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juushika's review
4.0
Doro is an ancient being who lives by stealing the bodies of others. When he discovers Anyanwu, a shapeshifter with immaculate control, he is determined to integrate her into his wide-ranging breeding program for individuals with strange gifts. Butler's work is one part high-concept sci-fi and one part conversations about power, consent, and intimacy. Wild Seed lacks the distinct concept of her other work, like aliens (Xenogenesis) or vampires (Fledgling); the premise takes longer to establish, and so the book has no immediate hook. Without that readability, the power dynamics are joyless indeed. But as the books develops narrative momentum: what a success. These protagonists are more complex than Butler's norm and the swings between their points of view are intentionally unsettling; their situation is less victim to arbitrary and inviolate rules. The result is a book with a wide scope, encompassing an expansive secondary cast, continents and decades, and race issues, and a keen, unforgiving focus which has more nuance and better success than Butler's other novels. It's not my favorite Butler, but it is probably her best.
digitaltempest's review
5.0
4.5 stars. How do I even begin to review this? I'm going to have to think on this for a few days. If you have Kindle Unlimited, do yourself a favor and read/listen to this book. If you don't, just buy it. Doro, a man who steals the bodies of others and uses the until he must find another or he feels he deserves the body of another person, finds Anyanwu in the African forests living alone on the fringes of a village as a old medicine woman. While searching for one of his lost groups of people, people who were likely taken and sold into slavery, Anyanwu’s power pulls him toward her. This aged woman reveals herself to be a young healer with strength that could crush a grown man who has roamed the world for over 300 years, but her lifetime is still a drop in time compared to his own lifespan.
Anyanwu agrees to leave the safety of her home to help Doro forge a bloodline of children who have special abilities and share their immortality in a world where loneliness and boredom are the enemies of people like them. While her agreement is made in order to save her own bloodline from him, part of her wonders if there could truly be a time when she would no longer have to watch her children die. This book follows Doro and Anyanwu from Africa during the early years of the American slave trades to the end of slavery as love, fight, hate, and dream about everything from the ethical issues of true workings of Doro’s breeding plan to their feelings about each other.
It’s hard to pin this book down to just one thing. It’s science-fiction mixed with historical fantasy add a little romance and a generous helping of social issues (racism, gender issues, ethical issues). Even describing it like that, I don’t think I’ve capture the essence of this book. This books takes so many conventional ideas and presents them in such an unconventional way as Butler uses words to weave this tale that can really take her readers on an emotional roller coaster. I love a good light, quick, fun speculative read, but there’s nothing like speculative fiction that uses the medium to really transcend expectations of the genre. Butler managed that this with book.
Dion Graham was such a powerful, amazing narrator choice for this book. The emotion and voices that he used for the characters captured me as much as the words did themselves. Butler’s characters were already so powerful. I love characters that can really shake me to my core. There was nothing simple about any of them. Even the ones you hated had this part of them that you still recognized as human, and Butler was able to convey so much of their humanity in less words than many author’s use to get you to care about characters in books twice this size. These characters combined with Graham’s narration was fantastic. I’m hoping that he’ll be narrating the other books in this series.
Despite all the ugliness in this book, it was counteracted with so much beauty. I had one minor complaint with a transition later in the book. It seemed a little hurried as Butler tried to wrap up the story, but I did like what it transitioned into.This was my first read by Octavia Butler, and it took me so long to read her because others had told me she could be a heavy read. And while I expected something amazing, something that would probably affect me on a profound level given how many people I know read her books and praise how she touched on issues, I hadn’t expected the incongruous beauty that waited for me or the feelings and thoughts that was this book.
Anyanwu agrees to leave the safety of her home to help Doro forge a bloodline of children who have special abilities and share their immortality in a world where loneliness and boredom are the enemies of people like them. While her agreement is made in order to save her own bloodline from him, part of her wonders if there could truly be a time when she would no longer have to watch her children die. This book follows Doro and Anyanwu from Africa during the early years of the American slave trades to the end of slavery as love, fight, hate, and dream about everything from the ethical issues of true workings of Doro’s breeding plan to their feelings about each other.
It’s hard to pin this book down to just one thing. It’s science-fiction mixed with historical fantasy add a little romance and a generous helping of social issues (racism, gender issues, ethical issues). Even describing it like that, I don’t think I’ve capture the essence of this book. This books takes so many conventional ideas and presents them in such an unconventional way as Butler uses words to weave this tale that can really take her readers on an emotional roller coaster. I love a good light, quick, fun speculative read, but there’s nothing like speculative fiction that uses the medium to really transcend expectations of the genre. Butler managed that this with book.
Dion Graham was such a powerful, amazing narrator choice for this book. The emotion and voices that he used for the characters captured me as much as the words did themselves. Butler’s characters were already so powerful. I love characters that can really shake me to my core. There was nothing simple about any of them. Even the ones you hated had this part of them that you still recognized as human, and Butler was able to convey so much of their humanity in less words than many author’s use to get you to care about characters in books twice this size. These characters combined with Graham’s narration was fantastic. I’m hoping that he’ll be narrating the other books in this series.
Despite all the ugliness in this book, it was counteracted with so much beauty. I had one minor complaint with a transition later in the book. It seemed a little hurried as Butler tried to wrap up the story, but I did like what it transitioned into.This was my first read by Octavia Butler, and it took me so long to read her because others had told me she could be a heavy read. And while I expected something amazing, something that would probably affect me on a profound level given how many people I know read her books and praise how she touched on issues, I hadn’t expected the incongruous beauty that waited for me or the feelings and thoughts that was this book.
alykat_reads's review against another edition
medium-paced
4.0
This was such an interesting (and kind of weird) concept. Anyanwu is everything and I'm in awe. She's got a heart of gold and I was rooting for her from page one. Doro, is the exact opposite and I basically hated him the entire time.
I've only ever read (so far) the Parable series of Octavia's work, this was very different but not at all in a bad way. This leans more towards fantasy than sci-fi, but I really enjoyed it. And Octavia's writing is always just beautiful so its super easy to get lost in the story.
I've only ever read (so far) the Parable series of Octavia's work, this was very different but not at all in a bad way. This leans more towards fantasy than sci-fi, but I really enjoyed it. And Octavia's writing is always just beautiful so its super easy to get lost in the story.
ashleynquinto's review
5.0
Wild Seed was a welcomed escape into an alternate reality that has roots tied to our world. The author mixes fantasy with historical fiction, as she explores racial tensions, class issues, gender roles, and sexuality. I'm excited to read the rest of this series and Butler's other novels.
dennisfischman's review
4.0
The relationship between Anyanwu and Doro is painful, but it's a reminder that even with structures of power and domination, love is possible.
obsidian_blue's review against another edition
2.0
Well this one didn't work for me at all. The only saving grace is that it was short. I loved/liked Octavia Butler's other books and this one just made my skin crawl. Reading about almost immortal beings named Anyanwu and Doro through 288 pages of their dysfunction was a little much for me honestly.
When Doro comes across Anyanwu (Sun Woman) he is happy to finally meet someone that he thinks can help him with his quest to breed the perfect children. Though Anyanwu is hesitant to be with Doro, she decided that she is tired of being alone more and watching her descendants die along with her husbands. Too late she realizes that Doro is a cruel being who doesn't care about people at all except to make sure that they do his bidding in all things.
They travel from Africa to the New World (America) and are able to change their bodies, color of their skin, and even their sex. I wish that Butler had these two stay African and have to deal with the problems their skin color would have living in the Americas, but that is quickly skated over by people saying how afraid of Doro they are and Doro and his villages are quickly left alone.
I also felt frustrated by Anyanwu since she is really just Doro's doormat. She keeps making all these concessions thinking it is going to keep her children safe and nothing she is doing does that. Doro is cruel and has caused her pain over and over again and she is in a love/hate relationship with him. I thought it was gross how Doro was forcing Anywanwu to breed with who he said since he wanted children off of her. I kept hoping someone would kill Doro.
The writing was good, I just lost interest in it after a while. This is not another Xenogenesis series where you can see the debates about consent going back and forth and gray areas. There is just simply Doro being awful and getting away with it for centuries.
The flow was upside down too though. Nothing goes on forever it seems besides reading about how Doro is trying to breed people and then we come to an end which I assume sets up the next book in the series. I plan on skipping that.
When Doro comes across Anyanwu (Sun Woman) he is happy to finally meet someone that he thinks can help him with his quest to breed the perfect children. Though Anyanwu is hesitant to be with Doro, she decided that she is tired of being alone more and watching her descendants die along with her husbands. Too late she realizes that Doro is a cruel being who doesn't care about people at all except to make sure that they do his bidding in all things.
They travel from Africa to the New World (America) and are able to change their bodies, color of their skin, and even their sex. I wish that Butler had these two stay African and have to deal with the problems their skin color would have living in the Americas, but that is quickly skated over by people saying how afraid of Doro they are and Doro and his villages are quickly left alone.
I also felt frustrated by Anyanwu since she is really just Doro's doormat. She keeps making all these concessions thinking it is going to keep her children safe and nothing she is doing does that. Doro is cruel and has caused her pain over and over again and she is in a love/hate relationship with him. I thought it was gross how Doro was forcing Anywanwu to breed with who he said since he wanted children off of her. I kept hoping someone would kill Doro.
The writing was good, I just lost interest in it after a while. This is not another Xenogenesis series where you can see the debates about consent going back and forth and gray areas. There is just simply Doro being awful and getting away with it for centuries.
The flow was upside down too though. Nothing goes on forever it seems besides reading about how Doro is trying to breed people and then we come to an end which I assume sets up the next book in the series. I plan on skipping that.
quay's review
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I rooted for Anyanwu so hard throughout this story and came back after starting Mind of My Mind to give her character even more praise. While I didn’t necessarily like her, I enjoyed reading about her struggle against an unbeatable power. There was a pain and misery that felt real and oppressive, covering the story. I found myself disgusted with Doro, distraught along with the other characters, and wondering where it all leads.
I appreciate the commentary on slavery—Doro’s approach is so cold, as he doesn’t consider himself part of the African race. It’s interesting, and I would have liked more insight into how he can be born of them but not feel that they’re his people, yet see those born from him as his own. I liked this book a lot, and I listened to the audio version.
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence
whatshanireads's review against another edition
5.0
I loved Wild Seed. Really a story of contending with power and what that power looks like in the hands of gods of their own making. Octavia Butler tells this story with great rhythm. There are times when I was left exhausted with Doro's character and his abuse of power. However, I also enjoyed Anyanwu's storyline and her constant striving for temperance as she understood the greatness of her own power. Wonderful storytelling and a great start to the Patternmaster series.
asydneyyyy's review
everything butler writes I inhale like my life depends on it. xenogenesis trilogy is still my #1 but this is up there (surprise surprise)
kai4u's review
3.0
This was a wild ride for sure! Ms. Butler's ability to.have you really rooting for these mystical characters is mind blowing! To feel love she had for her people and Isaac, the pain of their loss of friends and family jump from the pages. The hate for Corp was REAL!!!