Reviews with content warning for Pedophilia - Fledgling

This book is really hard to rate because everything about it was amazing and brilliant.... except Butler's choice to have Shori present as a 10 year old child, that was a constant issue for me. I'm sure she did that with purpose, she was such a brilliant writer, but at the end it was a matter of how much I'd knock off of an otherwise 5⭐ read.

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galaxyelfjess's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Good book for the first half, second half wasn't as good

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rainasage's review against another edition

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yeahnaar's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This book feels very young adult - which isn’t bad if that’s a genre you like. The plot is overly linear, and thematically it doesn’t engage with the topic of race in an especially interesting or engaging way. Most problematic is that the book seems to needlessly promote paedophilic relationships, and goes out of its way to make the main character resemble a small child and then have sexual relationships with adults. If you can get past that then it’s an ok book, but normalising pedophilia is a weird and not at all ok thing to do. I would rate the book more highly if not for this element of it

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beanjoles's review

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Oof. That was a slog. If this hadn't been an Octavia Butler story, I wouldn't have finished it.

I'm not huge on the concept of vampires anyway, but what really got me was the apparent pedophilia and lack of meaningful consent to sexual or romantic relationships. Did we need a description of how Wright was excited to have sex with a seemingly pre-pubescent child? Maybe if Butler had been able to continue this as a series, we'd have seen why she made this writing choice. But unfortunately we can only interpret it in a vacuum... and in that vacuum, it feels real weird.

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takemetomilos's review

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tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

another book that is going to stick with me- I need to reflect further on the themes and messaging beyond what a first casual read can give, but wow, what a book.

The Atlantic has a fantastic article about it which is helpful is clarifying the authors intentions in upsetting the consent dynamics - shori’s physical presentation and sexual relationship is definitely wildly uncomfortable, but knowing Butler as an author is to know that nothing is without reason. The complains of pedophilia are entirely reasonable and turn a lot of people away from this book, and would have for me if I was not so confident in Butler’s voice.

https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2022/02/fledgling-octavia-butler-reissue-consent/621420/

(Moving review down from 5.0 to 4.25 stars- horror aspects didn’t stick with me as much, wish consent dynamics were explored further)

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