Rating: 
Summary: Deserves to be called an "epic"
Review: "We are the Oankali. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated... and you will like it."Annalee Newitz once wrote an essay in which she said the half-believed the alien abduction myth: extraterrestrials coming to Earth, abducting people, screwing around with their bodies and spouting morally superior gibberish at them. After all, human history shows that is what people do when they encounter technologically more primitive societies. After the near-extinction of humanity, the alien gene-trading Oankali arrive and resurrect groups of humanity for interbreeding. Humans are culturally, physically and sexually assimilated into the Oankali biology and civilization, in scenes that will make you squirm if you have personal boundary issues. Humans have the status of house pets or retarded people in Oankali society, and it's clear the aliens consider the preservation of human culture irrelevant. "Lilith's Brood" is an allegory for colonialism and slavery, but it is also much more. It also touches important questions: Is humanity inherently flawed and self-destructive? How much are we driven by biology and instinct? Is it possible to fix human nature, and would we want to be fixed? What can you do when you don't own your own life? What would a sentient being without the human contradiction, intelligence vs. hierarchy, be like? The Oankali are perhaps the most fascinating aliens I've ever read. Three-gendered and covered with sensory tentacles, they are apparently incapable of cruelty or deceit, yet utterly ruthless in remaking humanity into what they think it should be. Two of the three books are written from the perspective of non-human beings, and Butler's descriptions of the physicality, their vastly expanded mental, physical and sensory abilities, are beautifully realized. Although not a Campbell-style writer, Butler surpasses his challenge: "Give me something that is as smart as a man, but is not a man." Butler's story is fascinating, but frustrating for what it skips over. It's implied that the Oankali have no art, music or written language, and are indifferent to the preservation of human culture. This makes sense for them, but wouldn't the human survivors, resister or otherwise, care about keeping their culture alive? Also, is homosexuality something that the Oankali edited out of humanity? Mating and family units are the glue of Oankali society, but how do people whose erotic drives are not directed the opposite sex fit in? I expect Butler avoided these issues because she wasn't interested in them. The ideas and questions she does cover are beautifully done. This is a deep, thought-provoking story of humanity meeting aliens. Butler has a pretty bleak view of human nature (though she implies that the Oankali are just as driven by their own biology), and her stories reflect this. The story concludes with the implied end of the human race as we know it, hopelessly out-maneuvered and out-classed by beings more powerful than us. Reading this book is a mind-expanding exercise in seeing that this might not be extinction, but transformation.
Rating: 
Summary: Why?!
Review: ...hadn't I heard rave reviews about Butler's work before? I picked this book up on a whim, which I never do with authors I don't know without reading reader reviews online first. After finishing it, I couldn't understand why I had never heard of the author before since I've been frequenting the sci/fi fantasy sections in stores and online for years. But let me just say, this book is amazing. I would be hard pressed to find more imaginitive authors who take such a big idea and wrap it into something that it such a pleasure to read.
Imagine being "revived" after the near death of a people and getting a second chance at life. Now imagine that this blessing is only with the goodwill of an alien race, and everything you once knew has changed. Butler takes this radical dilemna and offers a poignant story of a woman forced to come to terms with her changing perspective and the reality that the only way to keep her humanity is to loose a great deal of it as well.
I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting or willing to look past the hackneyed genres that, while still producing high quality writing, lack original thought. Reading this book was definately a breath of fresh air.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely wonderful !
Review: Before you buy this book be very careful. The description is horrible for this book. It is not a new Octavia Butler novel but instead a collection of three of her novels. So if you already own "Dawn," "Adulthood Rites," and "Imago" do not order this book. I highly recommend the three novels -- they are wonderful examples of her work -- so if you do not already own them, this is a "better buy" if you really like Butler.
Rating: 
Summary: Warning: this is not a new novel
Review: Before you buy this book be very careful. The description is horrible for this book. It is not a new Octavia Butler novel but instead a collection of three of her novels. So if you already own "Dawn," "Adulthood Rites," and "Imago" do not order this book. I highly recommend the three novels -- they are wonderful examples of her work -- so if you do not already own them, this is a "better buy" if you really like Butler.
Rating:
Summary: Engrossing Sci Fi
Review: Compiled in this single book are the 3 books of Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis series: Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago. A well written, engrossing story of the cultural and physical integration of two very different species, human and Oankali, and their progeny.
