ARC Review: Seed by Lisa Heathfield

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Seed
Series: Untitled #1
Author: Lisa Heathfield
Published April 16th 2015 by Electric Monkey

Goodreads Synopsis
Seed loves you. Seed will never let you go.

Fifteen-year-old Pearl has lived her whole life protected within the small community at Seed, where they worship Nature and idolise their leader, Papa S. When some outsiders arrive, everything changes. Pearl experiences feelings that she never knew existed and begins to realise that there is darkness at the heart of Seed. A darkness from which she must escape, before it's too late.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

Wow, wow, wow! This book was utterly incredible! Unlike anything I've ever read before, and I'm so glad there is going to be a sequel.

Seed tells the story of Pearl, a fifteen year old teenager, who has lived in Seed her entire life. She has no knowledge of the outside world, except for some scary impressions that the 'Outsiders' are all corrupt, evil, and poison. Seed revolves around Mother Nature, and the teachings of Papa S, through whom Nature's message is spread. All of the inhabitants of Seed are a 'family', no one knows who their actual parents are, and once a girl becomes a woman, she is ready to become a Companion of Papa S.

All of the characters in Seed were fantastic in their own ways. I hated the elder men (Papa S, Kindred Smith, Kindred John), and adored the younger characters, though Elizabeth was also a particular favourite of mine. I loved Pearl as the main protagonist, you could really hear her naïvety in her voice, and her questioning the whole situation once Outsiders came in. Pearl grew as a character, as a person, throughout the entire novel, and I can't wait to see how she deals with the position she is in at the end of Seed. The secondary characters, and especially Kate, really supported Pearl in her growth, and protected her throughout the uncomfortable events in the book.

Though the romance in the novel was, technically, non-existent, I found parts of it very sweet, and lovely. I also felt as if the romance played a major role in Pearl questioning her environment, not in a insta-love, nothing else matters, scenario, but rather in making her think about what life is really like, and whether on not the life she has been living is a complete sham.

As I said earlier, I'm extremely happy that there will be a sequel to Seed, as the ending of the book was abrupt, and a total cliffhanger. Lisa Heathfield's writing style was beautiful, and for this to be a debut novel is surprising, I would actually have thought this was a book from a seasoned author if I didn't know otherwise. As soon as the sequel is announced properly, I'll definitely be waiting to get my hands on it.

Overall, a truly remarkable debut UKYA novel, and one I would definitely recommend!

Dates Read:
May 14-15, 2015

Rating
5 Stars