Reviews

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

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cat_m_82's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad 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? No

5.0

katenetz's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad

3.5

jenhurst's review against another edition

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5.0

The sequel to Parable of the Sower, its 2032 and America has fallen into a civil war/remnants of society. It starts off with Acorn and the society that Lauren had built involving Earthseed. The society soon falls because of Jarret's crusades and Lauren is once again traveling trying to find her daughter, set up roots and get her message out.

I think this is the most realistic and one of the best post-apocalyptic novels that i have read. America fell from a pandemic (called the Pox in this), climate change, civil unrest and economic collapse. They even reference a crazy president that said "Make American Great". It feels very close to what's happening. The idea of Lauren's daughter being adopted by a Christian American family is virtually the Sixties Scoop that occurred in Canada with Indigenous children. It does mention computerized weapons as a cause too, which was interesting to explore but didn't feel as close to home as the pandemic, climate change and all the other occurrences right now.

The exploration of the far right, religion and how people react during society collapse was really interesting. It mentioned that unmarried woman over 18 were prostitutes and supposed to be sinners. The idea of free universal education was considered a failed experiment as most people were illiterate/semi-literate. It's more of a theological work and the ideas presented get you thinking, even if it falls too close to home with what is going on.

5/5 stars.
I'd recommend this to everyone at this point. I think there's something to it that most people would like.

luminous's review against another edition

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5.0

Shit, y'all got to read this. Written twenty? or so years ago and SPOT ON political precognition. The populist demagogue running for president has a slogan you'd recognize. Once in power (that's not a spoiler), he institutes a child separation program tearing babies from the arms of nursing mothers. The parallels are amazing and chilling.

That's not the story though. The story is big, practically multi-generational, and you know what? I bet Jemisin was really strongly inspired by this series (duology?) I see so many threads, moods, plot devices mirrored between this and the Broken Earth trilogy. And it's great.