Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Parable of the Talents
    Unavailable
    Parable of the Talents
    Unavailable
    Parable of the Talents
    Ebook496 pages8 hours

    Parable of the Talents

    By Octavia E. Butler

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    Listen to the audiobook instead

    About this ebook

    Winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novel: The powerful and compelling sequel to the dystopian classic Parable of the Sower

    Lauren Olamina was only eighteen when her family was killed, and anarchy encroached on her Southern California home. She fled the war zone for the hope of quiet and safety in the north. There she founded Acorn, a peaceful community based on a religion of her creation, called Earthseed, whose central tenet is that God is change. Five years later, Lauren has married a doctor and given birth to a daughter. Acorn is beginning to thrive. But outside the tranquil group’s walls, America is changing for the worse.
     
    Presidential candidate Andrew Steele Jarret wins national fame by preaching a return to the values of the American golden age. To his marauding followers, who are identified by their crosses and black robes, this is a call to arms to end religious tolerance and racial equality—a brutal doctrine they enforce by machine gun. And as this band of violent extremists sets its deadly sights on Earthseed, Acorn is plunged into a harrowing fight for its very survival.
     
    Taking its place alongside Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Butler’s eerily prophetic novel offers a terrifying vision of our potential future, but also one of hope.
     
    This ebook features an illustrated biography of Octavia E. Butler including rare images from the author’s estate.
     
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Media
    Release dateJul 24, 2012
    ISBN9781453263624
    Author

    Octavia E. Butler

    Octavia E. Butler (1947–2006) was a renowned African American author of several award-winning novels, including Parable of the Sower, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1993, and Parable of the Talents, winner of the Nebula Award for the best science fiction novel in 1995. She received a MacArthur Genius Grant and PEN West Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work and was acclaimed for her lean prose, strong protagonists, and social observations in stories that range from the distant past to the far future.

    Read more from Octavia E. Butler

    Related to Parable of the Talents

    Related ebooks

    Dystopian For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      5 Paths To Continue Your Octavia E. Butler Discovery After 'Parable Of The Sower'

      Oct 14, 2020

      LOS ANGELES - Science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler said the novels in her "Parable" series were meant to be cautionary. Her 1993 "Parable of the Sower" follows Lauren Oya Olamina, a teenager born with "hyperempathy syndrome" who lives in a walled

      3 min read

    • Article

      This is The End

      Feb 21, 2020

      This is The End
      6 min read

    • Article

      On Healing

      Sep 4, 2020

      In 2016 my partner and I bought a wooden cottage on 10 acres of land, on an ecotone where the woodlands meet the foothills of the mountains. The area had been logged relentlessly in the 1950s. One by one, the tall trees of the old growth cedar forest

      7 min read

    • Article

      Finding Your Public Voice

      Oct 7, 2022

      Early in my career, I joined a writing group with the word change in its name. When friends asked, “What kind of change are you writing about?” I responded, “Whatever kind of change is happening in my life”—whether that change occurred by chance or w

      7 min read

    • Article

      Breedlove’s War

      May 21, 2019

      Breedlove’s War
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Secret Life of Grief

      Dec 3, 2013

      The Secret Life of Grief
      12 min read

    • Article

      Bearing Witness

      May 30, 2021

      Lauren Hough is unicorn-level rare: someone who strode on to Twitter cracking witty and street-wise, a sharp-tongued yet strikingly kind presence. She wrote a cracking essay that went, well, pandemic-level viral, was snapped up for a book deal, and h

      4 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Zak Salih

      Dec 3, 2020

      I clung to books this year for consolation, for escape, for solace, for comfort in a way I haven’t clung to them since I was an equally anxious and uncertain teenager. The post A Year in Reading: Zak Salih appeared first on The Millions.

