Reviews with content warning for Racism - Wild Seed

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler

60 reviews

leahrosereads's review

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

When stories span centuries, much like this one did, there's going to be some disjointed parts, and some areas that just can't be as fleshed out as others.

That said, Wild Seed, was so good. It must have been totally revolutionary for its time. The plot, topics around privilege, slavery, and eugenics, and the dichotomy of Anyanwu and Doro were stellar. It was tough seeing the gentle and kind be killed, but I think that was also a part of the topic that Ms. Butler wanted to explore. I think I'll see more of that in the future stories.

While Anyanwu is the healer to Doro's killing nature, both have a sense of immortal entitlement that I think Anyanwu doesn't believe she has. She's young in her immortality compared to Doro, and I'm not sure if that means she'll overcome her immortal nature or become more like Doro than she ever could imagine.

Only time and continuing the series will give me the answers. I'm on this journey now to the end.

Content Warnings

melissa_muses's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

kemrick19's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense 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

4.25

Content Warnings

clfenters's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark medium-paced

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

3.25

Plot 0.7 - apart from a general desire to create children who could live long lives like themselves, I didn't see much of a driving force behind the plot
Characters 1
setting 1
writing style 1 - really easy to read, much appreciated
themes 1
Pacing 1 - at no point did I feel it dragging
originality 1 - at time of publication, it was probably way out there; less so now, but still pushes boundaries
Emotional impact 0.5
Ending 0.8 - eh, life goes on
Overall enjoyment - 0.9

Total = 8.9/10

Does not correspond to my intuitive rating of 3.25/5

Interestingly, I recently read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and I see a lot of parallels between the two stories. Was Schwab influenced by Wild Seed?

Content Warnings

arkiwi88's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

dahliapyne's review

Go to review page

4.0

Would not recommend for kids/teens because of many problematic/disturbing behaviors from a main character, but I really enjoyed it! It was an intriguing plot, interesting characters, and had a mostly satisfying ending. I loved seeing characters grapple not only with fantastical elements but also the side effects of those! Very thought-provoking!

Content Warnings