A review by kvarkomancer
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

adventurous dark tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Verdict: very insightful, would heavily recommend to anyone.
Notes: Very minor spoilers ahead, I don't believe it warrants hiding the contents, though.

This was–until a month ago–the longest sitting book in my TBR, and I’m honestly really glad I finally read it. Butler’s rawness when writing descriptions and scenes combines sublimely with her unrepentant analysis of the social, economic and psychological elements that conflate to create on a large scale such an unforgiving, dog-eat-dog society as the one described in the book. Apart from the excellent world-building, Butler also makes sure to thoroughly flesh out the personality, story, and most importantly the motivations of the main character–Lauren–, while contemporaneously setting up the scene for what will become the layout of this new, post-apocalyptic world: character and world are thus intrinsically tied together as the book retells in a subtly retrospective manner what is essentially the origin story of a new form of civilization.
On a personal level, I particularly enjoyed reading the religious exploration and the construction of the Earthseed dogma and theological framing, as I recognized and reflected on the various influences that Lauren threads into her beliefs while also opening myself up to explore my own spirituality. I am (mostly) Catholic, so quite a far cry from the deist, panentheist and significantly less anthropocentric pillars of Earthseed, but like most religious people who hold faith in God(s), I still wonder about the meaning and purpose of suffering and injustice, and the reason for what can often only be interpreted as divine inaction. This book, and particularly its first half, aided me in my reflections and helped me to draw some conclusions about the doubts I hold, so I wouldn’t call reading this book any less of a positive learning experience.
My main criticisms are relatively minor, but still worth mentioning. I don’t doubt stating that, in my opinion, the second half of the book is somewhat weaker than the first half, even if the former is definitely more engaging and packed with action: I feel the second half lacks the introspection and analysis of the first half, and it cedes a bit on these characteristics that I liked so much about the first half to give maybe too much space to plot-progression elements I feel where unnecessary. My other criticism is that approaching the end of the book–around the last 3-5 chapters–the cast becomes too big to handle, and that comes at the cost of some of the characters lacking idiosyncrasy. This makes sense to some extent as towards the end of the book the story begins transforming from the story of an individual to the story of a collective, but still it becomes a bit awkward at times.
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