This was a hard book, but a very relevant book, to be reading right now. It was written in 1993 and depictions a near-future California (mid 2020s) ravaged by economic hardship, mass chaos, a destabilized government, years of drought and a citizenship driven to murder and arson by dangerous new drugs. In the center of this peril Lauren Olamina grew up in a walled community, the daughter of a teacher and a minister. Her neighbors grow large gardens for food, breed rabbits, pound acorns for flour. Water and electricity are viciously expensive and must be rationed. There are no jobs to be had anywhere, and the young people of this community look forward to bleak futures. Lauren draws strength from Earthseed, a set of religious beliefs that come suddenly into her mind, like gifts. Earthseed teaches that God is change, which cannot be stopped or bargained with, but can be prepared for and shaped. This belief helps Lauren survive when her tiny safe world is broken open and fire and ruin rain down on her friends and family. The message of the book has some hope, but it's scary to realize that Octavia Butler's dystopian vision feels closer now, in 2017, than it was when she wrote this book almost 25 years ago.