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A review by pran
Dawn by Octavia E. Butler
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Lilith Iyapo is awoken to find she has been taken from Earth by an alien race who want to form a new race of alien-human hybrids.
This book was excellently written and I really got a sense of the unsettling, weird feeling of contact with an alien race whose intentions we are not fully sure of.
Lilith's character was well thought-out and constructed with flaws that made her compelling and at times unpredictable.
Something I was particularly impressed by was how Butler implicitly spoke about race and colonialism. Especially in the parts where Lilith is placed in a leadership role- how much does her identity as a Black woman impact the others' trust and perceptions of her?
And of course also the main narrative and what it says about colonialism.
Even as a woman of colour, I found myself taken in by what the Oankali were saying, and it was only when we discussed it in my book club that I realised what a coloniser narrative this was and how I'd been bamboozled! I myself thought, well, if the humans have nuked themselves then maybe they do need someone else to take control. But how do we know that this is true? And is that really fair?
I had been reading it through the lens of how humans have treated animals, as the Oankali infantilise Lilith and other humans, see them as pets sometimes, and seem to be trying to basically selectively breed them, but this further demonstrates how toxic and manipulative the Oankali and coloniser rhetoric is.
I would honestly recommend this to anyone, even people who do not like sci-fi, because of how much it says about our world, and human nature.
This book was excellently written and I really got a sense of the unsettling, weird feeling of contact with an alien race whose intentions we are not fully sure of.
Lilith's character was well thought-out and constructed with flaws that made her compelling and at times unpredictable.
Something I was particularly impressed by was how Butler implicitly spoke about race and colonialism. Especially in the parts where Lilith is placed in a leadership role- how much does her identity as a Black woman impact the others' trust and perceptions of her?
And of course also the main narrative and what it says about colonialism.
Even as a woman of colour, I found myself taken in by what the Oankali were saying, and it was only when we discussed it in my book club that I realised what a coloniser narrative this was and how I'd been bamboozled! I myself thought, well, if the humans have nuked themselves then maybe they do need someone else to take control. But how do we know that this is true? And is that really fair?
I had been reading it through the lens of how humans have treated animals, as the Oankali infantilise Lilith and other humans, see them as pets sometimes, and seem to be trying to basically selectively breed them, but this further demonstrates how toxic and manipulative the Oankali and coloniser rhetoric is.
I would honestly recommend this to anyone, even people who do not like sci-fi, because of how much it says about our world, and human nature.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content