Rating: 
Summary: Good beginning to a surreal trilogy
Review: If you are a sci-fi reader that wants to read about genetics, evolution and aliens. This is your series and don't stop after this book. IT WILL GET MUCH BETTER, three generations worth of it. Octavia butler in her early sci-fi work is how can I call it. A genius. She pushes the imagination with a basis in reality. She's easy to read and in the series has much reference to sexuality maybe because of her age or era in which she wrote the series. Great book/series. MUST HAVE
Rating: 
Summary: Intriguing concepts but ploddingly written
Review: In this, the first novel in a trilogy about a possible post-apocalyptic human future, Octavia Butler has created a conjectural scenario in which humans are forced to question conventional notions of gender, species, and personal identity as the price for their continued survival. The suggested forced interbreeding with an otherwise benign alien race brings us face to face with our collective uneasiness regarding being genetically manipulated to the point where we might no longer be truly "human." So far, so good--Butler's imagination and vision are truly exemplary, and these alone make the novel worthwhile. However, there are aspects of the work that I found irritating--most notably, the exceedingly low esteem in which Butler apparently holds just about all human beings, particularly males. One does not have to be a Pollyanna about human nature to find the human subjects of the Oankali experiment to be almost uniformly jarringly boorish, shallow, and pathological. The other aspect of the novel I found lacking was its literary style. Whereas Butler spins her tale in a careful, well-crafted fashion, the writing itself is generally sparse, even dull. No one will mistake this for the work of say, Ursula LeGuin. Consequently, there were times when, despite the fascinating events being described in the book, I found it a chore to force myself to keep reading. In the end, I certainly am glad I stuck it out, but it shouldn't have been such a struggle.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding alien culture and physiology, compelling story
Review: In _Dawn_, Octavia E. Butler has created not only an excellent story, but also penned one of the most interesting and complex alien civilizations and beings that I've read in a loooong time. The driving point for the plot is that human beings have nearly destroyed themselves and the Earth in a nuclear war. The alien species, the Oankali, rescued as many humans as they could find, taken them aboard their ship, and have helped the people and the Earth heal over several centuries through unique processes. Why they have done this, however, is to "trade" with humans - trade genetic material. For some, this price is too high; for others, it is repugnant, but acceptable. The main character, Lilith, is sympathetic, but by no means too perfect or too sweet. She is a strong-minded, highly-opinionated woman who is very resiliant, but who occasionally reaches her limits. Her ooloi (the sexless type of alien,) Nikanj, is also a very interesting character, and the relationship between them is compelling. The book reads very quickly, and Butler has come up with so many unusual ideas, it's very easy to feel Lilith's isolation, desperation, and even her affection for some of the aliens. Butler's writing is not especially striking, but it is competent and interesting. Still, it's her creative ideas that kept me happily turning pages, and not the overwhelming quality of the word arrangement. The book's end did not provide much closure, and the beginning of the next volume picks up quite a ways into the future, leaving many questions I had unanswered. Nevertheless, I'm very much looking forward to really getting into this next installment of the series, _Adulthood Rites_, and I hope Butler maintains the same passion for a good storyline.
Rating:
Summary: Innovative.
Review: Incredible.
The idea is fresh and the characters ones I can relate to.
Rating:
Summary: The most innovative science fiction book I have ever read.
Review: It is seldom that the story weaved by an author stays with me for more than a few months after reading their novel. Dawn, and the two books that follow, present such an incredible science fiction story that I can not help but remember it several years after reading it. The idea of humanity being forced to join genetically with Aliens in order to maintain its presence in the Universe is quite unique. The human characters are heroic, yet still suffer
from the faults that placed humanity in the situation it faces in the novel. The aliens also have human characterisics, but
never in the novel do they lose their alien identity. Dawn
and Xenogenisis trilogy are a must read for any fan of
science fiction.
Rating:
Summary: very good, must read for biotech fans
Review: it's very good, deals with genetic change in
humans started by an amazing species of ET life
Rating:
Summary: Is it Humanities end--or a new beginning?
Review: Lilith Iyapo, a strong, independent woman, awakes again in a featureless white room, alone. She doesn't know where she is, why she is there, or who has rescued her from the dying Earth. She has thought of many possible groups and organizations that could be her saviors/captors: the government, the Russians, the FBI, the CIA...but she never considered the truth. The "people" who have saved her from the ruins of the war-ravaged planet are not human. Not only that, but more than 250 years have passed since the nuclear war that almost destroyed the world.
The Oankali, an alien race that are fascinating yet frighteningly grotesque, have rescued the remnants of humanity. They healed deadly diseases, saved Earth's remaining people and much more--for a reason. Survival: theirs and ours. The Oankali can only survive by merging genetically with other species--with or without their permission. Humanity are the next to become part of the Oankali race, and like it or not, Lilith has to help the aliens merge with--or destroy--the few humans still living.
Butler skillfully weaves a world of hope and fear, with compelling characters of all kinds, shapes and forms. Love, hate and loyalties, sometimes entwining, sometimes conflicting, run deep in the people of this book, and drive them towards destinies that none can quite control. There's a new horizon for humans and Oankali alike, and the sun is just rising. Is it humanities end-or the dawn of something new and better?
This book will linger in your mind long after you read it. There are many times that you will want to yell, cry, smile, or laugh, and read more. You'll never want to put this book down. Luckily enough, there are sequels
Rating:
Summary: An eerie tale of a frightening possible future
Review: My first taste of Butler, and I am unduly impressed. One quickly becomes engrossed in the tale of Lilith Ilyapo, thanks to Butler's keen understanding of human nature, which is akin to that of Ursula Le Guin. As has been stated previously, the book's aliens are some of the most "alien" aliens I've encountered in a long time. I've also heard it said that she puts her characters through hell, and it's true. But that's what builds great character, and it more than applies here. An engrossing tale.
Rating:
Summary: BUTLER'S WORK IS OVERWHELMING, MESMERIZING
Review: Octavia Butler is a strange sort of author; try to explain the gist of her work to a new reader and you come off sounding foolish:" There's this woman who's been abducted by aliens with tentacle faces, except now she's supposed to repopulate Earth with the few remaining humans left after we've blown everything up in WWIII..." It sounds like atypical SF schlock... but Butler's honest dialogue and her knack for staying four to five steps ahead of the reader insure an astounding reading experience. Inevitably, when I read a book of Butler's, I spend the first sitting getting acclimated to the plot... the next sitting is a frenzied stopless race to the finish... Four novels equal four sleepless nights. I'm VERY excited to hear that DAWN is the first book in a series and I look forward to reading the rest as soon as possible... for those who haven't tried the Patternist stuff, look that way.
Rating:
Summary: alien motives not clear
Review: Post nuclear war. So why are the aliens here at all? Why rescue any humans? Those were two questions still in my mind after reading book one of the Xenogensis series. These questions will be answered slowly over the course of the next two books. I wanted more backgroud of the antebellum lives of the human characters though to make them more real and allow me to understand them more.
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