Book Review:
Anna by Sammy H. K. Smith
⭐⭐⭐ 3.5 stars
Release date 27th May, 2021

Set in a dystopian near future, this is not a book for the fainthearted. The relentlessly dark part one almost defeated me and I considered DNF'ing it. However, I'm glad I decided to continue. In this world the weak are enslaved and branded by the strong. Anna had survived on the margins by herself, until a stranger captures her and takes her to a town as his property.

Anna does not give in immediately. Fighting back and resisting her captor. He beats her and repeatedly rapes her until she submits. Will is a psychopath, alternating between cruelty and gentleness. He says he loves Anna and yet he brands her with his mark and keeps her prisoner. Tough as it is to read, this is a well crafted description of the way an abuse victims identity and fight can be stripped away.

Names play an important part in this story. Anna is subservient, giving in so she can survive. It feels like a small victory that she has given her abuser a false name. Keeping her true identity safe and hidden. Her abuser also has secrets. Is his name Will or Daniel? Or is it Peter? Names seem to signify separate identities.

When Anna finally managed to escape she finds herself in a quiet seaside town. Here she is Kate to her friends, Catherine to everyone else. Pregnant with her captors baby she tries to make a new life for them both in this seemingly safe haven. She soon discovers that spousal abuse and misogyny exist beneath the apparent calm. The author does a good job of describing Anna/Kate's response to both her pregnancy and the overtures of friendship from the town's inhabitants. Her fear of being touched, is just one manifestation of what I imagine is PTSD.

The final part is a roller coaster of emotions. It kept me turning pages to the very last one. Tense and even scary, I had my heart in my mouth as I rooted for Anna/Kate. Who is Will/Daniel and can she ever escape him?

I wouldn't say I enjoyed this novel. I am glad I read it. I think I have learned something about victims of abuse. Why people sometimes stay in such relationships and why it is so difficult to ask for help. The question of identity was interesting and left me wondering, what's in a name?

TW: rape, branding, sexual assault, physical violence.

Thank you to Netgalley for my e-ARC in return for a fair and unbiased review.

So sorry but this is absolutely not my cup of Cabernet.

When I read the plot about a brave woman’s liberating herself, running away from brutality to form a bran new life, I thought I was going to read something inspirational about women power with strong feminism vibes.

The first half of the book was so intense, graphically violence, extremely brutal for my taste. I kept gritting my teeth, clenching my fists, getting hard times to hold my vomit, hating everything I’ve read about Anna endured!

Anna is owned by Will: psychopath, merciless animal ( I cannot define him as a human being) he branded her, he beat her, he raped her and he manipulated her all the things he has done was her own good, for her own protection! Anna became obedient, dutiful, losing herself , losing the meaning of her existence. He breaks her into pieces!

After getting pregnant, Anna gathers her strength to rebel and save her child from the stinking community she lives. She decides to run and save herself during the aftermath of global war and entire society’s crashing down! She escapes to a quite shore-side town, welcomed by its townies with open hands. She feels like she finds a community more peaceful. But the darkness she’s been fighting so long is about to catch her and the tremendous, torturous past she’s lived with Will is gonna leave her alone.

The second half of the book makes you feel like you’re reading another book. The pace is slowed down. The community gatherings and picking right books for the library seem like the most important concerns of the people.

There are also many plot holes about back stories of the characters. Why Will turn into such a villain? And why Anna really got estranged from her family? So many things didn’t make any sense.

And after reaching the finish line I thought things would make more sense but it didn’t! There are tons of question marks dance above my head.

With its dystopian world and the women’s liberating acts against brutal men population may be great plot line with high potential. Even though the beginning was too disturbing and violent for my taste, I kept reading to see some hopeful revelations and smart conclusion but o didn’t get any of it.

So I’m only rounding up 2.5 stars to 3 because of promising start but overall I’m an unpopular reviewer for this journey because it didn’t fit my expectations.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Rebellion/ Solaris for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

An extremely power story of a single, determined and fierce woman trying to survive in a post semi-apocalyptic world. Anna takes the reader on a journey of a captured, branded, abused and brainwashed woman's fight to remain independent and human in a male dominated aftermath. What she will do to keep those she loves protected will keep you rooting for her from page one.

