5 Stars: “Seed” by Ania Ahlborn

5 of 5 stars to Seed by Ania Ahlborn

I’ll freely admit it: I don’t generally like horror, other than the occasional Stephen King, and even that is falling by the wayside these days. And yes, I know how ironic it is that a zombie apocalypse author doesn’t like horror books.

So when Ania kept pestering me to read her book Seed, I was more than a little leery about it (not really; she’s just active on Twitter and I finally figured I should see what the heck all the fuss was about). I sampled the first chapter or so, and it was good enough that I thought I’d give it a try – which is saying something, considering that, as I said, I don’t generally like horror.

If I had to sum up the book in one word, it would be this: Phenomenal.

I felt like I was a part of Jack Winter (the protagonist), suffering through the trials of his life and wondering what was going to happen next. Creepy and scary without being gory, the book hooked me early and reeled me in the whole way through. I was turning pages faster than my Kindle app could keep up, it seemed.

It’s well-written, with evocative prose that makes you feel like you’re in the setting, that you’re right there with the characters. And let me tell you – the little girl is beyond creepy. So well done that there were several points I considered putting the book down, if only to keep from having to see what hideously shiver-inducing action came next.

There was only one fault I could find with the book: the ending. I want to be absolutely clear here, though, so make sure you read this carefully. The ending was as well done as the rest of the book, and followed naturally through from the rest of the story. It was almost like it had to end that way, because anything else would seem trite or contrived. And that’s fine; that’s how a lot of life is, if you look at it through distance/time. It would never have worked with the rest of the story, and would’ve been an awful way to end the book, but I was hoping for a different ending, regardless. That’s just me, though, and I would never dock her a star because I wanted a cookie-cutter ending. 🙂

Ms. Ahlborn did a great job. I cannot emphasize this highly enough. If she got me to read all the way to the end and enjoy the book – despite the shudders – then you need to read it if you’re a horror fan at all. Buy this book. Period, end of story.

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