I haven't read the novel, so I did not read this graphic novel as a comparison. I found it to be quite engaging. The illustrations were beautiful and the story pulled me in immediately. Well done!

eARC provided by Netgalley.

As a graphic novel adaptation, I don't think this worked. I'm not sure how much of this is the fault of the unfinished ARC I received making this more difficult due to the unfinished art pieces, but I was consistently lost and unable to follow the narrative. I hope the actual book is better, and I'm excited to read that instead.

This is a really accomplished and enjoyable graphic novel adaptation of Octavia Butler’s classic science fiction novel. 
The translation of the story to a new medium works well and good choices have been made about which elements to focus on. The artwork is similarly solid, vibrant and entertaining and stylistically well suited to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me this ARC!

I have to start by saying that I haven't read the novel version of Parable of the Sower. That means I have no point of comparison, no initial expectations - when I read it, I'd even forgotten the synopsis. I went into it clean, and that's how I've judged this book - as a graphic novel.

This adaptation was beautiful. The art style and colouring were so detailed and immersive, the storytelling distinct. That being said, I don't know if adapting it into only one edition was the best decision. The story is divided into four years in Lauren's life, but her coming-of-age, if you will, only starts in the last year, when she is forced to leave her home. The preceding three years felt like a backstory that took up way too much of the plot. If that was indeed the case in this book, then maybe there could've been less backstory, more adventure. If that was not the case, then perhaps the story would have been better told in four separate graphic novels. 

It's a shame that the story had to be divided between these different years, because as a result, we're unable to understand Lauren as much as we should've, despite her being the protagonist. There's a lot of telling when it comes to Lauren's compulsion towards Earthseed, but not explaining. Why does she feel the need to find her new religion? How did she come to the 'discoveries' that she did?

It was, however, still a wonderful experience reading this graphic novel. The visual aspect was truly one of the best parts, so rich and subtle and full of heart. Though you may or may not side with Lauren throughout the story (or at least the first three parts), you'll find yourself wishing for her survival, her success. This is a tale of empathy and kindness as a rebellion to chaos and resentment, a tale that leaves you with the hope that perhaps, against all odds, humanity will come to realise that we are stronger together.

A brilliant adaptation of the best selling book. Beautifully illustrated and top quality portrayal of the story.

Embarrassingly for a sci-fi buff, I've never read Butler's Parable of the Sower. So when I had the chance to read this graphic novel adaptation, I jumped for it. 

The sotry is a classic for a reason, and still holds true today. I'm glad this adaptation allows the story to reach new readers.

I fell in love with the Duffy/Jennings take on Butler’s KINDRED a few years back, and when I heard that they would be taking on her wonderful Parables duology, I was *overjoyed.* (I still am.) Duffy displays a keen sensitivity to Butler’s style without overloading the graphic novel format, and Johnson’s style carries much of the weight of Butler’s world building––but again, without overwhelming the reader with too much noise. It’s a distinctive style, completely original and not easily confused with the baseline “comic book” line work, coloring, and lettering, which is competent but not particularly unique. Just like Butler and Duffy, Johnson’s work has *voice.* This is a book destined to become a part of my permanent collection once I am once more employed and allow myself to start buying books again (not allowing myself to buy books while unemployed is GREAT motivation for getting those job applications in). All this to say, it’s gorgeous, and it does justice to the source material, and I can’t wait for this team to polish off the second half of the duology as well. I. Can’t. WAIT.

Loved the artwork and it captured Octavia E. Butlers writing! Would highly recommend reading along side with the book.

I love Octavia Butler, but I did not love this adaptation. At least in the advance egalley copy I received, the illustrations were too minimalist to the point that they appeared unfinished, distracting and detracting from the source text.

I originally received this graphic novel as an advanced reader’s copy.  The copy wasn’t finished so I didn’t feel I could adequately review.  I have since read the novel and graphic novel.  The graphic novel follows the basics of the novel.  The artwork for the graphic novel is very minimal, seemingly like the lack of resources in the dystopian society the graphic novel depicts.  Overall, I thought the graphic novel does justice to the novel but would have liked the artwork to be more graphic (no pun intended).

A powerful adaptation of the classic book. Somehow this seems even more relevant now than when it was written 25 years ago. The style art is evocative. The adaptation makes the story accessible to many different levels of readers, and engages reluctant readers. Definitely a good addition to a high school classroom library.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this in exchange for my open and honest review. 

This is a faithful adaptation of Olivia Butler’s Parable of the Sower story. It is being adapted, Damian Duffy and John Jennings, the same team that tackled Butler’s Kindred story. 

