Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.

So the thing is this is my least favorite of Butler's works. The story had a lot of plot holes that the graphic novel of course cannot and does not fix. 

 

Taking place in 2025, we follow the character of Lauren Olamina and her family that are living in what remains of areas around Los Angeles. Told in the first person, we get Lauren's "insights" into her family, friends, community, and what the world is turning into. The whole Earthseed concept never really works though at least in graphic novel format it's okay to have stilted sentences like "God is Change." 

 

I think graphic novels in the right hands can really rock. I love re-reading The Gunslinger series via graphic novel format and the novel "Speak" recently as heart-wrenching to read via that format. Duffy though doesn't really grab me with his art. Everything is shadowy and dark. A few times I wondered if the ARC I got had finished art or what. 

 

Here is a link to my review of the novel where I still had some of the same issues while reading this graphic novel: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1590307786?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

I won this in a FirstReads giveaway--it was originally published in 1983 but it was rereleased this year.I ended up abandoning it; I found the characters flat, the worldbuilding both uninspiring and incomplete, and the premise nothing I haven't seen before--yes, even in books published before 1983 (see: Rite of Passage, 1968).

Earthseed was…amazing! Seriously, it was so good. It’s no wonder that Paramount Pictures has teamed up with Melissa Rosenberg (the adaptor of the Twilight films) to release Earthseed through Tall Girl Productions as a major motion picture. I am so curious to see what they will come up with!When I first read the synopsis, I thought that Earthseed was going to be a read similar to that of Beth Revis’ Across The Universe. Although there are a few similarities, Earthseed stands up on its own. Think of a story that is a mixture of Across The Universe meets Hunger Games meets Lord of the Flies.Earthseed follows the lives of a group of teens aboard a spacecraft that they lovingly call “Ship”. Ship acts as the parental figure in the lives of these teens. With them from their birth, and guiding them as they grow up, Ship is a huge figure in their lives. With sensors scattered all throughout the space craft, Ship is able to monitor the activities that occur onboard, and is always available for guidance when needed. The main objective for this mission from Earth is to take the “seeds” of the people and scatter them throughout space on other liveable planets. Ship must travel throughout space in search of habitable land that does not have intelligent life on it yet, where this group of teens must learn to live and create a new world.Among the teens on board, Earthseed focuses primarily through the eyes of female protagonist, Zoheret, a strong character that I loved reading about. We watch her interaction with the other teens on board, and are introduced to the ways of life aboard Ship. As is human nature, groups of kids have become closer with others forming their own clique. And as it is in high school, a teen story is never complete without its own fair share of bullies. Enter Manual and Ho. Using their strength and influence to get what they want, everyone knows to stay on their good side, doing their biding. As it is done every year, Ship holds a type of competition among the group, whether it be through Q & A, or physical exertion. This year’s competition is one of significant importance. Aboard ship, there is an area known as the Hollow. And it is in this Hollow that the groups must traverse from one end of the Hollow to the other. Sounds simple enough…but with the need to win, groups will stop at nothing to come out the victor. And it is from this competition that former alliances break down and turn into something darker.At the completion of the competition, Ship informs the group that the time for their decent to a new land is fast approaching, and they must learn to live on their own as a tribe. They must learn how to grow their own food, become civilized in an unknown land, and learn to live with each other and co-exist. And with this experiment, Ship has agreed to not monitor the Hollow allowing them to fend for themselves. This is just an experiment waiting to go wrong… I only wish that rather than start a new “part” in the book, that we could have seen the beginning days of their new way of life.This book was completely unput-downable. I completely devoured it! The multiple twists and turns that author, Pamela Sargent, has put in the pages kept me up late at night. I needed to know what was going to happen the minute a plot twist presented itself. There were various parts in the book that I did not even guess was coming! I was shocked on multiple occasions. Sargent has poured in so much emotion into the characters of this book that all of them will stand out and won’t soon be forgotten. The world building that was found in the pages was amazing. I could see the different images clearly in my mind as I was reading…the movie playing out in my head. Broken down into 3 parts, each part surpassed the one before. I am totally looking forward to reading the next installment to this trilogy, Farseed.Fans of Sci-Fi and Dystopian reads will completely devour Earthseed. For those who like to read the book before the movie comes out, don’t hesitate on this one. You won’t be disappointed.