Rating:
Summary: Engrossing
Review: I absolutely loved this book. I'm not usually very into sci-fi books, but I thought that this one was great, and it's gotten me more into reading books in this catagory. I think that Olivia E. Butler is an awesome author, and I plan on reading more titles by her.
Rating:
Summary: TRUE GENOUS AND ENGROSSING FANTASY
Review: I am not a fan of Science Fiction - but "Lilith's Brood" (the collection of 3 novels known as the Xegenosis series consisting of "Dawn", "Adulthood Rites" and "Imago") is among the best I have read in ANY genre. Butler brings a species that is totally beyond anything imagined before and makes them real to the reader. She sttracts you to them, repels you from them - and in the end, makes you love them even though you may not want to. I actually felt like I missed the alien species, known as the Oankali when I finished reading the books. Basic premise for those considering the book: An alien species, the Oankali, finds an Earth shaken by major war. Most everything is wiped out and the Earth is practically unsalvagable. They save almost all the humans they find and make a plan to restore parts of the Earth and make them hospitable for human life again - for a price. The novels are wonderfully believable and complex, using challenging vocabulary and fully engrossing the reader in rich imagery and postulations of "What if... ?". No words other than those Bulter uses can do this collection justice - I would recommend it to anyone with a love for literature or anyone that just loves an EXCELLENT story that makes you feel like, and even possibly wish you were there.
Rating:
Summary: TRUE GENOUS AND ENGROSSING FANTASY
Review: I am not a fan of Science Fiction - but "Lilith's Brood" (the collection of 3 novels known as the Xegenosis series consisting of "Dawn", "Adulthood Rites" and "Imago") is among the best I have read in ANY genre. Butler brings a species that is totally beyond anything imagined before and makes them real to the reader. She sttracts you to them, repels you from them - and in the end, makes you love them even though you may not want to. I actually felt like I missed the alien species, known as the Oankali when I finished reading the books. Basic premise for those considering the book: An alien species, the Oankali, finds an Earth shaken by major war. Most everything is wiped out and the Earth is practically unsalvagable. They save almost all the humans they find and make a plan to restore parts of the Earth and make them hospitable for human life again - for a price. The novels are wonderfully believable and complex, using challenging vocabulary and fully engrossing the reader in rich imagery and postulations of "What if... ?". No words other than those Bulter uses can do this collection justice - I would recommend it to anyone with a love for literature or anyone that just loves an EXCELLENT story that makes you feel like, and even possibly wish you were there.
Rating:
Summary: What was I waiting for?
Review: I purchased this trilogy, bound quite differently, from the SF/F Book Club many many years ago. The cover was so childish and stupid-looking I actually never read it. I ran out of things to read lately and noticed it. My goodness. The story explains the almost-end of human civilization, and the subsequent "saving" of it by an alien race. But the only way the aliens will "save" humanity is by genetically altering it to be something completely different. The three books mainly deal with humans' reactions to this. Some would rather die than be changed. Some would rather live and be changed. Some would rather kill the ones who want to live, so the change won't happen to anyone. What's fascinating about the series is the way the focus changes throughout. The first book is written in third person, and is focused entirely on Lilith, a human. The second book is also written in third person, but focuses entirely on Akin, a child born of the union (sort of) between Lilith and an alien. The third book also focuses entirely on a human/alien child (sort of) named Jodahs, but this time in first person. What this change of focus accomplishes is amazing; it draws the reader closer into the aliens' culture and motivations just as the characters are drawn in closer. I didn't actively notice this while I was reading, but after thinking about what I had read, I realized it. I like that very much. Very detailed, and incredibly realistic. And left rather open-ended, which is a good thing as far as this series is concerned. It's grand enough to be left open and still not leave the reader aching for more. One thing I don't like, though. "Lilith's Brood" as a title makes no sense. Lilith is a background character after the first book. The original name was "XenoGenesis", and I find it much more appropriate. But that's not the author's fault, I'm sure.
Rating:
Summary: From someone who thought they didn't like Sci-Fi.
Review: I was one of those people who thought Sci-Fi was a bit corny. I never judged anyone who read it I just didn't think I could get into reading about aliens and outer space. Octavia Butler has changed that for me completely. Her works are so captivating that they make you look deeper into the story and find the similarities with our every day lives.
I first read her short stories in "Bloodchild," and am now addicted. This is definitley a wonderful piece of writing. I recommend it for anyone Sci-Fi lover or not.
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