Seeds: A Book Review

Seeds: A Book Review

              

  Hello everybody! I am super excited about this particular book review!!! I just finished it this past week, and decided that I am hopelessly lost in the story, just waiting for the next book to be published. The book in question is Seeds the first book in the new series, Chronicles of Kepos Ge. The author is Rachel Starr Thomson, who also wrote The Seventh World Trilogy that I mentioned in my modern book recommendations.

Rachel Starr Thomson

Summary

                The book is about Kepos Ge, the Garden World. In this place, everybody is covered with vines. Yes, I know that’s a little odd, but it’s also cool. There are three religious factions, the Sacrementi, the Puretani, and the Tremblers. There were wars over these factions in the Old World of Kepos Ge, and the Puretani became the official Kirk. The Sacrementi and their division of Imitators went into hiding. The Tremblers were persecuted, but some had a vision for freedom. Herman Melrose was given land in the New World by the king, and there he started Jerusalem Valley, a place where everyone was free to worship God as they wished. Puretani and Tremblers lived side by side in peace. In the New World, there were dangers though, strange beasts, the untamed wilderness and even the Outsiders, who they feared. Yet, they must never let any inkling of distress or danger for Jerusalem Valley get out to the soldiers, for the Puretani government is ever searching for an excuse to take over. Linette Cole is a young woman who lived in New Cranwell in the New World. Yet she desires to leave a broken past behind and write a new one in Jerusalem Valley. She settles there, yet nobody knows who she really is, what her past is, or what her special gift can do. Jonathan Applegate is the young parson of the Jerusalem Valley kirk. He was visiting the Outsiders accompanied by his faithful dog and mule. On the way back over the dangerous mountain pass, out of shot, and without help, he is being followed by a bear. Not just any bear, but a very large one with serpentine characteristics. Jonathan realizes that he must send word of warning to the settlement and try to kill the beast. He sends his mule with a message, and prepares to fight the animal. When Jerusalem Valley tries to rescue him, Linette goes along with them, for night has fallen and it’s very dark. She has the gift of phosphorescence. Her vines can glow brightly at will. She aids them in finding the young preacher unconscious on the pass after he had killed the bear. Meanwhile, in the Old World, young Serena Vaquero is in prison for being accused as a witch by Elder Crispin. She is a Trembler, and her brother, Count Carlos tries to protect the Tremblers in his lands. In the next cell, Serena hears Elder Crispin let a murderous prisoner free with the task of going to the New World to murder Herman Melrose. With the help of a guard, she escapes prison, and asks her brother for help to getting to the new world to warn Melrose. The night before she leaves, a man named Jacques tells her that she is in danger, and he would accompany her on the ship and all the way to Jerusalem Valley. She doesn’t know who Jacques is, but as she travels to the New World, she finds he is a faithful friend, and she would never have gotten far without him. As Serena and Jacques travel to the new world, something evil is going on in Jerusalem Valley. Jonathan is healing, but something is not right. At first it is evil dreams, and then sickness, but something is not right. A hail storm destroys the crop, and the valley is faced with famine for the winter. Linette, two other men, and Jonathan decided they must go to the Outsiders to trade for food. But once there, the chief tells them that Jonathan is sick with a disease that will turn him against them. On the way home, Jonathan begins to act more and more like a rabid animal, even shooting one of the other men, and trying to kill Linette. He seems determined to destroy the Tremblers, for he is Puretani. With her Phosphorescence, Linette sees right through Jonathan, and realizes that there is something far deadlier in him. A dark seed. Words are seeds, and words have been spoken.

                I can’t tell you any more, because I’ve given far too much detail already. Seeds was an AMAZING book, and the end was super awesome!!! The book came out this January, and I was counting the days for it to come out. There are so many twists and turns, you think one thing, and several chapters later you realize what you thought, was not. It had a very good message, and inspired me.

What I loved: the adventure. The story is very much early American colonization, the Old World is very obviously Europe. Mostly Spain. Now, I’m not really a huge fan of that time period, seeing as I’m super medieval, but the book was really exciting. I loved Serena Vaquero and Jacques. They were such a great pair, their personalities just went together so well. Serena is feisty, passionate, slightly haughty Spaniard, and Jacques balances her out as the cool-headed, intelligent, thoughtful French spy. Jacques was awesome, and sometimes it was funny to see how he put up with Serena. The message was super great, and super relevant. The message is about speaking truth to yourself. Words are like seeds, and when you water good seeds, then good fruit is borne. If the bad seeds are watered through bitterness, anger, and wrong thought, then they bear evil fruit. This is SO important to heed, especially now, because the world is throwing lies at us, trying to water the seeds that bring death and destruction. I would love to see this topic addressed in more books.

What I didn’t like: I’m not sure that I agreed with all the theology. It is difficult to understand sometimes, but particularly the biggest thing was it felt like she was condoning females preaching. It was a slightly sticky situation, that could either be interpreted as women preaching, or in times of trouble when all seems lost (the parson was raving mad) we must continue to listen to God’s word (not everybody could read, so they wanted a lady who could to read them the book in the kirk). Aside from a little theology difference, I can’t remember anything else.

Why I recommend for ages 14 and up: It could potentially scare some younger readers when it deals with the evil beats/Jonathan’s disease. Once again, the theological/church history side is a little hard to understand. There is a little reference to mature content. I don’t want to spoil the story for you, but it the redemption message through it was strong.

                Overall, this was a fantastic book, and I am jumping for the next book to come out. Rachel is an amazing writer, and I love a lot of what she’s put out!!! I hope that if you love Christian Fantasy, you will pick this book up, it’s about $5:99 on kindle. Rachel’s Christian Fantasy works are really, really good. Not preachy, cliched or obvious in a way that puts the reader out, but fresh, encouraging and inspiring.

                What have you been reading this past year? Have you ever read any of Rachel’s books? Pst… The first of The Seventh World Trilogy is free on kindle…