Lilith's Brood

Rating:
Summary: If you are interested in being drawn into another world...
Review: I won't repeat a summary of the story because it has already been done well. However, I will tell you my experience in reading this "book". One night I decided to read a couple of pages while I was in the bath tube. When I looked up, it was 3!! hours later and the water was ice cold and I hadn't noticed. Also, her characters took on such life for me that they kept showing up in my dreams, even after I was done reading the book. If you want to read a book that will transport you into the story, this is a book you don't want to miss.

Rating:
Summary: Unique and Intense
Review: Lilith's Brood (a complilation of the three books in Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy) is a unique look at the nature of the human race.
The Onkalis, a race of beings whose purpose is to genetically unite with all life forms they encounter, save and revive humanity after a nuclear war. They meet with all manner of resistance from humans who want their independence; but also meet with human colaberation in ways they didn't expect.
One shining example of Bulter's genius is in the nature of the Onkali's technology. Every single manifestation of their technology comes from genetic engineering. They do not build houses, spacecraft, tools, etc.; they grow them. They design, using their own body chemistry, the DNA sequences that will cause organic matter to become what they need. Using things like metal or wood or plastic to build something is almost beyond their comprehension.
They also inform Lilith that humanity has within it a self-destruct mechanism in the form of a genetic conflict between intelligence and hierarchy. I advise the reader to meditate on this, and compare the idea with your own impressions of the history of humanity.
One final impression that I got was that there is no way that a man could have ever come up with this story. Only a woman could have imagined this. I say this because, in general, the main psychological difference between men and women (with intriguing exceptions) is that women work their will internally and process thoughts and emotions externally. Men are the exact opposite. Butler's story illustrated this in a subtle yet powerful way.

Rating:
Summary: the biology of compassion
Review: Lilith's Brood is probably the most theologically and philosophically compelling science fiction I've ever read. Butler's talent for explaining our condition without invoking stereotypes of race and gender makes hers a rare talent indeed. Butler's Oankali/Human hybrids present to us, in their very flesh, the struggle between power and morality that gives her characters their ethical complexity and appeal.

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Summary: Lilith's Brood Omnibus Edition
Review: Lilith's Brood, a trilogy set in Earth's distant future, concerns the few remaining humans and their extraterrestial conquerors. Faced with the unpleasant alternatives of extinction or interspecies breeding, the human characters struggle to preserve their cultural and biological heritage against the seemingly insurmountable obstacles set by their keepers. The parallels between their fight to maintain cultural identity and the growing pains facing America's multicultural population in the 21st century are striking. This is the "melting pot" gone one better. Perhaps this is Butler's most biting social satire; surely it is her most thoughtful work since Kindred. As in most of her fiction, Butler is fascinated by the ways society evolves and survives despite our self-destructive impulses. Although this "new" offering from Butler is a collection of three previously published novels, the omnibus format will draw new readers and remind old friends of her substantial powers.

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Summary: Science Fiction in Framework Only.,
Review: Lilth's Brood is a great read on two different planes, either of which would have been sufficient to make it a good book. The first is the story, it is creative, unique and plausable--not just a wild flight of science fiction fantasy! The briefest of summaries--the earth distroys itself in war, an alien race rescues the few remaining people, but as payment for the rescue "trades" with them, the trade being genentic material, and thus a new being is created as a combination of the two. The second plane of the book is the deep, complex look that Butler takes into the soul of the human race, human sexuality, human society and human morals--all using the facade of the alien race's needs and desires as the looking-glass. This is the most facinating aspect of the book. Butler's ability to express emotional need and yearning is amazing, and very real. She must be a wonderful person herself to even understand this aspect of the human soul.
This book illustrates the need for cleaner defintions of the genre "science fiction". It is a book that would appeal more to readers of serious psychological work than science fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely wonderful !
Review: Octavia Butler is by far my favorite author. This compliation is the perfect place to start if you've never read any of her work. I can't recommend it highly enough. This is the kind of book you will read again and again.

Rating:
Summary: Lilith's Brood is wonderfully complex and believable
Review: One of the best sci fi books I've read in quite awhile (and I read a lot of them). The complexity and believability of the story make it fantastic. Butler also succeeds at creating a new species and actually showing us our world and society through their eyes, quite a feat to do well. She also creates a diverse atmosphere of all kinds of people (different backgrounds, races, languages) coming together under adversity. The struggles that the humans in the story have with accepting ideas and concepts completely outside of their experiences makes for very thoughtful reading. This book (actually 3) makes for very interesing exciting reading (I couldn't put it down) combined with lots of thought provoking material.

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Summary: Fascinating if Flawed Butler Trilogy
Review: Review by C. Douglas Baker

This is a collection of three novels that make up the Xenogensis Trilogy. Readers interested in the trilogy should read the series in order: Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago.

DAWN introduces the reader to a fascinating alien race that intends to save a post-nuclear holocaust earth by repopulating it with half-human, half-alien beings. The concept of crossbreeding through genetic engineering with an alien race to create a new species is a truly innovative storyline. The Oankali intend to take a number of humans they saved from a nucleated earth, cross-breed with them, and reintroduce them and their alien offspring to the earth. The highly negative reaction of the humans to this idea is very realistic and their interactions with the aliens are conceivable. The main character, Lilith Iyapo, is a strong willed African-American woman who learns to accept the aliens for what they are but never fully comes to accept their plans for the human race.

