Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

121 reviews

gabriella_'s review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

4.25

This was a great introduction into Octavia Butler for me. The writing style was gripping and the characters were fantastic. The plot was heavy but in a realistic way (especially for a dystopian, it made sense and is even more eerie to read in 2024). I wasn’t a big fan of the “starting a religion” stuff, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Vomit, Ableism, Animal death, Classism, Drug use, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Body horror, Abortion, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Cannibalism, Cursing, Death of parent, Infidelity, Child death, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Grief, Infertility, Mental illness, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, War, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Sexual content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Police brutality, Racism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence

jayjayjers's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Animal death, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Slavery, and Rape

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Child abuse

arifairy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Suicide, Slavery, Sexual content, and Child abuse

ams5x9's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Rape, Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Sexual assault, and Blood

Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Abandonment, Blood, and Animal death

Minor: Incest, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Cannibalism, Racism, and Police brutality

maggiegirouard's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Sexual content, Suicide, Sexual assault, Addiction, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Animal death, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Drug abuse, Rape, Murder, Sexual harassment, Violence, Blood, and Gun violence

lindseygcarden's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Drug use, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Torture, Rape, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Eating disorder, Gore, Grief, Murder, Blood, Sexual violence, Car accident, Death, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Infertility, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Violence, Classism, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Child death, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Incest, and Pregnancy

bootsmom3's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Animal death, Gun violence, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Violence, Slavery, Animal cruelty, Medical content, Medical trauma, Trafficking, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Racism, Rape, Addiction, Blood, Confinement, and Murder

Moderate: Police brutality, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual content, and Cannibalism

apple_atcha_reading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

I am a buffoon for waiting this long to read any of Ms. Butler's works. I finished this in February and immediately wanted to select it as my top read of 2024. Although this was written in 1993 taking place in 2024, it felt like Butler could have written this today based on current events.

This is a deeply unsettling and uncomfortable novel to read, but I still enjoyed it. It took me a few weeks to read on audio because I took breaks due to heavy content, but this is a novel I can see myself re-reading every few years or so. There's a graphic novel version I'm interested in reading for comparison as well.

The main character, Lauren, was on unlikeable, but in a relatable sort of way that made sense given her circumstances. She was making uncomfortable decisions that no one else in her community was willing to make, although she should never have been in such a position. Lauren, her family, her community, and frankly the world, are living in an extreme climate crisis where water is treated as a luxury commodity instead of a life giving necessity, and the police and emergency services are (expensive) for hire workers instead of working in the best interest of a community. (wow, this isn't familiar at all /s) These are just some of the extreme measures being taken against the regular people in this universe. Because of the extreme state of the world, there are "company towns" being constructed eerily similar to the mining towns of 1800s Appalachia or even slavery within the United States empire. Money is rarely given for payment, prices are intentionally inflated requiring workers to go into debt, therefore ensuring the workers are unable to leave because they owe the company labor (even though they were unfairly compensated and grossly overcharged for goods and services).

It was so frustrating to me that the adults in Lauren's life refused to acknowledge the truth surrounding them. Her father was the only one to admit that things were "bad", but no one else was willing to accept they lived in a dying town in danger of being

brutally attacked and killed.

Yes, Lauren was technically a teenager who shouldn't of had to worry about

climate crisis and murder and death

and a dozen other things, but she was at least willing to accept her reality and make efforts to improve her circumstances, which should have been her parents' responsibilities.

Lauren's relationship with Bankole was essentially my big issue with this novel. I'm not a fan of any age gap relationship, but especially not one where the older partner

could be the younger partner's grandparent

. It gives me the ick, but I was warned in advance by @katsmedialibrary that Butler's novels do tend to feature relationships of this nature.

Overall, this was an amazing work of literature. I know understand why Octavia E. Butler is such a well respected author and so many people say her work was so influential to modern science fiction writing today.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Death, Police brutality, Animal cruelty, Murder, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Cannibalism, Child death, Ableism, Slavery, Sexual content, and Death of parent

dmrains's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Gore, Racism, Mental illness, Sexism, Blood, Chronic illness, Child death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Ableism

Minor: Sexual content and Drug use

nyst's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Grief, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Murder, Drug use, Death of parent, Violence, Death, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Rape, Trafficking, and Sexual content