      4 min read

    • Article

      Hilton ALS

      Jun 15, 2018

      Hilton ALS
      29 min read

    • Article

      When I Say Goodbye

      May 31, 2018

      When I Say Goodbye
      16 min read

    • Article

      Now That It’s Come to This

      Jun 3, 2021

      Now That It’s Come to This
      13 min read

    • Article

      Lindsay Hunter Is Redrawing the Boundaries of Crime Fiction

      Jan 18, 2024

      "I believe in breaks, in fallow periods, in getting one’s bearings. But reading is my constant. I feel bereft in those brief moments between books." The post Lindsay Hunter Is Redrawing the Boundaries of Crime Fiction appeared first on The Millions.

      7 min read

    • Article

      Politics

      Jul 10, 2020

      Politics
      7 min read

    • Article

      Metta For My Abuser

      Jun 7, 2022

      Metta For My Abuser
      10 min read

    Reviews for Parable of the Talents

    4/5

    1,698 ratings103 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      I did enjoy this but was left wanting more and the sequal didn't really deliver. A near future all too realistic dystopia, it was not an uplifting view of our future.
    • 4/5
      Wow! This book is scary. A dystopian novel from before that was a thing, and the terrifying plot seems completely plausible. Gorgeously written and so original. I have no excuse for not reading Butler before, but I cannot wait to read more.
    • 4/5
      Realistic and totally depressing predictions of the chaos that awaits America if we do not change our values, beliefs, and behaviorrelated to people, animals, water, and the environment.
    • 5/5
      I had previously read a couple Octavia Butler short stories, but this was my first foray into longer form work from the author. I found this novel engaging on several levels. I was curious about how Butler would paint the landscape of near future disintegrating California, so I kept reading for that. I was curious how she would expand the thoughts of an earnest young prophet sharing insights with a band of survivors. And I truly identified with the notebooks remains of the protagonist, the generational and familial issues she navigates while coming of age in a time of upheaval.One other thing that endear this book to me is that it doesn't create the artifice of ethnic groups or classes which are aliens of another planet's origin or technologically altered. The group divisions are the familiar ones of class, gender, ethnicity, skin color, religion, and geography. Grappling with those during a crumbling California is more compelling to me than abstracting to alien "races", etc.
    • 5/5
      Brilliant and, I'm afraid it will prove to be, prescient. Some interesting comparisons and contrasts with KSR's New York 2140.
    • 4/5
      The writing is excellent, the world building doesn't interfere with the story, and many of the characters are beautifully drawn, especially in the earlier part of the book. I felt the story itself was ordinary and predictable--we get the origin story of the hero, then a journey in which she collects a band of followers, then an open ending as befits volume one of a series. As for the religion, I found it interesting but not compelling--I don't understand why acceptance of change and trying to influence it the best you can needs to be a deity or a creed. That said, the book kept me turning the pages and I will read the sequel. My fear is that because this was supposed to be a trilogy, the second book will leave off in the middle of something that is never going to be finished. I try very hard not to be drawn into multi-volume storytelling, but I'm afraid Margaret Atwood and James Kunstler have ruined those plans.
    • 4/5
      I found this book on a list of climate change fiction - cli-fi. It's more just generic dystopian, but water is scarce so there's that. The book was written in 1993 and takes place around 2026. Probably things won't descend quite that far quite that fast, but then again Butler might have got the timing just right. She covers an interesting stage in collapse, where a small community has been staying in their house and protecting them, then their little neighborhood is overrun by gangs and just a few of them survive. These few head north and get started on a way to live off the land. I read right through this in a few days. It definitely pulls the reader along. A core feature of the book is how the protagonist is working out a new religion, a sincere attempt at understanding reality. A curious feature is that it includes interstellar colonization, but the reality portrayed by the novel is one where interstate colonization is practically unachievable. The idea seems to be that we need some heaven to hope for. Maybe it's just that Butler writes science fiction and a book can't find its way to that section of the bookstore without including interstellar colonization. For me that did help the book's plot a bit, because it got me thinking - how in the world will our protagonist work her way into a rocket ship from such a bleak start?
    • 5/5
      A beautifully written, compelling, dystopian tale. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.
    • 3/5
