the problem is me. 
 i loved anna dressed in blood. loved it. i thought it was clever and spooky and funny with interesting characters and great action sequences.i thought it was beautiful and sad and striking. 
 i waited for this sequel with crazed anticipation. and then i saw it at ALA and i thought it was too good to be true and there were only two copies, and it was one of those gray area situations where i wasn't sure if it was for the taking or not, so i froze and i hemmed and hawed and finally caris rolled his eyes at me and used one of his jack skellington arms to grab it for me and hustled me outta there. (thank you, brave one! ) 
 and for all that, i just thought it was okay. 
 and i know it has to be me for the following reasons: 
 1) everyone else loves it. 
 2) blake does what you are supposed to do in a second novel, which is to change the playing field altogether. this is not a rehash of the first book; this is not "more adventures in ghostbusting." this takes the action to the next level. the plot is logical, clever, and expands the mythology, while progressing the action to pave the way for a third book. 
 3) the characters change. events from the first book have had an impact on cas, carmel, and thomas, and they are damaged from these events. (well, not thomas, really. not directly.but t'other two, yeah.) they have grown as characters in a natural and believable way. 
 4) it is not boring. it is not trite. it does not negate anything the first book set up and it stands alone just fine, unlike some other "middle books." 
 so what the hell? why didn't i just fall to pieces with loving it? it is everything a book should be, but for some reason, it didn't claw at my heart the way the first one did. i noted things as a reader, but i didn't note them as a human being. i acknowledged scenes like "the suicide forest," and thought to myself, "ahh, this is nice and spooky" but for some reason i didn't get whumped in my feeling-parts. and the parts that were sad and sweet and brave, i registered as being sad and sweet and brave, but for some reason, i didn't engage with it the way you are supposed to engage with it, emotionally. and i would think that maybe i am a broken person in the feeling-parts, except the book i am reading now is whumping me in all the right ways. 
 so let's call it temporary insanity. it is a good book, a great follow up, and everything a second book should be. 
 the problem is me.