Title: Seed (Dark Walker Series Book 3)

Author: Shelly Campbell

Release date: June 13th, 2025

*Huge thanks to Eerie River for sending me a digital ARC of this one!*

I have to admit, that way back in 2021, when I read ‘Gulf’ – and was blown away – I never could’ve predicted the scope of the world/world’s Campbell had waiting to unleash over the three book Dark Walker Series.

With ‘Gulf’ we had a – on the surface at least – simple story of a teenage boy who goes to a cabin with family and discovers something behind a door. It was phenomenal and when the sequel, ‘Breach,’ arrived a few years later, we got to see the door fully open and everything behind it and beyond exposed and out in the open.

So, beware – going forward, there may be inadvertent spoilers for book two (and a bit for book one) simply because we’re here, at book three of the series. I’ll do my best, but I can’t promise!

What I liked: The book picks up not long after book two – so here be potential spoilers! – and we find that David has survived being shot and the Embassy has saved his life. Though, he’s now stuck in what he calls his ‘hamster wheel,’ a clear glass, round cage designed to not let him ‘blip’ or travel between dimensions.

The book hangs on a few threads (not in a bad way!) to progress us along. First, David’s former team is being held hostage and the woman he loves (Charlie) is imprisoned. Second, his family is in danger, the darkness is growing closer and he doesn’t think it’ll take long until they’re found. And lastly, he needs to get out of here, and he can’t. His friend Cory visits, but things seem different and after he overhears a conversation between him and the one in charge of his imprisonment, he’s not sure who he can trust.

This all comes to a head when Cory helps David, David reveals he can blip  without the need of a touch piece and they head off to try and save David’s family.

From that point on, the novel becomes more of a revelatory piece, where we learn the truth of everything that’s gone on, who David is and we see him get to connect with family and Charlie and Cory.

With this shift, it took us from a bit of a harder sci-fi story and offered a heightened emotional aspect that was buried through the first two-thirds. To me, it was this softening of the characters and connection of family with events that elevated this finale of the series. It went from a solid ‘good’ to a ‘great’ conclusion, which made me so very, very happy.

Of course, the scenes with the dark walkers was pristine, and though they weren’t in here as much as previous books, it was their inclusion that also ramped things up in the best way possible.

The ending was touching and sad, and was a perfect way to close the door on everything that came before. I often get to the end of a series and think that I hope we’ll maybe see more down the line, but in this case, I think Shelly absolutely closed this one in the most perfect way possible and I’d be happy to see this concluded and closed. (Of course, if we get a fourth or related book, I’ll be reading it!)

What I didn’t like: There’s two things I want to address and the first isn’t really a ‘didn’t like.’ Having finished book three, I actually think a lot of the revelations that happened within would’ve been better, or heightened the stakes of David’s quest, if they’d occurred in book two. It’s hard not to discuss it – BECAUSE THAT’S MASSIVE SPOILERS! – but I think the things David learned and what Cory creates, would’ve been a fundamentally altering building block in book two and would’ve caused book three to be that much more emotionally charged. It all still works, but my brain screamed that too me once done!

The second thing – and this is just me closing something – but the character of Angus (whom I felt was particularly useless in book one!) returned briefly and I felt that once again, his inclusion wasn’t warranted, but it was fun to see what becomes of his character.

Why you should buy this: HEY YOU! YEAH YOU! THE ANNOYING READER WHO SAYS THEY WON’T START A SERIES UNTIL IT’S DONE BECAUSE ROTHFUSS AND GRRM HAVE TRAUMATIZED YOU! IT’S DONE! START IT NOW! But seriously, if you’ve not read book one, go grab it. If you’ve read the first two, you’re in for a treat with what Shelly does in book three. David is a phenomenal lead, Charlie is a great second and Cory makes for the dependable muscle, three elements that will have you rooting for success and crying when things go bad. The Dark Walker series was fantastic and to see this coming from a Canadian author and a Canadian press makes me smile even more!