The Evil Seed: Amazon.co.uk: Joanne Harris: Books

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Product Description

Review
'A dark, gothic romance filled with mystery, jealousy, and violence...an interesting and a thrilling read' --STYLE magazine --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description
Set in and around Cambridge, this novel is a reworking of the classic vampire myth. The twin strands of the story alternate between the 1940s and 1980s. In each a woman appears to wreak havoc in the life of the men who want her.

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Customer Reviews

15 Reviews

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

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3.5 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews)

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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gothic Romance, 30 Dec 2007

By	kehs (Hertfordshire, England) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Evil Seed (Paperback)

This is Joanne Harris's first novel and is vastly different from the books she is well known for. It's a romantic novel, not slushy hearts and flowers, but a gothic romance filled with vampires and horrific scenes of blood and lust. It's sexy, violent and gruesome, and her writing makes your heart pound with fear. This book is a page-turner and I can't recommend it highly enough so make sure you snap up a copy before it goes out of print again.

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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "Something inside me remembers and will not forget"., 24 Oct 2008

By	Brida "izumi" (Worcs) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Evil Seed (Paperback)

Joanne Harris is perhaps better known for her novel, CHOCOLAT, than for this title, which is her debut. As explained in her author's note to THE EVIL SEED, it was largely due to pressure from her fans which saw to the book being reissued. Her brief discussion of the book is in itself quite interesting - to hear what an established author thinks about their first attempt at literature is nearly always to be fascinating, and this is no exception. With huge honesty, Harris herself acknowledges that the book was never a masterpiece as she had not found her own voice. But what it does do is suggest at the kind of writer she would later turn into.

THE EVIL SEED is a gothic novel about vampires, although this phrase is never used within the story itself. Alice, a young woman living in Cambridge, is devastated to discover that a man she once loved has now found someone else he loves. Alice cannot stand his new girlfriend, Ginny, but for the sake of Joe, she tries to make friends with her. But as she gets to know more and more about Ginny, Alice dislikes her even more as she seems to lie to Joe about everything.
Alice then discovers an old journal, written by a man called Daniel Holmes just after the Second World War. As she reads Daniel's journal, which describes how he and his friend Robert fell under the spell of a beautiful young woman called Rosemary, Alice fears that the past has resurfaced.

That is the basic plot. The story is told by alternating chapters going from the past to the present. The fact that this was a debut novel does show. Parts of the story are not really thought out very well, while other parts are dramatically over-written. As Harris explains at the beginning, the plot was an ambitious one - while it certainly offers some originality to the whole mythology of the vampire, it was perhaps too big for a beginning novelist.
Although this book is not a masterpiece, what it does offer the reader is a chance to see how an author began her career and then went on to develop afterwards. And it does give some hints at just how good she was to become.

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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gothic Romance, 27 Mar 2007

By	kehs (Hertfordshire, England) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This is Joanne Harris's first novel and is vastly different from the books she is well known for. It's a romantic novel, not slushy hearts and flowers, but a gothic romance filled with vampires and horrific scenes of blood and lust. It's sexy, violent and gruesome, and her writing makes your heart pound with fear. This book is a page-turner and I can't recommend it highly enough. It's a great shame that Evil Seed has long been out of print, if you ever come across a copy make sure you snap it up.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing !
I have enjoyed all Joanne Harris's other books but I was very disappointed with this one.
In fact I didn't finish it as I found it extremely unpleasant, not just the... Read more

Published 11 days ago by CM

3.0 out of 5 stars The Evil Seed
Decent horror. Perhaps in places it is overwritten, perhaps the modern day strand isn't as developed as the past strand. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Rich

3.0 out of 5 stars Not my favourite Harris novel
Joanne Harris debut novel "Evil Seed" no way reflects the high standards of latter publications which I have enjoyed. Read more

Published 2 months ago by P. DATTA

4.0 out of 5 stars Review
'The Evil Seed' shows the classic intentions to portray more than one persons view withing the story. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Blue Shoes

3.0 out of 5 stars Not what you expect
I came to this book after Chocolat and Lollipop Shoes, and was therefore rather taken aback since it is so vastly different. Read more

Published 4 months ago by Riverside Reader

4.0 out of 5 stars The start of a fantastic career
This novel is a great insight into how Harris became the fantastic writer she is. Although naive at times and over-written in parts, there are flashes of brilliance and like all... Read more

Published 4 months ago by Hayles

2.0 out of 5 stars Oh dear!
Harris's foreword states that her publisher and her fans clamoured for the re-release of this book, but for the life of me I can't understand why she allowed it! Read more

Published 6 months ago by Do-not-disturb

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed feelings about this...
I have never read any Joanne Harris before but she had been highly recommended to me by several keen readers. Read more

Published 6 months ago by sam155

2.0 out of 5 stars Nonsense
I have read Joanne Harris before and have enjoyed her books. This one left me cold. As soon as the main character Alice agreed to let her ex lover's girlfriend, Ginny stay in... Read more

Published 7 months ago by Suzanne Hussein

5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling read
I love JH's style of writing and I certainly wasn't disappointed here! She manages to hold the threads of the story together well, though I'm not convinced that the ending worked... Read more

Published 9 months ago by Alison Mallaghan

› See all 15 customer reviews...

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	70% buy the item featured on this page: The Evil Seed 3.5 out of 5 stars (15)
	11% buy The Lollipop Shoes (US title is The Girl With No Shadow) 4.0 out of 5 stars (49) �5.59
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The Evil Seed (Paperback)

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