      Slow paced yet provocative story about Sci-fi and religion. Apocalyptic conditions give rise to religious thoughts from a YA perspective. The story takes place in a California that is suffering drought, drug epidemics, economic and social breakdown. An eighteen year old woman escapes from her firebombed gated community to start a trek and build a community of Earthseed based on the idea that "God is Change."
    • 4/5
      The novel begins in a small walled compound of about 12 houses in Robledo, a suburb of Los Angeles, in July 2024. The compound is walled because the world outside has become desperate and dangerous. California suffers from a prolonged drought: there are few jobs to be had; any semblance of a social safety net has crumbled and gangs roam the streets; everyone has guns in their houses; towns have been taken over by companies and debt slavery has been legalized.Lauren Oya Olamina, 15 years old, the daughter of a professor/Baptist minister has learned the arts of survival from her father, step-mother and books. Quietly she has renounced her father's religion and created her own based on the idea of constant change. Coming to the realization that things are getting worse, she has packed a knapsack with emergency supplies, plantable raw seeds and her savings. When the inevitable disaster comes, she heads north, gathering a small band of fellows with her. Butler's tale is a dystopian fable told by a young woman with a determination to survive. Parable of the Sower is followed by Parable of the Talents -- which I shall read as I found the first novel absorbing, while no dazzling as literature.
    • 5/5
      Octavia Butler covers an amazing range of personalities all thrown into a cataclysmic time in the world. Reading this book felt she was the sower giving the world a parable about all the destructive things we're dealing with right now. She deals with everything straight up, from the way people de-evolve under pressure to how we discover the best within us in the same way. The different levels of prose mixed with metaphysical poetry make this one of the most amazing novels I've ever read.
    • 4/5
      Content-rich story of post-apocalyptic America featuring a young African-American woman as the hero. Lauren Oya Olamina is a "hyperempath" who actually shares the pain of others in her own body. When her Los Angeles gated community is destroyed by violent anarchists, Lauren escapes. Dressed as a man,Lauren travels north meeting other refugees who, like her, search for a safe place to live. What sets Parable of the Sower apart is Lauren's philosophical take on the collapse of society: she is inspired to found her own community, named Earthseed, which will not try to recover what was lost, but instead will prepare for a new society among the stars. The novel is studded with pages from Lauren's Earthseed journal: Books of the Living:"Change is the one unavoidable, irresistible, ongoing reality of the universe. To us, that makes it the most powerful reality, and just another word for God.
    • 4/5
      Really good book. Not so much a christian book as a religous book (developing religion?). Wonderful story and realistic characters.
    • 3/5
      The most interesting thing about Parable of the Sower is how clear it makes Octavia Butler's central theme of survival through the main character's religious writings of "Earthseed": "All successful life is Adaptable, Opportunistic, Tenacious, Interconnected, and Fecund." In the year 2027: oil is rare, water is expensive, and food a precious commodity. Many are homeless and/or jobless, police are crooked, and pyromaniac druggies roam the streets. Lauren, who has superempathy, grew up one of the lucky ones, relatively safe inside the gated community her father conceived. But after her home is attacked and scavenged--and her family killed-- Lauren joins the hordes who walk north, in search of work and land, while she dreams up "Earthseed". While I respect what Butler was trying to do with Parable of the Sower, I didn't feel like she was particularly successful. The narrative lacks real vitality. Butler takes the narrative at an overly slow clip, particularly in the first half when we already know Lauren will be chased out of her home. The horrors of Butler's pre-apocalyptic world are never described into visceral presence, nor the scope of her vision large enough for the reader to get a sense of how the world got this way (and why it so needs a religion like Earthseed). Earthseed itself never faces any real challenging by either Lauren or the people she ends up preaching it to, rendering it mostly mumbo-jumbo. It's really unclear what use it offers the survivors-- if anything, the plot really preaches the use of guns. To be fair, the other characters don't appear to offer much resistance to anything, being particularly thin, somewhat interchangeable creations that offer no conflict to Lauren's natural leadership-taking. There's really no conflict that drives the plot at all, to be honest, not even within Lauren herself. Her super-empathy plays almost no part, and all this lack of drive in the narrative really shows up as stagnancy in the novel. "Idea"-books are common in science-fiction, but Parable of the Sower lacks the conflicts that really illustrate the worthiness of its idea.
    • 4/5
