Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

141 reviews

corriejn's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Drug abuse, Animal death, Torture, Cannibalism, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Slavery, Sexual violence, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual assault

Minor: Religious bigotry

maameadwubi's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book is incredibly bleak; Octavia Butler was incredibly prescient and the parallels between this book and our potential reality made it even more horrifying/scary to read. I wasn’t aware of what I was getting into when I started reading it and had to put it down halfway through to spark not a the rest. 
Will be dealing with nightmares for the near future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Body horror, Death, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Violence, Animal cruelty, Child death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cannibalism, Slavery, Child abuse, Drug use, Incest, Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, Vomit, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Racism, and Suicide

finn_1312's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Racism, Trafficking, Torture, Slavery, Rape, Sexual assault, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Blood, Animal death, Police brutality, Addiction, Death, and Drug abuse

dizzy_mittz's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Gore, Murder, Rape, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Blood, Death of parent, Slavery, Torture, Vomit, Death, Cannibalism, and Gun violence

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, Child death, and Abandonment

If you can handle the content, it’s a very sobering read - you may even find some hope in it. I highly recommend this book. I will, however, not be diving directly into the rest of the series. Breaks will be necessary if you are emotionally swayed by your reading - I should have taken more while reading.

scifi_rat's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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

4.75

Plot: 4.5★
Prose: 4.5★
Pace: 4★
Concept/Execution: 4★/5★
Characters: 4.75★
Worldbuilding: 4.75★
Ending: 4.75★

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Gun violence

Moderate: Animal death, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Slavery, Torture, Bullying, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Police brutality, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child death, Cursing, Pregnancy, Trafficking, Gore, Infertility, Pedophilia, Suicide, Medical content, Cannibalism, and Excrement

joharrismay's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

5.0

One of my all time favs. I haven’t read it in a while just it’s so good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, War, Gaslighting, Medical content, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Murder, Pedophilia, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Pregnancy, Grief, Gore, Misogyny, Violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, and Sexual assault

zsuzsireads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective 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? No

4.5

Climate disaster, dystopia, bad ass female main characters. This book will stay with me for a long time. I loved the exploration of hyperempathy (tho I wish it was explored in greater depth) and seeing the main character make sense of her crumbling world through the language of her own religion. I was hoping we'd find out a little more about the state of the world and how it came to be such a horrible place - I guess I was expecting it to be more focused on the climate crisis, tho that was mostly my own preconception of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Rape, Death, Child death, and Torture

sunschoenmai's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Drug use, Rape, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Addiction, Torture, Classism, Murder, Abandonment, Blood, Cursing, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, and Death of parent

dkel10's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I was torn a bit with this book because I both really loved it and also kind of hated it. I loved how real the story felt, it's dark, difficult, and gritty but felt like something more than just trauma and pain. It had a lot of insightful ways to make the reader feel and recognize some experiences they may never have to know themselves, such as losing a family member to gang violence or suffering through slavery or indentured servitude.

On the negative side, this also felt like the life story of a cult leader rising to power by preying on those in desolate situations. The whole religious movement felt weird and when they repeatedly recruit those who come from the most desolate situations and are the most vulnerable and sort of force them into the movement and ideals felt jarring and uncomfortable.

Overall great read, just left some weird tastes in my mouth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gore, Torture, and Rape

kaitisbooknook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Animal death, Alcohol, Death, Xenophobia, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Torture, Slavery, Murder, Sexual violence, Violence, Death of parent, and Child death