Earthseed was…amazing! Seriously, it was so good. It’s no wonder that Paramount Pictures has teamed up with Melissa Rosenberg (the adaptor of the Twilight films) to release Earthseed through Tall Girl Productions as a major motion picture. I am so curious to see what they will come up with!When I first read the synopsis, I thought that Earthseed was going to be a read similar to that of Beth Revis’ Across The Universe. Although there are a few similarities, Earthseed stands up on its own. Think of a story that is a mixture of Across The Universe meets Hunger Games meets Lord of the Flies.Earthseed follows the lives of a group of teens aboard a spacecraft that they lovingly call “Ship”. Ship acts as the parental figure in the lives of these teens. With them from their birth, and guiding them as they grow up, Ship is a huge figure in their lives. With sensors scattered all throughout the space craft, Ship is able to monitor the activities that occur onboard, and is always available for guidance when needed. The main objective for this mission from Earth is to take the “seeds” of the people and scatter them throughout space on other liveable planets. Ship must travel throughout space in search of habitable land that does not have intelligent life on it yet, where this group of teens must learn to live and create a new world.Among the teens on board, Earthseed focuses primarily through the eyes of female protagonist, Zoheret, a strong character that I loved reading about. We watch her interaction with the other teens on board, and are introduced to the ways of life aboard Ship. As is human nature, groups of kids have become closer with others forming their own clique. And as it is in high school, a teen story is never complete without its own fair share of bullies. Enter Manual and Ho. Using their strength and influence to get what they want, everyone knows to stay on their good side, doing their biding. As it is done every year, Ship holds a type of competition among the group, whether it be through Q & A, or physical exertion. This year’s competition is one of significant importance. Aboard ship, there is an area known as the Hollow. And it is in this Hollow that the groups must traverse from one end of the Hollow to the other. Sounds simple enough…but with the need to win, groups will stop at nothing to come out the victor. And it is from this competition that former alliances break down and turn into something darker.At the completion of the competition, Ship informs the group that the time for their decent to a new land is fast approaching, and they must learn to live on their own as a tribe. They must learn how to grow their own food, become civilized in an unknown land, and learn to live with each other and co-exist. And with this experiment, Ship has agreed to not monitor the Hollow allowing them to fend for themselves. This is just an experiment waiting to go wrong… I only wish that rather than start a new “part” in the book, that we could have seen the beginning days of their new way of life.This book was completely unput-downable. I completely devoured it! The multiple twists and turns that author, Pamela Sargent, has put in the pages kept me up late at night. I needed to know what was going to happen the minute a plot twist presented itself. There were various parts in the book that I did not even guess was coming! I was shocked on multiple occasions. Sargent has poured in so much emotion into the characters of this book that all of them will stand out and won’t soon be forgotten. The world building that was found in the pages was amazing. I could see the different images clearly in my mind as I was reading…the movie playing out in my head. Broken down into 3 parts, each part surpassed the one before. I am totally looking forward to reading the next installment to this trilogy, Farseed.Fans of Sci-Fi and Dystopian reads will completely devour Earthseed. For those who like to read the book before the movie comes out, don’t hesitate on this one. You won’t be disappointed.

A long time ago, in a high school far away, I remember coming across EARTHSEED tucked among the broken paperbacks. I never picked it up because it looked like the cover would break if I even touched it. I skipped it over for other greats from the 1980s because my library was that backwards. When I got the chance to read and review this one, though, as well as interview author Pamela Sargent, I jumped at the chance.EARTHSEED follows fifteen year old Zoheret as she lives and grows on a spaceship run by a computer named Ship. Ship has been parent, caretaker, mentor, and friend since the day she was born, grown from eggs and sperm never to know her real parents along with dozens of other kids. Her destiny – to populate a new planet now that Earth is pretty much caput. But for Zoheret and her friends, things are not as they seem. When the backstabbing starts and the claws come out, it is every kid for him or herself.I should probably start by saying that this book really gets only 3.5 out of 5 stars. This book succeeds for me mostly on its impressive plot. Zoheret’s story is like LORD OF THE FLIES meets outer space, with kids who backstab for survival, forests full of traps, and a ship pushing its wards to succeed at all costs. It’s a story worth telling, and Sargent does an amazing job of introducing new twists that complicate matters for Zoheret. And I have to give kudos to Sargent for being rather ruthless with her turns in the story. There be death and chaos and blood in this one, folks.But what this book lacks is something I’ve found to be the norm in books from the 1980s. The writing is dry and stiff, with a cardboard-like consistency to it. Told in third person, I found it excruciatingly hard to connect with Zoheret. Likewise, her shipmates were a revolving door of names, albeit multicultural names – we have Jews, Arabs, Japanese, Chinese, plain old Americans and kids of mixed descent, all born from eggs and sperm whipped together by a machine and grown on the ship. But none of these names have any real personalities. Zoheret herself is relegated to a dry tone and kept at an arm’s length, which can be understandable given that she was raised by a computer, but it’s not great for reading.As I’ve said, the writing is dry and the characterization isn’t great. Another issue I had that takes it down another half star is the fact that there is no foreshadowing. You find a book like CINDER where the author loads us with heavy foreshadowing that is painfully obvious, but in EARTHSEED we find the opposite. Twists occur without any build up, leaving us dropped into a new situation and caught off guard. I loved the twists, but when you can’t see them coming or rationalize their sudden appearance, you’re going to end up all like, “Did I read that right? Am I an idiot?” But yeah, I loved the twists once I had a chance to read and understand the situation. With some of the twists, especially later on, the twists seem like a tacked on afterthought.EARTHSEED is a book where I can see a lot of people being on the fence about it. It’s definitely not the same style of book you see from 21st century YA. Still, it has been optioned for film by a Twilight screenwriter/producer/someone Twilight related. And I would definitely be there opening day if this movie were ever produced and released, but to be honest, it feels like 95% of YA books are optioned these days, and only 1% are ever made into movies. This one just doesn’t feel like it will make it far, but I can hope! It would indeed by EPICCCC.Also, who is the guy on the cover – Manuel? Dmitri? Random other guy? I still can’t figure it out.VERDICT: Although a bit dry, EARTHSEED is worth a read if only for an epic plot. The science fiction genre is a fave, and this book reminded me why I love it.