Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

9 reviews

axel_p's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I hate Wright with a burning passion. This book got to repetitive at times.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Genocide, Hate crime, Incest, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Death, Racial slurs, Violence, Xenophobia, Racism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Body shaming, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Classism, Pregnancy, Ableism, Blood, and Gaslighting

adiajamille's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I found that i definitely wanted to see where it was going, but that it felt a bit dry. I supposed it’s because Shuri isn’t human and therefore doesn’t speak, think, or process like a human. I thought it was a great introduction to a new series (if that were the intent) and sad, because this one could definitely build into something really exciting. 


I thought a bigger issue than Shuri’s appearance was the excessive ableism displayed during the final chapters of the book. 

The continued discussion around Shuri’s appearance is interesting considering there are real human adults that have genetic conditions that make them appear as children. I would love to find out the reasoning behind Shuri’s appearance, although I felt it was thoroughly explained. (Potential spoilers)
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The part I felt curious about, and I’ll have to look in the book as I listened on audiobook and wasn’t able to rewind at the time, I’d was Wright actually a pedophile? I swear there was allusion to it. 

Overall I think this book brought up a lot of things that need to be examined. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Gaslighting, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racial slurs, and Violence

cj13's review

challenging emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Racism, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Ableism, Biphobia, and Grief

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

Narrator is a fifty-three-year-old vampire whose body looks like that of a prepubescent human child. The narrator has sex with several adult humans.

heirloomroses's review

adventurous challenging emotional slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Ableism, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racism and Racial slurs

plainpaige's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

1.5

Ooof. I would have liked this book more if not for the shadow cast over it by the explicit pedophilia of it all. Of course, some will say it's not actually pedophilia, the "child" protagonist was in her 50s! But let's just say, this book will never be made into a movie. Even disregarding the explicit relationships between this person who appears to be ~10 years old, I had trouble finding myself interested in the story or the characters. A third of this book was judicial bureaucratic boredom, and perhaps Butler could have expanded it into a more interesting series, but I personally wouldn't have read the sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Classism, Mental illness, Death of parent, Ableism, Gun violence, Addiction, Racism, Violence, Grief, Blood, Child abuse, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Body shaming, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Alcohol, and Incest

lexnicole's review

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Death, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Sexual content, Ableism, Biphobia, and Death of parent

Minor: Cannibalism and Incest

leanne_miron's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Sexual content, Ableism, Cannibalism, Racism, and Blood

perpetualpages's review

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 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Sexual content, Racism, Racial slurs, and Ableism

booksthatburn's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Fledgling is a vampire story about racism and ableism in a community which thought they were immune to such concerns. A persistent search for justice in a supernatural community.

This is a book built of quiet moments and aftercare, processing trauma and building a new life from the ashes of the old. It’s also a damn good vampire story, with a rich mythology and a kind of vampirism built on community and family history, rather than the usual legacy of sires and victims. I love this book, it's a quieter read than most of the other vampire books I like (normally I lean into urban fantasy), but the way it pays attention to people is subtly powerful. 

This book has a version of polyamory which was intriguing. The presence of vampires mingled with humans and the way that complicates questions of consent is explored really well. The MC is not a child in human years but has the appearance of a child, this might make some readers uncomfortable when she engages in adult behaviors (like sex), so please take care of your boundaries when reading. 

Because the MC has memory loss and does not remember any of her personal history from before the book opens, there are a lot of explanations which can feel repetitive. She's quick to pick up on things, but has to justify herself and her current state of existence over and over. Sometimes this is because of ableist reactions from people around her, assuming that because she has lost one thing (memory) she therefore is unable to do other things (like reason soundly with the information she does have). Her fresh perspective makes this into a story I would recommend for people who are new to vampire stories and people who are very familiar with them because it's a version of the mythos which is new enough to be interesting for those who already  like vampire stories, but it also explains enough to keep newer readers from being lost. While some of the repetition can be irritating, that's obviously on purpose because of the effect it has on the MC and the way different secondary characters ask similar questions. The way this book handles questions of racism in a people who (until now) thought they were categorically immune from it begins subtly and then grows more and more overt as it becomes clear what's happening and how they're wrong about being unable to be racist. The way the MCs age, skin color, lineage, and recent disability are used by some characters to discount her and invalidate her personhood is made explicit in the book without losing the story at all. That's because dealing with the aftereffects of the events right before the book started is the story, it's not some side plot or distraction. It's important and central to the story, and the role which racism plays is crucial to the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Ableism, Racism, Racial slurs, and Gun violence

Minor: Animal death

CW for memory loss, animal death, ableism, racism, racial slurs, violence, gun violence, blood, major character death, death.