Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

497 reviews

hotkoolaidpotato's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Octavia Butler is amazing. If I could give this book 10 stars I would. This book is definitely a modern day classic and scares me with how realistic it was.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Incest, Pedophilia, Racism, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Injury/Injury detail

auntslayla's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Really great, slow to start but once you’re in you can’t stop. Excited to read the second one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Rape and Sexual violence

holleranaboutbooks's review

dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A book that only gets more timely and prescient. A sobering look at the trajectory of the United States if our government refuses to address climate change, late-stage capitalism, and homelessness. However, it also sends a hopeful message that community is the key to survival.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Vomit, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, and War

heidi_mcj's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

A very dark rather terrifying look at our society falling apart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, and Fire/Fire injury

nejmia_remis's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

lachken's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Rape, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

lemonsaurus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

"A sower went out to sow their seed; and as they sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell upon the thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And others fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bore fruit an hundredfold. " - The Bible, Authorized King James Version, St. Luke 8 5-8

This is a classic for a reason, and should be required reading, frankly. The present Butler describes is only scifi in that it was speculative in the time she wrote it. While things are not this bad in the US yet, I still qualify that with the word 'yet', and the many parallels to our current situation are a constant reminder that we may not be walking in the general direction of North through the rotting corpse of our country, but we are within a stones throw of it. Lakes dried down to fractions of their former size is actively occuring, drinking water is scarce and only getting scarcer. We have a president named a version of Don, elected in 2024, on the platform of "Make American Great Again", in some cases gladly offering up our own rights in the name of a promise so esoteric and decoupled from our actual current situation it almost feels like we place votes on what best fantasy novel we want to believe is true the most. 

"I wish you could have known this country when it was still salvageable"

The question begs, if the country ultimately ended up in the situation it was in, was it ever really salvageable? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Incest, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Classism

denissedae's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A dark look into the future of what America could be.

I read this after the 2024 election. And the plot of the story starts in the same year. 

In the story, the cause for the destruction of society began before my current time and differs from what is actually happening. But I can see hints and pieces of how our lives now can easily, EASILY become the reality that the characters live. It’s scary and daunting.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Slavery, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Rape, Police brutality, and Abandonment

rachela_7's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Trafficking, and Cannibalism

Minor: Incest

djtoebeans's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Racism, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Classism