Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler

41 reviews

tawallah's review

challenging dark 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

2.5

This is a type of creation myth where an amoral being, Doro, finds his “Eve” in 17th Century Africa. With the background setting of the slave trading, essentially this is the beginning of a story of an immortal being   Doro is seeking to create special powers among his seed.  But Anyawu, Sun Woman is anything but tractable. She is a shapeshifter and healer. She is his equal and only possible companion.  He wants absolute dominion and obedience as he fulfills his dream. 

Butler tackles her constant themes in this series. Here, eugenics, power dynamics and gender clash.  Slavery is forever the undercurrent in her books. But it is unclear from this entry, the true purpose of Doro dream. He has no ability to predict the future, his arrogance and pride makes him slow to gain wisdom. Anyawu is the stereotypical woman - healer and builder of family. She is determined to be free and yet submits repeatedly to Doro. Often, reminding me of a woman suffering from abuse. But I fail to comprehend the purpose of this story. It is dark, repulsive and has moments of sublime irony.  But its purpose - remains elusive. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Racial slurs, Rape, Slavery, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Forced institutionalization, and Colonisation

saintrobot's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

julaun's review

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Incest, Slavery, and Suicide

dahliapyne's review

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!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Colonisation

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, and Murder

sydapel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

I feel like I've been meaning to read Octavia Butler for so long, and boy I'm so glad I bucked up and got on the train. I feel like this book may have been a weird place to start, since it's a prequel to a series that was previously written, but the idea of two immortal beings diving in and out of each others lives was so compelling I couldn't help myself. There's some pretty graphic and taboo stuff that happens on page, but Doro and Anyanwu's contrasting approaches on how to create life and use their gifts creates a incredibly compelling game of tug of war over centuries. Butler writes a fascinating character study on the nature of immortality, power and legacy - this would be such an interesting book to discuss with a group and I, personally am so excited to dive into more of her work

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

jalexpulliamkepler's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-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

3.75

complex but lacked the tension to be truly engaging. It honestly feels like the prologue of a different story (which it kinda is)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Blood, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Homophobia, Transphobia, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

pinakamataas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

This was an almost 5⭐️ read for me. And mostly the rating went up from the contrast to previously reading the Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. 

This was a gripping piece that can make you question anyone’s sanity, it deals with truly dark subject matter, so I would not lightheartedly suggest it to anyone, but to those who were deeply disappointed by Addie LaRue, and maybe because it hinted at darkness it definitely didn’t deliver, this will in spades. But it’s unfair to make this review mentioning both books, because this clearly stands on its own.

I’m not sure if I’ll pick up the next instalments of the Patternmaster (soon or if ever), because it gave me something (or took something from me) that I will need a while to recover.

Doro is and will be one of the most disturbing characters who must kill, and yet kills for pleasure as well. Throughout the book he goes through so much character (I can’t say development) change, that it’s admirable (in spite of everything), and here if he says he loves someone, as a reader you understand that love is nothing romantic and while it’s disturbing and with very little humanity, it is not a lie.

Anyanwu Is the character that teased me with the potential 5⭐️ rating, and in the end while I didn’t hate the place she ended up in the book, approximately 5% before the final reveal of the ending I exclaimed to myself “She WON” and while she didn’t lose the battle with Doro, she definitely didn’t win it either, and it was a huge disappointment to me. Some people might not have that reaction.
Anyanwu sometimes feels like an even more interesting character than Doro while she goes through a lot less character development, her development was more along the lines of the power over her abilities and coming into her own power, but otherwise she is a strong willed character, that I admired a lot of the time.

Anyanwu and Doro play this very separate black and white, yin/yang, good and evil dual POV, and during the course of the book the roles soften, and this feels like the beginning of Doro’s future journey where he has embraced a lot more greyness. And in a way, he ended the book a little less dark than he began it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Incest, Slavery, Suicide, and Medical trauma

thenextbookdilemma's review

challenging dark reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, and Incest

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, Slavery, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Infertility, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, and Pregnancy

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

Anyanwu and Doro are powerful, immortal, godlike beings who may or may not be human. What a wild, up and down ride with a slow burn satisfying (?) payoff. It was a lot of fun seeing the ways that Anyanwu challenged Doro, and I loved the insight we got into her body-focused powers (which reminded me of the Ooloi from Butler’s Xenogenesis saga). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Colonisation

turtleduckiess's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

I want to write this review before I read the afterward. I wish I had gotten here immediately after finishing the book but i had class smh. I thoroughly enjoyed my reading experience. From what I can tell this is a sort of random place to start with Octavia Butler but I really enjoyed the writing and the world and magic systems she created. The best part about this book is undoubtedly the two main characters, especially Anyanwu she was my favorite part of the entire thing. I think the characterization of them is really strong and laid out very consisteny so you understand why they make certain choices or why they change throughout the book which was very interesting to watch. The ending had me STRESSED and I had lots of feelings about that last chapter. I'm really excited to see what other people thought about it. Going in required reading because Anyanwu's ideas about family and her duty as a healer, how she understands humanity, and perseveres in her circumstances all resonated or impacted me. That is what will stick with me even as the details of the plot fade away.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, and Grief

Minor: Pedophilia and Rape