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crico's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-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
5.0
testaroscia's review against another edition
4.0
My first Octavia Butler and I can see what the fuss is about. The book is huge in Scope (Sapiens' survival and continuity) but very small in structure (the Alien ship) and Butler has kept part 1 essential and this lack of information about the aliens actually keeps it focused. All I know is that as I grow older and lived through the clusterfuckery that is people's response to COVID is that we simply do not deserve any Alien who actually wants to keep us alive, whatever their ulterior motive might be...
madisonh31's review against another edition
4.0
This is the second book by Octavia Butler I’ve read (first was Kindred) and I love how different the two books were. Butler does an excellent job of crafting a creative and detailed description of an alien species and world. This book presents a lot of complicated themes about what it means to be human. I’m excited to read the rest of the series!
midnightlullaby's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
keeganjohnson52's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
vibeke_hiatt's review against another edition
It's a little slow. Maybe I'll come back to it later.
prettypious's review against another edition
5.0
I feel changed after reading this book. This book will stay with me for a long time I think. If genius was a book, this gem written in 1985 would be it. This is a book my librarian chose for me as a part of a book bundle and I’m grateful cause I would have never chosen it for myself.
littlepepperguy's review against another edition
3.75
This was weird as fuck. Bonkers, wild, strange. It's a classic scifi premise: aliens grab up some humans "saving them from themselves", impose a "deal" between species (always with an insane power dynamic and one party refusing to acknowledge that dynamic), and then rebuild.
Butler includes a lot of uncomfortable themes and topics in her works. Quite a few of her works casually include non-consensual sexual encounters used as an illustration of the power one character holds over another. I don't like when those scenes are included on page. I prefer illusions to those instances without implicit descriptions.
This is an interesting story and I will read the rest of the series bc I am really drawn to how the MC has changed thru this novel and need to see how else she becomes both less human and more resolute to protect humanness.
Butler includes a lot of uncomfortable themes and topics in her works. Quite a few of her works casually include non-consensual sexual encounters used as an illustration of the power one character holds over another. I don't like when those scenes are included on page. I prefer illusions to those instances without implicit descriptions.
This is an interesting story and I will read the rest of the series bc I am really drawn to how the MC has changed thru this novel and need to see how else she becomes both less human and more resolute to protect humanness.
jennkei's review against another edition
5.0
Apparently a speculative scifi classic, I had not known. Very interesting.