Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler

38 reviews

antimonium's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This book gave me the ick. Don't like the whole breeding thing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder, and Pregnancy

yomireads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

So, as a whole, this book is well written, and its clear that Octavia E Butler has a strong grasp of her craft. Anyanwu and Doror both are well shaped characters with strong wills that clash, neither bending easily to the other. The abilities and the exploration of these otherworldly abilities is captivating to be sure. The dark and keen look at slavery and the loss of autonomy is very intentional and poignant. 

But God was I uncomfortable the entirety of this novel. I'm positive the discomfort is intentional, the fear, rage, and overall frustration simmering just below boiling from the start is intentional, but the obstinate refusal of the clearly villainous Doro to have any sort of real character growth for literal centuries made me want to chuck this book into an ocean.

The incest was obscene. Eugenics at its finest (most disturbing). And the strange pervasive nature of misogyny in characters who can shift their sex at will wildly frustrating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Incest, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

abmochapman's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

this just confirms octavia butler is a FREAK

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Cannibalism, and Murder

loristoudenmier's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Incest, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

m_petranoff's review

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Incest, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Xenophobia, and War

Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Cannibalism, Abortion, and Colonisation

Like many of Butler's books, this is a challenging look at the nature of humanity. It is dark and about how easy it can be to lose ones humanity, but not as challenging to read as some of her other novels. There are a lot of content warnings, and only a few are graphic, but the theme of the book itself is engaging with challenging themes.

lasafica_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Incest, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Grief, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

nurseamandarose's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

schnooglefaceduthie's review

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Alcoholism

lexi17d's review against another edition

dark 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

Well that was weird.. not sure how I feel about it. Not my favorite of Octavia Butler’s books that I’ve read so far. It wasn’t bad necessarily, just.. meh.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

saltycoffee's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Grief, Gaslighting, and Colonisation