Reviews

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

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emmaondi's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective 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? Yes

2.5

steffyreadsem's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

luminous's review against another edition

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2.0

Really uneven. Disappointing in that it had some good ideas, but the story never went anywhere. I kept waiting for the plot to get going, and then it was over.

fluffyskunk's review against another edition

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5.0

I haven't been this invested in a book in a while. I was hooked from the beginning. I found the commentary on race and relationship styles/family structure very interesting.

pickled_books's review against another edition

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medium-paced

2.5

I spent a majority of this book very confused by the meaning of Shori & Wright’s relationship, as well as her relationship to every other human adult. I think that the lore of the Ina was super interesting, and I wonder if she would have turned this into a series where she explored more of that. But overall I was just expecting… more? It felt like she barely glossed over all the issues she clearly wanted to include here, like gender, race, sexuality, consent, scientific experiments ect. I still believe this contributed a lot of interesting ideas to vampire literature.

ominousspectre's review against another edition

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3.0

I seem to have found myself in a rut with my book choices lately lol

So, I REALLY liked her world building. I knew I would, it's Octavia Butler for gods' sakes, but she really brought some novel lore to the vampire genre. I've put some more of her sci fi on my tbr as I think I'll enjoy it better. This one was odd because if I hadn't looked to see that this was her last published novel, I would've assumed it was her first.

She was exploring a lot of issues of agency/possession, racism, and relationships, but it felt like we never really dug into them fully. Racism went the deepest, but even then it felt like nothing was gained from it being there, it's just there.

The character of Wright was REALLY hard for me to read through. He is such an unlikeable, whiny little piss baby. And he brings me to my biggest struggle with the book, and why it's not a higher rating from me.

Shori's age situation. Not an uncommon critique. I understand that she's a vampire and they age slower, but she's at an age where it's okay to have sex from her people's perspective. I understand that feeding on humans comes with a sexual component, and I don't mind that on its own.

But at the end of the day, she's in an 11 year old's body, and she's still considered a child by vampire standards. Mix in all of the sex along with Wright's possessiveness and his clear underlying racism/homophobia that's hinted at multiple times, and it all just made me feel gross. And dude clearly wanted to sleep with her before the whole biting part.

I was waiting for the ball to drop where she would come to this understanding about him, and it would tie all these themes together, but the story never does. We're just meant to accept and find him endearing even. It was very confusing.

I love some sexy vampire polyamory, but I couldn't enjoy any of it or explore the dynamics because it all just made me want to scrub my skin off. Is this what she wanted? Am I completely misunderstanding? And every time we kiss I swear I can fly? OCTAVIA

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