Sequels can sometimes be disappointing. This applies to books as well as movies — more often movies I’m pleased to say, because you can usually tell in the first ten minutes, then leave and do something far more interesting with the rest of your day.
None of this has anything to do with Parable of the Talents, which was every bit as dark, gritty, and heart-breaking as Parable of the Sower.
The story picks up pretty much where Parable of the Sower ended; Olamina and her fellow travellers settle down in the house owned by her husband Bankole. They survive by trading with locals, growing their own food, and by not attracting too much attention. Olamina is very much the leader of their small, but growing community, and she continues working on Earthseed; not so much a religion as a life philosophy.
Unfortunately, while the community is growing, the rest of America is part way through its collapse: the country is losing a war with Canada, and Alaska has seceded and become an independent state. To make matters worse, the new president is a religious zealot, and is taking the country back into a theocracy, supported by the totally-expected army of foaming-at-the-mouth crusaders who descend on Olamina’s community intent on torturing and raping the inhabitants — all in the name of the lord.
Continue reading “Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler”