A review by aruarian_melody
Dawn by Octavia E. Butler

challenging dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Super interesting setup but the book lost me half-way through. As soon as other humans were introduced, the pacing increased too much and with the introduction of 40+ people, there just wasn't a lot of character depth. The named characters felt more like tropes than fleshed out characters. Because of this I found it hard to keep being invested in the story. While the characters were diverse from a racial point of view, the cast and relationships were very heteronormative, which hasn't been the case in other books by Butler. I did not like that

rape was clearly stated to be unacceptable but a scene involving a man being coerced/forced into a sexual act was brushed asides with very problematic language (reaction of the body being seen as consent despite very clearly being denied consent).

As much as I liked other books by Butler, I will not continue the series.