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From a celebrated author, the thrilling sequel to The Parable of the Sower—a cautionary novel ahead of its time, perfect for fans of The Broken Earth trilogy.
In 2032, Lauren Olamina has survived the destruction and ruin of everything she knew. Her peaceful community based on her newly founded faith, Earthseed, provides refuge for outcasts facing persecution after the election of an ultra-conservative president. Under his rule, Lauren's colony—a minority religious faction led by a young Black woman—becomes a target for the president's reign of terror and oppression.
Years later, Asha Vere reads the journals of a mother she never knew. As she searches for answers, she struggles to reconcile with the legacy of a mother caught between her duty to her chosen family and her calling to lead humankind into a better future.
Did you read any books in 2025 that are widely considered classics? If so, which ones and why?
OK, so after I posted this question of the week, I got to wondering what would be considered a classic. What do you think? The only three I've read that I'd say most people would call classics are: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Lolita by Vladimir...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (09-25-2025)
I finished https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/22170/replaceable-you Replaceable You by Mary Roach for review. As always, her work is fun and informative. Now I'm on to https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/4852/the-god-of-the-woods God of...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (09-18-2025)
I finished The Correspondent last week. It completely grabbed my attention and I couldn't put it down for two days. It's the first book in awhile that I couldn't wait to get back to. I was very impressed with the author's ability to pack so much emotion and character into correspondence. I'm not ...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (09-11-2025)
I finished https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/22821/the-loneliness-of-sonia-and-sunny The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai a few days ago. It's her first book in 19 years (!) after her Booker-winning https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? (9/04/2025)
I'm about halfway through https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/22821/the-loneliness-of-sonia-and-sunny The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai and loving it. It's on the longlist for the Booker Prize and is also nominated for the Kirkus Prize, so I e...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? (7/17/2025)
No worried, @Carol_B ! When you hit Reply, the person you're replying to shows up on the right side, just above your comments, so most folks should realize who you're responding to. :slightly_smiling_face: Regarding Octavia Butler, yeah, her books have been around for awhile (she died in 2006). S...
-kim.kovacs
"Impassioned ... stands out as a testament to the author's enormous talent." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Brilliant ... powerful, moving, and beautifully written." ―Library Journal (starred review)
"In the ongoing contest over which dystopian classic is most applicable to our time, Octavia Butler's 'Parable' books may be unmatched." —The New Yorker
This information about Parable of the Talents was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Octavia E. Butler was a renowned writer who received a MacArthur "Genius" Grant and PEN West Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work. She was the author of several award-winning novels including Parable of the Sower, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and was acclaimed for her lean prose, strong protagonists, and social observations in stories that range from the distant past to the far future. Sales of her books have increased enormously since her death as the issues she addressed in her Afrofuturistic, feminist novels and short fiction have only become more relevant. She passed away on February 24, 2006.
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