The Oankali are an imaginative race with three genders, the third being a necessary intermediary between the male and female Oankali during intercourse and for procreation. Therefore it is not surprising that the "third" gender (it is not really neuter) is the dominant gender of the race. They travel in an interstellar ship that is entirely made of living tissue and the Oankali physically interact with the ship to produce food, dispose of waste, and reproduce other needs. The Oankali travel about the universe and cross breed with other sapient beings out of necessity. Humans are just another of their "victims" or "beneficiaries", depending on one's point of view. The new species is ostensibly better than its parent species.

Part two of the Xenogenesis Trilogy, Adulthood Rites is much more engaging and well thought out than its precursor, Dawn. The first half-human, half-Oankali male becomes the focal point for the Oankali attempt to cross-breed with humans. According to the Oankali, the human male is very dangerous and prone to violence. Indeed, the human male is the embodiment of the so called human contradiction that leads to self destruction. If this human/Oankali "construct" is flawed and prone to destructive tendencies, the whole genetic "trade" or cross-breeding would be jeopardized. Indeed, the Oankali themselves would be jeopardized.

Akin, the half-human, half-Oankali male child is kidnapped by human "resisters" who have refused to mate with the aliens at the price of their own fertility. The Oankali, while lengthening the life and health of these human survivors of nuclear holocaust, plan to allow them eventually to become extinct. The best human genetic traits would then be carried by the new species of Oankali whose genes were mixed. The aliens decide to allow the kidnapped child to remain with the resisters for some time so he can learn about his human side. The novel centers around Akin's rectifying his conflicting loyalties to his human and alien selves.

Adulthood Rites expands on the alien Oankali and leads the reader to an understanding of why they must cross-breed with other races. Their raison d'etre is to collect and expand upon all life forms and become a better race through adapting the better traits of races they come into contact with. They view life in a more holistic fashion, as consisting of the cells and even sub-atomic particles of living matter. Every being is genetically engineered to function for a purpose. The purpose of the Oankali is to collect and expand upon life forms, including their own. We can surmise that at their origin, the Oankali looked nothing like they are currently described as they have continued to metamorphosis genetically over the ages.

Bulter does an excellent job of portraying human reaction to the aliens who want to cross-breed with them but allow the human race as they know it to become extinct. We can both empathize with Lilith who has, more or less, accepted the fate of the human race and has born human/Oankali children and become a member of an alien community. While she does not fully accept the fate of her species she is resigned to it and does what she thinks best to preserve what is left of humanity. Conversely, we also empathize with Tate, who would rather die than be disloyal to the human race by giving in to the alien predators. The Oankali are a truly fascinating and ingenious creation.

The most dismaying aspect of the book is the big "contradiction" in human genes the Oankali keep proclaiming is the reason humans should be allowed to become extinct. This contradiction is "intelligence and hierarchical" behavior. It seems that males are particularly prone to this trait . There is no explication as to why this is such a contradiction or why hierarchical behavior necessarily leads to self-destruction in the human race. This was a very unsophisticated attempt to explain human tendency toward violence and destruction. It greatly detracted from an otherwise excellent novel.

Part three of the Xenogenesis Trilogy, Imago completes the creation of a new species via Oankali and human cross-breeding. Imago deals with the creation of the first "construct" (half-human, half-Oankali) ooloi, the third Oankali gender. Ooloi are necessary for reproduction and the creation of construct ooloi represent the ability of the new species to procreate and become independent of its parent species. The ooloi are explained in fuller detail in Imago than in the previous novels. Here the reader more fully understands the healing and manipulative abilities of the ooloi. The ooloi bind their mates to them through a chemical and psychological process and are equally bonded to their mates. The major difference in the new ooloi species is their ability to metamorphosis or shape-change, which they derive from their human genes' ability to regenerate new types of cells. The construct ooloi tend to take on the shape of their mates, thus the title Imago. Imago is the story of Jodahs, the first construct ooloi, and the struggle to gain acceptance into both the human and Oankali community.

Rating:
Summary: The dangers of being saved.
Review: Some time ago I've read for the first time a book from Ms Butler. I was captivated by her amazing imagination and quality of her prose and became instantly a fan of the author. This first impression was corroborated as I read more of her writings.
All her books showed a rich mixture of imagination, complex and interesting characters and conflictive situations to test their mettle.
"Lilith's Brood" is not an exception to Ms. Butler production. Humans had self destroyed but miraculously an alien race, the Onkalis, came to the rescue.
The Onkalis traveled eons and genetically mix with other alien species, evolving each time with the exchange. They are a three gender race and their sight produces an overwhelming rejection reaction in human beings. Is it possible to overcome this? Ms. Butler shows all possible reactions through the characters of her novels. Onkalis also have mixed reactions to Humans. They are uncertain on how to handle them. Save them against their will? Enforce their view point? This and other candent questions are addressed. Their resolution is not simple and in this complexity a rich story evolves.
High science fiction stuff!!!

Rating:
Summary: Draws you in and doesn't let go
Review: The books in this compilation were the first books I read by this author but certainly not the last. Ms. Butler does a wonderful job of making the reader feel what her characters feel and beautifully describes the complex feelings that the two races, human and oankali, have for each other. Ideas that start out as unplatable to the reader as to the characters become with time, acceptable and even desirable, as surely the author intended. I just finished the last book in the trilogy, "Imago" and I'm sitting here wishing there was more.