As much and as often as I wanted to condemn characters in this book, they're written with such rich humanity that it would feel hypocritical. Butler holds your eyelids open, Clockwork Orange style, to the ugliness of a soul under impossible strain until you admit you feel for them. Wild Seed does not sidestep the racial tensions of 1600s-1800s Africa and America either, but rather lets it inform and enrich the more insular struggles of these little communities of enhanced humans. Our main characters, Anyanwu and Doro, are immortal shapeshifters (though in thematically very different ways) and therefore make for an incredible vehicle to grasp at the ever-shifting, ever-evolving nature of humanity with all its flaws and spirit. Many side characters tug on the heartstrings as well.

Wild Seed does take its time but the effect is mesmerising rather than dull. I read it in two sittings, faster than I've read much shorter novels. It's also a world apart from the usual sci-fi novels I read from this era in terms of queer acceptance (and obviously feminism and anti-fascism). These shapeshifters are practical enough to be mostly unfazed by sex between all kinds of different bodies.