Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Amanecer by Octavia E. Butler, Luis Vigil

57 reviews

sefercakee's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, Genocide, Racism, Homophobia, Xenophobia, and War

taroroot's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

i don't normally read sci-fi so this was an interesting departure from my usual reading. i think the world and the aliens Butler created were absolutely fascinating. i wish we as readers could understand more about the Oankali's physiology as well as how they communicate amongst each other. i dislike the way consent was portrayed in this novel which made me absolutely hate the ending. "you told me 'no' but your body told me you were ready" is not proper consent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Rape, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence

Minor: Homophobia and Racism

lbrex's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This is clearly one of Butler's best. If I was going to assign this to a specific aesthetic category, I would say it made me "queasy." Butler has explored issues of human survival, mutual benefit with an alien race, bodily autonomy and reproductive autonomy, sex, and genetics in many of her works, but they are rarely combined in a way that is this complicated, gross, and intriguing. Think of her story "Bloodchild," but imagine additional levels of complicity and nuance, and you have Dawn. And yes, there is tentacle sex, though Butler allows for lots of ambivalence here, as she has the Oankali refer to the Ooloi tentacles as "sensory arms" and has all of the humans comment on the amazing levels of pleasure and intimacy that the tentacles allow. Queasiness is an aesthetic category that sticks with you, whether you like it or not. I'm glad I read this again and now I'm looking forward to the next volume in the trilogy!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Violence, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

msagerber's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Confinement, Gaslighting, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Sexual assault

bookwisp's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

2.5

I’ll freely admit this book went over my head. I studied English Literature at uni, so, alas, I’m extremely familiar with the sensation. This was one of those books where I know that I didn’t “get it” so I’m aware that I can’t fully appreciate what Butler’s aimed to achieve here.

This started off weird, tense, and gripping and I flew through the first parts. But there was a point in the narrative, probably around the 60% mark, where it lost me.

Consent is a key issue in the narrative. The way theses issues are explored was, to me, uncomfortable. I’m absolutely sure it’s supposed to be uncomfortable but a particular series of events tipped it over into the realm of Too Much and killed it for me, really.

I recognise it’s an interesting book - one I might’ve been better off studying for an essay because there’s a huge amount to unpack - but as a leisure novel it’s not my cup of tea. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Confinement, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Cancer and Homophobia

allyreindl33's review against another edition

medium-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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, and Body horror

Minor: Sexual assault and Suicide attempt

chaotic_aly's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, and Slavery

mizelse's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Confinement, Grief, Murder, Xenophobia, Genocide, Abandonment, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death

Minor: Cancer, Car accident, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Cursing, and Infertility

veganecurrywurst's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Eins der faszinierendsten Bücher, die ich je gelesen habe. Ein Science-Ficton Buch, dass unglaublich wichtig Themen in der Gesellschaft durch einen neuen  Blickwinkel anspricht: Geschlecht/Gender/Sex, sexuelle Gewalt und körperliche Autonomie, romantische Beziehungen, Kolonisierung, Hierarchien in der Gesellschaft und Ausgrenzung. 
Es ist unglaublich gut geschrieben. Manchmal weiß man nicht was richtig oder falsch, was gut was böse und was gerechtfertigt und was unverzeihlich ist. 
Das Buch ist auf jeden Fall empfehlenswert, man sollte sich aber vorher die Triggerwarings anschauen.
Die deutsche Übersetzung ist ganz okay, sollte aber bezüglich der Pronomen nochmal überarbeitet werden.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Racism, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Rape, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Sexism, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Medical content, Infertility, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Grief, Slavery, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Homophobia, Car accident, Death, and Cancer

shoohoob's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I think this book solidified that I am not a sci-fi/fantasy reader. My brain is just not built for the world-building. 

That being said, this book was fascinating. It was deeply uncomfortable, unsettling, and infuriating to read at times. It’s so interesting that way you almost want to root for both the Oankali and Lilith, but both make it so hard. 

Octavia Butler does such a wonderful job commenting on colonization, xenophobia, and even gender in this book. I found myself referring to the ooloi as he/him but Lilith’s commentary on other people’s reactions to it really put a mirror in my face. 

That being said, I’m not sure that I’ll continue the series. I was almost too uncomfortable and I didn’t really find myself caring about what happens to the characters. I connected more to the commentary than the actual story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Colonisation, Pregnancy, and Confinement

Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping

Minor: Rape