Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

138 reviews

salemander's review against another edition

5.0

this book was so heartbreaking and painful. very terrifying how realistic this feels for the beginning of 2024, octavia butler is a genius. 
i very painfully related to asha and understood her complex feelings with her mother and the ways she prioritized earthseed, even if i wanted to fucking kill marc.
i think i would have be an earthseed hater but also i would absolutely join. community is everything. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, War, Suicide, Trafficking, Violence, Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Slavery, Misogyny, Murder, Incest, Pedophilia, Torture, Ableism, Child death, Death, Police brutality, and Miscarriage

superciliary's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Islamophobia, Self harm, War, and Antisemitism

aducharme4's review

dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Slavery, Sexual assault, Death, Torture, Rape, and Trafficking

modernthymes's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Rape, and Slavery

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Child abuse

katrinarose'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? No

5.0

This book was absolutely traumatizing but incredible at the same time. I couldn’t put it down. The character of Lauren continued to fascinate me and despite the bare writing style of the author (and the somewhat-detached voice of Lauren’s journal writing) I felt connected with Lauren and the people in this book. Some people complain that the Earthseed religious parts are annoying or repetitive but I disagree. As an agnostic, I thought the ideas were logical and compelling, especially in the world they found themselves in. I even think there’s value in some of the teachings in our world. The only negative thing I can think of to say is that there’s a section of the book that is extremely difficult to read due to the violence (of all kinds), and even though there’s a year of journal missing for that time, that much felt overwhelming. However, the book overall was so good and I finished it feeling hopeful. I’d recommend this to any adult who feels like they could stomach a difficult read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Sexism, Confinement, Death of parent, Rape, Slavery, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Murder, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Medical content

Minor: War and Alcohol

superdupersasha's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring sad slow-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Rape, Sexual assault, and Trafficking

mokidugway's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Religious bigotry

noncom's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.25

I loved (and hated.... feared) parable of the Sower. Reading it when I did in America, it scared me more than I was able to handle. This one was either less unnerving or I now have better control over my anxiety, or both, not sure.

Once again, Butler has shown that she is very very very good at analyzing the past and her present and eerily accurately predicting one very likely (path to the) future. She also shows that situations change but people (as a group, as humanity) stay the same, they just learn how to adapt their issues to what is acceptable at the time or how to hide what isn't accepted.

It was very very interesting to see Ola from the point of view of her daughter, Larken. I read this book as an audiobook and the voice actor for Larken/Asha(sp?) was very good at getting across her diddain for her mother in her voice alone. 

This was a very interesting follow-up to PotS, but not necessarily... necessary? The end also felt very very rushed, I was shocked how much of the story we had left when I was like 92-95% into the audiobook. The end of the book could've been doubled in length and maybe should've been. That's where the -0.75 points came from. Otherwise, it was a great book that help my attention very well. Definitely read it if you've read the first one.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Sexual assault

cheyison's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Kidnapping, Violence, Slavery, and Torture

Moderate: Addiction and Child abuse

Minor: Pedophilia, Death, and Homophobia

eve81's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Death, Medical content, Sexual assault, Blood, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Genocide, Grief, Racism, Rape, Torture, Infertility, Mental illness, Slavery, Violence, War, Child death, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Classism, Islamophobia, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia