Parable of the Talents

In this sequel to Parable of the Sower, the story of Lauren Oya Olamina continues. She and her companions from the previous book have built a small Earthseed community called Acorn on land owned by Bankole. Parable of the Talents begins with hope and possibility. You see how kindness, care, and community can slowly heal both nature and people in small ways. There’s still plenty of horror and chaos in this world, but through communities like Acorn, we see that a better world is still possible. And then comes President Jarret and his increasingly popular, hypothetical - scratch that - almost too real United States dystopia built on fundamentalist Christian doctrine. I mean, we’re reading about a presidential candidate using the phrase “Make America Great Again,” stirring up extremist religious groups and violent followers to help him win. It’s impossible not to see the similarities between this fictional world from 1998 and the world we live in today. The book feels uncannily real. It’s almost as if the genius that was Octavia Butler looked ahead and saw exactly where we were headed. The ugliest parts of it already feel like they’re happening, which makes the questions at the heart of this story hit even harder. How far will it go? Will we ever get the chance to build the better parts of the world that Butler imagines through Earthseed? Will we use our talents for kindness, knowledge, and community, or our talents for greed, fear, and destruction? It’s an intelligent book, and yes, it deals with difficult themes and many harsh moments that force us to stop and reflect, but it’s also an impressive and hopeful one. Even at its bleakest, Butler leaves room for the idea that people can still choose to build something better.

Great story telling. Heart wrenching continuation of Sower

2 of 2 in the Earthseed Series. Set 5 years after the happenings of Parable of the Sower. Told in journal entries from the protagonist Lauren, her husband, her brother, with commentary by her daughter -- whom she never has a relationship. It is a harrowing depiction of the experiences of a outsider group in a dystopia Christian nationalist America. The main character Lauren is faced with multiple choices to live a subtle life but continued to choose to spread her religion even though it literally risks her life. Octavia Butler is classic American literature everyone should read and the Earthseed books are great representations of her ability to storytell even the most uncomfortable of scenarios.

You can skip this sequel. The main character fell flat, I didn't understand her marriage, I lost care for the project she was creating, and there's way too much SA to the point where it becomes unreadable. I understand that Butler is writing a dystopian novel, but it's excessive and has no point narratively or for character development.

Compared to the first in this series, while the story is still stellar, it’s slightly cumbrous in writing and feels quite rushed at the end.