Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler starting on June 6, 2025.


Happy Reading!

Thank you!

Been wanting to read these for forever. Very excited.
1. Parable of the Sower (June 6)
2. Parable of the Talents (July 6) [link]

Availability: On Audible Plus for now, at least one of them. Often come up on sales.

Grabbing my spot!

Really interesting interview with Butler, from just a year before she passed, talking about the inspirations for this series, and the impact...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0Ugi...

Started! Through Chapter 3, and 2024. There's a lot of chewy food for thought so far--and it's very sobering--(view spoiler)[the book is set in 2024, and while we're not this bad, I can't help but think "yet" on the end of that sentence... certainly parts of it ring true already, like the bit about politicians, and how the MC's father is the only person she knows who is planning to vote. Statistically speaking, if "not voting" had been a Presidential candidate in the last election, it would have won with more votes than either Harris or Trump. Combined.

The politician who wins also has similarities with right-winged ideals lately. Dismantling programs that are perceived to be wasting money. Changing laws on wages, environmental and worker protections... Apparently in Oklahoma, they're looking to make it legal for children as young as 10 to work full time...

The casual violence everywhere--and how the 15y/o MC takes it all for granted, even with her hyper-empathy--is definitely disturbing. And on the flipside, I'm wondering if her empathy isn't going to be an evolutionary solution to it... I thought it was really interesting how she still made decisions to do violence herself at times--and how she logic'd that she had to go further than the bullies ever would to make sure the behavior never repeated. Preventative violence. Ender’s Game has a similar scene early on, and I believe I've read at least one other story where the MC came to similar conclusions...

Lots of individual lines and scenes that make me stop and think too. Like A little mor hypocrisy to keep the peace. Or the scene with the naked woman just tottering out of an alley and going to lean against a house. Butler paints a picture with a few lines.

The theorizing on God is also interesting. And how it says more about the people who are believing than on the actual nature of God. I'm waiting to see her belief, and how it started--as well as the connection to climate change...

I think the MC, living in a walled compound, on the edge of survival, must be what the Middle Class would look like... and the bits of news we've seen so far suggest there are still rich, maybe just 1%ers, and losts and lots of levels of poor... I find it interesting how the MC still believes that Space Programs are important, even if the $$ could go to relief for the poor. Reminds me that Butler is an SF writer, and she sees the importance of dreams... (hide spoiler)]

Through Chapter 23. I meant to comment more, oops. I could have--the story is fairly dense and thoughtful, and I wasn't really moving that fast until about halfway, but busy week. (view spoiler)[I keep thinking that this story reminds me of post-apocalyptic stories, zombie Odyssey stories like Walking Dead or Resident Evil, or even Z for Zachariah, The Road, The Postman, The Passage etc. All of those feature solo individuals or small groups of people, maybe small towns turned into enclave cities--the human race struggling to survive in a changed world. But what if the apocalypse happened, the world changed--and didn't kill everyone right away? This book is like survival versus overpopulation--a slow apocalypse, lobster in the slowly boiling pot. That intermediate step makes it so much easier to connect to now, to today, and see the slow crumbling of civilization.... and wonder. Will it go there? Will it get this bad? And like the MC--what can we do to prepare?

There are so many moments in this book that make me think--this isn't SF. These kinds of things are happening, right now, somewhere in the world. Even in this country.

The first, biggest warning sign--her brother Keith... made me think about kids joining gangs. Bringing loot home to their families, claiming protection, acting all big... but then they end up in a body bag or urn in a year.

When the fall came, I found it surprising--but also eye opening--that despite her preparations, Lauren was still taken by surprise when the end came to her world. It's so easy to put off decisions until later, later, later... and for the need for them to happen suddenly and immediately.

I'm really enjoying the portion of the story with them on the road though. Hearing about Lauren's family second-hand... I don't know if its better or worse this way. She never had to see it. We never had to see it. But if we don't see it with our own eyes, will it ever feel real? What if Zara was wrong? Maybe she can imagine that they escaped, and found there way somewhere... But in the meanwhile, I really like how they are slowly gathering people. Slowly building Earthseed--a group of people whose first priority is Survival--together. Survival for the whole.

Bankole... why are there so many books with old men dating young women? The last book I read also had an 18y/o and 50y/o. I hate age gaps. Even if Lauren is mature well beyond her years, and she chose him. It still makes me really uncomfortable. Ugh.

The sneaky lobster-in-pot rise of new slavery with corporate towns is also scary... showing how easy it would be to return to this... (hide spoiler)]

Finished! I was pretty close to the end, but there were still a few good scenes left--(view spoiler)[the fire, and Emery finding her first money and blowing it on treats for the group... arriving at Bankole's land... and finding it burned. This felt similar to hearing about Lauren's family--and I liked that the book ended with a ceremony to say goodbye to their dead... That felt like it had been hanging over them since they started their odyssey, and needed to be acknowledged. Plus, with no way to identify the corpses... there was the same level of unknowing about Bankole's family. Like in this time period, you have to say goodbye purposefully to the dead, or likely dead, to go on and survive, and not look back...

