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bookishbatz's review against another edition
Octavia's writing is phenomenal and was completely on board with the story, but I just can't deal with the 30 something man having sex with a 11 year old. Mind, she's a 53 year old vampire, it was just too much for me and just completely put me off the whole book.
lizlaughlove's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
zeallygreen's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
gnatie's review against another edition
4.0
Not as good in my opinion as some of her other books but still very interesting and thought provoking. There’s semi taboo aspects to this, which are normalized through a difference in culture. I do wish we got to see the main character grow and find success after the mystery is solved and justice is brought. Like with Parable of the Sower/Talents, how we got to see her success and even what the next generation thought. But even so, this is a very interesting take on vampires and I enjoyed reading it.
trevbo97's review against another edition
It started off with an interesting setup but slowly lost me. The characters that the main character met just weren’t very interesting to me and the amnesia aspect didn’t really work for me. Octavia’s lean prose is definitely still great, but the story just didn’t capture me.
orbs's review against another edition
3.25
AUDIO: this book explored themes of racism. humanity. and the complexities of self discovery. but i wish there was more to it. sometimes the themes fall flat with a few paragraphs or small story arc that hits. the book dragged a bit which wasn’t neccessarily a bad thing because we got to live in time with the MC. but i deeeeeepppply hated that the MC had the body of a 10 year old and so did multiple other characters than were sexually active. while all characters were adults technically the fact that they were referred to as “ child by our standards” creeped me tf out
natalie_is_reading's review against another edition
3.0
Eh probably not the first Octavia Butler book I should’ve read. I liked it fine, made it through it, some interesting world building vampirey things but it was predictable, got pretty bogged down with the facts and names, and like I’m sure there’s some sort of purpose going on here but I was not a fan of the 53 year old that looks like 11 vampire having so much sex
jimmyviera's review against another edition
5.0
Octavia is the best. Read everything she’s ever wrote.
erboe501's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
I really enjoyed this vampire book! A very different approach to vampire lore from anything else I've read, and I really appreciate Butler's additional layer of race relations. It was fascinating to see this world being built, and I wish Butler had lived to finish off what apparently was meant to be a trilogy.
I did find it uncomfortable that our protagonist vampire Shori appears like a child (even though she's actually older) and is sexualized and sexual. The polyamorous nature of these vampire families was notable to me for a book written nearly 2 decades ago.
I did find it uncomfortable that our protagonist vampire Shori appears like a child (even though she's actually older) and is sexualized and sexual. The polyamorous nature of these vampire families was notable to me for a book written nearly 2 decades ago.