Gripping and Gruelling
This fast paced dystopian novel grips from the start. We get the opportunity to see the heroine at different stages in her life and in different roles - wife, daughter, independent survivor, newcomer to a settlement - and more but don't want to risk spoilers. Characters are sketched out in a way that, apart from a certain few, leaves ambiguity over their motivation and their relationships and attitudes to the power that they wield. The book considers the role that women occupy in a post apocalyptic world but also the choices, albeit limited, that they have. The violence and suffering endured by the heroine is vividly depicted and makes for a sometimes gruelling read. One of the highlights of the book is a close attention to nature and the details of landscape and the natural environment are beautifully drawn. A really tense and gripping read.

Short review due to my disabilities.
I read this over the Easter holidays and though it wasn't my normal genre, I like the varied reviews.
It was a great read. Thought-provoking and honestly written with nothing off-limits. The abuse Anna suffered was horrendous and the author really pulled us into her world. I enjoyed the ending as I felt that it brought closure to the abuse from Will but it left it open for more potential stories.

Netgalley preview copy in exchange for an honest review.

So this is a post-apocalyptic world where communities have fallen apart after a world war and coup has taken place. We meet our main character and narrator Anna. She is living in the Unlands alone (not inside a community) and avoids the towns/cities where the communities have set up because bad things happen there. Unfortunately she is caught by an Enforcer who enslaves and brands her as his. The first volume of the book is about her relationship with her abuser and it is bleak. Props to Smith for not writing in graphic detail the rape scenes (male writers take note) but the emotion and fall out of this abuse is so well written it is hard to read. It is so realistic I almost put the book down and DNF as I don't really need to read about domestic and sexual abuse with the consequences in fiction.

Volume two of the book Anna has escaped her captive and made it to walled in community. She is unsurprisingly pregnant from her abuser. We follow her making a life for herself there and trying to hide her massive brand on her back. As a survivor she doesn't want anyone to know her history or judge her so doesn't divulge her past. Again, scarily accurate of some survivor stories and Anna's torment is well described by Smith here. However, it is building up to her abuser coming to the community after hunting her down through his enforcer contacts. Even then she doesn't mention to her community who he is and everyone loves him; again scarily accurate to real life where the victim isn't believed as the abuser is nice to everyone else.

The last part of the book is Anna deciding to leave her newborn baby and run away, luring her abuser after her, to murder him. The plan works, she kills him, it's all very tense. Then the book ends. Anna mentions that it will be difficult for her to return to the community when her abuser's friends work in the town and that it will be hard to reclaim her baby. However we don't get to see that redemption. All this world building of a woman dealing with abuse and then she gets no closer was a let down in my opinion.

Overall a good read but nothing spectacular in the genre. I will say it is refreshing to have a female writer delve into the psychological aspect of domestic and sexual abuse within this setting, Smith is a police so maybe has resources to pull from. The novel hints at religion and patriarchy in the downfall of society and the impacts on the community afterwards. There are a couple of gay characters, maybe for representation, both are in abusive relationships which is disappointing to see.

The devolvement of society to it's basest instincts and the impact on women is beginning to wear a little thin in the post-apocalyptic genre for me. I don't want to keep reading about how unsafe I would be in that world when it's already a reality today.

'Anna is a survivor. After society has broken down, her husband has been conscripted, she's fallen out with her parents, the bombs fell and everything went horribly wrong, she hid out in the wilds for two years, living on her wits and what she could find. Then suddenly she's lost her freedom, caught, shackled and branded by Will who is determined to make her love him. It could be worse. Other captives are used for sex, as a reward to those who help their captors or as an incentive for good behaviour. Will is violent, controlling and abusive and when she gets her chance, she runs to set herself up in a seemingly quite civilised community.

