Helpful Score: 1
I wasn't sure if I liked this book or not while I was reading it, but it has stuck with me for months afterward. And that to me is one sign of a great book.
Edited to add that reading the first book in the series (Parable of the Sower) made this book more enjoyable.
Edited to add that reading the first book in the series (Parable of the Sower) made this book more enjoyable.
This is the second in Butler\'s \"Earthseed\" series. A great read, if you enjoy science fiction. This is a disturbing vision of the future.
Truly an amazing work and one that seems to echo some current themes in today's society despite being written nearly 10 yrs ago.
Book has such realism that's it a hard read, but you can't put it down!! I stayed up to 3 in the morning to finish it. This is one of those books that you'll never forget it if you don't have it on your bookshelf anymore!!
Octavia Butler tackles the creation of a new religion, the making of a god, and the ultimate fate of humanity in her Earthseed series, which began with Parable of the Sower, and now continues with Parable of the Talents. The saga began with the near-future dystopian tale of Sower, in which young Lauren Olamina began to realize her destiny as a leader of people dispossessed and destroyed by the crumbling of society. The basic principles of Lauren's faith, Earthseed, were contained in a collection of deceptively simple proverbs that Lauren used to recruit followers. She teaches that "God is change" and that humanity's ultimate destiny is among the stars.
I don't know. It's well-written, has well-realized characters, all that good stuff, but this novel of an America fallen into a sort of third-world status and run by a Christian demagogue seems to meander, bog down, and then accelerate to an unlikely conclusion. Butler tends to be highly praised, and this novel is (I think) regarded as one of her best, but it didn't do much for me.
