Reviews - Parable of the Sower

23.9k reviews for:

Parable of the Sower

Octavia E. Butler

4.25 AVERAGE

mikmoonlight's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional reflective tense 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

lairelisse's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

alli_scott19's review against another edition

5.0

Reading this book during January of 2025 was WILD

witness_113's review against another edition

4.5

dark reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is one of those books that is hard to assign a rating to. Extremely readable, captivating from start to finish.

After Stephen Markley’s The Deluge (2023) earlier this year which began taking place in 2024 and which society overall quickly outpaced in its decline, it was somewhat refreshing to see that we in 2025 are doing measurably better than Octavia Butler predicted in 1993. It certainly doesn’t seem far off however - it’s believable that she missed the mark by only a few years. It still feels unfortunately prophetic.

I had some personal issues with Lauren as a character. I was humbled by the afterward written by N. K. Jemisin wherein she reports on her experience reading this book thrice through three very different periods of her life. Reflecting on her first read in her mid-twenties, she’s describes Lauren as “a know-it-all,” “an older woman’s idea of what a smart teenager should be, rather than a realistic rendering of what smart teenagers are actually like. Naturally, I like her better the older I get.” I happen to be in my mid-twenties, so I’ll stop myself here.

This same afterward led immediately into massive spoilers for the sequel to Parable Of The Sower. This would’ve been terrific at the end of a box set perhaps, but not here. Come on. I guess read the afterword but only the first half.

Content Warnings