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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book is so timeless. Ahead, behind, and all around its time. I don’t love the series but there’s a part of it that I can’t put down. There’s a truthfulness and clarity to the themes and concept that I can’t ignore.
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
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:
Complicated
A mind-blowing follow-up to Dawn, the first book in the Xenogenesis series. It picks up the story some years later when the surviving humans are back on a revived Earth after leaving the Oankali’s ship. They are split between two groups: humans who have overcome their reservations to live with and mate with the Oankali, and the resisters who want to remain a separate species, despite the Oankali sterilising them. We are reunited with Lilith, the main character in Dawn, but the focus is her son, Akin, who is part Oankali and able to understand both species. Again, the story explores ideas around race, identity, colonialism, gender, eugenics and genomics, following through some of the problematic questions raised by the first book. The intricacies of Oankali society can be a bit bewildering at times but, at its best, this is an imaginative, inventive and thought-provoking post-apocalyptic story.
Amazing sequel to Dawn. Akin has my heart and humans stress me out.
“Yori, Human purpose isn’t what you say it
is or what I say it is. It’s what your biology says it is—what your genes say
it is.”
Someone told Octavia the theme for her next book should be colonialism but she heard CVNT then wrote this INSANE anthropological diss track that is this extra terrestrial tragedy. Oh mother was paying attention during her serving classes because please tell me how she created one of the most unique looking aliens in sci-fi then made them also the best?????? Ooankali are such a vivid creations I'm sure that recent under oath revelation of E.T's was just a confirmation of Butler being in her "That's so Raven " bag. They eskew the gender and social conventions by creating something wholly peerless. The first book in the Xenogenisis series, DAWN, left me catatonic. It was unrelenting in it's shaming depiction of humanity as a failing. An unprecedented allegory for slavery that doesn't diminish actual slavery through zootopia-isms and what if's but pushes the envelope by staying true to it. Exposing just how much we'll never change. In Adulthood Rites she doesn't take that pessimistic conclusion back but she does demand that it doesn't negate our compassion, our hope. Which imo is a W. This book was a mixed bag for a second towards the end BUT it recovered quickly for a nice cute symbolism heavy ending (let's be fr I kinda predicted the town would be burned down the second it was called Phoenix
is or what I say it is. It’s what your biology says it is—what your genes say
it is.”
Someone told Octavia the theme for her next book should be colonialism but she heard CVNT then wrote this INSANE anthropological diss track that is this extra terrestrial tragedy. Oh mother was paying attention during her serving classes because please tell me how she created one of the most unique looking aliens in sci-fi then made them also the best?????? Ooankali are such a vivid creations I'm sure that recent under oath revelation of E.T's was just a confirmation of Butler being in her "That's so Raven " bag. They eskew the gender and social conventions by creating something wholly peerless. The first book in the Xenogenisis series, DAWN, left me catatonic. It was unrelenting in it's shaming depiction of humanity as a failing. An unprecedented allegory for slavery that doesn't diminish actual slavery through zootopia-isms and what if's but pushes the envelope by staying true to it. Exposing just how much we'll never change. In Adulthood Rites she doesn't take that pessimistic conclusion back but she does demand that it doesn't negate our compassion, our hope. Which imo is a W. This book was a mixed bag for a second towards the end BUT it recovered quickly for a nice cute symbolism heavy ending (let's be fr I kinda predicted the town would be burned down the second it was called Phoenix
If Dawn's central theme was an exploration of forced birth, Adulthood Rites' is an exploration of forced sterilization. The resistor humans are doing horrific things in regards to the kidnapping and treatment of construct children, but it is difficult to judge them for their actions knowing that they have been backed into a corner and are facing cultural genocide via forced assimilation. The Oankali also remain as infuriatingly hypocritical and superior as they were in the first novel- smugly assuming the right to determine humanity's fate because they believe they know better than us because they think that they lack the tribalism and hierarchical nature of humans despite obviously thinking that they belong above us in a hierarchy, as well as a number of other, smaller biases. All of this helps support the settler metaphor in having the Oankali claim superiority and that their control over humans is only right and natural when that superiority is based on nothing more than the ability to control.
The worldbuilding also continues to be fascinating. In my personal experience with science fiction at least, the Oankali are a wholly unique species and it is always interesting to learn more about their biology, history, and customs.
My only complaint is that I do prefer Lilith as a central protagonist to Akin. Structurally of course, I understand that he is necessary as the central character as he comes into a world in which for him, Humans and Oankali have always existed together and this allows him to explore avenues of coexistence from a less viscerally emotional place without longing for a pre-contact world and without seeing the annihilation of either species as an acceptable outcome the way most Human characters would. But I do miss Lilith's righteous anger at the horrific situation humanity has been forced into, even if she was ultimately helpless to do anything to stop it and forced into collaboration. Colonialism is something that should be hated and raged against, and it is more difficult to connect with Akin as a character because he doesn't feel that what the Oankali have done is wrong, even if his more detached method is ultimately the more effective one at securing coexistence.
This was a phenomenal next step in the series and I can't wait to read the conclusion. 5⭐️
The worldbuilding also continues to be fascinating. In my personal experience with science fiction at least, the Oankali are a wholly unique species and it is always interesting to learn more about their biology, history, and customs.
My only complaint is that I do prefer Lilith as a central protagonist to Akin. Structurally of course, I understand that he is necessary as the central character as he comes into a world in which for him, Humans and Oankali have always existed together and this allows him to explore avenues of coexistence from a less viscerally emotional place without longing for a pre-contact world and without seeing the annihilation of either species as an acceptable outcome the way most Human characters would. But I do miss Lilith's righteous anger at the horrific situation humanity has been forced into, even if she was ultimately helpless to do anything to stop it and forced into collaboration. Colonialism is something that should be hated and raged against, and it is more difficult to connect with Akin as a character because he doesn't feel that what the Oankali have done is wrong, even if his more detached method is ultimately the more effective one at securing coexistence.
This was a phenomenal next step in the series and I can't wait to read the conclusion. 5⭐️
Definitely an interesting world. Some of the character developments don't seem to make sense, but maybe it will be all be explained in the concluding book!
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
man, I am loving this series! So detailed and believable! I don't know how she does it. Feel she must be part of the alien race she created. amazing.