Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler

6 reviews

bilal_shumuus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Death, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Gore, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Body horror, Classism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcoholism, Infidelity, Animal death, Genocide, Grief, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, and Sexual content

Minor: War, Cannibalism, Lesbophobia, and Religious bigotry

sydapel's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

I feel like I've been meaning to read Octavia Butler for so long, and boy I'm so glad I bucked up and got on the train. I feel like this book may have been a weird place to start, since it's a prequel to a series that was previously written, but the idea of two immortal beings diving in and out of each others lives was so compelling I couldn't help myself. There's some pretty graphic and taboo stuff that happens on page, but Doro and Anyanwu's contrasting approaches on how to create life and use their gifts creates a incredibly compelling game of tug of war over centuries. Butler writes a fascinating character study on the nature of immortality, power and legacy - this would be such an interesting book to discuss with a group and I, personally am so excited to dive into more of her work

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, and Suicide

jalexpulliamkepler's review

challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.75

complex but lacked the tension to be truly engaging. It honestly feels like the prologue of a different story (which it kinda is)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Pedophilia, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Grief, Slavery, Child death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Medical content, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Trafficking, Child abuse, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Classism, Blood, Cursing, Infidelity, Abandonment, and Physical abuse

Minor: Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Transphobia, and Death of parent

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Anyanwu and Doro are powerful, immortal, godlike beings who may or may not be human. What a wild, up and down ride with a slow burn satisfying (?) payoff. It was a lot of fun seeing the ways that Anyanwu challenged Doro, and I loved the insight we got into her body-focused powers (which reminded me of the Ooloi from Butler’s Xenogenesis saga). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Murder, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Suicide, Abandonment, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Colonisation, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Medical content, Incest, Rape, Grief, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Mental illness

m_petranoff's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Death

Moderate: War, Rape, Racism, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Sexism

Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Cannibalism, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Ableism, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Colonisation

Like many of Butler's books, this is a challenging look at the nature of humanity. It is dark and about how easy it can be to lose ones humanity, but not as challenging to read as some of her other novels. There are a lot of content warnings, and only a few are graphic, but the theme of the book itself is engaging with challenging themes.

nurseamandarose's review

dark emotional sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Death, Slavery, Violence, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Blood, Cannibalism, Abandonment, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racism, and Rape