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unthank 's review for:

Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia E. Butler
4.5
adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: N/A
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A
What is it:  A collection of short stories (mixture of sci-fi and speculative fiction) by Octavia Butler
Why did I pick it up: I can probably trace my love of weird, horrifying body horror in fiction back to Bloodchild, which I read at a precocious age and has stuck with me ever since. 
Why did I keep reading:  I enjoyed the selection of stories, they each felt unique in terms of the themes they explored, while also feeling like a cohesive whole.

Will I pick up other works by the author? I read the Parable of the Sower about a decade ago, and have been meaning to either revisit it, or to explore some of Bulter's other works. This collection has perhaps bumped those items up on my reading list. 

Liked:
  • Individually, almost all of the stories were very strong. 
  • As described above, the stories in the collection each felt distinct from one another and explored very different themes and ideas, but also felt cohesive as a collection. 
  • I'm a huge fan of the weird body-horror in my science fiction, and these stories delivered.
  • I also enjoyed the little essays about what inspired each of the stories. It's interesting to see Butler's thoughts explicitly laid out regarding the origins of the stories and the themes she hoped to convey.

Disliked:
  • I was "meh" on Near of Kin. It just didn't grab me like the other stories and it felt like the themes were a little under-examined (which frankly, might be the whole point of the story, since the themes it explores are very prominent in the Bible, but not typically explored as part of the Christian canon). 

Your Milage May Vary:
  • I do wonder if some of the stories would have worked better as novellas. There were a few of them where I found myself desperately wanting to know what happens next. I'm not sure if this is a me problem (I usually don't read short-form fiction) or if there was something about these stories specifically that made me want to get more content. Interestingly these were also my favorite stories in the collection. 
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