First impressions review: Wild seed, by Octavia Butler
The blurb on the back of this book described it as “an epic story of love and hate, two immortals chase each other across continents and centuries…” which gives the impression that this is a romance. It isn't – fortunately!
Doro was born as a human millennia ago, but when he was thirteen his spirit became unmoored from his body. Now, he can only live by hopping between human vessels, killing the occupant in the process. He isn’t, perhaps, as much a monster as he could be, considering that his first set of uncontrolled “jumps” killed his whole family (which was surely traumatizing) and that humans in general have, compared to him, the lifespan of hamsters. But when we meet him he is still a largely unfeeling, predatory creature, collecting and breeding humans who have special abilities – partly because those bodies feel the best to inhabit, partly (though he won’t admit it to himself) because he is bored and lonely and wants to make a companion.
Essentially, Doro is somewhat pitiable but still despicable, and that “story of love” bit worried me because Anyanwu is way too good for him! She is three hundred years old when we and Doro meet her in a small village in 17th-century Nigeria. She is a shape-shifter and a healer, ridiculously strong, and cares deeply for her children and their descendants. Both Doro and Anyanwu are accustomed to people treating their abilities as witchcraft, but while Doro rules through fear and a kind of seductive fascination, Anyanwu prefers subtler methods – though she will transform into a leopard and rip out your throat if you really push her! Besides being able to shift her physical form, she is adept at adjusting her behavior in such a way as to win people’s loyalty, admiration, and trust. Which is manipulative, yes, but really it just lets people get close enough to genuinely appreciate her; she never abuses that trust.
Doro is fascinated by Anyanwu – he’s never met another potential immortal before! He wants to add this “wild seed” to his collection, to see what her children from an exceptional father might do, but he also suspects he may have to kill her; wild seeds are often rebellious. She follows him to the New World and his “colony” near New York primarily to try and keep him away from her people1, but there is also a bit of “I loathe you, but you are interesting, and that’s sort of hot” going on. She is appalled when he insists that she marry his son, Isaac (who has telekinetic powers), since she had been acting as Doro’s wife. Not that she doesn’t like Isaac, but it still seems weird and incestuous and she doesn’t like the way Doro treats humans like a breed of cattle to be improved. Isaac persuades her that she should say yes because if she doesn’t, Doro will kill her – and she’s the only one who can hope to live long enough to tame Doro, to make him or keep him more human.
The way the special abilities work is interesting. I particularly like the fact that those who can read minds or feel another’s emotions tend to be a bit unstable, especially when it isn’t voluntary – it seems very likely that that would be overwhelming and stressful! The fact that Anyanwu recognizes dolphins as another kind of person after being one of them for a while is cool. The fact that Doro and Anyanwu can, in their separate ways, change both race and sex is both useful and invites some philosophical speculations. I find it a little odd that Anyanwu, who has been a father as well as a mother, seems to only be into the gender opposite her own. Maybe that’s my bi talking…but I don’t think so. After all, we don’t usually assume someone who’s undergone a body swap suddenly has completely different taste in food or music, and from the stories I’ve heard it seems like trans people continue to be attracted to the same gender(s) before and after transition. Of course, Anyanwu in leopard form does think humans look like a tasty treat...but if the body shapes the mind to such an extent, why does she seem to always feel like a "she"? It's confusing. Regardless, Anyanwu likes her original form of a young black woman, and also strives to make a place of shelter for those who can’t change their skin.
Questions of humanity and what makes someone valuable loom large in this book. Doro values his people’s uncanny abilities, but Anyanwu can see what is special in everyone and, when she has the leeway to do so, weaves people from very different cultures and backgrounds into a family. We also see Anyanwu’s struggle create some bubble of freedom for herself and others within a framework of constraints, which is something that many of us have experience with. And Doro’s life makes one question what any of us would become if we didn’t have someone in our life we respected or feared enough that when they called us on our bad behavior we had to listen.
1. Which doesn’t work, BTW. He has slavers pick them up and take them to a second colony in the Carolinas, without telling Anyanwu.
Overall
recommendation: There is
some uncomfortable stuff in this book, and a certain moral greyness…but it is a
very interesting and thought-provoking read. I like the focus on a main
character who is deeply rooted in African culture (even after she comes to
America), too, which is a rare feature in fantasy/sci-fi books. Still, I don't know that I'll be reading the sequels if Doro is going to be in them! I've had about enough of him, even if he is slightly reformed at the end.
