Among the Stars

https://youtu.be/3Kf-FlECN7M

Suns and Stars, a beautiful piece by orchestral composition group Really Slow Motion, is a tune that played in my head throughout this section of the reading. Watching Lauren's group grow, slowly at first, then rising to a crescendo of hope as the group approaches Bankole's land, then the abrupt de-escalation at the devastation they find, before a new hope blooms again.

Apathetic towards Empathy

On finishing the novel, I did not see the point in. Lauren having ‘sharing’ or why it was really necessary to the plot of the novel. I know we found other settlers of Acorn that also had it. I know that it made Lauren’s journey through the wasteland much harder, but I found it made me feel less immersed in the middle of a battle when she would wound an attacker and then she too would be wounded. It took me out of the action scenes and made me want to know what was happening with Harry, Zhara, or the other travelers.

I’m interested to know how others felt about Lauren’s hyper-empathy? And did it enhance the reading experience for you? I wonder if Butler had a larger plan for the Empaths in the trilogy and this novel was just the introduction.

Let’s talk about the Sower

I went to pick up my book when it hit me that Lauren is the sower of Earthseed that the title references, and in a sense one could read this book as a religious text.

I went down a deep rabbit hole of thought and managested in my mind appeared the complicated idea of comparison to this book, (the life of Lauren), to something like the gospels of the New Testament, (which is the story of a Jesus through the eyes of his disciples).

It then became obvious that this book is actually structured as a religious text, each new chapter with verses and titles. I don’t quite know how to articulate the way this book makes me feel but it’s disturbing to me for maybe a reason I can’t put my finger on.

Yet it is pleasing to see a that group of people has found peace with one other in spite of the hell that surrounds the. The group is diverse in age, race, and backgroun, but they share the common religious beliefs of Earthseed, and follow its creator, the Sower of a Earthseed Lauren. I thought it was nice that despite the horrors nested in between the first and last page of the book, the final scene ends somewhat peacefully with the community of Acorn established and the group finely having a chance to rest.