Reviews tagging 'Death'

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

143 reviews

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

While I enjoyed Parable of the Sower more, I still found this dystopian novel to be reflective in many ways of our present day society. This book is difficult to read. It is interesting and important. It is a tale of selfishness and selflessness, love and hate, truth and lies. It is mortifying to imagine life like this, but also just barely outside the scope of what could happen, which makes it some of the best dystopian literature that exists. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Violence, Sexism, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Murder, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Genocide, Car accident, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Torture, Rape, Hate crime, War, Transphobia, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Outing, Misogyny, Medical trauma, and Animal death

nukie19's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense 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: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Kidnapping, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Trafficking, Gun violence, Suicide, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Torture, Violence, and Slavery

boba_n_books's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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

4.75

The way Butler concluded this duology is absolutely ingenious. Having Lauren’s daughter read her mother’s journals and learn about her from afar is the best sequel idea I’ve ever heard of. 

We got to learn more about Earthseed and contrast it with Christian America, CA, in this novel. We also got to see Lauren from a more objective POV where we can see how her passion and fanaticism lead her on a path where not much else—not even her own daughter—was more important. 

I enjoyed this sequel even more than the first novel and love the parallels drawn between the religions and the world readers are drawn into. 

TLDR; Octavia E. Butler is a genius. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Sexual assault, Rape, Slavery, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Grief

amberfrost's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Rape, and Torture

Minor: Death and War

kemrick19's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Murder, Violence, Torture, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Death, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Child death, Blood, Classism, Death of parent, and Rape

Minor: Grief, Abandonment, Car accident, Drug use, Suicide, Addiction, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, and Abortion

lorenag5's review

challenging emotional sad tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Murder, Bullying, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, and Trafficking

franklola's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Torture, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Outing, Abandonment, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Trafficking, Violence, Child abuse, Homophobia, Death, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, and Slavery

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Body horror, Death of parent, Pedophilia, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, Vomit, War, Deadnaming, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, and Xenophobia

therewillbenewsuns's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense 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

4.25

This book took me a lot of time to get through, even more so than the first book of this duo. Octavia E. Butler was really a seer; although this is science fiction, she was writing about the 2020s and there are many parallels to how we are living/being governed today. I think it was very interesting to have the perspective of Lauren's daughter, someone who, as we discover on the second page (which is why i'm not saying it's a spoiler) very much disagrees with her biological mother's Earthseed teachings. Okay now i'm going to talk more in detail so, spoilers:

I want to read any interviews Ms. Butler did on this series, specifically on Lauren's character. I believe she was attracted to Bankole because he filled the void her father left when he disappeared/died, but the acceptance of the age difference made me so uncomfortable. I don't think Lauren/Olamina is meant to be a character who is "liked," but rather a character who is someone you might sit with over a meal to hear her perspective, which is what some people in the book actually do. I think the desire to go to space and have communities take root there also feels very akin to the 1% goals in present-day, and I questioned why she didn't want to use Earthseed as a way to improve the land she was currently on. It seemed like some societal changes were made once Christian America/Jarret semi-collapsed, but she didn't use her new power (which is exactly what she had: power) to enact change outside of the space mission. God is Change, right? I can see why Asha/Larkin had a distrust for her biological mother, and I also feel very sad for them both. Whether or not she realizes, Asha was indoctrinated and all that time had an impact on the way she viewed Olamina. Plus Marc's self-hatred/internalized homophobia and how it existed in opposition to his religion, the same one that enslaved his own sister, absolutely influenced his desire to make a family by keeping his niece away from her mother. No amount of sympathy for his situation will make me understand why, if he knew about Asha, he kept that away from Olamina.

It's a very disturbing, prophetic(?), insightful study of religion, power, community building, and the decay/rebuilding of society. Did I enjoy it? No, but it's a very good book. I don't think it's meant to be enjoyed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Suicide, Murder, Trafficking, Slavery, Sexual assault, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Rape, Misogyny, Blood, Classism, Homophobia, Death, and Kidnapping

aerolich's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Slavery, Child abuse, and Lesbophobia

sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

TW: Sexual assault, slavery, theocracy 

edit// August 6th, 2023

Wow, this book was just as hard to get through as it was when I first read it in 2022. I really can't stand

Marc or Larken, I hate them both

. This was such a good book though, I think it was a bit long but it was still really good. I'm going to NOT adjust my rating this time around, I'm going to keep my rating at 4 stars. 

4 stars out of 5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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This book was hard to get through but it was fantastic, I had so many emotions all through out reading this! Fear, anxiety, sadness, and hopefulness all coursed through me while I devoured this dystopian sci fi by Octavia E. Butler. I think the hardest parts for me were the sexual assault and the slavery. I gave this 4 stars because I'm torn on whether there needed to be so much sexual assault with such vivid imagery in the novel. As a sexual assault survivor I definitely got triggered more than once while reading this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Confinement, Death of parent, Cannibalism, Pedophilia, Incest, Addiction, Body horror, Death, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Blood, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Pregnancy, Rape, Trafficking, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence