Butler, Octavia E. Books

Kindred (Black Women Writers Series)

Octavia E. Butler

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 173 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

First time Butler Reader 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I just finished Kindred and was inspired more by the character development and slave narrative than the fantastic aspect of the text. I think Butler handled the historical situation more effectively than she did the actual situation of time travel. I was expecting to be drawn more than I was into the ramifications of the protagonist's time traveling on her present-day life.

I agree that about half-way through the story became a bit too predictable, but I never lost interest, because Butler never slowed the text's pace.

I can't say that I was riveted by the book, but I read it in afternoon, so I mustn't have been bored either. I would recommend the book for high school students specifically. (I am a teacher and I think the book would be one students would be interested in.)

Editorial Review:

Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. With more than 100,000 copies in print, Kindred is a classic timetravel novel by an acclaimed African-American science fictionwriter.

Parable of the Sower

Octavia E. Butler

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 107 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Must Read 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This was an excellent book. Not only was the scenario peppered with realism, but Butler has a way of pulling her reader into the story with the characters. It is a wonderfully heart-wrenching tale of community and survival.

The story is set in an economically destitute America. As the reader, you will travel with a young woman as she struggles to survive, understand what has happened, accept the reality of her situation, and build a future for herself and those she comes to call friends.

A very thought-provoking book and entertaining read.

Editorial Review:

Octavia E. Butler, the grande dame of science fiction, writes extraordinary, inspirational stories of ordinary people. Parable of the Sower is a hopeful tale set in a dystopian future United States of walled cities, disease, fires, and madness. Lauren Olamina is an 18-year-old woman with hyperempathy syndrome--if she sees another in pain, she feels their pain as acutely as if it were real. When her relatively safe neighborhood enclave is inevitably destroyed, along with her family and dreams for the future, Lauren grabs a backpack full of supplies and begins a journey north. Along the way, she recruits fellow refugees to her embryonic faith, Earthseed, the prime tenet of which is that "God is change." This is a great book--simple and elegant, with enough message to make you think, but not so much that you feel preached to.

Fledgling

Octavia E. Butler

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 69 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

"Octavia E. Butler is one of the finest voices in fiction--period. . . . A master storyteller, Butler casts an unflinching eye on racism, sexism, poverty, and ignorance and lets the reader see the terror and beauty of human nature."-The Washington Post Book World

"Readers familiar with . . . Parable of the Sower and Bloodchild will recall that [Butler] never asks easy questions or settles for easy answers."-Gerald Jonas in The New York Times

Fledgling, Octavia Butler's first new novel in seven years, is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly unhuman needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion: She is in fact a genetically modified, 53-year-old vampire. Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life, she must at the same time learn who wanted-and still wants-to destroy her and those she cares for and how she can save herself. Fledgling is a captivating novel that tests the limits of "otherness" and questions what it means to be truly human.

Octavia E. Butler is the author of 11 novels, including Kindred, Dawn, and Parable of the Sower. Recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant, the Nebula Award, the Hugo Award, and numerous other literary awards, she has been acclaimed for her lean prose, strong protagonists, and social observations that range from the distant past to the far future.

Parable Of The Talents

Octavia E. Butler

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 60 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

It helps to know what a "talent" is! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is a sequel to Parable of the Sower. In my review of Sower, I had doubts about the religious writings and ideology of the main character, Lauren. Thus I really appreciated that here, Butler brings other voices into the mix, other narrators who question and even oppose Lauren's vision. This lifts her Earthseed religion out of its starry-eyed beginnings in the first book, and brings it into context as a noble but not necessarily infallible belief system, one that redefines God in quite secular terms.

I still have mixed feelings about Lauren's Earthseed religion, but this book left me turning it over in my head -- even seeking out scholarly articles written about the book to get different perspectives on it. Any work of fiction that is so thought-provoking, well-written, and engrossing deserves five stars.

I have to confess that before reading this book, I had no idea what the word "talent" meant in this context. I read the Parable of the Talents (the actual biblical parable, Matthew 25:14-30), and couldn't make any sense of it. When I finished Butler's book and still found the parable incomprehensible, I searched my library for information about it. (See now why I became a librarian?) Anyway, I realized to my embarrassment that a "talent" in the Bible is a monetary unit! Suddenly the parable made a lot more sense. I wish I'd had the presence of mind to look into that before I'd read Butler's book.

Apparently, Butler planned on continuing her series past these first two books, but sadly she passed away before writing another. The two Parable books stand well on their own, however, and I recommend them to all readers, even those who normally stay away from science fiction.

Editorial Review:

Octavia E. Butler continues the compelling story of Lauren Olamina and her struggle for survival in a socially and economically depressed California in the 2030s. Convinced that her quiet community, Acorn, should chart humankind's destiny by leaving Earth and peacefully colonizing the stars, Lauren and her faithful followers make preparations. But the sudden collapse of society and the reckless rise of fanatics threaten Acorn's very existence. Now, with her followers brutally enslaved and her own daughter stolen from her, Lauren must fight back to save the new world order...or die trying.

