Wild Seed Book Review

[Jay Anderson]

Wild Seed Book Review
by Jay Anderson

Wild Seed by Octavia Butler is the Science Fiction story of two super-powered immortal beings in human form whose relationship fluctuates between lover and enemy. The story covers hundreds of years and informs the reader about the origins of an eternal struggle for power between the two main characters (Anyanwu and Doro). It details of the ongoing idealogical culture clash between the two super powers. This book, which is the first tale in a series of five novels, explains their interactions with each other, their family members and the societies of regular humans existing simultaneously around them. Wild Seed explores such issues as: the ethical morality of the selective breeding of humans, differing ideas of kinship, as well as differing concepts of both gender, and race. Anyanwu, the female protagonist, fights for individual freedom and love while Doro, the male antagonist, fights to control others and uses their fear to manipulate them. One has a desire to heal in order to survive and the other needs to kill in order to live. Anyanwu views her family as a community and treats them with kindness while using her powers to protect them. Doro, on the other hand views his offspring as possessions and treats them like tools without individual free will who exist only to serve his whims, cruel though they often are. Anyone who is a fan of the aforementioned themes, and/or is interested in science-fiction, genetics, stories made popular by such movies as the X-men series or anyone who just loves good books, will enjoy Wild Seed. Who will win the battle, the harmful or the harmonious? The autonomous or the parasitic? Check out Wild Seed by Octavia Butler and find out!