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A review by reads2cope
Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler
5.0
It was still so jarring to read about the “2020s,” especially in reference to the plague and forest fires. Even more prescient political commentary, giving the increased book banning and attacks on libraries these days: “It seems inevitable that people who can’t read are going to lean more toward judging candidates on the way they look and sound than on what they claim they stand for. Even people who can read and are educated are apt to pay more attention to good looks and seductive lies than they should. And no doubt the new picture ballots on the nets will give Jarret an even greater advantage.”
I still hated the Earthseed "religion," despite loving the mutual aid work at its core. Especially in the epilogue, seeing that multiple spaceships actually took off felt ridiculous. Earthseed could have had a stronger environmental and community message - all the farming and land care they did at Acorn and all the environmental destruction that tipped the dystopia into what it was seems washed away with the sudden emissions of these new space homes that were only previously mentioned in lieu of a Heaven and never actually seen in the story.
I still hated the Earthseed "religion," despite loving the mutual aid work at its core. Especially in the epilogue, seeing that multiple spaceships actually took off felt ridiculous. Earthseed could have had a stronger environmental and community message - all the farming and land care they did at Acorn and all the environmental destruction that tipped the dystopia into what it was seems washed away with the sudden emissions of these new space homes that were only previously mentioned in lieu of a Heaven and never actually seen in the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Slavery, Gaslighting, Trafficking, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Gun violence, Torture, Pedophilia, Rape, Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Drug abuse, Abandonment, and Police brutality