      Octavia Butler was one of the most extraordinary science fiction writers of the modern age, and one of the least known. Though not as prolific as many of the 20th century sci-fi authors, she did leave a body of work that is consistently excellent; thoughtful and unabashedly political, Butler's novels offer up a rare perspective in the genre: that of the African-American woman. In this particular novel, as in most of her novels, the main character and narrator is a young black woman in a not-so-distant future. This particular future is bleak and terrifying; citizens with jobs in this future America must blockade themselves inside walled neighborhoods and try to fend off the thievery, murder and mayhem committed by the masses of "street poor" -- homeless, jobless, drug-addicted gangs stripped bare of sense and humanity. The very rich abide in well-defended compounds, but those less affluent must hold back the tide as best they can with what little they have. Our narrator, Lauren, is in this latter position -- she and her family are struggling to keep their community together.SPOILER (sort of) ALERT:It should surprise no one, despite the above warning, that Lauren's community cannot last forever, and the second part of the narrative begins on the eve of loss and destruction. The novel then becomes a post-apocalyptic road novel, as Lauren walks the path toward a better place, as well as the path to true adulthood. What colors and structures the novel most is the idea of "Earthseed", the religion that Lauren is constructing and disseminating as she walks her road. The story unfolds in a sequence of journal entries, but each section is headed with a passage from "The Book of the Living", which Lauren is also writing as she travels. The central belief of the religion is that "God is Change" -- and this idea sits uncomfortably with some of the characters, as it may sit uncomfortably with some readers. For myself, I enjoyed the philosophical element that these religious excerpts added to the text, as well as the critiques of corrupted religion that emanate from the frequent religious discussions within the story itself. Though some readers may grow frustrated with this focus, I feel that the beauty of the spiritual and social ideas elevate this beyond the typical post-apocalyptic road narrative and allow the reader to feel more connected to the characters and their future.Though some of the novel's social and racial perspectives are a little dated, many -- I must admit, with some shame -- are just as pertinent today as when the novel was written. So too are the warnings inherent in Butler's vision of a future America, where that oft-discussed gap between the haves and the have-nots has engulfed the entire nation. Many of the details of Butler's world will resonate with painful familiarity. As with many of the genre, this book is not always easy to read, but it is fascinating and, I believe, still incredibly important. The novel ends openly, facing the future and the sequel the Butler eventually did write. I am planning to read the sequel almost as soon as I am finished writing this review. That might tell you something about this novel.
    • 5/5
      This was probably one of the best books that I have read this year so far. I enjoyed the main character, Lauren Olamina, and her understanding of the world around her. I've been describing it as a dystopian novel, rather than post-Apocalyptic book. There are still humans living in the United States, but living in communities that are under siege. Safety is nearly a commodity. Clean water and guns are hard to come by, and you have to keep watch all of the time. She joins up with people along the way, as she's traveling northwards.The other aspect of this novel that was intensely compelling for me was Earthseed, the new "religion," or ideas of faith that Lauren discovers within herself. She wants to create a colony of Earthseed followers, to help bring the world some sense of balance. The ways that she describes Earthseed, and the snippets of "doctrine," or closest that there is in the book, are compelling, saying that God is change, and that change is inevitable, but also changeable and malleable.Butler deals with issues of sexuality, race, and class in compelling and very subtle, but powerful ways. There is no two ways around the topics, as they are part of daily life for Lauren. But, the way she does them is so beautiful that all I could think is "I wish I could write that way."The book gave me a lot to think about, was well written, and compelling.
    • 3/5
      Well-written with many of the same themes present in Butler's other books. Empathy and healing play major roles as well as indoctrination and violence.
    • 5/5
      On second reading, I think Butler's riff on post-apocalyptic travails hit me harder than the first time. After seeing the devastation in New Orleans on television and talking to friends and others whose relatives made it out of the city, the concepts of civilisation falling apart and humanity's worst nature coming to the forefront seem a lot closer and more likely... events in general since I first read the book have certainly not reached anywhere close to what Butler predicts in this novel - (which is the United States falling into total economic collapse, with violent drug addicts and criminals preying on anyone weaker than themselves, citizens forming walled communities which are only temporary havens from the inevitable tide of violence, debt slavery growing, as rich corporations and exploiters from richer countries come in to use Americans as a disposable third-world workforce....) - but it seems more and more every day that this is a nation in decline.

