Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

5 reviews

risaleel's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, and Genocide

Moderate: Misogyny, Mass/school shootings, Racism, War, Violence, and Racial slurs

Minor: Gaslighting, Classism, Gore, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Death, and Drug use

cinderrunner's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

5.0

Butler's writing is incredible. It's so simplistic and straight forward, so it's so easy to lose yourself into the novel, but she never looses the deep, powerful world building and commentary. I have genuinely never read anyone else who manages to do what she does. There is a "slice of life" feel to Butler's books and Fledgling is no exception. The concepts explored around racism, hatred, love, power and consent are so artfully done. I get where other reviews are coming from saying it is info dumpy or too slow/boring. I found having Shori loose her memory was an incredible way for us to be on the journey of discovering and judging the world of the Ina with her. I didn't find it info dumpy because of it being handled through that lens. And yes, the story isn't very action packed or over the top in the giant wars and mythic quests way a lot of fantasy/scifi books are. The drama, violence, and tension is much more of a slow burn that really allows you to melt into Shori and her journey. This is the most unique vampire novel I've ever read. It blurs the lines of scifi and fantasy really well. The vampire world of the Ina is so fascinating as is their relationship to humans. They hold themselves so far above humans but, as we see more of how they behave and the crimes they commit, are they? Absolutely love everything Butler accomplished here.  I wish it could have been a series, I'd love to know what the future holds for Shori and her eventual children. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Blood, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Racial slurs, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Misogyny

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

abmochapman's review

dark funny informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I’m a huge fan of Octavia Butler but I don’t know what compelled her to create a world that would make relationships between a adult humans and vampire children a moral grey area.

I mean, I can’t lie and say that I hated Fledgling; its overarching conflict was extremely compelling and slow world-building super interesting. I was literally — and a little ironically — hooked. 

This could easily be one of my favorites, but the uncomfortable grey area in the relationships central to the book is a hard sell. Sure, it makes some sense within the confines of the book and its world, but I just don’t understand why she decided to write it so that

the young protagonist appears as a prepubescent child who has sexual relationships with adults

. Like, pray tell, what does this say about society?

A lot of other readers have mixed feelings about the book and I honestly don’t know how to feel, but I wouldn’t say that it’s simply not worth reading at all (unless the topic matter is triggering to you — then please skip this one). However, if you choose to read with a grain of salt, maybe you’ll understand Butler’s intentions better than I could.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Hate crime, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Homophobia

ekmook's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Hate crime