Seed

This is a round story. Well paced, interesting, with appealing characters. Horror in its big expression!

*3.5 Stars* For most fans of horror, it is easy to compare new stories with others that have been read. Seed is not an exception. Some of the situations and elements in the story resemble other well known stories and there is a reason for that. The idea of the devil, a demon or shadow lurking in the corner never seems to get old. It is just a matter of how the story is presented and what emotional effect it has on the audience. This is the highest strength of this novel. Ania Ahlborn did an exceptional job of creating the right creepy vibe for this novel. I have read some horror novels that have what could be a really scary situation but it is ruined by the lack of creating the necessary feel for the audience to be affected. Seed has this feel and I am impressed because, unless I am mistaken, this is the author's first written work. The story was very well written but I still had a few problems with it. As I said, the story had the creepy hair standing up on the back of your neck feel but the feeling ended for me about halfway through. However, that may just be me. I purposely look for books that will scary the pants off me but I have yet to find such a book. Maybe I just do not scary easy. However, the creepy scenes in this book were well worth it for me. I have not read anything really creepy in a while so this book was a treat in that aspect. Another problem I had was that there seemed to be some loose ends in the story. Unless I was just wanting there to be more to the story which may have been the case. I seem to want to know more about the darkness lurking in the stories than what they explain a lot of the time. Also, I thought Jack's character was going to have more going on in the ending that what happened. Sorry I cannot say more without giving anything away. Overall, a great first book by the author and good horror story to check out. Although there were a few disappointments for me, I really enjoyed reading this story and I was glued to the story the whole time. Seed moves at a quick pace and is easy to get lost in so you may want to make you sure you have plenty of free time before you start this book. Recommend for Fans of Horror For Readers that also love horror movies, if you liked Paranormal Activity or Insidious, this is a must read!

I reviewed "Seed" by Ania Ahlborn because it's a self-published horror e-book and it's been getting a lot of good reviews out in cyberland. But having finished it, I'm left wondering if those reviews are really telling it like it is. I admit that "Seed" is competently written, professionally copyedited, and some of Ahlborn's descriptions are quite funny and outrageous. It's formatted well for Kindle, and at 99 cents it's a no-risk buy for the reader, but beyond that it's a mediocre novel at best. "Seed" is about a six-year-old girl named Charlie (Are little girls really cuter with old men's names?), who is actually a demon in human form. Her father, Jack, was (is) also a demon in human form, and when he was young, he killed his parents in a most gruesome manner. Though Jack has tried to forget his past, it nevertheless comes home to roost in this youngest daughter who ends up committing similarly grizzly acts of her own. Jack had hoped he could leave his past behind him (after hacking up his parents and running away), and he hoped he could live a normal family man's life, but apparently his destiny was to be a demon and carry on the demon line by making another demon to replace himself. Unfortunately, Ahlborn didn't research the details of her story very well, and at times this is embarrassingly obvious. For instance, she talks about a picture of a man standing next to a B-52 near its propellers. B-52's are jets, of course, and don't have propellers. She also makes reference to Charlie singing Cheap Trick's "Cherry Pie" into her hairbrush. But that song was done by Warrant. The weakest part, however, has to be the exaggerated info dump given to us by a waitress named Ginny at a bowling alley in Jack's hometown. With that info dump, what seems to be 90% of the backstory is summarized by one minor character that apparently exists for no other reason than to provide it. Nevertheless, this story is not without merit. The concept of a demon traveling time through the bloodlines of a family is fairly original. The author does keep you wondering how the story will resolve itself (until the info dump that is), and I'm sure those parents who have oppositional-defiant disordered kids running around the house will find camaraderie with Jack and his wife Aimee as they try to control the satanic seed that has sprouted from their loins. But maybe they shouldn't feel too comfortable in their commiseration. Because as much as this novel is a retelling of the same old demon-child theme, it delivers an important and often forgotten message that all parents need to know: Kids will imitate mom and dad--for better or worse. Ultimately, the moral of "Seed" may be that you raise what you are, and what you were makes up what you are--there's no escaping it. The example we set is the life we live, and there's no point hoping our children will be better than we are; hope counts for nothing against the power of our example. "Seed" is definitely worth reading if you're looking for a new writer with a creative way of seeing things. Ania Ahlborn is a great wordsmith, and she'll no doubt create a masterpiece in the future. When she does, you'll want to say you read her when she was just starting out. As for me, I'd like to see what her second novel brings.

The book is really good

From a bleak childhood, marked by a dark and mysterious shadow, a desperate mushroom with the disturbing hope of hiding the most terrible memories forever. After a horrific car accident, Jack Winter discovers a resurfacing sign; what tormented him as a child has returned. A nightmare that this time demands the whole family. A breathless read, with bated breath that grows and relentlessly. A story waiting to be discovered.

Muy entretenido, se lee enseguida. Nunca había leído nada por esta escritora, y este libro me sorprendió gratamente. A ver cuando saca el siguiente.

I was going to give this 3 stars for my overall enjoyment of it but it deserves 4 stars for the writing alone. I really loved the writing style of this book; simple, immediate and very believable prose that sucked me in from line one. The story is centred around Jack, Aimee and their little family of two young daughters. Life is tough, money is in short supply and while Aimee's parents are on hand they don't approve of Jack. Jack is estranged from his own parents and the reason for this unfolds during the course of the book. The horror starts one night when Jack is driving the family home. A pair of eyes that suddenly appear before him causing him to swerve the car and crash. Those eyes belong to something from Jacks dark past; what he hoped was over forever isn't - it's back and with a vengeance. Mixed in with a little back story here and there is a fast paced account of the return of Jack's nightmare and it is pure horror, quite graphic and shocking at times. *****Spoiler alert***** What, for me, could have been a five star+ read diminished considerably in the last chapter. The ending would have suited a very chilling short story and, as such, would have been fine but, for me , the investment of time and the attachments formed with the family through the length of a novel; (though it is quite a short one) meant that the gruesome outcome with no hope for this family or future generations was horrific in a way that gave no satisfaction or even a sense of closure. I felt flabbergasted by the certainty that a six year old girl was going to grow up through all the travails of life only to be horribly murdered by her own child. I suppose the only way to break the `cycle' would be for one generation to remain childless but then the `infected' one seems to go through a period of life when they are unaware and the evil is `dormant' until it is too late. I didn't expect, or think it appropriate for Seed to have a fairytale ending but just one glimmer of good prevailing, would, for me, have made all the difference.

Lo compré para un amigo, le gustó mucho