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Wild Seed

(Patternmaster #1)

Octavia E. Butler

4.22 · Rating details · 17,975 ratings · 1,710 reviews

Doro is an entity who changes bodies like clothes, killing his hosts by reflex or design. He fears no one until 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 one until she meets Doro. Together they weave a pattern of destiny (from Africa to the New World) unimaginable to mortals.

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Paperback, 306 pages

Published April 1st 2001 by Warner Books (first published 1980)

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Dec 25, 2011 Apatt rated it it was amazing

“Recently, however, I began to suspect that calling myself a science fiction critic without having read anything by Octavia Butler bordered on the fraudulent.”
“Books to Look For” - Orson Scott Card

I have to thank OSC for the above-mentioned article (from 1990) which piqued my interest for reading Octavia Butler.

It is strange that I first read Wild Seed in January 2012, I loved it and it made me a lifelong fan of Octavia Butler, but since then I have not read any of the sequels. I have, however ...more

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Jun 11, 2015 Lyn rated it really liked it

Dear Goodreads friends,

If you like to read science fiction / fantasy you should get to know Octavia Butler.

Love,

Lyn

Butler’s 1980 novel Wild Seed is the first chronological book in her Patternmaster series. This details the beginnings of the sub-race of humans that will, in Patternmaster, be set in the far future. Butler begins her narrative in 1390, in West Africa, where her protagonist Anyanwu meets a strange young man named Doro.

So begins a centuries old relationship, often rocky, between two ...more

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Jul 04, 2012 Regina rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc-publisher-netgalley-edelweiss, first-in-series, shifter, african-american, historical-fiction, will-continue-series, audio-also-listened-to, science-fiction, epic, have-in-audio

I really don't know where to start with this review. Wild Seed is unlike anything I have ever read before but yet it was still very accessible and easy to read. I would say this book is a combination of urban fantasy, horror, historical fiction and fantasy. Butler addresses slavery, gender roles, racial issues, sexuality, and class issues so subtlety you can miss the commentary if you want to and she does this all through the lens of a fantasy world involving supernatural beings that are seeming I really don't know where to start with this review. Wild Seed is unlike anything I have ever read before but yet it was still very accessible and easy to read. I would say this book is a combination of urban fantasy, horror, historical fiction and fantasy. Butler addresses slavery, gender roles, racial issues, sexuality, and class issues so subtlety you can miss the commentary if you want to and she does this all through the lens of a fantasy world involving supernatural beings that are seemingly immortal and have various abilities from shape shifting, body snatching, mind reading, and telekinesis. Personally, I don't want to miss the commentary and I enjoy the unique view. I tend to like my urban fantasy and fantasy stories with a slice of heaviness on the side and Octavia Butler seems to be able to deliver that every time.

This is the third book by Octavia Butler that I have read. I have come to expect that in reading her books I will have an escape from reality and a complete immersion into the characters that she writes. She writes characters that seem to breathe and live somewhere off the pages of her books, they are real and three dimensional. But such tangible characters come with a price, there is pain and anguish in her books and as a reader, I felt these emotions. Wild Seed was no exception. The characters witness some painful and sad events. This is not urban fantasy lite.

Wild Seed is a sweeping historical story that begins in Africa with ancient powerful beings. These beings get caught up in the slave trade and arrive in the now United States. These characters seem to have limitless power. One being prefers to use her power morally and compassionately. Another being, no longer sees himself as human and is not governed by any morality. And of course they clash, both romantically and otherwise. The book is surprisingly sexual in parts and raises some really interesting questions. A shapeshifter that can take on any shape -- animal and human -- and gender -- how do you feel about it taking on the opposite gender and engaging in sexual relationships? What about while it is in animal form? The sex scenes are not explicit but they are referenced. Octavia Butler is not shy about putting her toe across the border of most people's comfort zones.

I plan to continue on with the series and am excited that Butler's books are being published in e-book and audio book format.

To read more reviews like this check out www.badassbookreviews.com ...more

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Oct 15, 2010 [Name Redacted] rated it liked it

Shelves: anachronisms, sci-fi, secret-history, classics, propaganda, mother-africa

Butler's sci-fi classic has so much to recommend it. She is a very talented writer, and she creates a mythology and cosmology which are, if not unique, then arguably the best-developed of their kind. "Wild Seed" is beautiful and lyrical and powerful, but the rampant misandry and peculiar romanticization of pre-colonial Africa mar it -- infect it like a virus.

There is neither subtlety nor nuance in Butler's representation of the two sexes. No woman is ever a criminal or a monster or a villain -- Butler's sci-fi classic has so much to recommend it. She is a very talented writer, and she creates a mythology and cosmology which are, if not unique, then arguably the best-developed of their kind. "Wild Seed" is beautiful and lyrical and powerful, but the rampant misandry and peculiar romanticization of pre-colonial Africa mar it -- infect it like a virus.

There is neither subtlety nor nuance in Butler's representation of the two sexes. No woman is ever a criminal or a monster or a villain -- those roles are reserved exclusively for the men. And the only men who show any virtuous traits are remarkable because they are explicitly exceptional -- aberrations who invariably die at the hands of other "true" men.

