Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

83 reviews

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

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.

tishtashohmygosh's review

adventurous dark reflective tense 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? Yes

4.0

 

Octavia Butler expertly explores themes of racism and ageism—among others—in a take on vampires that I haven’t encountered before. The novel follows a young Ina named Shori who awakens in a cave heavily injured and with no memories. She learns of the history and culture of the Ina, the political ties between Ina families, and the conspiracy that led to her being injured in the first place. 

Things I Liked: 

The characters feel like authentic people rather than tropes or caricatures and the relationships they build with each other are engaging. There is LGBTQ+ representation in the cast of characters which is something I'm always seeking out. The pacing is consistent and at no point did it feel too fast or too slow to me. The world building is thorough and in depth and feels naturally integrated into the modern setting. It has the found family trope, which I am always on board for.

Disliked: 

My primary dislike/discomfort with the novel comes from

the explicit sexual scenes between a person who has the physical appearance of a 10-year-old (even though she is said to be 53 years old) and multiple adults.

I know that this is an intentional discomfort, but it is something I wanted to mention also as a potential trigger warning. 

Overall, I very much enjoyed Fledgling as much I have enjoyed reading some of Butler’s other works. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Blood and Violence

I didn't tag it as pedophilia because the characters are technically all adults (which is explicitly stated in the novel), but the main character has the appearance of a child and she does engage in sexual acts with adult characters.

maregred's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Racial slurs, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Death, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Slavery and Grief

doctorw0rm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Racial slurs, Racism, and Gun violence

it’s technically not pedophilia bc shori is an adult who is actually older than every character she has sex with, BUT she does have the appearance of a 10 year old. she is also described as a child by other vampires though since they age much more slowly than we do, but they also consider it normal for vampires of her age to have sex with adults. so it’s complicated idk. but i think it’s good to have a warning bc i kind of wanted to throw up at first

galaxyelfjess's review

dark mysterious slow-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? No

3.5

Good book for the first half, second half wasn't as good

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Racism

Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Death of parent

The main character (who is a 53-yearbook vampire in the body of a 10 year old) engages in a relationship with a 23-year-old and has sex with him. There is racism towards the end of the book with the use of insults and racial slurs from a white character to the black MC

lucyatoz's review

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

2.0

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler has been the most challenging read for me in the 52 Book Challenge. Yes, it is a original book focused around vampire lore and confronting many of the tired fables about them head on. It also tackles issues around identity and race in a novel way. However, I just did not gel with this book at all. It was not a book I could read before bed, which is my normal habit. Instead I read it over a long weekend and was glad that I have finished it but left feeling slight out of kilter, which I think is what the author was aiming for with this novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Abandonment, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Racial slurs

yeahnaar's review

adventurous fast-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? Yes

3.25

This book feels very young adult - which isn’t bad if that’s a genre you like. The plot is overly linear, and thematically it doesn’t engage with the topic of race in an especially interesting or engaging way. Most problematic is that the book seems to needlessly promote paedophilic relationships, and goes out of its way to make the main character resemble a small child and then have sexual relationships with adults. If you can get past that then it’s an ok book, but normalising pedophilia is a weird and not at all ok thing to do. I would rate the book more highly if not for this element of it 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Cannibalism, and Pedophilia