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

Woah this book was DARK. Anna is a dystopian novel featuring a strong main character and a well-imagined world that feels like an all too real mash-up of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Road with an epicenter of a woman finding herself.

The book starts off strong jumping straight into action but unfortunately the first third was relentless in its brutality making it almost impossible to read. Reading about rape, abuse, and brutal murder for so many pages was unreasonably hard to stomach. I got nervous that I wouldn’t be able to finish the book and skipped ahead a bit before realizing I had missed too much and went back able to get through it.

I really enjoyed the remaining two thirds of the story and the characters there and felt as though the experiences from part one may have been better handled as flashbacks. I liked the world building and the history that made the storyline believable.

I was not a fan of the ending. I get why the cliffhangers were there as a means of supporting the main character’s sense of self, but really? Some of the things we never find out after all those pages?!

Anyway, if you’re a big fan of dystopian novels, horror/escape fiction, or dark thrillers, this will probably be right up your alley!

One of the best dystopian books I have read in a while! from the bleak surroundings and massed graves to the descriptions of the characters fear so real you can almost smell it coming off the pages you cannot help but root for Anna to find her inner strength and escape from Will. The utter dismay I felt when he caught back up with her was just overwhelming and the world she finds herself thrown into is heartbreaking.

A chilling and horrific story. I found it hard to read but also felt compelled to see how her story ended. Ultimately this is a story of survival.

Anna isn’t an easy read, but from the synopsis and even the tag line on the cover: Beaten. Branded. Defiant, that is rather obvious and because of that, you can’t say you enjoyed it, in the sense that the emotional, physical and sexual abuse of both men and women in the book will outrage you and while it isn’t a long book, emotionally you will have to pave yourself.. But it is a very good book, well written, compelling, tense and with a brilliant protagonist and worth sticking with.

Anna essentially is broken into 3 acts: when she is caught, when she has escaped, and when he finds her again and what happens. In the first act, you mean ‘Anna’, a wanderer after the world has broken down, where society, economy and order has crashed and survival and basic want/needs prevails. Anna lost her husband 2 years earlier when he was conscripted and died in war, she is estranged from her family she feels betrayed by and living and hiding in the wilderness, not knowing she is his prey until he captures her. This first act is brutal, Anna is humiliated, beaten, raped by a man who goes by many names but I’ll settle with Will here. This book will be hugely triggering for many and I hope when the book is published this is explicitly clear. Will isn’t just physically abusive, he is is emotionally manipulative, he deprives Anna of food/water to punish her while also saying he is there to protect her, he sexually assaults her but is tender when it comes to her period, he turns his abuse around and blames her for making him do it. It’s a story that many women (and men) will identify with sadly and Anna isn’t the only victim to this abuse in this story.. Anna remains defiant, clinging to herself while he tries to snatch it from her, vowing to escape and when she finds out she is pregnant, she seizes the opportunity to escape his grasp.
In the 2nd act, Anna becomes ‘Kate’, found and accepted into a community and carrying Will’s baby. Kate is trying to rebuild her life with the trauma of her past, not just Will but of her family and marriage. The pacing slows down here, there will be a lot of community meetings, council talks, until finally, act 3, Will resurfaces and the life Kate has tried to build starts to tumble around her and she has to protect herself and her baby.

It initially frustrates me how much was left unsaid by the end of the book. We don’t know Anna’s real name or what she wanted to name her baby or what happens to the community she found solace in. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. ‘Anna’ has everything taken from her but ultimately her name was only hers, Will never got to claim that and to the end, this part of Anna remains untouched, as does the identity of her son. When so much is taken from ‘Anna’, she has this final control. And then it made sense.

Will is a brutal character and you will hate him and yet I appreciated the humanity teased into his character. There is so much we don’t know about him but we are shown that he isn’t a 2D villain but a man who was once good and loved and lost it all, leaving a man who now simply takes. It was just enough without trying to add excuses or sympathy into his character but it still had a powerful effect.
Anna, or whoever she really is, is a wonderful creation and you constantly root for her, this woman determined to survive, strong yet hurting, a true hero.

This is a brutal, tense read and I’m glad I read it. Thank you NetGalley for the review copy.

I read 50% and couldnt stomach most of the book. I rarely DNF and can typically deal with this subject matter but this made me feel gross.