I'm glad there's a sequel, 'cuz I want to see how they'll go about setting up the community...

In some ways, as much as I'm getting most comparative feelings with zombie movies, I'm also feeling some Pay it Forward--that old movie with Haley Joel Osment, with young kid who comes up with an idea to make the world better, by doing something big for someone, and paying it forward... (hide spoiler)]

Nirkatze wrote: "Really interesting interview with Butler, from just a year before she passed, talking about the inspirations for this series, and the impact...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0Ugi..."

Thank you for sharing this.

I just finished 2025, and I'm so angry with Keith! I feel like shaking him, but of course, that would only make things worse. It seems that his father and older sibling, at least, are relatively straightforward and open about the rules, expectations, and dangers. Why is he so stubborn? It has to be more than just his age!

Ugh! Me too! Totally similar feelings... he's so blind!! Just like the youngsters (mostly men) who go off and join gangs at that age... (view spoiler)[I think Lauren, or maybe her dad but probably Lauren, makes a comeback when he's like "I just want to prove I'm a man!" and is like "what about this is being a man? Killing people? Robbing people? Hurting people? How does that make you a man?" (hide spoiler)]

Nirkatze wrote: "Started! Through Chapter 3, and 2024. There's a lot of chewy food for thought so far--and it's very sobering--the book is set in 2024, and while we're not this bad, I can't help but think "yet" on ..."

That's why I wanted to read it this year! (well last year, but I forgot) and I also (view spoiler)[ couldn't help but compare to current events. Honestly if climate change had sped up, we would probably be in a similar situation. (hide spoiler)]

Re Bankole (view spoiler)[ this didn't phase me at all somehow when I first read it. But now, I'm just like 18 and 56? What in the???

I don't know if your copy had the forward by N. K. Jemisin, but she mentioned how her first read she didn't find the MC being so mature at her age believable, but as she got older and more distant from adolescence that part didn't bother her as much... But I'm rereading this, and like, how is this teenager leading this group of people?? I think it might (unfortunately) help that she's very tall and is a little masculine presenting. (hide spoiler)]

I keep seeing prices go up, and that part is really scary... how long?

And yeah... Bankole... *sigh*--I didn't have the foreword with N.K. Jemisin... but as a person who works with 18y/o on a regular basis, I have known ones whom I would vote for for president and ones I barely trust with a pencil.

Nirkatze wrote: "I keep seeing prices go up, and that part is really scary... how long?

And yeah... Bankole... *sigh*--I didn't have the foreword with N.K. Jemisin... but as a person who works with 18y/o on a regu..."

yeah that's fair! The only teenagers I interact with now are family members (and in my head they're still the babies I remember them as lol)

Yeah.... I've been on the other end of that, lol.

Chapter 3
(view spoiler)[I am already wondering how old she is, even though I am not sure if that's important. I feel fore her, she is so empathic that feels others' pain! That's awful! And how violent this world is!! And this poverty breaks my heart. I am curious about the life beyond the walls. (hide spoiler)]

I read this in 2017 (haven't read the follow-up yet) and really enjoyed it. I remember feeling how scary it was because I could totally see that happening (especially now). I've also read the Xenogenesis trilogy.

re: Lauren's age--I think she's 15 at the start of the book and 18 by the end?

This definitely feels like a much closer intermediate step than anything else I've read... and the next book has even more similarities to our current time...

You're right! It was said but I forgot it

Chapter 9
(view spoiler)[What is Keith doing??! I am super curious (hide spoiler)]

Ugh! Keith!!

Chapter 23
(view spoiler)[I have already seen nightmares for this book - so much violence!! I like the writing and characters. But this is a horrible story. I didn't guess Keith or her whole family would live such a short time. (hide spoiler)]

Nirkatze wrote: "Through Chapter 23..."
(view spoiler)[I also recently read two books about men using children for sex so I understand your opinion on Bankole.
And yep seeing slavery's comeback is sickening. But well we have that too already, I am thinking about women/children trafficking (hide spoiler)]

Finished
(view spoiler)[This was worth reading! The atmosphere was created so well and I also loved the main character. My only complain is about her ability - it seems like she would have to see someone who is hurting before she can feel their pain. But when there was an attack she "died" four times but I got an impression like she wouldn't have seen them dying but maybe I am wrong. And there were so many secondary characters in the end and I couldn't remember who was who. They weren't fleshed out. I started to suspect at some point that maybe his sister wasn't okay anymore but I was still surprised how everything was destroyed like this (hide spoiler)]

Yeah, true that trafficking exists... (view spoiler)[but at least it isn't publicly endorsed by governments... we're not that bad yet in the world... it does feel like that statement needs a "yet" though... (hide spoiler)]