“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.

“When the truth is replaced by silence, the silence is a lie.” - Anna.


Set in a near-future dystopia, Anna explores the conflicts between selfhood and expectations, safety and control, and the sacrifices we make for the sake of protection. Beaten, branded, and defiant- Anna is a possession. She is owned by the man named Will, shielded from the world of struggles by his care. He loves her, protects her, and then breaks her. Anna is obedient, dutiful, and compliant. Anna does not know her place in the world. When she falls pregnant, Anna leaves her name behind and finds the strength to run. But the past-and Will- catch up with her in an idyllic town with a dark secret, and this time, it’s not just Anna who is at risk.

Thank you to NetGalley and Rebellion Publishing for proving me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was drawn to this book by claims of it being Handmaid’s Tale-like and dystopian in nature. However, this book didn’t quite hit the mark for me. Overall, I thought the main plot was intriguing and I was very interested in this world and the communities that Anna finds herself in, but thought that they weren’t explained as much as I wished. I had a lot of questions around how and why certain things existed especially around the function and characteristics of certain characters. I also found the pacing to be a bit off. The beginning of the book is very brutal, faced-paced, and contains lots of content warnings. However, the book slows down significantly in the second part and it almost seems like a different story going into the third part. I also was very interested in the ending and thought that some questions of mine would be answered, but it didn’t quite hit the mark. Overall, this was such an interesting idea and plot, I just wish it was a little fuller and consistent between the three parts of the story.

Release Date: May 25, 2021

Thank you to Netgalley and the author, Sammy H.K Smith, for providing a copy of Anna. I have reviewed honestly.

Anna features, but is not limited to, the following themes:
○ Dystopian
○ Dark themes
○ Slavery
○ Gaslighting
○ Personality disorders
○ Rape
○ Violence

My overall rating for Anna is…

5 Stars!

This book was heavy and hard to read. My chest felt thick and sticky, like tar, as the toxic tale wove tension through my body. Anna is a dystopian tale; dark, desperate and deep, with qualities that make the journey so real and robust. This was a dystopian book not so far into the future that it felt so foreseeable, like, this could actually happen. This could be our world one day. I really loved how the author created this book; the wording, the layout, the mentality of the protagonist and the disturbing qualities that made this book whole. Fair warning, this book is not for everyone. Its IS dark. There ARE triggers. But, honestly, I feel like I NEEDED to read this book. Like my life would not be complete until I did. Overall, this brutal tale had beautiful and bold conditioning that made it unforgettable.

A hard to read dystopian fiction novel, it is very violent with graphic descriptions. I do usually like dystopian fiction but this was a bit too graphic for me. The book was well written and was an interesting premise so if you like this type of work then I would recommend. But do look up the trigger warnings in advance.

The synopsis for Anna sounded like a perfect book for me - dystopian future with what seemed like a lot of inspiration from A Handmaid’s Tale.

And the first part of the book lived up to that. The capture and subsequent treatment of Anna is horrific and makes for difficult reading. The book should definitely come with trigger warnings. The writing and pacing were fine for the most part - it felt a tiny bit slow but I got on board with the story.

But then Anna escaped. And there was a time jump. And the whole book changed.

It went from a dystopian horror to... a slow, community rebuilding story. With town hall meetings that reminded me of The Stand - those long, 100 page long meetings where people discuss things that would no doubt be necessary but seem to solely be included to bore the reader into skipping ahead.

The pace was slow and I admit I started skimming pages to get to sections where something was happening. Even when something does happen, I spent the rest of the book just wanting Anna to do something, anything. By the end, I really didn’t care about any of the characters. Which is a shame, because it started off so well!

I give this 2 stars - I didn’t hate it and I think some people might enjoy it more than I did. But the inconsistency of the writing and plodding nature of the plot just wasn’t for me.

I appreciate the way this book was written. It was a tense read and there were times I needed to take a break just because of the intensity of it. I'm glad that I read it but it just was not the book for me, although I am rating it highly because it was so well written, especially given the things that go on in the book. Thank you Netgalley and Rebellion for the DRC but the thoughts are my own.

In a warped dystopian society we find ourselves following the traumatic life of Anna. There are extreme trigger warnings or physical and mental abuse, domestic abuse and rape so please don’t go into this book lightly.

As a reader, at times this an uncomfortable experience but one which I felt was important to read and persevere with. I wasn’t disappointed, this is a story which will sit with me forever. It reminded of a Handmaids Tale-esque story and if you enjoyed that book then definitely pick this one up. I can’t wait to see what else Sammy brings out

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

In her post-apocalyptic world, she has chosen to leave her home and wander the wastelands, subsisting on what she can scavenge and hunt. Women have become mere chattel in this new reality, bought and sold and violated at the whim of the men who snare them, so she avoids human contact, slipping through the shadows in order to remain free. She succeeds for almost three years, until the day that she is captured and shackled and taken to be his property. She becomes Anna – gracious and compliant – and so begins the nightmare.

