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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Colonisation
Moderate: Gun violence, Rape
Minor: Terminal illness, Fire/Fire injury, War
Akin is such a comfortingly complex character. I love going from human perspective in the first book to human/alien construct perspective in this one.
So, I'm not the right audience for this series. If an alien race plopped down and offered me enhanced perception, healing, and living spaceships, I would give up my genetic inheritance like that, even if it required adding a weird tentacled third sex to human relationships. Humanity isn't that great! From that perspective, Dawn was a boring slog. Although Lilith is a strong, admirable, character, she's a bit of a wet blanket and the human drama was boring and too similar to petty squabbles in the Patternmaster series.
Adulthood Rites was so much better! Akin is more compelling, drawn between the humans and the Oankali. His position lets the story stretch to more interesting scenes and better worldbuilding. Especially early in the book, he has some of the adorable petulant baby genius of an Artemis Fowl type.
Still, there's a fatal flaw in the series. If the main drama of your series is the horror and tragedy of humans being assimilated into an alien race, you need likable humans! I am constantly rooting for the humans to just destroy themselves already. I'm pretty sure the Oankali are meant to represent colonial powers, chewing up foreign lands, assimilating them and leaving a wasteland behind, but they just don't seem bad! They're compassionate, peaceful, loving, curious, and fascinating. Up to the end of this book, the only thing humans do better than them is cancer. That doesn't seem a legacy worth protecting.
Adulthood Rites was so much better! Akin is more compelling, drawn between the humans and the Oankali. His position lets the story stretch to more interesting scenes and better worldbuilding. Especially early in the book, he has some of the adorable petulant baby genius of an Artemis Fowl type.
Still, there's a fatal flaw in the series. If the main drama of your series is the horror and tragedy of humans being assimilated into an alien race, you need likable humans! I am constantly rooting for the humans to just destroy themselves already. I'm pretty sure the Oankali are meant to represent colonial powers, chewing up foreign lands, assimilating them and leaving a wasteland behind, but they just don't seem bad! They're compassionate, peaceful, loving, curious, and fascinating. Up to the end of this book, the only thing humans do better than them is cancer. That doesn't seem a legacy worth protecting.
adventurous
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Finally finished this one and it got better toward the end. My only problem with this series is the names and how complicated the "mating" system is. The combination makes it hard to tell what's going on sometimes. Other than that some very cool unique situations. Butler had a way of portraying fantastic situations (like crazy looking aliens) as if they were mundane. It doesn't feel like your reading fantasy/sci-fi but instead another reality.
"Do you want to cut them?" Stancio asked. "Little girls. Almost babies."
"Don't talk foolishness. It can be done. They'll heal. They'll forget they ever had tentacles."
"Maybe they'd grow back."
"Cut them off again!"
There was a long silence.
"How many times, Neci," the man said finally. "How many times would you torture children? Would you torture them if they had come from your body? Will you torture them now because they did not?"
Devastating and existential. I want to mother all these post apocalyptic humans, and their human-alien hybrid babies.
"Don't talk foolishness. It can be done. They'll heal. They'll forget they ever had tentacles."
"Maybe they'd grow back."
"Cut them off again!"
There was a long silence.
"How many times, Neci," the man said finally. "How many times would you torture children? Would you torture them if they had come from your body? Will you torture them now because they did not?"
Devastating and existential. I want to mother all these post apocalyptic humans, and their human-alien hybrid babies.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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