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Wild Seed
, by Octavia Butler (Link goes to "Seed to Harvest", the omnibus addition of all four books of the quartet.)
Wild Seed is the first book in internal chronologically for the quartet, and the last book to be written. It's also the best book of the series, far and away -- not because the others were not good, but because this one blew me out of the water.
It begins in seventeenth-century Africa, and it begins with Doro, who is, by that time, already nearly two thousand years old. Doro is immortal not because he has an immortal body, but because he is a body-thief: when his body nears death (but, also, simply when he wishes it) his consciousness jumps to another human host. His mind displaces the other mind; the other person dies; he lives. And over the course of his thousands of years of life he has found a purpose: collecting people of unusual talent, breeding and protecting them -- and using them.
It also begins with Anyanwu, who is also an immortal, but in a very different way. Anyanwu's control of her body is perfect. She can make herself old or young, repair any wound or illness, change her shape -- to appear as a different woman, or as a man, or as a jaguar, a serpent, an eagle. She is also a healer of others, using what she has learned by her perfect control of her own body to aid her sprawling family and friends.
Doro meets Anyanwu and is quite taken with her, as a woman but also as what he calls a 'wild seed,' a person with incredible potential but who was born outside his personal breeding program, his 'seed villages.' With a combination of threats and promises -- and her own curiosity -- he convinces Anyanwu to come with him. What she does not know is how much of a liar and manipulator he truly is, and how powerful he truly is; what he does not know is how wise and stubborn she is -- and how powerful she is, in a way that he cannot approach.
The book is about a lot of things, but the fascinating heart of it is how they interact with one another over time, as she learns how he runs his little world, as he learns her strengths. The sfnal ideas here are fascinating; I'm very much taken with the way she takes certain sfnal ideas (mental/psychic powers, and the idea that they might pass genetically and turn up in certain bloodlines; human immortality of various kinds; humans treated as gods) and then explores them, examines them, takes the ideas and runs with them -- without flinching away from the terrible parts. And because she's writing about people of various ethnicities (but, in several notable cases, African people and people of African descent) in seventeenth through nineteenth century America, there's a lot of terrible parts even aside from the way Doro treats his people and the way they treat each other.
But while those were really interesting, I didn't love the book because it was great idea fiction (although it was). I loved it because the characters were amazing -- Doro and Anyanwu and vivid and compelling, even when Doro is being quite unsympathetic. They orbit each other, and the way they interact, and the way their interactions affect everyone around them, just dragged me in. I wanted badly to know how things would turn out for Anyanwu and her family; I wanted to know whether Doro would be willing or able to change; I wanted to know whether, and if so how, they would be able to find equilibrium with one another.
( Spoilers below the cut. )
Anyway. Very powerful book, highly recommended. If you're going to read the entire quartet (which I very much recommend), I suggest you read this one last, as I did. I think if I'd 'met' Doro and Anyanwu first, I would have been disappointed by everyone else, because they're just so vivid. But if you're only going to read one, pick this one. It's just that good.
Running Tally:
Total Books: 17
Fiction: 6
Non-Fiction: 11
POC Author: 6
, by Octavia Butler (Link goes to "Seed to Harvest", the omnibus addition of all four books of the quartet.)Wild Seed is the first book in internal chronologically for the quartet, and the last book to be written. It's also the best book of the series, far and away -- not because the others were not good, but because this one blew me out of the water.
It begins in seventeenth-century Africa, and it begins with Doro, who is, by that time, already nearly two thousand years old. Doro is immortal not because he has an immortal body, but because he is a body-thief: when his body nears death (but, also, simply when he wishes it) his consciousness jumps to another human host. His mind displaces the other mind; the other person dies; he lives. And over the course of his thousands of years of life he has found a purpose: collecting people of unusual talent, breeding and protecting them -- and using them.
It also begins with Anyanwu, who is also an immortal, but in a very different way. Anyanwu's control of her body is perfect. She can make herself old or young, repair any wound or illness, change her shape -- to appear as a different woman, or as a man, or as a jaguar, a serpent, an eagle. She is also a healer of others, using what she has learned by her perfect control of her own body to aid her sprawling family and friends.
Doro meets Anyanwu and is quite taken with her, as a woman but also as what he calls a 'wild seed,' a person with incredible potential but who was born outside his personal breeding program, his 'seed villages.' With a combination of threats and promises -- and her own curiosity -- he convinces Anyanwu to come with him. What she does not know is how much of a liar and manipulator he truly is, and how powerful he truly is; what he does not know is how wise and stubborn she is -- and how powerful she is, in a way that he cannot approach.
The book is about a lot of things, but the fascinating heart of it is how they interact with one another over time, as she learns how he runs his little world, as he learns her strengths. The sfnal ideas here are fascinating; I'm very much taken with the way she takes certain sfnal ideas (mental/psychic powers, and the idea that they might pass genetically and turn up in certain bloodlines; human immortality of various kinds; humans treated as gods) and then explores them, examines them, takes the ideas and runs with them -- without flinching away from the terrible parts. And because she's writing about people of various ethnicities (but, in several notable cases, African people and people of African descent) in seventeenth through nineteenth century America, there's a lot of terrible parts even aside from the way Doro treats his people and the way they treat each other.
But while those were really interesting, I didn't love the book because it was great idea fiction (although it was). I loved it because the characters were amazing -- Doro and Anyanwu and vivid and compelling, even when Doro is being quite unsympathetic. They orbit each other, and the way they interact, and the way their interactions affect everyone around them, just dragged me in. I wanted badly to know how things would turn out for Anyanwu and her family; I wanted to know whether Doro would be willing or able to change; I wanted to know whether, and if so how, they would be able to find equilibrium with one another.
( Spoilers below the cut. )
Anyway. Very powerful book, highly recommended. If you're going to read the entire quartet (which I very much recommend), I suggest you read this one last, as I did. I think if I'd 'met' Doro and Anyanwu first, I would have been disappointed by everyone else, because they're just so vivid. But if you're only going to read one, pick this one. It's just that good.
Running Tally:
Total Books: 17
Fiction: 6
Non-Fiction: 11
POC Author: 6