Anna is by no means a comfortable read. The themes of abuse and violence are difficult to read about, but they very much ring true. Anna’s reaction of self-blame for the actions of her abuser is realistic, no matter how seemingly illogical it may be, and we watch her identity being eroded away, as ephemeral as the names she writes in water.

This is not a book that is ‘enjoyed’ – the subject matter makes that all but impossible – but it’s still worth reading. I thought it lost its way somewhat in the last third and would have liked more detail on the causes and early effects of the war, but it’s an engaging story, nonetheless.

I received an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I can’t say that I hated this book but I really didn’t connect to it. The writing just seemed so vague and really lacked descriptions. I didn’t care for any of the characters and there were A LOT of them! This book is also VERY violent and almost desensitized me to the issues. Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely deserving of 5 stars!

An exhausting, brutal, horrific, terrifying, captivating tale of one mother's fight for survival.

I devour dystopian fiction and this had me hooked from the start. Anna's initial capture had me holding my breath and my Apple Watch demanding me to BREATHE and warning me that my heart rate was consistently over 100BPM!

Not for the faint-hearted. Themes of rape and violent, physical abuse, trauma, coercive control and murder. I honestly felt depleted, drained and exhausted after finishing this. BUT, don't let that put you off. The writing is incredible, The characters are palpable. The feelings of utter helplessness, suffocation and mind-controlling terror are portrayed skillfully. I cannot wait to read more from this author.

The way trauma is dealt with is very, very clever. I am currently reading "The Body Keeps The Score" by Bessel Van Der Kork and "Anna" has been written so skillfully that we can see why she makes the choices she does because of the persistent traumas she has endured.

Astoundingly good writing.

Thank you to Netgalley, Sammy H.K. Smith and the publisher for the Advance Reader Copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Genre: Dystopian, Post- Apocalyptic, Science Fiction
Age range: Adult, 18+

Overall: 1/5
Characters: 5/5
Writing and Setting: 4.5/5

*Content warning: rape, mental abuse, physical abuse, injury, gun violence, murder, weaponry, slavery, hostage situation, depictions of mental health conditions (anxiety, PTSD) issues with war, drugs, alcohol.*

The gist of my review:

This book is important in some ways, because confronting literature only highlights injustices in this world, however, I couldn’t finish this book because I found it too unsettling and likened it to experiences I have witnessed in my career, and that is why I have scored it so low. There were elements that I think were done very well and I do believe that this book can come across as excellent to some readers (I.e all the 5 star reviews) but I am just not one of them.


The first segment in this book was the hardest part to read (it wasn’t long after the ending of part 1 when I stopped reading), but we are introduced to a post- apocalyptic world that is decimated by world war, civil war, and gangs. Anna (I understand that her real name is actually Kate) is a woman that was making her way through the world on her own and doing what’s necessary for survival. Will is introduced as her kidnapper/ captive.

Over the course of Anna’s capture, Will exclaims that everything he does to her, including rape, chain/ cuff her to himself/ walls, assault, emotionally manipulate, starve, threaten, is all done to ‘protect her’, that she ‘needs protecting because she is delicate’. In a way I can understand that this could be a trauma response mixed in with the values of the society within the book, but the effect that this has on Anna creates a very tough and tense environment to read. There are glimpses of Anna when we see her so helpless and exhausted that she doesn’t stop or is unable to stop Will from hurting or assaulting her. There is also glimpses of Anna where she questions herself on whether she should be stopping Will (Stockholm syndrome potentially).


Characters: 5/5

I think the characters in this book are incredibly well written. Anna’s trauma and the change in her thinking is incredibly accurate depiction of real life reactions to assault, abuse and to captive situations.

I don’t believe I knew Will well enough in the book to be able to provide a full judgement of him, but he plays a fantastic villain, but he also has these very soft and tender moments that make me as a reader question him and rethink on my previous assumptions of him, just like what Anna was experiencing in the book.



Writing and Setting: 4.5/5

I think the way in which this book was written was done so really well. The descriptives used set the scene phenomenally and with a post- apocalyptic world, that element is absolutely vital to the success of a book of this genre. The settings were written wonderfully and I could clearly see the decimated towns and burnt out cars left in the street. The writing stayed true to the genre and was always consistent with the constraints of a world such as this (ie: no electricity- playing board games while its still light, trading (medication, alcohol, women, possessions, weaponry) instead of using money, etc.)


My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. The book was written in 3 “parts,” and they were so drastically different from one another that I feel like I should review them each individually.

Part One:
I want to preface this by saying this part is brutal. I usually have no trouble reading about tough subjects, but this was a lot. So, trigger warnings: A LOT of mental, physical, and sexual abuse; rape; death. I basically never DNF books because I can’t bear to not know what happens, but I have to admit, after the first couple chapters of this, I almost did. The absolutely graphic and gut-wrenching content would maybe not be so bad if the world/character building was a little bit better. How exactly did we get to this dystopian, post-apocalyptic world? There were a couple hints here and there, but I would’ve liked more explanation. And more importantly, some type of back story for the monster who is Will/Daniel (main character, Anna’s captor, which the author also never explained why he was known by two different names). He is a complete monster, and although there could be no redemption for that, maybe a backstory would have eased the pain a bit?