Butler presents the male as mind, male as monster, male as thief, male as predator, male as manipulator, male as sociopath, male as destroyer, male as wanderer, male as slaver, male as arrogant false-god, male as controller and dominator, male as compulsive, incurable rapist.

Butler presents the female as body, female as healer, female as savior, female as settler, female as nurturer, female as victim, female as mother, female as creatrix, female as liberator, female as rebel, female as builder, female as gardener, female as defiant and noble and inherently virtuous.

The sense is often that the male is the rude, brute beast from which the morally, ethically & spiritually superior female has evolved.

And re: her depictions of pre-colonial Africa...Well, i think this novel would have benefited from consultation of the works of Frank M. Snowden cross-referenced with that of Lloyd A. Thompson. It's moving in a Pan-Africanist sense, but it lacks reality.

Again, there is so much of worth here, and it deserves its status as a classic, but its flaws are so glaring, so appalling, that they can eclipse everything that is good about it. I was able to see more of its worth with this re-reading, able to filter out the hypocritical misandry and suspend my disbelief for the African history portions, and maybe next time I'll be able to filter out a bit more. For now I regrettably leave it as a 3 star book. ...more

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Aug 07, 2014 Tomoe Hotaru rated it it was amazing

Shelves: twas-good, sniffle-sniffle, drama, adult, wish-list, historical-fiction, fantasy

blog | goodreads

Most of us don't believe in gods and spirits and devils who must be pleased or feared. We have Doro, and he's enough.

What can I say about Wild Seed that could come anywhere close to doing it justice? This is the story of how Doro met Anyanwu, the only living soul on Earth who could possibly match his will; test his patience, endure his passive cruelty, and time and again defy him in ways even she could not possibly understand.

And forever is a long time to endure one another w ...more

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Mar 08, 2018 Ashley Nuckles rated it it was ok

School book this semester & was not a fan. It gave me the creeps ...more

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Oct 16, 2020 Christopher Paolini rated it it was amazing

Shelves: recommended, favorites

As close to a perfect book as I can imagine. There’s almost nothing that one could do to improve Butler’s prose, pacing, or characterization. She never gives you an excuse to not turn the page . . . which is why I read Wild Seed in a single sitting. The moral issues Butler addresses make for fascinating drama.

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Jun 05, 2012 Wanda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: female-authors, reading-project, speculative-fiction, read-in-2014

A great book, I can’t believe that I just discovered Octavia Butler this year. She has been one the gems that I have encountered while reading through the NPR list of classic science fiction and fantasy. This novel could easily be a stand-alone novel, but I was intrigued when I realized it was the first in a series—I will be very interested to see where Butler takes the story from here.

Although this is another book about extraordinarily long life, Butler examines it from a very different view po A great book, I can’t believe that I just discovered Octavia Butler this year. She has been one the gems that I have encountered while reading through the NPR list of classic science fiction and fantasy. This novel could easily be a stand-alone novel, but I was intrigued when I realized it was the first in a series—I will be very interested to see where Butler takes the story from here.

Although this is another book about extraordinarily long life, Butler examines it from a very different view point. Two very long-lived beings encounter one another and despite a relationship that is uneven in power, their lives remain entwined. There is as interesting exploration of the nature of slavery and the uneven power situation (examined much more directly in Butler’s novel, Kindred). But what really spoke to me was the contrasting way that Doro and Anyanwu deal with people around them.

Now, I have found over the years that I enjoy my relatives immensely. I like spending time with them, talking to them regularly, and planning events to share with them. Anyanwu was my kind of immortal. She collected family around herself, surrounding herself with children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc., building a community of relatives all around her and enjoying their company. Completely different from Doro, who was also surrounded by descendants, but looked at them more as a farmer would regard his livestock—breeding them in an attempt to create people with special abilities including extra-long life. One doing it out of love, the other out of utility.

I’m only guessing, but I think that Anne Rice must have read this book—it reminds me strongly of her book The Witching Hour, where the family of Mayfair women are haunted by a malevolent spirit which nudges them towards the sexual liaisons that would be required to produce the qualities it required in their children in every bit as calculating a way as Doro manipulates his progeny.

This is the 151st book that I have read from the NPR list.
...more

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Apr 26, 2012 Aubrey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1-read-on-hand, r-goodreads, reviewed, person-of-everything, r-2015, antidote-think-twice-read, 4-star, antidote-think-twice-all, reality-check, person-of-reality

4.5/5

As Woolf once said Middlemarch is one of the few English books written for grown-ups, so too is this one of the few pieces of science fiction written for the real world, not marketing and academia. Of course, so chock full is this work with critical engagement and unflinching history that the cries of 'polemic' and 'bias' would not be an unlikely reaction. If that doesn't work, 'prosaic' could always be used as a strong condemnation via completely arbitrary standards of institutionalized re 4.5/5

As Woolf once said Middlemarch is one of the few English books written for grown-ups, so too is this one of the few pieces of science fiction written for the real world, not marketing and academia. Of course, so chock full is this work with critical engagement and unflinching history that the cries of 'polemic' and 'bias' would not be an unlikely reaction. If that doesn't work, 'prosaic' could always be used as a strong condemnation via completely arbitrary standards of institutionalized repute. The work has too high of a rating for those sorts of epithets to have much of an effect, but not all creations inherently concerned with the same material in many of the same ways prove as undeniably excellent in their respective domains.

Black History Month as defined by the US Government has its last day tomorrow, and I wonder how much immortality would be required to value the conversation of the survival over the death of 'it's over, it's done, have a cookie to stave off the resolution cause it's never going to come.' The last of this is all white people creation, for after centuries of winning in the absolute worst ways known to humanity and then some, we can't imagine going out in any way other than that which we put upon others. A simpler explanation is that we love our money too much and would rather be run out on a rail than give it to those as reparation for a country's history of eugenicist leeching, but hey. Life's a mess and the reasons for a collective people's amnesia and hoarding of personal trauma at the expense of anyone who doesn't correctly foot the physiognomic bill must involve more than fear of violence and indoctrination via capitalism.

In this particular world of Butler's, the name of the game is power and its more subtle kin empathy. Along with the much increased measure of supernatural inclusion that I am suspect to gorging on, I liked this better than Kindred because of the vaster space Butler worked on for her creations. If there's one plus to my current philosophy class beyond my getting a measure of many an auspicious overheard name and finding the majority of them lacking, it's seeing where the body hatred came in, the disregard for existence other than the self, the splintering of mind and soul and truth that results in a class named 'Philosophy' and should really be 'Greek and English and Scottish and German Philosophy of Various Hopscotch Periods in Somewhat that Particular Order'. This is an ideological movement of centuries whose myriad challengers are still fringed around the main, so if you want to write a work that destabilizes a thought process that so smugly thinks of itself as the 'center', you need eons of time and continents of space.

Butler is not Anyanwu, but when it comes to the evil wrought by white supremacy in its breeding lines and uselessness makes waste, it's not hard to see that the main factor missing is humanity. Butler is also not Doro, but the prototype of the white serial killer bred on a millenia of alienation and instinctive thrill kill is not hard to construct with the aid of the canon of literature and film and creed. Anyone accusing this work of misandry, please. Accuse each and every vaulted work of misogyny, white supremacism, classism, heteronormativity, etc, etc, ad nauseam when appropriate, and you will actually work towards saving lives and spirits. Misandry? Try reverse racism while you're at it. If someone goes on a genocidal rampage against white men on a hegemonic scale and inculcates long lasting civilizations with the trend, I may start to take you seriously.

Will I scare away readers by saying that this work is ultimately a romance? If I do, they were not the right audience for this work anyway. ...more

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May 05, 2013 Stuart rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantastic-weird, superhuman-powers, humanistic-sf

Wild Seed: Two African immortals battle for supremacy in early America
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature
Wild Seed (1980) was written last in Octavia Butler’s 5-book PATTERNIST series, but comes first in chronology. The next books by internal chronology are Mind of My Mind (1977), Clay’s Ark (1984), and Patternmaster (1976). Butler was later unsatisfied with Survivor (1978) and elected to not have it reprinted, so I will focus on the main 4 volumes. Wild Seed is an origin story set well befo Wild Seed: Two African immortals battle for supremacy in early America
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature
Wild Seed (1980) was written last in Octavia Butler’s 5-book PATTERNIST series, but comes first in chronology. The next books by internal chronology are Mind of My Mind (1977), Clay’s Ark (1984), and Patternmaster (1976). Butler was later unsatisfied with Survivor (1978) and elected to not have it reprinted, so I will focus on the main 4 volumes. Wild Seed is an origin story set well before later books and can stand on its own. It’s one of those books whose basic plot could be described in just a few paragraphs, but the themes it explores are deep, challenging, and thought-provoking. I’ve read a lot of academic discussion of the book, but my approach is always on whether the book is engaging as a SFF story.

It’s the story of Doro, a being who inhabits and discards human bodies at will, who first arose in the time of the Pharaohs in Egypt. Initially he was a just the sickly youngest child of 12 siblings, but when he was dying he accidentally took over his mother and father’s bodies to survive. After that he spent millennia continually switching bodies and creating seed colonies in West Africa where to attempts to breed people with psychic abilities, creating more and more powerful beings. However, if they ever become a threat to him, he destroys them without hesitation. For reasons unknown even to himself, he takes the greatest pleasure in taking the bodies of such psychic beings.

One day Doro detects the presence of Anyanwu, a powerful black female shape-shifter and healer. She can heal her own body and change into the shape of any animal or person, and has lived for over 300 years. Doro knows her genetic abilities could be tremendous if he breeds her with the right partners. Because Doro thinks of humans as merely livestock intended to further his psychic breeding projects. She is a proud creature, but she recognizes that his power is even greater and more lethal, so eventually she agrees to be taken to the New World on a slaver ship, taking the Middle Passage that so many slaves from Africa travelled. But because Doro rules the crew, who are mostly his ‘people’, including his white son Isaac, they don’t make the trip in chains. During the trip Anyanwu, who knows no English or Western customs, is slowly taught the ways of the New World.

