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gwynevere_muggins'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? No
3.5
peterse1's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
heemeeraa's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Child death, Classism, Gaslighting, Genocide, Misogyny, Racism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Colonisation, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Murder, Police brutality, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Trafficking, War, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Cannibalism, Slavery, Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, and Sexism
lizlaughlove's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
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? It's complicated
4.5
pnwbibliophile's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
This novel was replete with pain and yet it made me feel absolutely nothing. From the tone to the characters, everything was monotone and devoid of emotion. Characters see rape, cannibalism, child murder/rape, mutilation, arson, neo-slavery and yet not enough reflection was devoted to give some meaningful purpose to why Octavia Butler put us through all that pain. This made it feel like pain porn being told to us by characters who don’t care. Characters were all stoic types and lacked depth. Worse, the main character has an empathy power which makes her feel others pleasure or pain amplified, yet she is lacking any actual empathy herself. I tried hard not to be offended by that as an empath and failed. If you set out to write a character empaths wouldn’t connect with, it would be Lauren. What killed it for me is all the pain without an iota of hope. You have to give me a glimmer of hope in your writing or you will completely lose me as a reader. The one merit is that the imagined dystopia was realistic and often eerily paralleled our present despite being written in the 1990s. This reminded me of American War, a novel I also didn’t enjoy. I liked her other novel, Kindred, but would not recommend this one.
cwebber10's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.5
roses_are_rosa's review against another edition
2.75
Not really sure how to rate this. It wasn‘t bad but it just felt so bland that I don’t have much of an opinion about it. This was my first Octavia E. Butler book and I have to say I am a little disappointed. I did not care about anything or anyone in this story and will not be continuing the series.
allisonkatecollins's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5