Part Two:
I actually thought I was reading a different book as soon as I started part two. It could not have be more different from part one and it gave me whiplash. This part was probably my favorite of the story, but I just had such a hard time adjusting to the drastic change. I felt for Anna (now known as Kate in this new seaside town she found after escaping her captor) and the hopelessness/mixed feelings she felt when she found herself pregnant. The characters here were fun, and the story became pretty interesting when her captor found her.

Part Three:
Once again, the story shifted drastically. Most of this part takes place in the woods. Literally pages and pages of, “I stepped over a branch… mud everywhere… the forest thinned.. I must stay hidden.” This was pretty boring to me. The ending was alright, and without spoiling anything, there was a moment when I thought what ended up happening might not actually happen, and I was about to lose my mind haha. However, the last couple pages just left me with more questions. It was kind of open-ended, and for this story it just didn’t feel like it worked that well.

I struggled with whether or not I wanted to give this a 2.5 or 3 overall, and I settled on 3 because it was a quick read that had a good overall plot, but just wasn’t executed as well as I think it could have been.

I read this book after hearing that a colleague (who's opinion I respect) was unable to finish it. I finished it, but I will not recommend it. The first half of this book is made up of senseless acts of sexual violence and senseless acts of actual bodily harm. Society has not entirely collapsed- cars can still be driven, food can still be cooked- yet women are constantly at risk of being claimed and branded by roving gangs of men. Some of these women are trafficked or forced into sex work (which doesn't make sense- if you can make any women your slave, why does a sex trade exist?) by criminal gangs. Outside the cities, "nice" families live under the protection of former police or army officials. There isn't any room for dissent, but you can throw birthday parties and send your kids to school and to the library- it's almost as if the cities don't exist a few miles away!
I struggled to get to grips with the geography, the timeline, the technology, and most of all the society/relationship aspects of this book. I felt like the author wanted to write a book about relationship abuse and decided to use a dystopian setting because...it's scarier? The setting should have allowed the heroine more creative ways to fight or mete out justice- there are more guns in this book than in the average British crime novel, but nobody really uses them. There are several comic book moments where the heroine refuses to shoot a bad guy "because then I'd be like you". I found myself thinking "just bloody shoot him"-you're in a dystopia, you won't have to prove abuse to the police or a judge and jury. This novel isn't a realistic portrayal of a woman trying to leave an abusive relationship, and it's not a wish-fulfilling revenge story either. What is the point?

This was creepy, violent, disturbing, thrilling, and just utterly captivating. Definitely something to read when you're in a good environment though, as this material is pretty emotionally draining.

An incredibly powerful novel about the survival of the self. Set in a brutal, dystopian future, we follow Anna as she lives and survives alone in the Unlands after a global war. Anna has learned to hunt and provide for herself for several years alone in the woods, until one day she is captured by Will, who takes her to a town controlled by a group who brand and keep people in slavery. Will professes to want to protect and love Anna and keep her safe from everyone else, but he physically, emotionally and sexually abuses her to break her down and make her completely dependent upon him. Just as Anna discovers she is pregnant, a chance to escape presents itself and she flees to a new, seemingly idyllic new town by the sea. Here she is welcomed, begins to finds friends and awaits the birth of her child until Will enters her life again.
This novel is captivating and impossible to put down while at the same time being absolutely harrowing, disturbing, violent and truthful to the effects of abuse on survivors. This story does not hold back in its descriptions of Anna's abuse, her physical and emotional reactions to abuse and yet has moments of tenderness and friendship that allows Anna to plan a path forward for herself. While the first two parts of the story are very different in tone, I think that really highlights how Anna's life is compartmentalized and how she comes to deal with the PTSD that she suffers and that lead her to making the choices she does at the end. I found myself on the edge of my seat through the last chapters and desperate for Anna to be able to escape Will and what he had done to her. I could not put this book down even though it is difficult at numerous places to live in Anna's skin, I found it a very powerful story of survival.
Content Warnings; Frank descriptions of physical, emotional and sexual abuse

Anna is a dystopian story that I really wanted to love. For some reason it felt unfinished to me. The characters were hard for me to become attached to and although I wanted to root for Anna, I had a hard time..

Anna (not her real name) is caught by a man in the Unlands and he is horribly cruel to her, but then treats her like he really loves her at other times. She escapes from him when she realizes she is pregnant. She finds a home in a village and hopes she can leave her past in the past. However, that’s doesn’t seem to be in the cards for her and her reaction is not what I expected.

I feel like this books opens itself up to a sequel and honestly, I would read it. I need more information about the characters and I would like to know what becomes of them.

I almost didn’t make it through Part 1- it really is as difficult to get through as the reviews say, especially as a woman. However, I’m glad I stuck with it, because I really enjoyed the rest of the book.

This book had me gripped, with its dystopian dark intensity. Featuring some heavy issues, it was a very impactful novel.

I implore all to read it.

Fascinating and compelling - one woman’s journey, and her strength, in a world of danger and extremes