Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia E. Butler

11 reviews

suchsweetsorrow89's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

Similar to many of the other reviews, it is crazy to believe that Butler was not a person fond of short stories, since she really excels in this little collection! And like all short story collections, there will be some that are not the most interesting, are harder to get into and envision, and some that hit powerfully and, before you know it, you are reading the same page over and over again to picture the scene again and savor such. All in all, something that I really loved about this collection, and where I think every story connects, is that— whether they be utopias or personal hells— every story centers on communication. By communication I mean what it takes for one to understand another while also relaying messages common to any science-fiction stories on self-determination, hope/longing/desire (what defines and separates them), and critically wondering what humanity has to offer in times of great political, social, or even moments of intense moral despair. Mesh that with slightly philosophical musings on free will, religion, and human domination in our interactions with our environments, and in the end you get a stunning and powerful book that fits itself well within Butler's collection. In particular, I really enjoyed Bloodchild, Speech Sounds, Positive Obsession, and The Book of Martha!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Suicide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Blood, Body horror, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Colonisation and Incest

noahsingh's review

medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Police brutality, Medical trauma, Genocide, Colonisation, Confinement, War, Violence, Suicide, Racism, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Blood, Grief, Torture, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Rape, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, Death, Death of parent, Body horror, Incest, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

annamorgan27's review

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Violence, Torture, Medical trauma, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Animal death, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Incest

Minor: Rape and Sexual violence

peachani's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Violence, Incest, Xenophobia, Death, Death of parent, Body horror, Colonisation, Gore, War, Torture, and Murder

Minor: Blood, Kidnapping, Vomit, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Rape, and Pregnancy

readingsofaslinky's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

So very excellent! My first Octavia Butler, and I’m now a fan for life ♥️

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Confinement, Child death, Alcohol, Terminal illness, Murder, Gun violence, Gore, Suicide attempt, Rape, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Blood, Suicide, Slavery, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Incest, and Torture

szuum's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Body horror, Blood, Confinement, Death, Xenophobia, Violence, Terminal illness, Animal death, Death of parent, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicide, Torture, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, and Gore

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Rape, Child death, and Miscarriage

Minor: Cancer

mrsdarcylynn's review

challenging hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

More than 10 years after being handed this book in a college level English class, I have finally read beyond the titular short story!

There is something compelling about Octavia Butler’s writing. Something that pulls you into her world and leaves you wanting more. 

I’m so glad I finally finished this collection of short stories. I will think about and come back to many of them for quite some time. And, if anything else, I hope I walk away from this reading experience and persist. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Incest, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, Confinement, and Animal death

Moderate: Death and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Rape, Sexual content, Miscarriage, and Sexual violence

Many of the short stories have multiple trigger warnings, all have at least one. Read with self care in mind ♥️ These stories are heavy, but thoughtful too.

queer_bookwyrm's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

 5 ⭐ CW: Body horror, parasitic aliens, descriptions of blood and gore, self harm, suicide, abusive mental institutions, abuse/neglect, incest, illness, murder, death of a parent, miscarriage mention, still birth mention, street harassment, rape

Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia E. Butler is a collection of fiction and science fiction short stories and two essays. As some of you know, Butler is my favorite author, and I am working on collecting all her works.

Butler has such a unique and poignant way of writing aliens. I loved the aliens in Bloodchild for how disturbing they were while also being integrated with human society. Butler always situates humans as the one being taken over and being the lesser beings. This particular story reminded me of her Xenogenesis series.

Speech Sounds was a story about an illness that impairs people in different ways, including destroying the ability of language, spoken and written. It was about finding different ways of communicating. Similarly, Amnesty explore alternate ways of communicating with the plan-like aliens that have come to Earth.

I even enjoyed the two essays included, especially the second essay with tips on writing. This is definitely a collection I will be rereading at some point. I just love absorbing all of Butler's ideas and concepts. I will never stop shouting about Butler's work!

Have you seen that one of Butler's works is going to be a tv show?! You know I'm hyped for it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Incest, Chronic illness, Murder, Death of parent, and Rape

Minor: Miscarriage and Child death

cyrinw98's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Violence, Vomit, Animal death, and Incest

seawarrior's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

I had high hopes when I started reading this short story collection, and am thrilled to say that all of them were met. Butler's work is masterful, she developed dynamic, complex worlds and characters with more skill in thirty pages than some writers have in hundreds. Each of these stories were told with a precision that made them seem much longer than they actually were, leaving me with the feeling that I had read in epic involving her alien and apocalyptic societies when in reality I had absorbed them in only a half-hour. I also appreciated that this collection included afterwords and essays written by Butler. It was interesting to understand the inspiration behind each of her pieces, and her perspectives on writing in general. Her resolve that writing is a skill to be practiced, and one enhanced not by talent but by persistence, is necessary for any wannabe writer, including myself, to accept. Such an attitude made us fortunate enough to read her award-winning works despite the professors and publishers who did not initially recognize their value.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Xenophobia, War, Violence, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Suicide, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Gun violence, Grief, Genocide, Blood, Animal death, Confinement, and Colonisation

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content