Wild Seed (Patternist, #1) in The Alternative Worlds

Jul 04, 2012 Regina rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc-publisher-netgalley-edelweiss, favorite-authors, african-american, epic, shifter, gender-bending, audio-also-listened-to, science-fiction, historical-fiction, 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.

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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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Sep 04, 2009 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: speculative-fiction

Fascinating study of two near-immortal characters. It tackles huge topics: life and death and slavery and genetics and home and taboo and right and wrong and good and evil and all the gray in between. Riveting. My introduction to Octavia Butler's work. I'm a little intimidated by what she is willing to do to her characters, but it was a powerful book, and I look forward to reading more.

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Apr 11, 2012 Michelle rated it really liked it

Shelves: book_club, fantasy

3.5 stars...this one reads like an extended prologue, so i'm very glad to have the anthology edition that contains 'Mind of my Mind.' i love how Butler's prose always starts out so deceptively simplistic - small words, small sentences with concise, single, uncomplicated ideas. partway through, as the main character knows more and has her illusions broken constantly, and is forced to become more canny and wise, you start to notice the prose has become more complex and multi-layered as well. as th ...more

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Sep 04, 2009 Lori added it

Having trouble getting into this, the writing is dry. As always, timing is everything - a book I ordered from England because I couldn't wait for the US printing just arrived! I'll come back to this when I'm done with the other... ...more

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Mar 02, 2012 Chueca rated it really liked it

I felt that Anyanwu gave into Doro-- something the whole story had been resisting. Thus at the end I felt a little disappointed that she didn't just go off into her own world away from him. Some of my favorite moments are when she is with the dolphins. Thank you Octavia ! ...more

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Apr 12, 2012 Suz rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-men-sff-authors, fantasy, feminist

Yet another book review that GoodReads ate...

Two immortals with wildly different manifestations of immortality are entwined in a centuries (well, millenia) long relationship/battle which very heavily deals with slavery, freedom, healing, and destruction.

It's very much Butler's beautiful voice, giving strength to these conflicts and dualities while also creating beautifully complex and deep characters

(apologies for the lack of a stellar review, I remember the book, but I can't remember the more d ...more

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