Seed by Lisa Heathfield

Title: Seed

Author: Lisa Heathfield

Genre: Young Adult

Length: 335 pages

Published: 10th March 2015

Series: First book in a duo

2016 has actually been an okay year, book-wise. I mean, I'm 44% complete with my GoodReads reading challenge already so that's pretty good going, right? I've read some great books so far but without a doubt the best one I've read so far has been Seed by Lisa Heathfield.

As it was recommended to me by several people on Twitter I bought it and began to read it without looking too much into it. Usually when I'm thinking about buying a book I'll check it out on GoodReads and read a bunch of blog reviews but I went into Seed completely blind and I think I enjoyed it a lot more because of this. It meant that I was able to be completely shocked by everything that happens and that I was able to unravel the story as it went along instead of having a vague inkling of the direction it was going to take. If you'd prefer to read Seed blind then click OFF of this review - I'm not going to be sharing any spoilers but I am going to talk a bit about the characters and the plot!

  

Our main character is Pearl. She's fifteen years old and lives at Seed, where she's lived for her entire life. Seed is a small cult-like community that worships Nature. Their leader, Papa S, is connected to Nature and is idolised by Pearl and her family. On the surface, Seed has some truly beautiful ideologies and I was able to settle into the mindset very easily. You can completely understand why Pearl is happy at Seed - at least until the cracks begin to　show what's hiding underneath.

From the very first page you’re sucked right into the dark drama of this world, as Pearl gets her period for the first time and is forced to stay overnight in ‘Natures Womb’ which is essentially a small dark underground hole. Naturally Pearl is terrified but she can’t cry or feel fear as ‘Nature sees everything’ and bad things will happen to her and her soul if she doesn’t follow Nature’s (Papa S’s) rules.

Pearl is very naïve and innocent and this shows through her narrative. She’s a very unreliable narrator but that’s purely because she’s telling us the things she’s been brainwashed to believe but of course as readers (and people on the Outside) we know better. Things start off quite innocently but with each page I questioned things more and more and was constantly suspicious. The last two thirds of the book were definitely a lot dark and creepier but it all builds at such a steady and intricate pace that it’s easy to digest whilst still driving you to continue reading.

On the back of this book it claims Seed to be a ‘tense, romantic thriller’ but ignore the romance part – tbh I think they just put that there as a marketing ploy. There IS romance between Pearl and new boy Ellis and I also feel like there’s something between Kate and Jack but this isn’t a romance book. Pearl has thoughts about Ellis and I believe he also has feelings for her but their relationship isn’t there to add a romantic element to the plot – Ellis is there to enlighten Pearl about the darkness of Seed.

It’s not often that I say this but I recommend this book to everyone. Especially if you liked Only Ever Yours by Louise O’Neill – I feel it has that same modern dystopia vive. I am going to issue a trigger warning, though – physical, emotional and sexual abuse occur throughout this book although it’s not always obvious, at least in the case of sexual abuse. It’s hinted at frequently and I went through the book pretty aware of it happening off-page but it’s never explicitly stated or shown the way the physical and emotional abuse is. Regardless, I am still going to issue a trigger warning just in case. It’s been so long since I’ve been really excited by a book but Seed has definitely relit my fire!

I've decided to award this book 5/5 stars.

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If you liked Seed, I'd recommend Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill.

 

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