Upon reaching the New World, Doro mates with Anyanwu but then decides that she should marry his son Isaac, as he thinks this union will produce the most promising offspring. Initially she is unhappy with this situation, but as she learns that Isaac is a decent man and nothing like his ruthless immortal father, she settles into this new life in the town of Wheatley. It turns out that Doro has numerous seed communities, and they revere and fear him as a god-like being who can take their lives at his whim. But he also provides them protection from Indian attacks and sometimes from White racism. Sometimes he takes white bodies, other times black bodies, but his freedom of movement is better with the former. So he comes and goes, checking on each place, mating with the most promising women, and then moving on.

The relationship of Doro and Anyanwu is an uneasy one – he knows that she does not love him and resents his ruthless killing and domination of his people. Yet he recognizes her value as a breeder. She is also a strong-willed woman who does not easily submit to him, a situation unthinkable for an all-powerful being like himself. One day fateful events involving Isaac and their daughter Nweke drive her to turn into an animal and run away, since Doro cannot track her in that form.

A hundred years later, Doro discovers Anyanwu in a Southern plantation colony, where she has been conducting her own version of a seed village, one lacking the fear of death and oppression of Doro. When he tries to force himself into this community, Anyanwu threatens to kill herself, the only viable threat for Doro. He agrees to back off and be less contemptuous of his seed people, but it is an ambiguous victory.

There are so many themes and dichotomies to explore here: master vs slave, man vs woman, white vs black, killer vs healer, Africa vs New World, African tribal networks vs modern Western communities, Colonialism vs Autonomy, Coercion vs Cooperation, etc. The genius about Butler’s books is that they dive into these complicated themes without resorting to convenient moralizing or stereotypes. The book is almost exclusively focused on the relationship of Doro and Anyanwu, but it is a constantly-shifting one. Certainly Doro is a capricious killer and parasite, treating his people like livestock that exist for his convenience only. But once he encounters the strong female presence of Anyanwu, whose powers manifest as a healer and protector of families and communities, he has to reassess his millennia of cruel behavior. And despite Anyanwu finding herself in the slave position initially, she does everything in her power to resist in a peaceful and reasoning way.

Their relationship is all about the struggle for control. Whether this plays itself out in gender, skin color, master vs slave, Old vs New World, we are constantly confronted with this dualism. And while Doro could be easily categorized as the dominant male, slaver and killer, he also has a paternalistic attitude towards his peoples. He also has a conflicted connection with race, taking over both black and white bodies, and understanding the New World ways of America but having millennia of experience in Africa and the Old World. Meanwhile, Anyanwu is in many ways like Dana, the protagonist of Butler’s Kindred, a strong woman forced into submission by a cruel and paternalistic master, but still retaining her resilience and strength, fighting to protect her family and children from harm. It is part of the centuries-long struggle that black women have fought against slavery and domination. This is a book that demands repeat readings, analysis, and reflection, but also remains a compulsive reading experience, a tight story focused on the complicated entwined fates of these immortal African beings.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Dion Graham, a gifted voice actor who has appeared in a number of films and dramas including The Wire. He is given a very difficult assignment here, which he pulls off magnificently. He needs to give a strong African identity to his two lead characters, Doro and Anyanwu, and also convey their immortal perspective. But once they reach America, they encounter various settlers and communities, and Doro himself is constantly switching bodies, so I was very impressed that Dion also switched accents accordingly. ...more

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Jul 15, 2018 David Katzman rated it it was amazing

A unique fantasy novel that centers around supernatural/superhuman characters from Africa. The story begins in the time of slavery, when slaves were captured and brought to America. I found it to be a very unique and refreshing premise, compared to the common tropes of fantasy, be they paranormal or Tolkeinian.

The two central characters (and antagonists) were interesting personalities. One seems to represent the Earth Mother--the power of healing and nature and animals. The other seems to repres A unique fantasy novel that centers around supernatural/superhuman characters from Africa. The story begins in the time of slavery, when slaves were captured and brought to America. I found it to be a very unique and refreshing premise, compared to the common tropes of fantasy, be they paranormal or Tolkeinian.

The two central characters (and antagonists) were interesting personalities. One seems to represent the Earth Mother--the power of healing and nature and animals. The other seems to represent Patriarchy and masculinity and control. And although they both have great power in many ways, the male force is dominant and relatively unstoppable. Doro, the male, can't be killed, and he can kill anyone at will by taking over his or her body, and then abandoing that body to move into a new one. He essentially takes over their brain and then leaves it empty when he's done. Anyanwu can heal almost any injury, sickness or disease in her own body and can transform it into an animal once she observes that animal closely. She has near total control of her body and can even disguise herself to appear as any human shape she chooses. She also does not age and like Doro may never die unless her body is physically destroyed.

Wild Seed is a story of power, of slavery, of social control and of gender issues. It's also a story filled with powerful emotions, the pain of loss and the struggle to develop empathy. It's also a story of compromises, and the choices that are made by those with less power in order to survive.

The following spoiler relates to what does NOT happen in the book, not what DOES happen. But if you are looking to avoid any tip-off, then please avoid it.

In the hands of a lesser writter, (view spoiler)

Wonderfully told with profound and meaningful themes invoked without facile answers. This is great storytelling. Would appeal to anyone looking for an unusual refreshing take on the fantasy genre with socially powerful meaning.
...more

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Jun 05, 2007 Zen Cho rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: sff, by-poc

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 29, 2008 Shannon (Giraffe Days) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008, speculative-fiction

My first foray into the unique world of Octavia Butler's imagination does not disappoint. Terrify, yes, and fascinate in an almost grotesque way, but it's oh so worth it. It is also a good example of speculative fiction and what you can do with it.

For over three thousand years Doro has wandered the Earth, gathering together those born special, with latent potential or abilities, usually mental, that can endanger themselves or others. Born human, Doro died during his own "transition" as a boy, ye My first foray into the unique world of Octavia Butler's imagination does not disappoint. Terrify, yes, and fascinate in an almost grotesque way, but it's oh so worth it. It is also a good example of speculative fiction and what you can do with it.

For over three thousand years Doro has wandered the Earth, gathering together those born special, with latent potential or abilities, usually mental, that can endanger themselves or others. Born human, Doro died during his own "transition" as a boy, yet cannot be killed. He is a kind of spirit, a demon it seems to me, inhabiting one body after another. He kills effortlessly and usually without a care. Because he is not the body he inhabits, he is impossible to kill. And he is lonely. Part of his aim in collecting these people is to create someone who will stay with him, or a community of them. He breeds them, and they worship him like a god. (Imagine the poor misfits of Obernewtyn brought together for such purposes... isn't it horrible?)

In 1690 he is in Africa, collecting slaves with special abilities, when he senses the presence of a Wild Seed: a person with great ability who has known too much freedom. He tracks down Anyanwu, a beautiful woman who is immortal and over three hundred years old: she never ages unless she wills it, for she has complete control over her body. She can heal herself of almost anything, and can change her body completely into any animal or bird. Doro sees great potential in her, and by threatening her descendents and promising her long-lived children, gets her to willingly accompany him back to one of his settlements in New York.

It does not take her long to understand Doro's nature, and resist where she can. His one demand is obedience, and Anyanwu is not ready to die. His breeding program is almost as scary as Doro himself. Do you remember the character Vincent from Collateral? Cold, calm, ruthless, determined, single-minded, manipulative, implacable, threatening. That's Doro, except he's worse. He's been "alive" so long his humanity is almost entirely gone. He reminds me of what commonly terrifies us most: the idea of "never". The universe never ends. This computer I am using will never biodegrade, but will always be here, in one way or another (this is my big fear, scarier than the certainty of death to me). Humans will never stop fighting, will never agree. Doro can never be killed, can never be stopped, can never be diverted from his purpose. And because of this, he "uses" people, thinking of them only in terms of the children they can produce if mated together, even incestuously, and when they have outlived their "usefulness", he takes their body, maybe even gets more children from them while inhabiting it. Sometimes the special abilities drive a person mad, but all Doro cares about, really, is what potentially great children he can get from them. Still, "his people" are well cared for, the slaves are free, and he protects them all - mostly because he is so possessive and considers them his property far more absolutely than the slave owners, for example.

You can look at Doro and Anyanwu another way: he is manufacturing, unnatural, forceful, going against nature, while Anyanwu is highly attuned to the natural world, creating medicine and food from natural products (plants etc.), and living as a bird, as a dolphin. She can change her body so completely that she can become an old white man, and father children. Perhaps this seems unnatural, but if you think about it, she possesses all of what nature is capable of, whereas Doro can really only bring an end to life, even as he seeks to create the ultimate companion. Creation and Destruction - it's a bit black-and-white, a bit obvious, but the comparison is there to be made.

Considering how long this book has been out, it has way too many typos and other errors. At times words are doubled-up, or whole sentences and paragraphs repeated, which gets confusing. The prose, though, is deft and mostly descriptive, allowing the story to tell itself. However, especially in regards to the main characters, I often felt distant, like I was not given a decent chance to understand them. I'm not sure how well you could understand them, but I guess I was surprised at how little Anyanwu changed over the centuries, while Doro's 2nd transition, if it could be called that, happens a little too suddenly. And I never really, truly understood why Doro was doing all this. Mostly I felt thrown off track by a thought Doro has that implies he is building a kind of army of genetically-manipulated super-people, who will be no match for the weaker, ordinary humans. But this was never followed through, so maybe I read too much into it. ...more

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May 04, 2011 Tiara rated it it was amazing

Shelves: african-american, features-protagonists-of-color, z-narrator-dion-graham, race-issues, historical-fiction, science-fiction, science-fantasy, audiobook, z-2015-audiobook-challenge, kindle-unlimited

4.5 stars. How do I even begin to review this? I'm going to have to think on this for a few days. If you have Kindle Unlimited, do yourself a favor and read/listen to this book. If you don't, just buy it. Doro, a man who steals the bodies of others and uses the until he must find another or he feels he deserves the body of another person, finds Anyanwu in the African forests living alone on the fringes of a village as a old medicine woman. While searching for one of his lost groups of people, pe 4.5 stars. How do I even begin to review this? I'm going to have to think on this for a few days. If you have Kindle Unlimited, do yourself a favor and read/listen to this book. If you don't, just buy it. Doro, a man who steals the bodies of others and uses the until he must find another or he feels he deserves the body of another person, finds Anyanwu in the African forests living alone on the fringes of a village as a old medicine woman. While searching for one of his lost groups of people, people who were likely taken and sold into slavery, Anyanwu’s power pulls him toward her. This aged woman reveals herself to be a young healer with strength that could crush a grown man who has roamed the world for over 300 years, but her lifetime is still a drop in time compared to his own lifespan.

Anyanwu agrees to leave the safety of her home to help Doro forge a bloodline of children who have special abilities and share their immortality in a world where loneliness and boredom are the enemies of people like them. While her agreement is made in order to save her own bloodline from him, part of her wonders if there could truly be a time when she would no longer have to watch her children die. This book follows Doro and Anyanwu from Africa during the early years of the American slave trades to the end of slavery as love, fight, hate, and dream about everything from the ethical issues of true workings of Doro’s breeding plan to their feelings about each other.

It’s hard to pin this book down to just one thing. It’s science-fiction mixed with historical fantasy add a little romance and a generous helping of social issues (racism, gender issues, ethical issues). Even describing it like that, I don’t think I’ve capture the essence of this book. This books takes so many conventional ideas and presents them in such an unconventional way as Butler uses words to weave this tale that can really take her readers on an emotional roller coaster. I love a good light, quick, fun speculative read, but there’s nothing like speculative fiction that uses the medium to really transcend expectations of the genre. Butler managed that this with book.

Dion Graham was such a powerful, amazing narrator choice for this book. The emotion and voices that he used for the characters captured me as much as the words did themselves. Butler’s characters were already so powerful. I love characters that can really shake me to my core. There was nothing simple about any of them. Even the ones you hated had this part of them that you still recognized as human, and Butler was able to convey so much of their humanity in less words than many author’s use to get you to care about characters in books twice this size. These characters combined with Graham’s narration was fantastic. I’m hoping that he’ll be narrating the other books in this series.

Despite all the ugliness in this book, it was counteracted with so much beauty. I had one minor complaint with a transition later in the book. It seemed a little hurried as Butler tried to wrap up the story, but I did like what it transitioned into.This was my first read by Octavia Butler, and it took me so long to read her because others had told me she could be a heavy read. And while I expected something amazing, something that would probably affect me on a profound level given how many people I know read her books and praise how she touched on issues, I hadn’t expected the incongruous beauty that waited for me or the feelings and thoughts that was this book. ...more

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Dec 07, 2016 Sumant rated it it was ok

Shelves: patternmaster

This review is going to be hard, because Octavia Butler has a big reputation in the sci-fi world, and given that fact I had started this book in the series. But unfortunately this book was a huge disappointment, also I don't get as to how can I call this book sci-fi because although there were many people in this book with X-Men like abilities, but without a coherent story I just did not get the point of throwing them together.

The book has basically has two main characters with some side charact ...more

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May 10, 2007 Rona Fernandez rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: fantasy and sci-fi fans, women of color, history buffs

Shelves: favorites

This is one of my favorite books ever, for its superb blending of atmosphere/landscape, characterization, politics, history, race/gender/sexuality, politics, and plot. Ms. Butler (may she rest in peace) created some of the most memorable characters in my mind in Doro and, of course, Anyanwu/Emma. I could read this book over and over. Just doing a text analysis of the opening 7 paragraphs is such an education to an aspiring novelist like me. Didn't like 'Mind of My Mind' as much, but wonder if an ...more

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Apr 22, 2008 Lois rated it it was amazing

Shelves: feminist-books, africanfuturism, poc-pov-char-or-peripheral-char, reread-in-2020, slavery-fiction, audio-book, black-books, african-diaspora-interest, audible-books-i-own, historical

Anyanwu remains my most beloved literary character ever.I CAN NOT wait until this becomes a TV show🥰

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Jun 15, 2016 Peter Tillman rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, stalled, reread-list

A+, her best (per me). Immortal body-shifter vs. shape-changer. Awesome book, based on West African legends and folktales, with a dose of Hollywood flash (she grew up in SoCal). This would be a great graphic novel. Or Marvel comic!

There's a long-term exhibit of her papers up at the Huntington. Almost worth braving the horrors of LA traffic. She gave them her stuff: http://www.huntington.org/WebAssets/T... Great leading photo!

Died way too young. RIP.

Notes for 2018 reread, in progress:
Currently re ...more

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Nov 08, 2018 Charlotte rated it really liked it

Shelves: poc-author, women-and-nb-of-speculative-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. "You are all I have, perhaps all I would ever have." She shook her head slowly. "And you are an obscenity."

I count Octavia Butler among the best authors I have ever read, but I have to take very long breaks between her books. They cut me to the quick with their power and leave me feeling disconcerted and sick in a way that no other author's books do. Butler reported that writing Wild Seed helped lighten her mood after the sheer horror of her most famous work, Kindred, and this speaks volumes to ...more

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Sep 13, 2020 Kristenelle rated it it was amazing

Shelves: worlds-beyond-the-margins-challenge

Woot! This took us forever, haha! As I mentioned before, hubby and I have been listening to the Audible version of this book in the car since long before the pandemic started. So it is a little difficult for me to look back on the whole book and speak about it cohesively.

