Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Clay's Ark by Octavia E. Butler

21 reviews

figgy24_20's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

Not my favorite of Butler’s books, but still all star league writing. Very insightful - all her characters grapple with the complexity of the situation in their own way. 

The world is revealed to us through the eyes of the characters - the problems they face are the ones that are important to the world. 

The whole book takes place in about a 10 mile radius in the middle of the desert - and yet it’s gripping, and the world is big and full. You don’t need to create continents with individual cultures on each of them to tell good sci-fi with complex world building - and Butler illustrates this perfectly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

Reading the content warning list is kinda like a summary of the plot…. Sooo…. Be warned I guess lol.

franksreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Incest

deremie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Rape, Kidnapping, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Cancer and Suicide

Minor: Incest

littlepepperguy's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

2.5

When I first started reading it I thought the reviews must have been exaggerating about the gratuitous assault and violence aaaand then I got about 75% of the way thru the novel and yeah it started to make a lot of sense. 

The story is compelling, in the way that Butler is a master of scifi/fantasy writing and her unique prose style and timelines are intriguing. But yeah I really didn't see the literary value added by sooooo much violence against women and rape and illusions of incest. It just didn't serve a purpose to me and I think it muddled the meaning of the rest of the novel by the inclusion. I also did not appreciate the tone that was used for a majority of it as if the victim was consenting bc of a virus, yeah just dubious. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Incest

alsoapples's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

micksland's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

5.0

Of all the books in Butler’s “Patternist” universe, this is my favorite. It’s the last in publication order but third in the series’s internal chronology. “Clay’s Ark” is a true horror novel and story of survival, taking cues from “The Andromeda Strain” as well as Butler’s earlier woks. This novel is a pandemic story, and it concerns the arrival of the Clay’s Ark organism which will eventually impact the story in “Patternmaster”.

All of Butler’s novels include a high level of body horror, violence, and sexuality, but setting these motifs in the context of a brain-altering disease ratchets up the level of discomfort for the reader. Much like the real-life Cordyceps and Leucochloridium organisms, Clay’s Ark microbes change the behavior of their hosts in order to spread the disease. This leads to a conflict between the behaviors mandated by the disease and the “free will” of the infected characters.

As always, Butler’s vision of a post-apocalyptic United States is horrifyingly rooted in reality, with a focus on income inequality, climate change, and a failure of the social contract that resonates deeply despite the fact that this novel was published in the 1980s.

Terrifying and timely, highly recommended for fans of dystopian horror with strong stomachs.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Rape, Torture, Kidnapping, and Car accident

Moderate: Terminal illness, Medical content, and Murder

Minor: Racism

jeanbpdx's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Suicide

anomiques's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

jacobshere's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Kidnapping, and Grief

quitobowen's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Incest, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping