Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

27 reviews

dugfromthedirt's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Classism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Animal death, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Pregnancy, Drug use, Gore, Racism, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Sexual violence, Vomit, Hate crime, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, Slavery, Trafficking, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Classism, and Misogyny

shieldbearer's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

5.0

Much better than anything Heinlein ever wrote. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Violence, Child death, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Police brutality

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Cursing, Drug use, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, Medical content, and Slavery

Minor: Incest

anntharai's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

4.5

I can’t believe it took me this long to read a book by Butler. 

The writing is engaging, the story devastating, and the whole concept deeply thought provoking. 

So much of this story is terrifying and stomach churning and yet …. 

Depressingly unsurprising.

 Maybe that’s cynical but, or maybe it’s just a shame. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

remie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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: War, Trafficking, Medical content, Murder, Police brutality, Death of parent, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Death, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Gun violence, and Sexual violence

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

4.0

The society we know in the US has fallen apart in 2025. the economy has collapsed, Violence on the streets has forced neighborhoods to erect walls for protection, many people are becoming homeless, and climate change makes survival even more of a challenge. Lauren learns what it means to survive inside of her walled neighborhood and outside. 

For readers looking for 💕: Intense stories of survival, catastrophic climate change and social upheaval, creative world building, books with black protagonists, community building

My thoughts 💭: I'm not much for books about religion, or dystopian stories (I mostly picked this up because I've loved other Butler books). Even so, I enjoyed this book. I thought the world building was excellent, and loved the collecting of their found family quite a lot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, and Xenophobia

mscalls's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, Xenophobia, Ableism, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse

alicea's review

challenging dark emotional tense

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

I can't work out how I feel about this. Part of my problem is that this was just a thoroughly depressing and disturbing book. And that makes it hard for me to say that I necessarily liked it. I felt so tense reading it that I would leave it for days without going back to it. Honestly, I went into this book pretty blindly and in retrospect I don't think a dystopian apocryphal novel was what I was looking for or in the mood for while still in the midst of a global pandemic. 

Needless to say, I won't be continuing the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Trafficking, Racism, Medical trauma, Addiction, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Violence