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conspiracycrows's review against another edition
- 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
Evil, angry, barbaric
And
Kind, good, thoughtful
You will find the phrase "god is change" drifting through your thiughts no matter your religion, because no matter your religion something about it rings true.
The one true constant in this world is change.
And in accepting that we can begin to use that change.
I hope, pray, and work to make sure a future like the one in this book never comes to pass. That as much as this world changes, I can at least guide my small portion of it to something softer.
If enough of us do that, perhaps we can make a world that is kinder, that is softer.
A world where someone with hyper empathy, whether the extreme syndrome detailed here, or the real life symptom of some neurodivergent people like myself, do not have to be afraid of seeing the world around us.
Graphic: Cursing, Murder, Body horror, Drug abuse, Slavery, Violence, Death of parent, Blood, Cannibalism, Gun violence, Suicide, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Trafficking, Child death, and Gore
Moderate: Colonisation, Death of parent, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Slavery, Sexual violence, and Classism
gmortg3's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Stalking, Incest, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Body horror, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, War, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Slavery, Colonisation, Hate crime, Suicide, Trafficking, Torture, Toxic relationship, Grief, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pregnancy
booksr4nerds's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Cannibalism, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Drug use, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gun violence, Murder, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Sexual harassment
booksviavilla's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, War, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Violence, and Vomit
starccato's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Trafficking
shieldbearer's review against another edition
- 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
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
- 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
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.
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
katiebartmess's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Classism, Violence, Slavery, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Racism, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Gun violence, Gore, Death, Child death, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Body horror, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, and Rape
lectrixnoctis's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
When international climate instability and economic emergencies guide social chaos in the early 2020s, California evolves full of threats, from pervasive water poverty to the abundance of nomads who will do anything to stay alive.
Fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated neighbourhood with her priest father, family, and neighbours, harboured from the surrounding lawlessness. In a civilisation where exposure is a risk, she suffers from hyper empathy, a debilitating sensitivity to others' pain.
Developed and clear-eyed, Lauren must make her voice heard to save her loved ones from the coming disasters her tiny neighbourhood stubbornly disregards. But what starts as a fight for survival soon directs to something largely more: the birth of a renewed faith and a startling vision of human destiny.
The main themes of this book are dystopian. It talks about a not so bright future or even an awful lot where people fight for their lives. It is expected that people are getting killed just like that, and whole cities are destroyed due to climate change. It may seem horrific and terrible. Still, I think that the author made a strong point with it. We live in a global pandemic, and seeing all these things that could happen is pretty relatable to our current times. This novel is more for younger readers; however, I recommend it for anyone.
The author has an exciting writing style while following the main character throughout the story via journal entries. We see all the horror of the future, set in the early 2020s. I do not doubt that this book is an absolute classic, and it is a dystopian masterpiece; however, I am not that fond of dystopian works, and it is prolonged and a bit confusing at first. This book shows you that the journey is the end goal that took me a lot of time to get into it. While reading it, I felt disheartened because I couldn't connect with the characters at the first end. After all, the horrific topics this book talks about made it even harder. Yet, this book is probably worth reading, especially nowadays due to climate change and the black lives matter movement. I will read the second part of the book, and I hope it will be easier for me to follow along for the sequel after I get into this book.
Graphic: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, Child death, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Incest, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Torture
rynstagram's review against another edition
3.75
The social/environmental/political/etc. issues dealt with in this book hit super close to home, especially since it takes place in the late 2020s... This is like the opposite of what happens when you watch Back to the Future now--it's funny to see what we've done and what's different and what we're still trying to do. But Parable of the Sower is almost like a worst-case scenario situation.
Sometimes the pacing was a little weird, especially when they got on the road. And the Earthseed stuff, while I understand its intrinsic value to Lauren's character and the plot, was sometimes too much for me. I kind of feel like Harry--it's interesting to learn about the belief system and some of it I can see being true, but it's also not quite right. I'm interested to see how the Earthseed community grows in the next book.
Kind of like reading The Poppy War, this is an emotionally difficult book to get through. There's a sense of urgency that runs through both books, except by the end of Parable of the Sower, the urgency seems to have slowly dwindled even though the actual characters must still feel that urgency. This is probably due to the pacing.
The diary entry format lent itself really well to this story, especially because it affects the story instead of just being a medium for the story. That was really clever.
(Also, though I really love how diverse the characters are ethnically, racially, religiously, etc., there's a dearth of queer characters so far. I think they mention gay people only once or twice, and even then only in passing. It's hard for me to believe that no one they've come across or seen of the thousands of strangers would be queer. And Lauren is perceptive enough to notice things like that--how people act when they're a couple, etc.)
Graphic: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Blood, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Pregnancy, Addiction, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Trafficking, and Violence