      Most post-apocalyptic tales feature some gigantic catastrophe - a nuclear attack or an asteroid hitting the earth, etc... but in Parable..., although global warming has rendered the south of the US a desert, and water is a precious commodity, there has been no single, sudden catastrophe - and other parts of the world, and even the USA's rich - are still doing fine... companies are coming out with new advances in entertainment technology, the government is even completing missions to Mars... it's been a gradual decline, with the masses left to fend for themselves if they can... and this makes it that much more terrifying a vision....

      However, against the horrific backdrop of a cautionary tale, Butler's parable, which refers to the Biblical parable, but can also work as a parable for today, is a tale that is ultimately hopeful, as her heroine, Lauren Olamina, struggles to find a life for herself, along the way gathering to herself a group of decent people and persisting in trying to start her own religion/spiritual path called 'Earthseed,' still believing that humanity may have a great destiny among the stars.
    • 4/5
      I'm glad I finally read [Parable of the Sower]. It was published in 1993, but it's so timely now: It's set it a world of runaway global warming, a wrecked economy, eroding labor laws, police corruption, and hostility towards migrants. The protagonist develops her own worldview while learning how to build and maintain a community when everything's falling apart. I cared about the characters and hope everything works out for them. I look forward to seeing what happens next in [Parable of the Talents].
    • 3/5
      I have read many dystopic post-apocalyptic novels, some of which are classics. Some of those, written before Parable of the Sower, include I Am Legend, A Canticle for Liebowitz, The Stand, and The Postman. I did not find anything that made this book stand out from all the rest of those that I have read. The protagonist, Lauren Olamina, is appealing except for her need for religion. And not the religion of her parents (her father was a Baptist minister), but a new religion that is described this way by a character, Bankhole, who has become her closest friend:"It sounds like some combination of Buddhism, existentialism, Sufism, and I don't know what else, he said." (p 261)By this point in the story Lauren has escaped from her besieged home and, joining with a small like-minded group, been on a journey from southern California to some point north of Sacramento. Along the way, and even before, she has been developing a new religion called Earthseed that provides the belief system that she appears to require to support her quest for peace and freedom. She describes the religion this way:"The essentials are to learn to shape God with forethought, care, and work; to educate and benefit their community, their families, and themselves; and to contribute to the fulfillment of the Destiny." (p 261)She goes on to make the claim that Earthseed is what "kept her going." I will leave it to other readers to find out if that will be the case.The bulk of the story is about avoiding the terrors of gangs of marauders that seem to have taken over most of California. It is told in the form of a journal, the journal of Lauren Olamina. Civil society has reverted to relative anarchy due to resource scarcity and poverty. Notably there is no plague, no invasion, no war. Things get a little bit worse each day, people get a little more desperate, the first few breakdowns are fixed, and then it becomes harder and harder to fix everything. Missing is an explanation why this is happening and how widespread it may be. There is also an inexplicable lack of real change as the novel proceeds toward its end. Lauren is her same empathetic self (she has a special gift for extreme empathy) and she is surrounded by a group of peaceful like-minded people. Her religion has not seemed to make a difference and wile the group is relatively safe for the moment, one is not sure how long that moment will last.This is not a typical dystopia. It is the first-person journals of a teenager and then a woman who saw that things were getting worse, prepared herself as best she could, and went on a journey in order to survive. The book is successful, if it is that, in only a limited way for this one group of survivors. The rest of the world may or may not continue to implode.
    • 4/5
      One of the most powerful and depressing dystopian novels I've read. The biblical parable of the sower referenced in the title is included late in the book - it draws the threads of the plot together after the fact, inviting the readers to see the various characters as seeds thrown by chance and change ('God', as the narrator understands God) into the various circumstances of the plot. Or perhaps the gatherings of characters are seeds, rather than the individual characters themselves. But the term 'parable' also captures another quality of the book: it is a kind of fable, with aspects of the story-world exaggerated or downplayed to let the book's themes show more strongly. For example, characters in the narrator's circle are far more likely to show kindness or mercy than characters outside. That's not particularly plausible - in fact, the vision of human nature in the book is relentlessly grim except for people in the narrator's semi-charmed circle - but it heightens the impact of the dystopia and the collapse of civil society and family that drives the plot. Similarly, the narrator is far too articulate and well-read to be convincing as a 15 year old in the early journal entries, but that's not really the point; the voice carries a wonderful depth of analysis, and doesn't need to be strictly plausible to be effective.I can also see why readers love this book for its racially diverse characters, and for its affirmation of a multiracial society. Over and over, the narrator notes that interracial couples or groups face greater suspicion or hostility from other groups in the book's post-apocalyptic setting. And yet, the characters stay together, doing what they can to find a new future for themselves.
    • 4/5
      I <3 this book.

