A review by markludmon
Adulthood Rites by Octavia E. Butler

4.0

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.