Saturday 30 July 2011

SEED - Kindle Book Review

Every few weeks I find myself on my Kindle, casually browsing the online bookstore, looking for some fresh pickings.

I need to be clear about my dedication to the written... no, the PRINTED word. I believe in books. I believe in the feel of them, the smell, the thrill of opening one for the first time. I have a set of Harry Potter box-set collectables that NOBODY may open, which sit pride of place by themselves on my top shelf and that I may one day read if my well thumbed collection fails me. But what I also have is the Great Discardable Book Collection (GDBC). Piles and piles of books littering my bedroom, bedside tables, the kitchen, falling over in my loungeroom, most of which I've read once and will never again. The true treasures of my collection, my much loved re-read-until-they-fall-apart novels, are neatly sorted by author and genre on my bookshelves. Think the likes of Stephen King, whose novel "IT" I first read at the age of 8 and re-read until the cover finally fell off nearly fifteen years later, and every other one of his masterpieces. Anyway, these books will follow me forever, the Great Discardable Book Collection in contrast is the bane of my partners existence. Every time I came home with another pile of them with the excuse "but there was a sale on" he'd sigh and purse his lips in the same way I do whenever he brings home more baseball gear. 
A man of action though, he finally had enough last year and on our anniversary bestowed upon me a brand new Kindle, on the unspoken but clear condition that I was finally to do something about the GDBC. I reluctantly agreed, and the GDBC has now been gifted to a fellow book lover who is systematically devouring them (and I have to add giving those books away was extremely painful, and I spent many hours pouring over the titles analysing whether I would ever, ever, EVER feel the desire to maybe, potentially, some day re-read them again. Needless to say many got rescued back off the pile before handing them over and they live snugly in the top of my wardrobe).

What my partner didn't anticipate though, is the hours I now spend in the Kindle Amazon "virtual" book store. I like to find those unexpected 5 star books, the TRUE 5 star books that when you take the time to actually read the reviews isn't littered with 1 star reviews from people who actually know good writing and haven't been swayed by clever marketing and undeserved hype (oh yes, Gretchen Rubin, I am GOING there).

SEED the debut novel of Ania Ahlborn, is one of those rare novels.


Released on June 1st 2011, it wasn't long before Seed was in the 10th position in Kindle's Top Rated books for Horror/Occult. A dazzling debut, Ania has really captured the essence of true horror. I made the mistake of starting this late last night and at 2.00am was actually scared to turn out the light and sleep took some time coming. That being said, as soon as I woke up I was back into it and finished it this afternoon.


Seed tells the story of Jack Winter, a father, a husband, and a man with a lifelong secret kept buried in the vine-twisted swamps of Louisiana.

Plagued in his childhood by the darkness he thought he had escaped, it is not until after a near fatal accident, on a dark road that he once again lays eyes on the foe of all those years ago. The cold trickle of dread he feels grows when his 6yo daughter Charlie confirms that she too, could see what Jack was seeing.

And then she begins to change.

Faced with reliving the nightmares of his childhood, Jack then watches his daughter spiral into the shadows that had nearly consumed him twenty years before. But Charlie isn’t the only one who’s changing. 

Jack never outran the darkness. It’s been with him all along.

Ania builds a story using the subtlety of the skilled horror writer. Clearly a natural talent, Ania interlaces the current day horror with flashbacks to Jack's childhood and the experiences he had taking on the same menace who has now returned for him and his family. She layers the story with tense scenes, superbly written in such a way that it leaves you looking over your shoulder for the source of the noise in the corner. As a reader who has grown up with Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Thomas Harris, it takes a lot to impress me, and I admit I was by this particularly as a debut effort.

With natural parralells with William Blatty's The Exorcist, this book takes the story to the next level. What if there was no priest to rely on? No God? What would happen then? The ending was brave and didn't take the normal, expected route and I won't spoil it for anyone now, but I highly recommend that even if you're not a normal reader of the genre that you give it a go, if anything to support an incredible natural talent who is paving her own way.


Get it on your Kindle here: Seed


Signing Off,

Tripping Tipsy.

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