Wild Seed

Octavia E. Butler

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 69 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Remarkable Writer of Speculative Fiction 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Octavia Butler has a gift for story-telling. Anyone interested in speculative fiction should give "Wild Seed" a read. I promise, you won't put it down. Her characters are engaging, and even provocative. Creative, clever, and well-written, this book will remain in my library until it becomes ragged with use.

Will Someone PLEASE Make a Movie Outta This Great Story 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book is awesome. My favorite Octavia Butler book. I finally bought the hardcover after re-reading to death my old paperback.

What makes this book so good, is simple - the story. Doro, a man/spirit who can not die and Anyanwu, a woman who can not be killed, in a struggle that mixes sci-fi, with African slave trade, to early America, with an Ike and Tina Tuner type love story.

Unmatched story that is ripe for cinematic gold.

Editorial Review:

Doro is an entity who changes bodies like clothes, killing his hosts by reflexor design. He fears no oneuntil he meets Anyanwu. Anyanwu is a shapeshifter who can absorb bullets and heal with a kiss and savage anyone who threatens her. She fears no oneuntil she meets Doro. Together they weave a pattern of destiny unimaginable to mortals.

Bloodchild and Other Stories: Second Edition

Octavia E. Butler

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

"An outstanding short story collection . . . [Butler] is an impressive writer whose work displays how science fiction readily transcends the perceived stylistic limitations of the genre."-St. Petersburg Times

"Bloodchild is a compelling and horrifying novella . . . [by an] exceptionally talented writer."-Publishers Weekly

"The title story is justly famous . . . splendid pieces, set forth in calm, lucid prose with never a word wasted."-Kirkus Reviews

"Butler graces new mansions of thought with her eloquent, distinguished, and poignant prose. Although this book is little in size, its ideas and aims are splendidly large."-Booklist

This New York Times Notable Book of the Year includes the Hugo and Nebula awards-winner Bloodchild and the Hugo Award-winner Speech Sounds.

Octavia E. Butler is the author of 11 novels, including Kindred, Dawn, and Parable of the Sower. Recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant, the Nebula Award, the Hugo Award, and numerous other literary awards, she has been acclaimed for her lean prose, strong protagonists, and social observations that range from the distant past to the far future.

Seed to Harvest

Octavia E. Butler

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Seed to Harvest by Octavia E. Butler 2 out of 5 stars.
3 of 14 people found this review helpful.

Collected for the first time are all four of Octavia E. Butler's Patternist novels: Wild Seed, Mind of My Mind, Clay's Ark, and Patternmaster. Now you get to see this whole unique world from its beginnings hundreds of years ago to its conclusion hundreds and thousands of years in the future. Seed to Harvest will delight and terrify you in a way only Butler can.

Our main character and quasi hero is Doro, who is more like a god or perhaps a devil in a way, instead of a human. He has a special power: he's immortal, only to continue living forever he has to consume other people's souls and become that person, inhabiting that body. He has been doing this for a thousand years, and lives his life as he does until one day he meets a woman, Anyanwu, in Africa, in the seventeenth century. She is a shapeshifter and has unique powers of her own, such as the ability to heal by a kiss, and with an incredible strength, she can defend herself against anything. Wild Seed is their story, as they meet and get to know each other, fall in love, and travel to New Amsterdam, where they will start their own family of gifted children. Along the way they find other characters with special abilities, which Doro believes is somehow linked to his history and his own powers. But Doro is also creating this family for his own personal survival, so he will have more victims to keep him alive and immortal. Wild Seed ends with the family now quite large, and Anyanwu unable to live with Doro anymore, leaving him.

Mind of My Mind is close to the present day, Anyanwu has changed her name to Emma, wanting to separate herself from her past, but unable to. Doro now lives in Forsyth, California, where his family continues to grow with new individuals and their unique powers. It is here that the Pattern begins to emerge of this large family that is all interrelated, and that is in constant struggle with the paternal master, Doro. The book ends with the final death of Doro, who is sealed in his current body, cremated and no longer able to take another, ending the line. But the Pattern is not finished.

Clay's Ark is set in the twenty-third century and it is here that the spaceship, known as Clay's Ark, returns to Earth with an alien and a sickness that begins to infect everyone. But at the same time a new race is formed out of the sickness, out of those on the spaceship, who become known as "Clayarcs." And as time passes, they establish themselves as a formidable force on the planet.

Patternmaster is the mighty conclusion to the long series, where the Patternists and Clayarcs fight against each other in a distant future time where evolution has made them look barely human. This is a hostile and tough world, where only one race can triumph, the question is which one will it be?

While Seed to Harvest can be boiled down to a simple summary, Butler has weaved many emotions and issues that are ever present in the current world, on the subject of race and evolution, on what it means to be human. The book merely continues to prove that Octavia E. Butler was one of the best science fiction writers of her time.

