It's been almost a year since I read Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1) and that is by design. These books are heavy.

We once again follow Lauren Oya Olamina in her quest to have it all - family, home, community, religion and glory. Something I appreciate about Butler's writing is that it is descriptive without being repulsive. Yes there are a lot of unsavory events (to put it lightly) in this novel, but despite this I never felt as though it was too gory or so explicitly detailed that I had to put the book down. This is not something I can say for many of the other books in the dystopian genre.

The prophetic nature of Parable of the Talents is certainly the root of its eeriness, in my opinion. The presence of an alt-right, religious president with the slogan "help make America great again" gave me goosebumps to read in this 1998 novel. I loved diving into the stark contrast between Christian America and Earthseed. Butler does an excellent job of discussing how each religion is just a blasphemed version of someone else's beliefs, and yet each one believes theirs to be "the one true faith".

In reading Parable of the Talents, you want Olamina to have it all. To

Spoiler

find her child, to have Earthseed take off

, but it becomes clear that Earthseed is her one true identity, she has found her purpose.

I gave this novel 4 stars because I was unhappy with the ending.

Spoiler

I think it is true to character that Olamina lets Earthseed take over her life. Perhaps finding her daughter does fall to the wayside or perhaps she genuinely never stopped looking for her, but the fact is that even if Larkin were found, Olamina would have ultimately "picked" Earthseed over motherhood. What I didn't find believable (or what I don't want to believe in my idealistic little mind) is that Asha (Larkin) clung to Marcus despite his lies to her. I think this speaks to the fact that even Asha could tell what Earthseed meant to her mother, and that she was willing to take any family she could get. But if that was the case, I would have thought she could find room in her heart to accept her mother's "eccentricities".