Wild Seed

I finished this one a little over two weeks ago. This was the first book I've read by Octavia Butler, and I don't think it will be my last.

Sci-fi and fantasy aren't my usual genre preference (though, now I'm not sure I even have a preference), so I wasn't sure initially how I'd like this book.

The pacing and language of the book was skilled and enjoyable; I really felt like I was sitting down and listening to a story over a fire. The book explores themes of power, control, and freedom, and challenges traditional ideas of morality. Following the relationship of two immortal Africans over a hundred years, the book also speaks to larger social and cultural issues.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn the book was published in 1980. Some books do not age well–usually due to standardized sexism, racism, or homophobia of that writer's era–but I didn't detect any of that here.

All in all, I found it thought-provoking and captivating, and the rest of the Patternist series has now been added to my very long "Want to Read" list.

“Short-lived people, people who could die, did not know what enemies loneliness and boredom could be.”

I read Wild Seed for a book club in December. First of all, can we talk about how amazing the Open Road cover is? Major kudos to whoever designed that, and the other covers in the series. It certainly conveys the perfect atmosphere for this book, which centers a centuries-long power struggle between two immortal beings, Anyanwu and Doro. This is my first Octavia Butler book, and so I had no expectations, but I ended up enjoying it a lot. Immortality is a common SFF trope but the way Butler explores it in this novel leads the reader through a lot of philosophical and moral questions to ponder, which enlivens the experience. There were some weird aspects to this book, but overall I quite liked it.The characters are distinct and compelling—Anyanwu and Doro from the beginning have pretty clear personalities and beliefs, and for the large part, their respective principles are the guiding force for the plot. Anyanwu is a younger immortal than Doro, so we get to see a Doro that seems largely amoral—he’s lived for so long that he hardly resembles a human being, nor stops to think about such petty things as conventional morality. This type of character is rare in fiction (plenty of immoral characters, to be sure, but amoral is less common) so it was interesting how Butler incorporated him into the novel; and in my opinion, she did so well. Doro struggles on the liminality of being something like a god and being something that vaguely resembles a human, whereas Anyanwu’s humanity is the core of her being and her empathy. This last thing is also what divides them—Anyanwu seeks out and builds community for herself, whereas Doro does so for his own edification, like he’s playing The Sims. The side characters, like Isaac and Stephen, were also well-developed and I gradually grew fond of them.But at its heart, this story is really about the immortals, because of course the humans never outlive the immortals. Everyone has to die someday. The plot of the novel largely revolves around these two immortals struggling to find a common ground between their vastly different approaches to the world. I won’t go into the details because you can see the summary blurb, but the way Butler takes the reader through the centuries was very engaging and didn’t feel like it dragged or got repetitive. The book was a pretty gripping read. I also appreciated Butler’s writing style a lot because it was simplistic and purposeful, almost reminding me of YA-books, but here it helps the story flow nicely. I love poetry and complex novels, but I’m not a huge fan of modern authors who structure their novels in twenty different layers of postmodernist abstractions, where you have to dig out the meaning through repetition… I’m not going to re-read a novel five times just to finally ‘get it’. So this was quite a refreshing change of pace in that regard.The novel explores interconnected themes of humanity, such as who can be considered human, racial and gender dynamics and how they affect one’s life, selfhood, power and the struggle of bearing it, devotion, connection and community, and perhaps a good many others. One aspect of the novel I didn’t like as much was the focus on pregnancy and childbirth. It’s definitely relevant to the story, but I was put off by how much on-page discussion of sex and pregnancy there was… not that it’s a bad thing, but it began to feel a little overwhelming and repetitive by the end. Anyanwu’s endless devotion to her family and children felt somewhat alien to me. I don’t see how this novel is categorized as science fantasy, because it felt more like fantasy to me with a slight technical element, but perhaps that comes into play more in the other books of the series. I’m definitely hoping to continue on with the series in the near future.Addendum: Also, oddly enough, the ebook version that I was reading had quite a lot of typographical errors. Not sure why that is, maybe from the transcription? In any case, it was jarring, but I assume it’s the fault of the transcriber, not Butler.

It took me a little bit to get into this one, but I got more invested as it went on.

The plot is a bit odd structurally since it’s really this extended power struggle between Doro and Anyanwu. It’s episodic though there is the overarching trajectory of their relationship changing. I wasn’t totally sold on Anyanwu’s love for Doro, but I could understand it especially toward the end. The pain she feels as people she loves keep dying. Doro is the only companion she has that stays through the years. I appreciate that in some ways Anyanwu has gained power over Doro, but I don’t like that she feels this responsibility to change him or keep him from being as awful as he could be. Kind of gross, but I’m not sure how Octavia wants me to feel about it.

I highlighted mostly different points of dialogue between Doro and Anyanwu. The power dynamics between them in this story, and the way Doro completely missed the strength in Anyanwu and failed to understand her choices made for some fascinating reading.

Being a book by Octavia, race, gender, and sexuality are also explored. But I wouldn’t say she takes a deep dive in those topics like she does with Anyanwu’s struggles with Doro, how to live and protect herself and others and enjoy life with so little freedom, etc.