Dawn (Xenogenesis, #1) in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Aug 21, 2018 LT rated it really liked it

Riveting and challenging. This book is haunting (like much of Octavia Butler's work). Lilith's story stays in my thoughts, so I couldn't resist checking out the next book in the series. ...more

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Aug 15, 2020 Jennifer rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sf, fiction, owned

I knew it was high time I read some more Octavia Butler. This first book in the Xenogenesis series is often a difficult read, but one that is impossible to look away from. After the near destruction of the human race (nuclear war), some number of survivors are picked up by the Oankali, who evolve/survive by merging genetically with more "primitive" races. And not in a test tube, but the "old-fashioned" way. Lilith is given the difficult and unenviable task of attempting to convince other humans ...more

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Aug 14, 2016 Lacey Louwagie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sciencefiction, faves, 2016-read-harder-challenge

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge Item: The First Book in a Series by a Person of Color

So, now I know why Octavia Butler is such a big deal.

I first acquired this book used about 10 years ago after a random stranger recommended her in a comment on a Livejournal post. Thank you, stranger, wherever you are. (I've run across her other times since then -- in a science fiction and feminist podcasts, in writing books, from other friends, but that long-ago recommendation is what spurred me to put one of h Book Riot Read Harder Challenge Item: The First Book in a Series by a Person of Color

So, now I know why Octavia Butler is such a big deal.

I first acquired this book used about 10 years ago after a random stranger recommended her in a comment on a Livejournal post. Thank you, stranger, wherever you are. (I've run across her other times since then -- in a science fiction and feminist podcasts, in writing books, from other friends, but that long-ago recommendation is what spurred me to put one of her books on my shelf -- and now I hope to add many more.)

The backstory is not all that important, but it's hard to put my reaction of this book into words. If I were to sum it up in a single word, it would be: haunting.

Well-rendered, alien species can often sell a sci-fi book for me, and in this one I was utterly fascinated by the Oankali and Lilith's relationship to them. While there are some pretty clear colonization parallels in the way the Oankali relate to Lilith and other humans, seeing the story purely through that lens is too simple. The Oankali are a complex people, and Butler never offers easy answers; they have saved the human race from extinction, but in return they expect to take over their very gene pool. They are paternalistic and perceive themselves as benevolent, and the fact that they treat Lilith (and the other humans) so kindly makes the questions of consent even more unsettling. It is not surprising that (view spoiler) One thing is certain: Lilith remains sympathetic throughout, and the real mastery of this novel is that the Oankali, despite standing in for the oppressors, do, too.

The only reason I gave this four stars instead of five is that my patience and interest waned somewhat in the middle section focused on Lilith and the other humans aboard the ship. There are a lot of characters, none of whom is developed with much depth, who behave overall in disappointing and frustrating ways that make this portion a bit of a slog to get through. But it's definitely worth holding on to the end -- now I need to get my hands on the rest of the series. [My library doesn't have anything by Butler, which is disgusting. Also disgusting is the white-washed cover on my copy of the book, despite the fact that Lilith is clearly described as black and the story itself can be seen as a metaphor for racial justice, or lack thereof. It's like the publisher didn't even *get* the issues the book was grappling with.] ...more

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Dec 08, 2019 Richard rated it really liked it

This is a dark distant future story with a great central character and an interesting angle and direction. I look forward to reading the rest of the series!

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