      This is pretty amazing, and alarming.

      In the not-so-distant future, life has continued on the path we're on now. Rampant despoiling of the earth, rampant despoiling of the people. Well off people are living in walled compound/mini societies protecting themselves from the poor, the abused, the uncared-for violent (which, btw, is happening right now if anyone is paying attention), and corporations are everything (ditto).

      The main character, Lauren, is a girl living through these times, her parents would be my contemporaries, which really brings the story home. She survives the downfall of her compound/community and gathers with a small band of people traveling north from the LA area looking for work and survival.

      The general degradation and downfall of society is happening all around and they're trying to survive.

      What I loved about the book was how real it was. I love Butler's writing, and she does a phenomenal job, not only making me feel the reality of what's happening, but showing how we can get there from *right here*. It really is amazing, and scary.

      A lot of dystopian writing showcases society after some major event or downfall, but this book takes you *through* the actual downfall.

      What I didn't like about this book? A large part of it is Lauren's religion - how she "discovered" or created it. How she wants to use it to build a better life. And I understand that in a world of hell where you need to pass on values and knowledge (especially if the knowledge isn't available as books and on computers), creating a religion bothers me. Religions are easily corrupted, and used more often than not to control people, so as sane as her particular flavor of God is, I just can't get on board with it.

      And a random aside - The Road by Cormac McCarthy has a lot of similarities (post-apocalyptic, travel down the highway), but this is way, way better.
    • 3/5
      The first part was so slow that I had a hard time getting into it. The second part went much faster, redeeming the novel.
    • 5/5
      This book is riveting. It's the story, told by a hyperempathetic California teenager, of American society in 2024, about ten or fifteen years after ecological collapse. We meet Lauren, the narrator, when she's about fifteen years old. She's a bright, contemplative preacher's daughter, who has decided that she has found her own God: change. The book is sprinkled with discussions of her beliefs, which she's named Earthseed, and free verse from her "Book of the Living". By her eighteenth birthday, terrifying new synthetic drugs and an "eat the rich" mentality have taken hold outside Los Angeles, and the American government has relaxed business laws to the extent that debt slavery has become more common than ever. Lauren is a wise, clever, and sympathetic protagonist, and the world she inhabits is engaging and perhaps a little too plausible. I plowed through this book in just a few hours, always eager to find out what would happen next, who'd make it through to the next chapter, and what was on each new character's mind.(One further note -- I know plenty of folks who require a touch of the fantastic in their reading. If you're one of those people, you may as well know: This is NOT sci-fi. It takes place in the future and there's one mention of an improbably tiny radio. That's all you get.)
    • 3/5
      Post-apocalyptic literary scenarios have been a dime a dozen since well before Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and these days it takes something quite remarkable - like Cormack McCarthy's sublime The Road - to raise even a flicker of interest in this genre from all but the dullest sci-fi fanboy. Octavia Butler's essay on the same theme is now getting on for 20 years old, and stands up well - indeed, it so closely anticipates McCarthy's novel that you have to wonder whether he was aware of it. That is not to suggest plagiarism, however, for the similarities are general indeed: an un-described catastrophe has caused the total breakdown of society and forced a family unit on the road, where they fend for themselves against allcomers in vain hope of a promised land. While Butler employs a couple of