A review by seereeves
Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

challenging dark slow-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? It's complicated

2.0

This book was immediately disturbing and off putting. 

The protagonist presents as a 10-year-old child to a man who picks her up on the side of the road and almost immediately has sex with her. He is well aware he’s having sex with someone who appears to be a child and comments on how he has to keep her hidden. The whole she’s actually a 53-year-old vampire does not make it better. Nor do all the descriptions of all the other older men who want to have sex with her holding her on their laps or picking her up.

With all the polyamory in this book, you’d think it was Heinlien. The female protagonist doesn’t make it feel less dated because of the weird pedophilia overtones and the constant questioning if the participants are actually willing seeming like consent, but not really. 

Overall this was a strange, unsettling book that didn’t include ideas that made the unsettling elements worth it.