As a post societal breakdown dystopia, Anna's world is sketched very lightly. We don't really get an insight into what happened or why - or at least, not a clear one. Many things work more or less as before; many others don't. Exploitation of women in times of conflict or short supply is not unusual; we see it all the time in our not yet dystopian world today. I felt often that I'd missed out on quite a bit chunk of society's backstory.

I also found only the one clue that this particular world is the UK. This was when the protagonist puts a 50p piece into a telescope. I'd have liked a few more references to where she was supposed to be.

The pace is good. We don't spend too long in any of Anna's worlds but we get the sense of menace that she can run but she can't hide. Her self-preservation tendencies reminded me of a Katniss Everdean character and I understood her reluctance to get too involved in her community. I'm not sure I understood her pursuer's ability to pass himself off as a half-decent human being whilst doing his utmost to win her back.

On the whole, it's a pretty good book although the ending felt a bit rushed and one feature of the ending - let's just call it the 'grave' so as not to give too much away - seemed to defy the science of decay and left me a bit confused.

As a small point of observation, Anna spends far more time sniffing everything and commenting to herself on smells than any creature who isn't a labrador could be expected to do. I'm often bugged by authors knocking on about people's eyes but in this case the over-obsession with smells got a bit irritating.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my copy.

I received an eARC from Rebellion Publishing/Solaris Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I received no other compensation other than the ebook.

******* TRIGGER WARNING******** There is a lot of violence within this book including rape and abuse. If these aspects bother you, I would seriously consider not reading this book.

This book follows Anna who is trying to live and survive within this war torn world. Women are considered property if they are captured and marked with some sort of symbol including branding and scarring. They have zero rights and are treated very badly. Anna is captured and this tale follows her experiences within the dystopian existence.

I have got to be honest that the first portion of the book is entirely about her abusers treatment of Anna. I had to read this book in increments due the the nature and graphic description of the abuse. At times, I found it very hard to read and I don't have any sort of triggers that bother me. The world building and back stories were great for Anna but i found that the history from Will, her abuser was lacking. I wanted to knows why he was the way he was and I did not get that at all.

The ending of the book did feel rushed to me and the last couple of chapters could have been extended. There were a ton of names and side stories that I sometimes had to go back and re read to figure out what was going on. I did enjoy the book but the items mentioned above did lead me to give this book a 3 star review.

This book...it's brutal. Rape, violence, abuse...and it's all pretty constant. It really wasn't a pleasant read, and although I know that was the point, I'm not sure I found the story compelling enough to make up for the fact that reading it was a struggle. It definitely is a strong indictment of the way women are treated, and a chilling look at a possible future, but I'm not sure it's something I'd feel the need to read about. Not necessarily a bad book (although the writing is fairly repetitive at times), but not for me.

Great book, well executed! Though the book made me angry, Anna was a well developed thoroughly researched character. The book takes us through Anna's painful difficult life and sometimes it seems like it just isn't going to get better specially when you have a whole society against you.

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.

Other reviews describe this as ‘dark and compelling’ and ‘difficult to put down’. I completely agree. Read it in two sittings.
I’ve read a lot of dystopian novels - I find it intriguing that we can come up with so many ways in which our human society can collapse.. and some are frighteningly believable. ‘Anna’ is one such.
The story doesn’t dwell much on how we find ourselves in this new world. Enough detail to to make it realistic, but the focus is Anna. A survivor.. ‘Claimed’ by a man and considered his property in a society where laws are made by those with the power to enforce them.
Anna tells her own story, and I found myself drawn into her world. A world where you do what you must to survive. A world where people can give the dark side of their nature free rein.
I felt a gamut of emotions whilst reading this, and found myself questioning Anna’s decisions a lot. ‘Why did she...?’ ‘Why would she not....?’ ‘I would never...’, before accepting that , of course, I have no idea what I would do if I was the main character in this story.
There were a few minor aspects of the story which I felt didn’t quite ‘gel’, but they did not detract from what is a very worthwhile read.

