Where to start with Octavia Butler || Octavia Butler Reading Guide 

Dawn is my favourite Butler tbh. It was also my first. Picked it up. Went "holy shit this is incredible" and couldn't stop reading. edit: also I too love dark and twisted and disturbing books! not as my only reads but as part of my reading.

Fantastic video :) Really looking forward to continuing Butler, think Bloodchild and Parable of The Sower are next on my list. Ah yeah Interview with The Vampire, Lestat and Louis' daughter Claudia is a 10 year old girl stuck in a 10 year olds body but as she grows up she begins to have more complicated thoughts and feelings, however her body kinda has her stuck in a limbo, and it deals with the pain and suffering that might cause.

Here's to a great reading summer. Best wishes.

This was way more in-depth than I was expecting and I love you for it!! I have only read Kindred and Parable of the Sower, but I am definitely intrigued to read more. Clay's Ark sounds wild, I will have to mentally prepare for that lol. Thanks for sharing!!

I was excited for the release of this video, and it does a good job at accurately marketing Butler. And helps encourage me to read Clay's Ark sooner (especially after the short story collection success). I love your method of ranking these - especially bc i feel like we land similarly on ick factor. Also lol at "nudging people into doing things i want" - which isnt a bad trait for a lecturer

Octavia Butler is becoming one of my favourite authors, so far I've read Kindred, Parable of the Talents and Parable of the Sower and they were all 5-stars. I've been struggling to decide which of her works to pick up next so this video was super helpful, thank you!

I ADORE Butler, she is my absoute fave and I love what her books do to my brain! Haven't read The Patternist yet and also just finished Dawn this week (it officially became my fave), but I fully agree that Kindred is the most 'accessible', followed by the Parables and Bloodchild. There hasn't been a book of hers that I haven't loved. I am very ride-or-die for Fledgling, I adore that book. I love that there isn't one reading for her books, but that you can interpret thing in myriad ways - and that's a favorite pasttime of mine... With Dawn, I know I'll be thinking about what it all means for years to come... And was talking to a friend about it yesterday and he had felt disgust at the Oankali, but I like... never felt that? I was thinking about how disgust plays a part in all of the phobias - xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia plus sexism and racism. I think I was just reading about the Oankali with curiosity. Anyway, yeah, I could write up whole books about Octavia's work :P really enjoyed your video :)

I started reading Butler in 2020 and I fell in love with her and her work!~ The first video that I found from booktube about Butler was your video and that's how I discovered you! Your video helped me choose where to start reading The Patternist series. I love Wild Seed, it might currently be my favorite Butler book, it was also my first recommendation given by YOU and your Patternist video! I knew I wanted to start at the beginning of The Patternists chronologically, so I started with Wild Seed. I have read every Butler book three times now and I'm on my fourth read of her catalogue. I'm so thankful that I found your videos through her work :) I love when you talk about Butler and these are easily my favorite videos, because I'm biased haha Anyways! Thank you! I'm 13 mins in your video! If I have more comments I'll just leave them in addition to this !

Great video, I love Butler, the parable books are amazing! I am slowly working my way through her books too. 💖

So far I've only read Xenogenesis and Kindred. I think I'll read the Parable books next. My first Butler was Dawn and I read the entire series back to back and loved it. For me the Xenogenesis Trilogy was easier to stomach than Kindred. But I generally prefer exploring dark themes and uncomfortable power dynamics in sff works instead of exploring them in contemporary or historical settings. The sci-fi or fantasy elements add a layer of abstraction that make it easier for me to engage in these topics.

Awesome video 👽 i need to pick up xenogenesis

Really appreciate this overview! I read Dawn last year and was so disturbed that I haven't picked up more Butler yet, while knowing that she's brilliant and that I really want to read more. This gives me a sense of where I might ease myself back into the disturbing stuff. Thank you for sharing!

Ooh, I like that. I've been wanting to get into Butler for a bit now, and I only knew what Kindred was about and had heard about the Parables and Xenogenesis (but with no knowledge of what they are). I'm more intrigued, now, and I'll for sure look forward to seeing how she explores these different kinds of themes and settings

👽👽 I've yet to read any Butler because to be honest, she intimidates me. But I absolutely loved how you discussed each book/series (in this video and your other ones) and how you broke down your suggested reading order. I feel a lot more prepared on what to read and what to expect whenever I do try her works!

I've only read parable of the sower and I'm trying to prepare myself to read more! But it's pretty intense.

I absolutely love Octavia E. Butler. I started with Kindred which is fenomenal, continued with Parable of the Sower and Parable of Talents which I appreciated but didn't love and last year I read the whole Xenogenesis series which is incredible and unputdownable. This year I'm planning on reading Wild Seed. I thought Fledgeling was not for me, but after hearing your opinion I'm almost curious: a kind of hopeful book by Octavia E. Butler?

👽👽 Never read Butler, other than a short story many years ago. I'm very curious now. Also, talking about uncomfortable readings and bleak situations brought to mind my favorite author, Alice Sheldon (James Tiptree, Jr.)

I reread Parable of the Sower last month and finished Parable of the Talents earlier this month and 😬 I thought those were dark enough! I do wanna read more of her books tho so maybe I’ll read Kindred & Bloodchild, and then decide on the rest. Are you familiar with adrienne maree brown? She LOVES Octavia Butler and co-edited/wrote a story for a collection called Octavia’s Brood. And I love adrienne maree brown so I want to at least make it through Butler’s books at least once lol 👽

👽👽👽 I will give Blood Child a chance. Thanks for the descriptions.

👽here’s the confirmation that i needed to start with Kindred😂 Also I’d be curious if you’d make a similar video for Leguin 👀 tho I know she has sooo many books.

I started with Dawn and have yet to read another Butler. It was fantastic but I feel the same way: so very uncomfortable throughout the entire book. Skin crawling. Just constant reminder of the lack of bodily autonomy and consent in every aspect of the writing and plot. 🥴 It definitely made me want to read more by her but I needed a long break. 😅 blew my mind but it was such an intense read.

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Not you exposing your beige...or maybe pale red?...flag that you like tricking people into wanting to do what you want them to...🤣🤣🤣 her books don't totally sound like they are for me. Definitely think I should begin my sci fi journey elsewhere but now at least I know thanks to this video

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