nice devices - the P.K.Dick-eque hyperempathy condition is a neat literary device - much better in fact than the hokey "Earthseed" concept which gets unwarranted prominence in the story - but Butler doesn't do nearly enough with it to make it worthwhile. In other aspects, the novel is a little flat. There's not a much in the way of a plot arc - it's more linear: things sort of episodically muddle along to a fairly uninvolving conclusion - and nor do the characters get well fleshed out or developed. Like her protagonist Lauren, Butler throws quite a lot of "seed" about which then appears to fall on stony ground: Lauren's father disappears, presumed dead but unresolved - to no effect. Likewise, Lauren's original sweetheart is introduced, developed, and disposed with for no discernible plot-functional reason. My hunch is that Butler was more interested in developing a quasi-religion than writing a science fiction novel, yet 20 years later, the post-apocalyptic road story is the only part that really holds up. But, all the same, it pales in comparison with Cormack McCarthy's bleaker, more eloquent visualisation, and ultimately I couldn't recommend this novel over, or even really as a complement to, The Road.
    • 4/5
      When I read The Parable of the Talents before reading this book, I was afraid that I would be a little disappointed when I went back. I am, a little, but I wonder if I would have liked them better if I had read them in the correct order.There is much of what I liked in The Parable of the Talents here, including how prescient it still seems fourteen years later. However, something about it seems less unified. Possibly it's because the bad times are really just beginning. Things have been going downhill for years with the climate and water shortages, and Lauren has been living in her walled neighborhood because of it, but the head of what will become known as Christian America is just becoming the president, and company towns run under slave-like conditions are just emerging. In general, the dangers Lauren and the rest of her group face are more in the way of random encounters along the road than a strong, centralized system. This might be what gives the entire story more the feeling of a series of events than a story with a beginning and an end. (Of course, it was not the end, but Butler didn't mean for The Parable of the Talents to be the end of the series, either, and its ending still felt satisfying.)
    • 5/5
      This novel is scary and hopeful at the same time. I could not put it down and I know I will reread it. Octavia Butler is one of my favorite authors and this has become one of my favorite books. It's not sci-fi along the lines of Kindred or Fledgling. This story seems all too possible.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed the dystopian/post-apocalyptic elements, which felt plausible enought to satisfy me. It's also great as a coming-of-age story through difficult times. The protagonist, Lauren, is a strong and interesting character.
      My one caveat is that I found the attempts at creating a new belief system (Earthseed) dull and unconvincing, and wasn't sure how seriously I was meant to take this. This edition has a Q&A with the author included though, and the answer seems to be: quite seriously.
      It's easy enough to glide over those bits if you're not into them, and the story rips along pretty well after the first 100 pages.
    • 4/5
      This was intense and went by really fast. The protagonist was strong and interesting, and there's a lot of food for thought about the future, and about definitions of religion in general. In a way it reminded me of The Hunger Games. There's a strong female protagonist who's distinctly female, but interesting and powerful and individual, and there's the dystopian element there too.
    • 5/5
      I can't believe how good a writer Octavia Butler is, and how her works remain relatively unknown. This book was much better than I thought, as I had expected the Earthseed aspect to get more emphasis than it actually did. I would describe it as an abbreviated "The Stand". Substitute studly grandpa for grandma. Good post apocalyptic fiction with a bit of survivalist info.