Initially, I was apprehensive about reading and reviewing Parable of the Sower. It is a story I do not like, to no fault of Butler’s beautiful writing. For some reason, the first time I read Parable, there was something about it that disturbed me deeply. Maybe it is how lyrically she describes the bleak future. Perhaps it is the repetition of the word, change. I am not sure. I was hoping that reading the graphic adaptation to the story would lend to some greater insight and love of the story. And it did. 

The Sower story is a heavy dystopian story about a world that has drastically changed from our own. The environment has been all but destroyed, wild packs of dogs and cannibals roam the hills. Lauren, the lead protagonist of the story, is trying o find her own spirt and religion in the form of journal keeping while the world around her changes. 

Adding the graphic element to the story helped nail down the visuals for me as a reader that was slightly murky on the first read. The graphics in the story are beautifully done. It is done as a monochromatic palette of oranges and reds, and I think that lends to the story and was a good design choice. 

Even with the beautiful graphics and faithful adaptation, this still isn't a story I want to come back to. However, that should not keep other people from reading this and starting this journey with Lauren. Butler is a powerful and lyrical writer. She infuses every word she writes with emotion, and for some readers, this story is an emotional, beautiful journey.

I think this is one of those graphic novels that would be great to read as a novel prior to reading the graphic novel adaptation. For some reason, I could not get interested in this novel and had to force myself to read it. As this ARC did not have the final outline and coloring included, it felt very messy reading viewing the panels and getting invested in the story. I would definitely pick up this book after reading the original novel to see how the graphic novel adaption turned out to be. But for now, I could not enjoy reading this.

Too harsh, raw, and disturbing for my students.  This is something that I could recommend to individuals for consumption, but I would never use it for a classroom.  There is rape mention and dismemberment within the first ten pages.  I would recommend this for fans of the original book who know what they are getting into and love the work already.  For me, new to the material, it was not what I expected.  I found it interesting, but again, not for curriculum adoption.

This was a really nice adaptation of a fantastic story. I particularly liked the lettering on the passages from the Books of Earthseed, which mimicked someone's journal. It added to the feeling of the story a lot.

I enjoyed this graphic novel adaptation of the classic by Octavia Butler. I never read the book but now I feel as if I know the story.

Disclaimer: I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'll admit it...I've never read a single book that Octavia Butler has written. It's on my list of things to do. This graphic novel was my first exposure to Butler, even though I realize it is an adaptation of her original work. I liked the story. It was honest, went at a slow, gentle pace, and shared a message of family, sadness, and the reality of deprivation. 
As for the graphic element of this graphic novel...it was in a different format than I am used to. It was very harsh and put together, but this worked with the story that was being told. This wasn't a neat, tidy story, so I think the images spoke to that in a visual way.
I would recommend this book to a friend, if given the opportunity. For all I know, this might be the perfect introduction to Butler. I'm going to say it is, because I still haven't read any of her published works, although I have some sitting on my night stand waiting for me.

'The Parable of the Sower: The Graphic Novel' is an adaptation of a work by the late, great Octavia E. Butler.  The adaptation is done by Damian Duffy with illustrations by John Jennings.

The story is told through the eyes of Lauren Olamina, a preacher's daughter, living in a hellish near-future Los Angeles.  Lauren keeps a diary of her life, and of Earthseed, a religious idea she is building on.  While Lauren and her family are safe, the outside world will come barging in, and Lauren has to learn to use violence, even though she has an almost psychic connection with the pain of others.  One terrible night, Lauren must leave what she knows and hit the road North, to hopefully better days.

The burden of adapting is what do you leave out and what do you leave in.  The adapter chooses to kind of refrain the whole Earthseed ideology making it better, in my opinion.  The art in this was a whole other story.  While I really liked the cover art, the art inside is really unfinished looking.  I think maybe the artist was going along with the whole journal/sketchbook nature of what Lauren is writing in with the kind of rapid sketching you'd do if you were on the run, but it didn't really work for me.
 
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Abrams ComicArts and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

The first time I read Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower was back in 2012. I thought I had read it in college, but as I noted in my Goodreads review (bit.ly/2QbW7Io): “If I had, I would have remembered sitting up all night unable to sleep.” The book unnerved me mainly because of how plausible it could be in real life. To take another line from my review, “Butler’s dystopia is a lot farther, and yet a lot closer, than we think.” These days, I feel that statement even more.

Read the full review at the link below.

Actual rating: 3.5

Parable of the Sower was an interesting read. This was the first story I have read by Octavia E. Butler and I quite enjoyed it.

I have not read the novel that this graphic novel adaptation is based on, but I think that I would enjoy this better having read the novel. I was quite confused about the context of the story as it was not explained in detail, so it took me quite a while to understand what was happening. The story moved at a decent pace but I had hoped to get more background information from the main characters. I also felt that since the plot moved well, the development of the relationships between everyone was glossed over.

Other than those things, I quite enjoyed this adaptation and would recommend it to fans of dystopian books.