Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler

36 reviews

qmedna's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.0

This was not what I was expecting... It was so much worse than I thought. Just read some of these quotes, keep in mind I am cherry picking but this is also the main message throughout the book:

Now and then, Doro courted her in his own way. He arrived with a new body—sometimes an appealing one. He paid attention to her, treated her as something more than only a breeding animal. Then, courting done, he took her from Isaac’s bed to his own and kept her there until he was certain she was pregnant. Still, Isaac urged her to use these times to tie Doro to her and strengthen whatever influence she had with him. But Anyanwu never learned to forgive Doro’s unnecessary killings, his casual abuse when he was not courting her, his open contempt for any belief of hers that did not concur with his, the blows for which she could not retaliate and from which she could not flee, the acts she must perform for him no matter what her beliefs.

She sighed and stared down at her daughter’s still face. No, her children gave her pleasure. She loved them, but she also feared for them. Who knew what Doro might decide to do to them? What would he do to this one?

there is incestuous relations since Doro wants to create stronger children to possess. This was the changing point for me, just no

He (Thomas) blinked, looked at himself. “And I guess you’re used to better!” 
“Of course I am! Let me help you and you will be better. You could not have been this way for your wife.” 
“You’re not her!” 
“No. She could not help you. I can.”

Note that our female protag isn't all good either. She, for some reason, also thinks she is doing something good for the man she's talking to even though it really isn't. 💀 Poor Thomas 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest

Moderate: Infidelity, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, and Pedophilia

henlovesbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Incest, Suicide, and Slavery

tenderbench's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Incest, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Racism and Rape

m_petranoff's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Death

Moderate: War, Rape, Racism, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Sexism

Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Cannibalism, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Ableism, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Colonisation

Like many of Butler's books, this is a challenging look at the nature of humanity. It is dark and about how easy it can be to lose ones humanity, but not as challenging to read as some of her other novels. There are a lot of content warnings, and only a few are graphic, but the theme of the book itself is engaging with challenging themes.

nstew16's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Classism, Racism, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual content, Slavery, Animal death, Sexual assault, Suicide, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, Infidelity, Rape, Murder, and Self harm

lasafica_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Slavery, Racism, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Grief, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Incest, and Sexual harassment

nurseamandarose's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Death, Slavery, Violence, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Blood, Cannibalism, Abandonment, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racism, and Rape

sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

💬: "“I am old,” she said, masking her fear with anger. “I could be your mother’s mother!” She could have been an ancestor of his mother’s mother. But she kept that to herself. “Who are you?” she demanded. “I could be your mother’s father,” he said. She took another step backward, somehow controlling her growing fear.

Butler, Octavia E.. Wild Seed (The Patternist Series Book 1) (p. 11). Open Road Media. Kindle Edition. 

📖Genres: adult, science fiction, historical fiction, speculative fiction

📚Page Count: 404

🎧Audiobook Length: 11h 09min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 

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One of my favorite books of all time. Amazing.

5/5 Stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


I loved this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Colonisation, and Death

anice's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

4.5

As always, Butler is challenging and questioning everything you might think about power, sex and community. Amazing in both its imagination and its wretchedness.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Alcoholism

saltycoffee's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Colonisation, Death, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Racial slurs, and Slavery