This book was confusing for me to rate... I would say when it comes to personal enjoyment, I'd rate it a 2 or 3? It was hard. Not only because of how graphic the violence of the world is, but because I found it hard to connect to the characters as well. I thought the characters were good characters, but I personally didn't connect with them. I'm also pretty anti-established religions and not religious in general (although pretty spiritual), so I found it hard to connect to Earthseed and the idea of a new established religion in this world that has so many other issues. For the first 50-75 percent of the book, I wasn't sure where this was going. I'm still decently unsatisfied with how it ended. It seems to need more before reaching the end (I know there's another book, but I also know that book centers around a new character, I believe). Everything wrapped up so quickly in the end and I think Lauren deserved more before shifting the focus to another character. But who knows, maybe the sequel will make me think differently. 

So why am I rating this 4 stars? I docked a star for the ending, because I feel like that's definitely an issue that I feel is objective. Other than that, my grievances were more personal preference.

What this book does accomplish is a very real and unsettling dystopian sci-fi future that feels very close to our current reality, just a bit more grim. The way in which Butler predicted so much is wild. The 2024-elected president was DONNER for pete's sake. The trauma of this sliver of California we see is the reality for a lot of places. And given the cuts and systemic fractures T***p is causing today, the agricultural and societal nightmare we see in this book is not unrealistic for the very near future. It's scary how close she got everything. It's objectively brilliant and impressive. And she provides ideas on how to prepare for such a grim future in this book that I'll unfortunately be considering taking into my preparation plans for the future.

It's a wonderfully horrifying book, just not one I personally enjoyed tremendously for reasons above. Will I be reading the second book? Absolutely. This is important literature. Just mentally prepare yourself for being unsettled and PLEASE check the trigger warnings!