end. Will does eventually find Anna in the new town but he now uses the name Peter. Then Anna escapes again, this time leaving her baby behind. Honestly I wish we had a bit more back story to the captor as well as some more world building! There were gaps in the plot and I feel like I'm left with more questions than I started with. But I did really seeing the strength of Anna and seeing what she had to do in order to survive.

2.5/5

I do find this a tough one to review! I assumed I would love this but it wasn't for me. The torment during the first half felt relentless and never-ending, so I rarely found myself itching to pick the book up and continue reading. I was curious to get to the end but found the journey itself too wearing. That said, I can definitely see why others would love it.

Thanks to the author, publisher & NetGalley for providing a copy of this book for me to review! No spoilers below.

I was incredibly intrigued by the blurb of this book and thought it had a lot of potential but unfortunately, it was pretty far from my cup of tea. I really felt a lack of depth from pretty much every character, and while I understand the abuse and survival was centric to the plot and went into the book knowing this, it just felt a little two dimensional, rushed and underdeveloped.

Like many other reviewers, I found the change in pace between the first and second half of the book a bit hard to gel with, and there were so may gaps in the story with chances for characters and situations to be explained and built upon that felt like missed opportunities.

FEW MINI SPOILERS ENCLOSED
This is harrowing and intense, and I wasn’t sure if I could finish part one as the author did a great job of drawing me in to the pain that Anna felt.
Seeing her so broken and then attempt to rebuild her confidence and heal her mind and body in part 2 was exquisitely painful.
Watching her summon her courage and take control in part 3 was perfect. Can we talk about the mass grave scene and the language used? I felt and smelt it all.
It’s not without its faults. I wanted more on our abuser – but I appreciate that if we know too much he loses some mystique and scariness. So maybe not a fault? I’m not sure. I wanted more on the world and characters and felt we could have had another 20% without taking away from the story. Just give me more!!!

Edit: I re-read this over the weekend and wow there was so much I missed: the politics in the town, the fragility of the little boy, the titles of the books and the links to the chapters. This book is freaking crazy good!!

I gave this my best shot, but it was practically unbearable and I could not force myself to go any further than 100 pages of the ebook. My biggest qualm is that it is marketed as being a "chilling feminist novel" but there is nothing feminist about the subject matter. The language and writing were repetitive, and it felt like the book was going nowhere important like even if I did continue to read on, there would not have been a point. At some point in the book it felt like all of the abuse and pain inflicted against Anna was no longer serving the story but was simply included as a means of "torture-porn." I can't gel with that. There are books that have tackled similar subject matters (the first coming to mind is Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale) but they do it with grace and purpose. This book lacked both of those components, and it felt like the abuse was being fetishized.

This book started off exciting and it grabbed me straight away. Unfortunately halfway through it sort of lost momentum and it started to get lost. It’s a shame as I had high hopes for this book. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

This book took me through all of the emotions! It really gave me so much but took so much away at the same time! It was wonderfully written, chilling, interesting, fascinating, brutal and beautiful!
It gives you equal amounts of darkness and light, and was just like nothing I’ve ever read before. Everyone should read this, I’m so glad I did!

2.5 stars

Trigger warning: abuse, rape, slavery, psychological terror, treats, murder, death, and violence.

This book is agonizing, that is the best word to describe it.
I still don't know if I liked this story, the writing is not bad, but I found some parts of the story poorly constructed.
The plot itself is very well done, the first part of the book you just want to get into the book and take our protagonist out of the situation she is in, the second part of the book is a long wait for what you know that it will happen eventually, the third part of the book was the one that messed with me the most and made me want to read the book as soon as possible because I just wanted it to end (I even skipped a few chapters because it was hard to read).
I didn't really like the end of the story, I wanted something more closed.
I don’t know if I recommend this book, it’s not for everyone, it's a desperate book that moves you a lot, but it's not a bad book so if you’re going to read it, read it carefully!

ARC REVIEW
3.5 stars

This dystopian novel centres around female strength and survival.
The author portrayed the sense of dread throughout brilliantly and its an edge of your seat kind of read.

But it’s tough. There are graphic descriptions of abuse and I found it really wore me down and for that I can’t say I enjoyed reading it. I was rooting for the main character but equally I didn’t look forward to picking the book up due to the emotions it stirred up. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right headspace for such a difficult read and I would have enjoyed it more another time!

Read the triggers before picking this up!

I'm sorry, this really wasn't for me. Considering it was set in a dystopian future after some sort of conflagration and how much scope that allowed for, I found the whole thing dull and dry.

Rating: 8.5/10

Anna is an upcoming release by veteran author Sammy H.K. Smith, and, wow, honestly it left me speechless. Which is a really interesting thing to say about a book that could really encourage a lot of dialogue. Anna’s story was a brutal read at times and joyful at others, but it was always enthralling.

He had captured me, and, by the rudimentary of the Unlands, I belonged to him.


This is a really hard review to write for a couple of reasons. First, I do not want to reveal any more about the plot than the synopsis already does. I want to tell you everything about Anna, because I got utterly lost in the story and I want to talk about it. The problem with that is not only do you, the reader, deserve to experience the book for the first time on your own, but, even more importantly, this is Anna’s story tell. Not mine. I am not going to take that from her.

I had been the stupid, lazy and weak girl he caught. I never used to be weak.

The other problem I am having writing this review is that I cannot use the usual positive qualifiers I do for other books. I cannot say I “enjoyed” this book. Or that it was “entertaining” or “fun”. It is none of those things. This is not a book to be “enjoyed”. Isn’t that the point, though, or at least some of it? This is a journey that takes you out of your box, makes you uncomfortable. And writing the review should not be, and is not, any easier. I have plenty of good things to say about Anna, though. It is incredibly well-written. Smith really knows how to create with the purpose of building tension, in both the short- and long-term. And that tension stayed, even during the “good” times. I use the word “good” hesitantly, because in this post-dystopian world the author has built almost nothing is “good”. No matter the situation, there is always a cloud of suspense hovering in the air, omnipresent. That is not an easy thing to achieve, but Smith does it very well.

One need not be a chamber – to be haunted.

Though I think Anna’s story could take place at any time and place in any era, the setting adds to the drama, for sure. It is You meets The Walking Dead, but without the zombies. I mean that in the way the world-in-peril sets up its communities: some groups of people working together to accomplish the same goals, while others are full of people looking to grab as much power as they can. Power is the big, overarching theme in the book, and it permeates everything. This setup comes with its own built-in anxieties that contribute much to the story overall. Which, by the way, is what a good setting should do.

Anna is a gripping, compelling, highly emotional, and oftentimes shocking story that will force you out of your comfort zone. It is not an easy read, and that is exactly why you should pick it up. Then find someone else who has also read it and talk about it. There is much to discuss.

"Anna" is a really hard book to read, but there's something that kept me reading even though part of my brain was demanding that I stop. It's gut-churning stuff. I loved the writing. The setting and characters felt very real (maybe far too real for some). Please be aware of potential triggers before picking up this book, but do pick it up if you can.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

This is so going to be a marmite book and I can really understand why. It'll also make for an excellent book club book as it definitely lends itself well to discussion...
Set in a near-future dystopia, we meet Anna as she is captured, branded and therefore now owned by a man she knows as Will. He loves her in his own way - and that is, well, not love as it should be. She's a possession, protected but controlled, in all ways. So yeah, it's very dark at the beginning. She is always looking to escape, despite the penalties for attempting and failing. But, once she discovers that she is pregnant, she steps it up a gear...
The rest of the book is about what happened next for Anna, Will and their child. More of which I can't really divulge as it would be more than is contained in the blurb and thus I would consider it to include spoilers.
I will say that after the explosive and nasty beginning, things slow and settle down as we get to know more about Anna. Who she is and what happened to her. But how although significant, she has not let it wholly define her. I really took to her. Admired her if you like. This second part really allows Anna to come out of her shell, to grow as a person, a mother and also start to heal from what has happened to her previously.
Pacing is hit and miss but follows the narrative well throughout. We start off at quite a lick but things settle down in the middle third and then ramp up again as we progress towards the end. Which was wholly satisfying and tied up most of the loose ends. Not all of them though. There were a few things left unresolved either by accident or design but the main things were closed nicely.
All in all, a solid three and a half star read that I have rounded up to 4. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Thank you to Rebellion, Solaris, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

CW: rape, confinement, physical abuse, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts

I originally requested this book from NetGalley because it sounded like something I would love. The Handmaid’s Tale is one of my favorite books and I really enjoy dystopian fiction! But this one fell flat for me.

The first part of this book is EXTREMELY graphic and there really should be trigger warnings included in this book. Where The Handmaid’s Tale was sometimes vague with the treatment of women and left things up to the imagination of the reader, Anna by Sammy H.K Smith, graphically spells out each horrible thing that happens to “Anna.” The first part of this book was very difficult to get through.

I did end up DNFing this book around 50%. While the first part of the book was difficult to read, it was a quick read. Once Anna escaped the tone shifted and the book slowed way down for me. I just wasn’t connecting with this book and unfortunately it wasn’t for me.

Anna is divided into three parts. I didn't like part one, I found the descriptions of assault too graphic. Parts two and three though I did like. The near future dystopia was well written and believable. I also enjoyed the theme of the power of a name and its importance to who you are.

“Anna” is a feminist dystopian book that deals with so many issues; from what could happen to society in certain circumstances if people don’t speak up, slavery and ownership, family and motherhood, and what constitutes safety and security.

But the story is told entirely from the viewpoint of Anna, not her real name. She has survived the first few years of the awful changes in the world on her own but is then captured by Will who by the law of the land now owns her. She is locked up, branded and eventually raped. Anna is the personality she takes on to cope with her situation. Anna is obedient, dutiful and compliant but the real Anna is not always suppressed and she looks for escape. When she gets her chance, the second half of the book finds her looking for safety and security, and not just for herself. But can she ever escape her captor?

This book is not an easy read due to the issues covered. It is gruesome, unrelenting and in your face with some of the descriptions. But that makes it all the more realistic. I can see why it has drawn some comparisons with The Handmaid’s Tale. From what I remember, I would say the latter leaves more to the imagination whereas “Anna” leaves nothing to the imagination. What I like about it is that the main character is flawed. She didn’t have a perfect life nor was she perfect before this situation happens. There’s also clearly scope for a sequel which I would be interested in reading. I understand that because the book is told from one person’s point of view, they can only give so much information but I wanted to know more about the world she was living in and found it a bit frustrating that I couldn’t go down certain avenues in the story.

Overall though, I thought it was an interesting and thought provoking read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.