Parable of the Talents

· Parable Book 2 · Sold by Grand Central Publishing
28 reviews
Ebook
448
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

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.

"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

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 fa...

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Ratings and reviews

28 reviews
Laszlo Zoltan
January 20, 2026
seemingly prophetic in many regards, but very dark tale. unfortunate that the author OB didn't live to witness how close to the reality we have on the same date her story began
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James Kanavy
February 2, 2026
this is my second Octavia Butler book but she's been transformative. her sparse and matter of fact writing style is clear but hits like a hammer
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Susan Dara (RedReviews4You)
March 24, 2026
If Sower is the spark, Talents is the fire — devastating, unflinching, and impossible to look away from. Parable of the Talents takes everything Sower built and pushes it further: the stakes, the violence, the political extremism, the cost of survival. This book hurt in ways I wasn’t prepared for, and yet I couldn’t stop reading. Butler’s vision is sharp, fearless, and painfully relevant. Told through multiple voices — including Lauren’s daughter — Talents becomes a story about legacy.
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About the author

OCTAVIA E. BUTLERwas 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.
OCTAVIA E. BUTLERwas 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 fo...

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