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A review by 2treads
Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"... You are here where I rule. Here, there is only one abomination: disobedience. You will obey."
Butler's magnificent imagination and how she executes it with and in real-world constructions and ideas is truly remarkable.
Using a man's desire for ultimate power and creation of a dynasty across time and place, examining his relationships with those he breeds, uncovering his motivations, what drives his arrogance, stirs his anger, and how he deals with new unknowns and potential challenges to his power.
Doro is self-serving, gifted, and ruthless when it comes to achieving all that he has mapped out to be his legacy, however, he will never be removed from it; always at the head, always being deferred to.
Anyanwu has existed for centuries with her own gifts, being feared, revered, and hated for the gifts she carries within herself. She is in her own right a matriarch, having mothered generations and is equal to, if not surpassing what Doro is.
What Butler crafts here is ultimately a look at how control manifests within a man who is not beholden to any of the values or societal expectations of the times in which he lives; he takes, molds, breeds, strictly for his purpose and any hint of independent thought or action–that goes against his intent–is either threatened away or erased permanently.
Doro is also so single-minded in his ambitions that he believes that he is better than the white man who enslaves and colonizes– completely ignoring that what he does is much worse– because he does not beat, starve, maim, or rape. But what he does, what he requires of those he owns, surpasses just their bodies in bondage, he wants their minds, their talents, their complete and total submission.
It is discomfiting to read of his utter callousness and disregard for human life, only seeing the worth in what can be extracted, cultivated and passed on; and only for a time. After he has deemed your use complete, you are removed from the equation.
Butler's magnificent imagination and how she executes it with and in real-world constructions and ideas is truly remarkable.
Using a man's desire for ultimate power and creation of a dynasty across time and place, examining his relationships with those he breeds, uncovering his motivations, what drives his arrogance, stirs his anger, and how he deals with new unknowns and potential challenges to his power.
Doro is self-serving, gifted, and ruthless when it comes to achieving all that he has mapped out to be his legacy, however, he will never be removed from it; always at the head, always being deferred to.
Anyanwu has existed for centuries with her own gifts, being feared, revered, and hated for the gifts she carries within herself. She is in her own right a matriarch, having mothered generations and is equal to, if not surpassing what Doro is.
What Butler crafts here is ultimately a look at how control manifests within a man who is not beholden to any of the values or societal expectations of the times in which he lives; he takes, molds, breeds, strictly for his purpose and any hint of independent thought or action–that goes against his intent–is either threatened away or erased permanently.
Doro is also so single-minded in his ambitions that he believes that he is better than the white man who enslaves and colonizes– completely ignoring that what he does is much worse– because he does not beat, starve, maim, or rape. But what he does, what he requires of those he owns, surpasses just their bodies in bondage, he wants their minds, their talents, their complete and total submission.
It is discomfiting to read of his utter callousness and disregard for human life, only seeing the worth in what can be extracted, cultivated and passed on; and only for a time. After he has deemed your use complete, you are removed from the equation.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Incest, and Violence
Minor: Slavery