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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Incest, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts
Wild Seed is a sci-fi novel about people with powers, about slavery, about power dynamics.
It follows two beings, an immortal, yet relatively young, African woman named Anyanwu and a 3 thousand year old man named Doro. Anyanwu is incredibly powerful, she is a shapeshifter and a healer, who has lived with her descendents and done what she needs to do to retain her freedom and her livelihood. Which all changes once she meets Doro, who can kill with a thought and exerts his power whenever it suits him.
Doro is so old and detached he's like a Sims player, making the perfect person and then having them make a 100 babies. He refers to Anyanwu as "wild seed" because she is a strain of powered person that he hasn't seen before. As soon as he meets her, he coerces her into sailing to America with him. He threatens her descendents and says he will take them instead - because they have her bloodline. He is accustomed to taking what he wants, uncompromisingly. The book switches POV between the two of them so it is made very clear that he has every intention of returning to Africa and enslaving her descendents too - more healthy stock.
It's weird, as the reader, you almost find yourself going along with Doro - the logistics of breeding special powered people, the inevitability of people having to submit to him, etc. He reminds me a lot of Kilgrave from Jessica Jones.
I really liked the ending to this. Doro and Anyanwu are linked, they're possibly the only two immortal beings in existence. But throughout the book Doro acts with unchecked power, wielding it over his community and over Anyanwu without a second thought. It's only when Doro realises that they two are connected and that Ayanwu decides to do the one thing he cannot stop her from doing, that an actual balance of power could be struck. And without balance, they cannot live with one another.
I do gotta say though, Doro is crazy amounts of fucked up and does just about the worst stuff to everyone, so when they do end up in balance I'm kinda like yikes. I also thought it was interesting that for most of the book Doro could have just left Anyanwu alone, but his need to exert his power over her drives him to travel the world searching for her.
Reviewed for a prompt in the Book Coven Pirate Challenge.
It follows two beings, an immortal, yet relatively young, African woman named Anyanwu and a 3 thousand year old man named Doro. Anyanwu is incredibly powerful, she is a shapeshifter and a healer, who has lived with her descendents and done what she needs to do to retain her freedom and her livelihood. Which all changes once she meets Doro, who can kill with a thought and exerts his power whenever it suits him.
Doro is so old and detached he's like a Sims player, making the perfect person and then having them make a 100 babies. He refers to Anyanwu as "wild seed" because she is a strain of powered person that he hasn't seen before. As soon as he meets her, he coerces her into sailing to America with him. He threatens her descendents and says he will take them instead - because they have her bloodline. He is accustomed to taking what he wants, uncompromisingly. The book switches POV between the two of them so it is made very clear that he has every intention of returning to Africa and enslaving her descendents too - more healthy stock.
It's weird, as the reader, you almost find yourself going along with Doro - the logistics of breeding special powered people, the inevitability of people having to submit to him, etc. He reminds me a lot of Kilgrave from Jessica Jones.
I really liked the ending to this. Doro and Anyanwu are linked, they're possibly the only two immortal beings in existence. But throughout the book Doro acts with unchecked power, wielding it over his community and over Anyanwu without a second thought. It's only when Doro realises that they two are connected and that Ayanwu decides to do the one thing he cannot stop her from doing, that an actual balance of power could be struck. And without balance, they cannot live with one another.
I do gotta say though, Doro is crazy amounts of fucked up and does just about the worst stuff to everyone, so when they do end up in balance I'm kinda like yikes. I also thought it was interesting that for most of the book Doro could have just left Anyanwu alone, but his need to exert his power over her drives him to travel the world searching for her.
Reviewed for a prompt in the Book Coven Pirate Challenge.
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Octavia Butler created two new types of monsters and made them the main characters of this book. And she uses their special powers as a tool to explore basic human themes in a world tied to the African roots of slavery.
The hero is a woman who’s control over her body is absolute. She uses her power to love forever and help those around her. She’s not perfect and struggles with how to deal with being controlled by another with a deadly power. In the end…I’ll leave it to you to discover. It’s a worthwhile journey.
I feel a connection to the special powers of the descendants of African immigrants to the US and how much they care for each other just like the families of all the people in the US, also mostly immigrants.
My second Butler novel will not be my last. This one was a little bit on the horror side for me, or I might have rated it even higher. An outstanding book I highly enjoyed reading. I read the paperback version.
The hero is a woman who’s control over her body is absolute. She uses her power to love forever and help those around her. She’s not perfect and struggles with how to deal with being controlled by another with a deadly power. In the end…I’ll leave it to you to discover. It’s a worthwhile journey.
I feel a connection to the special powers of the descendants of African immigrants to the US and how much they care for each other just like the families of all the people in the US, also mostly immigrants.
My second Butler novel will not be my last. This one was a little bit on the horror side for me, or I might have rated it even higher. An outstanding book I highly enjoyed reading. I read the paperback version.
adventurous
emotional
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:
Complicated
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As with the other books by Butler this has my mind racing, struggling to put together coherent thoughts and honestly makes me glad I no longer review in long form. What could I even say that would adequately describe exactly how I feel or what this book manages to do?
I love the deep dive into ways people try to fill the loneliness, what hard lines they set (if any), and where they begin to bend under the weight of eternity. What loneliness without empathy and compassion can lead a person to do, to believe. This of course is not the only theme, but it's the one that stood out to me the most as I turned the last page.
This is no easier a read than any of other Butler's novels, and so much of it had my stomach in knots. But I'm glad I finally got a copy and it's going to stick with me for a long time.
I love the deep dive into ways people try to fill the loneliness, what hard lines they set (if any), and where they begin to bend under the weight of eternity. What loneliness without empathy and compassion can lead a person to do, to believe. This of course is not the only theme, but it's the one that stood out to me the most as I turned the last page.
This is no easier a read than any of other Butler's novels, and so much of it had my stomach in knots. But I'm glad I finally got a copy and it's going to stick with me for a long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
relaxing
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes