Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler

16 reviews

rachbake's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Death, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Child death, Murder, Grief, Trafficking, and Slavery

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

arithmetic's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Colonisation, Child death, Trafficking, Slavery, Pedophilia, and Gore

kefeshe's review

challenging dark mysterious 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

3.0

The concept was really weird. I found my own preconceived notions of what is socially acceptable coming into play. I was faced with my own biases and discomfort with engineering people to produce desirable characteristics like food produce. I appreciated how the characters developed and changed, I don't think I would have felt satisfied with the ending if they had not evolved in the way they had 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Colonisation

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Cannibalism, Adult/minor relationship, and Rape

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

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

deafinitelymissolivia's review

dark reflective tense medium-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

4.5

what I love most about this book- despite it being Octavia Butler, of course- is that despite it being a prequel providing the backstory to the primary villain, it makes no attempt to redeem Doro. because she can't. at all! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Blood, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Cursing, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Stalking, Torture, Trafficking, Addiction, Alcohol, Colonisation, Drug use, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexism, and Drug abuse

aegagrus's review

3.5

The most captivating aspect of Wild Seed is the remarkable way in which Butler has imagined Anyanwu and Doro. Each immortal struggles with their own exceptional power in fascinating ways, confronting their abilities' depths and limitations, the costs of exercising such abilities, and the ways in which their power sets them apart from their own identity and from the world around them. They make a good pair: there is a streak of idealism and humanity in the generally malevolent Doro, and there is a streak of bloodlust in the generally beneficent Anyanwu. As a character, each is quite unique, making for remarkable and unexpected developments in their relationship. Doro's movements through the book, in particular, are sinister and frightening, all the more so because he is not a monochromatic antagonist. Anyanwu's acts of resistance, in turn, are all the more compelling because she is never able to shake a degree of complicity.

Spoiler

The story's morally ambiguous conclusion serves these tensions well.

Though gripping, Wild Seed also has hefty things to say about history and society. Butler's exploration of slavery through the extended analogy of Doro's breeding projects is always interesting and emotionally affecting. Her exploration of gender dynamics through the immortals' relationship (perverse, but still resonant with reality) is also generally of interest. Her gestures towards LGBT themes feel comparatively shallow and don't to me seem to add very much, despite the obvious potential in both main characters' gender-mobile personages. Themes relating to history and inevitability are occasionally curious ancillaries to more central themes, but are often inessential.

Wild Seed is well-written, striking a good balance between literary heft and engaging storytelling. At times, dialogue feels a little forced, and I was not entirely satisfied with the pacing in the third act. In general, though, this was a gripping read, and the sheer uniqueness of Doro and Anyanwu's relationship was of great value to me as a reader. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Grief

Moderate: Incest, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Suicide, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Rape, Racism, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

thenonbinaryc's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Slavery, Murder, Incest, Grief, Rape, Suicide, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Death, Abortion, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

simareading's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Rape, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Slavery, Sexual violence, Self harm, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Incest, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Death, Deadnaming, Confinement, Colonisation, Child death, Blood, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, and Abandonment