Scan barcode
marareading's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
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
2.75
I am so torn. I was so thrilled when I found out Octavia E Butler wrote a book about vampires. I love vampire books. This is definitely a new take on it. The entire book is from the perspective of Shori, our MC. To prevent spoilers I'm just say that her perspective creates a story where she has to learn a lot and you learn with her. I didn't like this. However, it was necessary to the plot, so it was also very smart for the author. Her writing style isn't what I'm used to, she is much more staccato in her information and building.
Shori is a 52 yr old vampire that appears to humans as a 10-12 year old girl. The way thay sexuality is discussed with her gabe me a BIG ICK. It honestly made it very hard for me to get through the book at all. Despite that we do learn that she is in fact 53 in vampire years, the author hammers home REPEATEDLY that she presents as a small child. Yet adults of both genders continually sexualize openly. It was something I couldn't get past throughout the book. Without this portion of the story I would have loved it, but I can't get past it.
Shori is a 52 yr old vampire that appears to humans as a 10-12 year old girl. The way thay sexuality is discussed with her gabe me a BIG ICK. It honestly made it very hard for me to get through the book at all. Despite that we do learn that she is in fact 53 in vampire years, the author hammers home REPEATEDLY that she presents as a small child. Yet adults of both genders continually sexualize openly. It was something I couldn't get past throughout the book. Without this portion of the story I would have loved it, but I can't get past it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Racism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Grief, Violence, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Pedophilia, and Racial slurs
botanicpanic's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-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? Yes
2.0
If you are planning on reading this, please check the content warnings. The story has rich lore and interesting themes, but has graphic scenes depicting sexual relationships with (essentially) a child and dubious consent with no clear resolution in the broader narrative. This made it almost impossible to like the main characters and no matter how long I read, I couldn't seem to get past it.
I had high hopes for this book and was so ready to love it, but the experience has left me very disappointed. This may be because it was university reading and needed deeper analysis which only compounded my issues with the graphic scenes, but I can't pretend it's an easy read.
I had high hopes for this book and was so ready to love it, but the experience has left me very disappointed. This may be because it was university reading and needed deeper analysis which only compounded my issues with the graphic scenes, but I can't pretend it's an easy read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Sexual content, Blood, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Pedophilia, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Grief, Murder, and Racism
Minor: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury
rlgreen91's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Overall I thought this was a solid novel. Not my favorite by Butler, but interesting and thought-provoking nonetheless.
One of the things that stood out most to me about the book was this implicit reference to adultification of black girls in the real world. Yes, we learn that Shori is actually closer to an adolescent in her society, but even then, she's still explicitly not an adult. And yet in many of the situations throughout the book, Shori is expected to behave as if she were an adult - until, of course, it's convenient for other people to treat her like a child in a given situation. It was frustrating to see that play out over and over again in the novel.
But what I kept coming back to when reading the book was Shori's grief. Her recognition that she couldn't mourn her families the way people normally would was so sad but also a part of her grieving process. Her realization that she couldn't fall apart over Theodora was maddening because it ties back directly into the adultification aspect, but also how Black women in general are pressured to just "soldier on" during times of stress because they have to hold everyone else together and make sure everything gets taken care of. It all feels so familiar, and for that reason, I couldn't escape that. No matter what other points Butler was making about race or gender or family, no matter how much I just wanted to rail about the adultification - what I always got stuck on was the grief.
In terms of what I didn't like - like a large number of people, I definitely had to power my way through the first few chapters and other sections later on. And many of the characters felt flat to me. Since the book is written from Shori's point of view and other characters are frequently having to explain things to her due to the memory loss, what often felt like info dumps are just the necessary exposition. But even beyond that, it felt like there were situations that happened with various characters but we never saw any exploration after that - for example, with the name shift of Renee to Shori, or Wright's reaction to Joel. I would have liked to see that explored more beyond the initial scene.
But like I said, overall it's a solid novel, and definitely worth a read.
One of the things that stood out most to me about the book was this implicit reference to adultification of black girls in the real world. Yes, we learn that Shori is actually closer to an adolescent in her society, but even then, she's still explicitly not an adult. And yet in many of the situations throughout the book, Shori is expected to behave as if she were an adult - until, of course, it's convenient for other people to treat her like a child in a given situation. It was frustrating to see that play out over and over again in the novel.
But what I kept coming back to when reading the book was Shori's grief. Her recognition that she couldn't mourn her families the way people normally would was so sad but also a part of her grieving process. Her realization that she couldn't fall apart over Theodora was maddening because it ties back directly into the adultification aspect, but also how Black women in general are pressured to just "soldier on" during times of stress because they have to hold everyone else together and make sure everything gets taken care of. It all feels so familiar, and for that reason, I couldn't escape that. No matter what other points Butler was making about race or gender or family, no matter how much I just wanted to rail about the adultification - what I always got stuck on was the grief.
In terms of what I didn't like - like a large number of people, I definitely had to power my way through the first few chapters and other sections later on. And many of the characters felt flat to me. Since the book is written from Shori's point of view and other characters are frequently having to explain things to her due to the memory loss, what often felt like info dumps are just the necessary exposition. But even beyond that, it felt like there were situations that happened with various characters but we never saw any exploration after that - for example, with the name shift of Renee to Shori, or Wright's reaction to Joel. I would have liked to see that explored more beyond the initial scene.
But like I said, overall it's a solid novel, and definitely worth a read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief
Moderate: Cannibalism
booksandbrews's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Gun violence and Mass/school shootings
perpetualpages's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
CWs: Graphic descriptions of blood and injury, in-depth exploration of amnesia, graphic instances of death, mourning/grief, loss of family, trauma relating to fires/arson, murder, racism and racist slurs, some ableism, and some graphic depictions of sex
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Sexual content, Racism, Racial slurs, and Ableism
zgc's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
if this was any other author I would have bailed a few chapters in. not sure I was right not to. this book needed another editing pass, if it needed to exist at all. it's built around a creepy trope, and its themes are communicated better in her other work
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror and Racial slurs
More...