Billed as a feminist dystopia this book veered for me between torture porn and dull which is an unsettling mix. The dystopian worldbuilding was sketchy, the characters ciphers and although I could see what the author was trying to do (I think) the plot repelled me.
Anna (not her real name) has been surviving on her own in the aftermath of a global war and crash of society when she is captured by a man who brands, beats, imprisons and rapes her, all under the gaze of his town where women are either possessions or colluders (and it's not clear how any escape the first, just one of the ways this world doesn't quite ring true. We are seeing through Anna's eyes and so only what she knows but still, some explanation would be good). The second half follows Anna after her escape in a different town, one which, on the surface, is a better more equal society, although the darkness is never far away.
If the whole book had been set in the second town with flashbacks as to what brough Anna there - the collapse of society, her time alone, her capture and imprisonment, then the first half would have felt less relentlessly graphic and the second had more agency. As it was, I just wanted to get it finished and delete it off my kindle which is a shame. I can see from other reviews that many people loved it including DV survivors but it just didn't work for me.

This book didn't do much for me. It got a bit too repetitive with the captor/saviour trope and SNORE.

I really enjoyed the writing style of this book. And while the first part of this book is difficult to read for sure, you really got a sense of who Anna was and what she was going thru. I am a bit confused on why the world became what it is. I know there was a war of some sort but not a 100% clear on why or how it started and what these new rules were.
I could totally see this being a sequel in some ways. But it ended on a note that gives closure. However I'm dying to discuss the character Will/Daniel/Peter because I think he is someone else entirely and I'm eager to know if anyone came to the same conclusion?
Anyway I don't think I need to give you all a description of what the book is about, but I think dystopia fans will enjoy the novel. And remember to read the publishers disclaimer before reading this book for triggers!

TW: Physical abuse, self harm, captivity, sexual assault, rape, domestic abuse

I was so agitated at the 70% mark that I did not know if I had enough strength to see Anna go by for more, I debated for a while whether or not to follow the book, not because it is not good, but because the portrait of what it costs getting out or even talking about an abusive relationship (even if the word relationship is something too broad or with an implication of trust to what we see in the book, it is captivity) when the abuser is inserted into your closest circle is so realistic that it is painful.

The author takes us on a journey of suffering and what it means to be able to rebuild yourself or regain the confidence, the feeling of misunderstanding and the security that many take for granted.

How can you expect someone who has come out of a situation as heartbreaking as our protagonist to continue with his life as if forgetting all his past when he has a permanent reminder, the marks on his body inserted as property, shows us the psyche of the victims and how their attention to their surroundings changes, noticing things that go unnoticed by those who refuse to see negative aspects or those who prefer to ignore to maintain a certain status.

This book left me overwhelmed, but I don't regret it for a moment, it can be quite graphic in the first part, but I firmly believe that analyzing the protagonist's journey is worth it.

I will preface this with that unfortunately I could not finish this book, although I understood what the novel was about, it became too graphic and distressing and unfortunately I had to put it down after about 60%.

Of what I read, the writing style was good, it captivated me and was difficult to read, but there was a story behind the brutality. In my opinion, this was a little too graphics. The reader could have understood the plot points and how awful the situation was, without need for graphic violence and sex. I also personally did not like the hints toward why Anna's capturer was the way he was, he read as though excuses were being made for him. Although understanding his backstory was important, I'm unsure about the way it was presented. I became incredibly confused as I continues reading, the plot was quite contrived and honestly it was all a little muddles (perhaps that is just me). This was even more confusing during the second part of the book, where Anna's hometown is discussed. The two storylines did not complement each other, or it was just not explained well and it difficult to follow.

Reading Anna had me riding an emotional rollercoaster, it was intense disturbing powerful and uncomfortable reading but necessary because whilst this is set in a dystopian future, it brought to the forefront of my mind the violence and sexual abuse that women have and are still facing throughout the world today.

Anna is an interesting book. I found that "A Handmaiden's Tale" was a huge influence in this story. Anna is a replacement name for this character to survive her kidnapper. The kidnapper is unsettling as he should be but there was something lacking in the story. I couldn't put my finger on it.

I definitely wasn't what I expected, but it was so good. I loved Anna, she was a great character. It was dark and evokes every emotion.