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Lilith's Brood

Octavia E. Butler

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Friendly but Invasive Aliens 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The way she writes is as if I'm watching events unfold on CNN, its real feeling and spooky. The set up is great and the plot unfortunately all to believeable. Humans mess up in foriegn affairs and get into a thermo nuclear war while aliens watch from orbit. They haul us out of the flames but now there's a price to pay and its a biggie. I got into this book and I think anyone who likes books about aliens and human interaction will really enjoy this. Its complicated and at times depressing. But all in all a good book, it will stay with you long after you're done reading.

Editorial Review:

Dawn: After nuclear war destroys the world, Earths survivors are rescued by the miraculously powerful Oankali aliens- who survive by merging genetically with primitive peoples without their permission. Adulthood Rites: Desperate to regain their world, childless humans seek to cleanse the alien taint by kidnapping hybrid children. But the raiders are blind to the truth of Earths new children. Imago: The futures of both humans and aliens rest in one young beings successful metamorphosis into adulthood.

Mind of My Mind

Octavia E. Butler

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A Great Read Sure to Engage 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Octavia E. Butler's books often deal with the issues of race, sex, and class and feature young black women coming into their own. In MIND OF MY MIND, Mary, a young woman raised in tough conditions, realizes that she has extraordinary power, and this both frightens and amazes her. Her predecessor, Doro, is also someone of nearly unlimited power, but he can hardly be categorized as human. Able to take over the body of anyone, he discovered this ability as a child in ancient Africa. Through the ages he learns to control this power and with it embarks on a quest to breed a new species--one that will dominate the world.

However, his experiments are not without cost. Many of the humans that he "created" are wrong. Their abilities may be dormant and often cause mental problems that are uncontrollable. In one truly horrifying scene in the book, readers are presented with a possible outcome when two of these humans come together--a baby's rotting body is discovered among two people that are incapable of functioning because their abilities, in such close proximity, drive them crazy.

Still, there are some that function enough to breed more children. And finally, Doro has what he wants in Mary. But her power may prove greater than his, as he feels that she is what he could have been. He believes, at first, that she will be easy to guide and control because she is a female. Once she fully learns to command her abilities, she also learns to lead others like her, and she and Doro continue a dangerous game of mental chess as they learn what the other is truly capable of.

Though a short novel, it is written from multiple points of view and engages the reader with simple yet extraordinary prose and dialog. Anyone that enjoys science fiction and fantasy should enjoy this book; it is also a great read for anyone that is looking for an engaging story that probes the questions of humanity, evolution, and the responsibilities and pitfalls of power.

Editorial Review:

A young ghetto telepath launches a psychic struggle against the four-thousand-year-old immortal who has been her father, lover, master, and creator to free her fellow telepaths. Reprint. PW. K.

Dawn

Octavia E. Butler

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 56 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Good Series Opener 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Lilith is a young woman saved by an alien race known as the Oankali after the superpowers of the time (US/USSR)nuked the world. The Oankali mix their genes with those of other races to evolve, and they have decided that what is left of humanity should be used for this purpose. Lilith is used by the Oankali as a messenger, an ambassador of sorts, to introduce other rescued humans to the Oankali and share the Oankali's intentions for the remainder of mankind.

This book addresses many moral complexities of man. Butler uses the setting of her novel to focus on issues of human sexuality (the ooloi and manner of Oankali reproduction), the "human conflict" (in spite of their plight, the humans still exhibit hierarchical behavior when they should be uniting), and the self-destructive nature of man (a man-made war destroys civilation and mankind continues on a smaller-scale self-destructive path). On the surface, Dawn is a book about the rebirth of Earth and the meeting between humans and aliens after an apocalyptic event. Beneath the surface, Butler addresses deeper issues about mankind. Although this book is wonderfully written and thoroughly entertaining, I had a couple of issues with it:
1. Lilith gave in too easily in some areas. After reading it, I could not understand her easy acceptance of Nikanj - even though he was a child. Butler adequately explains it, but her response, given the circumstances, does not feel authentic.
2. Lilith could have done more to let the other humans know where she stood on the issues. Her position was clear, but only in her thoughts. It seemed that she would have done more to let those close to her know what she believe and wanted.
3. Several editing errors were somewhat distracting.

Overall, the book was well worth the read and I recommend it.

Editorial Review:

In a world devastated by nuclear war with humanity on the edge of extinction, aliens finally make contact. They rescue those humans they can, keeping most survivors in suspended animation while the aliens begin the slow process of rehabilitating the planet. When Lilith Iyapo is "awakened," she finds that she has been chosen to revive her fellow humans in small groups by first preparing them to meet the utterly terrifying aliens, then training them to survive on the wilderness that the planet has become. But the aliens cannot help humanity without altering it forever.Bonded to the aliens in ways no human has ever known, Lilith tries to fight them even as her own species comes to fear and loathe her. A stunning story of invasion and alien contact by one of science fiction's finest writers.