Leigh Kimmel’s Reviews > Parable of the Talents > Status Update

In the story-present, Larkin meets her uncle, and learns of the vast contradictions of his life -- and how they mirror her own. And in the past, Lauren cautiously approaches people, finding like-minded individuals and introducing them to the philosophy of Earthseed. The metaphor of seduction recalls how Jodhas seemed to seduce old-style humans, just by being.

Larkin reflecting on her first encounter with her uncle Marc, and how her mother was rudderless after the destruction of Acorn, until she encountered Belen (whose name apparently is pronounced to rhyme with "Delenn"). I'm still wondering if we're seeing the setup for how Lauren dies -- and what keeps her from connecting with Larkin.

Lauren levels with her new traveling companion, and they begin a hopeful journey. In the story-present, Larkin recollects how she left her adoptive parents, and became the target of all kinds of ugly rumormongering, just because she was a young woman living alone, not under the authority of a male relative.

The sad story of a young woman from a wealthy household, who was treated as less than because she was born from a surrogate's womb rather than her mother's like her brother. How she ended up on the street, struggling to stay alive -- and perhaps why she's so harsh to Lauren. It seems that people have become arrant wolves to one another, even family, outside Acorn, or Lauren's father's tiny neighborhood.

An old companion tries to talk Lauren out of her search for her daughter, citing the difficulties.

Lauren's meeting with Marc goes disastrously wrong -- is this leading to her demise, or will something else be the cause? And in the future, looking back, Larken recalls how cruel other children could be, because she was adopted and therefore suspect in Jarrett's Christian America.

Lauren is deeply conflicted about her brother. Marc wants belonging and certainty -- but he's also a victim of human trafficking, having been collared and used as a prostitute. Surely he'd want to know what happened to Larkin. Is this what will lead to her betrayal and demise?

Lauren goes to the CA Center in Eureka, encounters her brother Marc, who's now a preacher for CA. Is this the betrayal that results in her demise?

Lauren masquerades as a man and searches for Larkin, careful to avoid attracting attention. Checks certain secret caches for signs that other Earthseed members have checked in. This is practically spycraft -- and there's still risk that someone bad might have figured out what's going on.

Having decided to scatter in small groups, carrying Earthseed and the memory of Acorn with them, they began to search for their abducted children. The evidence that this is extralegal, but the powers that be will not enforce the laws against those they favor, so it may be impossible to recover the children.