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Summary: Octavia is a genius
Review: She deserves the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Award that she recently won and these books are the proof. No one writes like Octavia or has the imagination and intelligence to create such a complete and compelling world while still writing beautifully, creating fascinating characters and stories while managing an incredible and stinging critique of human "civilization." Octavia is to science fiction what Toni Morrison is to fiction an incredible writer and storyteller who's always true to her craft.
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Summary: Race - Does it even matter?
Review: Strangely enough, I never realised that Lilith Iyapo was African-American or that Octavia Butler was either! Forgive me, I was very young at the time, and not very informed. But I LOVED the book! In any case, my experience just shows that the big deal that O. Butler is an African-American sci-fi writer, is no big deal. She's just a great sci-fi writer. Period. Also, if nothing else, the Oankali don't care.
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Summary: SF at its Finest!
Review: Take a few (formerly) cliched SF elements - a post-apocalyptic earth; alien abductions; humans repopulating the planet. Now, shake them up and filter them through Butler's prose, and you have a wonderful new animal (which would make the DNA-magician alien characters in this book proud)! The setting is nothing you've seen before, a whole new level in organic technology. The aliens are repugnant and compelling at the same time - not just because Butler says they are, but because through her words we feel the "alienness" of them. The humans are as fully-fleshed out as any in the best contemporary literature. The relationship between them is enormously complex, both physically and psychologically, and is the driving force in the story. The main character, Lilith, is a strong, African-American woman; if Alice Walker wrote science fiction, Lilith would be in that world. This is the first novel by Butler I've read. I'm glad it's the first of three in this series - now I know exactly what to pick up next.
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Summary: Very Thought Provoking and Unique
Review: The author of Dawn, Octavia E. Butler, shows her unique style of writing which allows the reader to actually get the big picture. Very thought provoking and interesting...yet many questions arises...such as 'why would the aliens from outer space have so much interest in the human?' and 'why would the aliens want to rescue the human world at all?' and 'how did the aliens know about the war?'. For the main character's part, Lilith Iyapo, who undergoes many emotional stress from learning and realizing that she will be taking part in some sort of breeding and genetric trade with these so called creatures, the Oankalis, is a total heartbreak. Thus far, the story races on an engrossing series for the readers to find out how the lives of the Oankalis and Lilith and their alien-human like children continues on into the future.
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Summary: Original, intelligent, troubling, thought-provoking
Review: The entire Xenogenesis series (Dawn, Imago, Adulthood Rites) is a fascinating exploration of something that could be either the evolution or the death of the human race. How often do you examine your definition of the word "human"
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Summary: Magnificent
Review: The entire Xenogenesis series is a must read. Enjoyed the fantasy plot, as well as the undercurrents. Butler makes the plot more real by including the interplay of human emotions and interreactions. . . excellent series!
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Summary: Tentacled humanoids -- it must be sci-fi
Review: The late 80s edition that I have is one of those with a white Lilith on the cover. That's kind of freaky, you know.Octavia Butler's story is an interesting variant on a couple of cheesy SF tropes -- Aliens have come to save us from our own destructiveness. But wait, they've kidnapped us and performed bizarre biological experiments on us, and they need us for our reproductive capacity (Mars needs women!). Tentacled alien weirdoes are manipulating us for their own nefarious purposes. Butler makes all these ideas fresh, well except for maybe the tentacles part. She clearly thought a great deal about the repercussions of the various plot elements, while creating a sincere survivor of a heroine, Lilith Iyapo. There are essays on the web that show how Butler was way ahead of her time in her speculations on the possibilities of genetic research and manipulation. While slightly faulting her for never adequately explaining what made the visage of the aliens so horrendous for her characters, Butler's scenario is a refreshing antidote to the "Survivor" phenomenom plaguing our airwaves right now -- Lilith must select from amongst a human population in suspended animation to build a cohort that will help her escape her island. The tension increases as disparate personalities and other would-be leaders are added to the group. I think it is a testament to Butler's ability (or my lack of imagination) that I didn't expect the ending at all.
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Summary: First book of the Lilith's Brood trilogy
Review: The marketing of these books is a little confusing, but they are a WONDERFUL read. I recommend buying Lilith's Brood, which is this book plus the two others in the trilogy.
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Summary: Way too real feeling...
Review: The way she writes is as if I'm watching events unfold on CNN, its real feeling and spooky. The set up is great and the plot unfortunately all to believeable. Humans mess up in foriegn affairs and get into a thermo nuclear war while aliens watch from orbit. They haul us out of the flames but now there's a price to pay and its a biggie. I got into this book and I think anyone who likes books about aliens and human interaction will really enjoy this. Its complicated and at times depressing. But all in all a good book, it will stay with you long after you're done reading.
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Summary: Back to the Future?
Review: There is much here to reflect on - the inherent viciousness of much human behaviour (perhaps related in some way to our meat-laden diets?) coupled with a naive belief in our own 'unique specialness' and the way in which our short lifespans make it difficult for us to learn from our history or avoid the mistakes of the past; On the part of the alien Oankali, a similar conceit is evidenced in their certainty that their assessment of genetic qualities is all that is needed to fully understand other species, a blindness to their own fatal contradictions include; perfectionism, being control freaks, and their inability to imagine themselves in the place of those others; It challenges the commonly held ideas of 'progress' that modern/western society has about sophistication or civilisation being synonymous with 'advanced' material technology, yet the otherwise 'primitive' Oankali surf deep space, assimilate other species and strip entire planets using only a detailed genetic understanding and adaptability, as well as their own version of 'Free Trade'. Socially, the book & Xenogenesis series also reveals from the increasingly desperate reactions of the 'human resisters' just how fundamentally important children/offspring are in giving our lives purpose (a fact that is often glossed over in today's technological society, but still appreciated in many indigenous ones) There is much else here - about the nature of gender, domination, compassion, power and community - that is insightfully woven into the characters and storyline as commented on by other reviewers. But perhaps it is Butler's treatment of human and alien sexuality that is most unusual and haunting and lingers well after you finish the book/series. Butler is an accomplished and original writer who grounds aspects of her most memorable characters and storylines on mythic African themes - the importance and interconnections between spirituality, human relationships/lineages and science - bringing to mind the scholar, Charles Finch's concept of, 'The Reunification of Myth & Science' as a basis for the future. My only gripe with her work is that the books are too short, and the endings often unresolved/unsatisfying, but this may perhaps be linked to her sparse prose style and her wish to explore the storylines further elsewhere. I thoroughly enjoy her writing nonetheless... Also recommended: Adulthood rites, Imago, the patternist series - in fact ALL her books.
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