Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

116 reviews

another_dahlia's review

dark medium-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Rape, Death, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Biphobia, Child abuse, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Racism, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Sexism, Animal death, and Child death

nixter's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

I’m kind of let down by this novel to be honest. I saw so many great reviews that led me to believe this was going to be a life changing read, and honestly, a whole bunch of nothing happened for a majority of the book. Nothing about this book was groundbreaking or revolutionary like i was expecting. I was intrigued enough to keep going, hence the 3 stars but it’s more like a 2.5 rounded up because I wanted to DNF at one point. 

The vampires very much fit established vampire lore in some capacity. The experimental part of it wasn’t well explained, in my opinion. I didn’t connect with any of the characters or have any affection for them, which includes our MC, Shori. She was just bumbling around clueless the whole book, which tracks because she suffered from amnesia, but for once, I wanted her to be in the know or have some clue as to what the hell is going on. There were also too many complicated relationships and dynamics to keep track of in such a short period of time, and I often found myself confused and having to think back and remember who is who in relation to someone else. 

Finally, my biggest issue was the most glaring part of the book for me — the thing I could not simply get over — which is the fact that she is a literal child, engaging in these sexualized behaviors with adults. Not only is she child appearing to humans, but even by vampiric standards, she’s a kid. So the whole thing made me uncomfortable from the beginning, which may have been a goal of Butler, but I didn’t enjoy it. There were multiple times when I had to put it down and take a break because reading it forced me to imagine a 10 year old appearing person in these compromising situations when I simply rather not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Pedophilia and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Racism and Racial slurs

readingwithcoffee's review against another edition

hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

1.75

I think you can tell what vampire tropes Butler is trying to explore or invert but I found the trail aspect tedious and not very fulfilling frankly and I don’t think the age of the vampire served a real narrative purpose or was a good choice versus a teenage vampire even. So I think you can tell what she is exploring or inverting here but the execution is frankly below what I expect from butler and the pay off is not really there at all. I did really like Brooke and Celia though I thought they were neat 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual violence, Racism, and Racial slurs

antitheticaldreamgirl's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Racial slurs

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

birdie770's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Racism, Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Violence, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Blood

charrlee's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-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

Octavia Butler's work in this novel makes you squirm --- it is meant to, and her writing here has been one of the most uncomfortable reading experiences I've had. I'm unsure how to accurately summarize the journey Fledgling has put me through, but I will say Butler has yet to fail in her deliveries. 

This is a text that will have you traversing the themes of blackness & fugitivity and hybridity & "naturalness" while questioning who assumes the role of monsters. Humanity is found in unexpected places as Butler subverts, complicates, and rewrites the expectations and rules of the common Western vampire trope. There is much to discuss about the moral quandaries this book offers. It was a challenging read and probably one of the more horrific books I've read to date.   

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, Body horror, Child abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Racism, Abandonment, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Hate crime

Moderate: Blood, Genocide, Classism, Gore, Torture, Physical abuse, Addiction, Slavery, Colonisation, and Racial slurs

nevenolson's review

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.75

Don't read this book if polyamorous vampires aren't your thing or if you're looking for something written by a prude mormons. 
I loved this book. It is amazingly written. I absolutely love the way Butler wrote vampires(Ina). The ending felt unfinished, unfortunately the author passed away before she wrote a sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Racial slurs, and Racism

happinessie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Racism, Medical trauma, Hate crime, and Gun violence

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