We have been listening to this series in the order that they were published. I would actually recommend chronological order, but my husband disagrees with me on that. Anyways, this one is chronologically the first one and it gi ...more

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Jun 19, 2019 Dawn C rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 6th-read-all-the-books-challenge, group-shelf

When you sob to an Octavia E. Butler story you know it was good.

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Dec 01, 2010 Marvin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, autographed

Octavia E. Butler's women are incredibly strong characters. One of her themes is that people are either masters or slaves but occasionally there is a person who refuses to be either and that person becomes persecuted for their refusal to be labeled. The main protagonist of Wild Seed is one of those persons. She is a mutant who has lived 300 years, both feared and respected in her African tribe yet always living on the outside for her protection. She meets another non-human that is much older and ...more

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Apr 12, 2019 Gabi rated it really liked it

Shelves: group-list-2019, sff-group-shelf

Nearly forgot to rate the first book in the series.
I read it after book 4 and 2, so it worked as a great prequel to the final social system that developed on earth in book 4, and it had the advantage that I didn't have to waste killing-thoughts about one of the protagonists, since I already learned their fate.

In this book we follow the several thousand year old Doro on his quest to breed a new human race. His determination and his complete dismissal of humans as individuals with their own right ...more

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Aug 27, 2019 Silvana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: female-nonbinary-authors, fyeahfantasy, mine-mine-mine, reading-with-friends, z-sff-2019-diversity-challenge, series-i-abandoned, z-sff-2019-reading-challenge, z-sff-2019-female-challenge, z-sl-sword-challenge-2019, diversified

Octavia Butler enchanted me again with this hundreds of years tale of a shapeshifter and a bodysnatcher. At first I thought this was SF, but then it became fantasy. Not that I mind since it was so engrossing. Strong characters and stories that invoked emotions, from wonder, sadness, anger, frustration and a little bit of hope. Same formula with her Parable novels, this one also has a great, tenacious female main character, who still had lots of love to share despite living in a cruel world with ...more

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Oct 26, 2016 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy-challenge-2016, audio

I haven't figured out what to say about the book so I'll just say that the audio was well done. He had to account for Doro changing bodies and characters that were going up and down the age spectrum. He also had to do a number of accents since the book went from Nigeria to New Amsterdam to New York to New Orleans.

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Dec 25, 2009 Nicky rated it really liked it

Shelves: speculative-fiction

This book wasn't as good a match for my mood as N.K. Jemisin's The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, but it didn't suffer for being read immediately after it. It's an interesting concept: a being that might as well be a god, moving from body to body, amoral and utterly self-serving, trying to breed others like him so he won't be alone, and a being who is also immortal, or close to it, nurturing families so she won't be alone. The two of them are entirely different: Anwanyu loves the people she finds an ...more

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Oct 05, 2017 Stephen rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: maybe

I’m not sure what Butler intended readers take away from this novel but I found it demeaning toward women and largely abhorrent.

The story focuses on two “people.” Doro is an evil shade thousands of years old who survives by jumping from body to body, killing the host, and absorbing the new body’s energy to survive until jumping to the next host at few week intervals. He has thus killed some hundred thousand people when this book begins.

His entertainment over the millennia is rounding up people w ...more

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Aug 13, 2017 David rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: The X-Men, immortal shapeshifters who love immortal murderous bad boys who are totally not vampires

Shelves: female-author, female-protagonist, science-fiction, poc-author, poc-protagonist, audiobook

If you've ever wondered what the X-Men written by Octavia Butler would look like, this is that book.

There are no epic super-powered battles, of course, and the word "mutant" (nor any other four-colored neologism for superbeings) is never used. But Wild Seed is basically about two people born with superhuman powers (including immortality) being born centuries ago, discovering each other, and then trying to guide other "gifted" beings (most of them being their descendants) along very different pat If you've ever wondered what the X-Men written by Octavia Butler would look like, this is that book.

There are no epic super-powered battles, of course, and the word "mutant" (nor any other four-colored neologism for superbeings) is never used. But Wild Seed is basically about two people born with superhuman powers (including immortality) being born centuries ago, discovering each other, and then trying to guide other "gifted" beings (most of them being their descendants) along very different paths, down through the generations. Which sounds an awful lot like the plot of a lot of X-Men stories, doesn't it?

Butler's "Mr. Sinister" is Doro, a being born thousands of years ago, to the ancient Nubians. He has the power of body transference; whenever his host body dies (or when he wills it), he can move his consciousness to a new body, killing the former owner in the process. This makes him immortal and practically unkillable - his current body can be killed, but he'll just take over the killer's body. He started his own breeding program centuries ago, and now he has "colonies" of minions and descendants all over the world.

Anyanwu is a shapeshifter. She can transform her own body, including healing it of wounds and diseases, and she can turn into anything she's seen (or tasted). This makes her immortal as well, but she's been living a more or less sedate existence in her African village amongst her descendants.

When Doro discovers her, he decides they'd make lovely children together. Unfortunately, Doro is a narcissistic psychopath who views everyone, including his own children, as tools to be used or discarded when dangerous or no longer useful. So while Anyanwu is initially thrilled, fearful, and then resigned about being taken by Doro, their relationship will turn into a centuries-long battle of wills in which Doro seeks to dominate her and Anyanwu continually finds ways to survive and resist him even when submitting.

Octavia Butler's prose is so smooth and straightforward, packing a ton of plot, characterization, and emotion into every sentence without a lot of flowery language. Wild Seed skillfully weaves racism into the narrative (Doro and Anyanwu both being immortal superbeings who also happen to be African, winding up in 19th century America) without making it a soapbox about racism, as so many modern novels do with their much more clumsy allegories. (Arguably, one could also say this about the X-Men.)

That said, the book wasn't quite perfect. I found Anyanwu a little frustrating. She is a healer and that is her role throughout the book, including her desire to "heal" Doro. There seems to be a bit of the old "I can make the sexy Bad Boy good with the power of my love" trope here. Butler does it with far more nuance and plausibility than in a YA novel, and I actually like the fact that someone who's proven himself to be as despicable and borderline-sociopathic as Doro, for millenia, actually has somewhat-reasonable justifications for his actions (albeit it's the vampire justification - "it's what I am and if I don't do it I die") and a hope of redemption. But I still found Anyanwu going back to him annoying, maybe because I am used to X-Men comics where the underdog would figure out a way to beat the more powerful villain with her powers instead of submitting and reforming him. Though in fairness, that's been the plot of a few Magneto storylines, hasn't it?

Anyway, this was a good book, and it's the first in a series, so I am curious to see where Doro and Anyanwu go from here. ...more

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Oct 15, 2016 YouKneeK rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, completed-series

I spent the majority of this book trying to decide whether or not I liked it, and debating whether or not I would want to read the rest of the series. The omnibus containing this series had been on sale for $1.99 earlier this month, and I bought it, so I already had the next book available.

Early this year I’d read the author’s Xenogenesis trilogy, also sometimes referred to as Lilith’s Brood, and I really enjoyed it. This book shared a lot of similar themes, although the story and setting are qu I spent the majority of this book trying to decide whether or not I liked it, and debating whether or not I would want to read the rest of the series. The omnibus containing this series had been on sale for $1.99 earlier this month, and I bought it, so I already had the next book available.

Early this year I’d read the author’s Xenogenesis trilogy, also sometimes referred to as Lilith’s Brood, and I really enjoyed it. This book shared a lot of similar themes, although the story and setting are quite different. Slavery is a particularly big theme in this book. With this book, unlike with the Xenogenesis series, I didn’t feel like there was much of a story beyond the themes being explored. It’s very possible I would have appreciated Wild Seed more if I’d read it first.

The story in Wild Seed is set in our world, ranging from the years 1690 through 1840. There are two main characters: a woman named Anyanwu and a man named Doro. Anyanwu is a caring, warm woman for whom her family and community mean everything. She’s able to see inside her body and makes changes to it. For this reason, she’s been able to heal herself and remain alive for hundreds of years. Doro has been alive even longer, but he has different “talents”. He wears a body until it dies or until he gets tired of it. He then takes over another body, killing the original owner in the process. Doro’s entire existence is devoted to seeking out people with special abilities and breeding them with each other. He’s completely amoral, concerned only with meeting his own objectives. To whatever extent he treats people kindly, it’s only because doing so will help him meet his goals more effectively. Shortly after this book begins, Doro discovers Anyanwu. Her abilities far surpass that of the other people he’s collected, so naturally he wants to start breeding her ASAP.

Most of the story consisted of different people being mated with each other as dictated by Doro. I wouldn’t call this a romance novel exactly, especially since some of the relationships in the story were quite disturbing and not at all romantic, but it sometimes felt like one because the story focused mainly on relationships. I definitely wouldn’t say this book didn’t have substance, though. It absolutely had substance, and it brought up important issues in a non-preachy way. These issues aren’t new to a modern audience, though, and I wanted a more interesting story to go along with the exploration of those issues.

The book did have interesting aspects to it, and I wasn’t really bored by it. Since I already have the rest of the series, it’s tempting to keep reading and see where the story goes next. To try to make up my mind, I read a little bit about the other books and ultimately decided to stop here. There are too many other books I’m more interested in reading. ...more

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Jan 20, 2016 Jason rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2016, e-books

5 Stars

Wild Seed by Octavia Butler is book one in her Pattermaster Series. I am a huge fan of Octavia Butler and have loved many of her works. She writes about strong women. She also writes to explore deep subjects and situations utilizing her fiction as the means in which to explore them.

This is primarily the story of an amazing woman named Anyanwu. She is different from most people, a mutant per se. Anyanwu is a shapeshifter and a gifted healer. She can manipulate her body down to each indiv ...more

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Feminist Science ...: Patternist--What order should it be read?	3	34	Nov 06, 2019 04:43PM
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About Octavia E. Butler

Octavia E. Butler

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Octavia Estelle Butler was an American science fiction writer, one of the best-known among the few African-American women in the field. She won both Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant.