quitobowen's review
challenging
dark
tense
fast-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Child abuse, Death, Incest, Cancer, Body horror, Racism, Kidnapping, and Adult/minor relationship
sea_birdblue's review
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
kautaru's review against another edition
Yep. You saw that right. 0 stars. I daresay this is probably the worst book I've read, and probably the worst I'll ever read. I feel sorry for anyone who has to read this for their studies. Why didn't I like it? Well, if graphic sex, rape, kidnapping, murder, and incest sound enjoyable to you, huzzah. I don't find those things enjoyable. I don't care how interesting the plot is, or how good the storyworld is, or how intriguing the moral dilemma is–the constant disgusting scenes overpowered everything, and made it impossible to enjoy anything. Seriously. How is writing like this okay, let alone praised? What has our world come to? I fear for the future.
chilliam_mc's review against another edition
I’ll def come back. I LOVED first 2 books but this book feels very unconnected from those so it didn’t pull me in immediately. But it was still good so far so I’ll def come back
gellyreads's review
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Yo, what the fuck did this have to do with the rest of the series? What the fuck did I just read?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Gun violence, and Incest
Moderate: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, War, Racism, Misogyny, Homophobia, Abandonment, Animal death, Death, Injury/injury detail, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy
Minor: Child death
skstoxdale's review
3.0
Humans losing their humanity to a extraterrestrial organism that compels them to reproduce — yet compellingly, the infected humans maintain some of their humanity as they witness themselves transform and must make moral decisions knowing that they cannot control all their urges. This is one of the creepiest books I’ve ever read, but kept reading because their ethical dilemma is compelling. Feels like horror at points and trigger warning for sexual violence.
teegs's review
4.0
This book was a little jarring in that it had a very loose connection to the rest of the series but it appears the events of this book are essential to the patternmaster book which concluded the series chronologically. I would definitely look up trigger warnings on this one and the whole series if you're interested. This one was the most disturbing so far but Octavia Butler proves to me again and again that she was either a prophet or a secret time traveller. This book was set in 2021 and some of the parallels are outright unsettling. So well written and imaginative. Octavia Butler is one of my favorite authors I've read full stop.
quailtea's review
3.0
Wow- a wild ride. All of the trigger warnings for this one, particularly gun and sexual violence (especially child sexual assault). I've been grateful to read this series- although the connections to this book and the last two are scant, barely enough to show they take place in the same universe- because it shows all the seeds being planted and ideas being explored more richly, compellingly and meaningfully in Earthseed, Xenogenesis, and Kindred. Those latter books/series all have complex political notions that provide a foundation for both the enjoyable and the awful parts of the story. I just don't think that political statement is here clearly enough in this book, which means that it's well written, hard to put down, certainly fascinating, but the violence- in particular the sexual violence against young girls- is relentless and sort of meaningless. I will still finish this series but this has been a tough one.