Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Parable of the Talents

In this second book, we find Lauren and the Acorn community a few years later after being settled in Bankole's lands. They have learned to protect themselves and developed their community with Lauren's teachings of Earthseed. They educate their own, farm the lands, connect with the other communities and expand as they go. However, life outside of their community is chaos under Jarrett's rule led by the iron fist of Christian extremism in which the persecution of other's belief system is threatened in the worst ways. Technology has advanced but mostly accessible to the powerful and the government who uses it to control the masses. At times, the journey is hard and grueling for some of the people from Acorn. The story is mostly told from Lauren's words but shared with us by her adult daughter. We get some gems from Bankole and her brother the minister. As the conclusion for the Earthseed series, this was beautifully done. Octavia E. Butler gave us a prophetic view of our present day but we know that history repeats itself and she was giving us additional tools to change the next time it happened. Her words marked me and it makes me sad that we do not get to read the 3rd installment of this series as she had planned. The writing is powerful to give the images of this world yet simple with the purpose bringing us back to the basics of humanity. The bare bones of this book is highlighting importance of human connection and the power we have to influence one another for the good of all. Always striving to do the best we can with the tools we have to survive. Anyway, I feel like this is the most basic way to explain this book for me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Happy reading!

Content Warnings

cadence99's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad 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? Yes

4.25

To hear the phrase “make America great again” flowing from the pages of a book published in 1998 is haunting to say the least. I greatly appreciated the exploration of Christian extremism in relation to Laurens Earthseed, but as with the last book, I really wish there was more explanation for what appears to me as an incredibly flawed and power imbalanced relationship between Bankole and Lauren

Content Warnings

mamaquiereleer's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

madelinekramer2021's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

rorikae's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging 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? Yes

5.0

'Parable of the Talents' by Octavia Butler is an important sequel that builds upon all that was laid out in 'Parable of the Sower.' The story follows Lauren as she finally begins to build the community that she has dreamed of with Earthseed at its center. As her group begins to grow, it catches the eyes of those following the religion set out by the fascist president of the United States.
Somehow even more so than with Parable of the Sower, Parable of the Talents is a harrowing story. Lauren's life is an incredibly hard one and this book has every trigger warning possible. Butler dives into what the world would look like as it falls apart and how different people would choose to find their place. Some find it in fascism and having power over others. Other people seek out small communities and look to the stars.
Lauren is never the most likable character, which is part of what makes her such a fascinating protagonist. She has a very strong goal but this goal often comes before other people, including her direct family. Butler does an exceptional job of creating a character study of one woman seeking to find power and influence in life through what she believes is a calling. The other perspective that runs through this novel (which I won't spoil) is a helpful contrast to Lauren's perspective. After an entire book of Lauren's journals with Parable of the Sower, I think one of the reasons why Parable of the Talents is somehow even better is because of this contrasting point of view. We get to see how other people view Lauren and how some of the choices she makes look to those who are not in her own head.
This is one of the best duologies that I have ever read. Butler is considered one of the greats in SF for a reason. This book is a must read, especially regarding how scarily close some aspects are to our current reality.

Content Warnings