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.
This is not an easy read. I mean, the first book was brutal, but this really stepped it up a notch. The characters are detailed and believable, but I felt there was less of the development than there was in the first book. That’s probably not surprising because we know pretty much all we need to know from the first outing. And to be honest, the slight detachment was probably a good thing, given the level of brutality that was inflicted in the Acorn community. The story travels the desolate landscape of a future America, where people are brutalised and enslaved by roaming gangs as well as large conglomerates. Worryingly enough, Octavia E. Butler, like Margaret Atwood, is not so much an author as an oracle of things to come. She has crafted a stark reality check for the not-too-distant-future.
Recommended, but not for the faint-hearted.