Dawn (Xenogenesis, #1) in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Jul 09, 2018 Jessica Haider rated it really liked it

Shelves: bookriot_2018, bipoc-author, sci-fi, its-the-end-of-the-world, afrofuturism

My first Octavia Butler! I've been meaning to read her forever and am so glad that I finally did. I read this one as part of the Book Riot Read Harder challenge to fulfill the task about reading sci-fi by a person of color.

Life on Earth Destroyed by atomic warfare ---> Aliens rescue surviving humans ---> keep humans on ship in a deep slumber for centuries ---> Aliens awaken our protaganist and begin to train her to re-populate Earth

Fascinating read. Butler does a great job creating a protaganis ...more

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Jun 03, 2010 martha rated it really liked it

Shelves: speculative-fiction, year-2010

Nicely engrossing scifi. Lilith (not-so-subtle naming) wakes up on an alien ship after having been rescued from an apocalyptic earth, and has to help repatriate humanity. The first third or so was my favorite, thanks to the worldbuilding (alienbuilding?). I wish it hadn't then veered so thematically into the same territory as Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower series -- tall black woman who's lost everything has to become the leader of a hodgepodge group of survivors to ensure the survival of ...more

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Oct 04, 2012 Nadine in NY Jones rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy-and-sci-fi, classic, aliens, dystopian-and-post-apocalyptic, 70s-80s-sff

This is a tough book to review. It was good, but I think it had been too built up and my expectations were just too high. Plus, I found it completely depressing.

The protagonist's voice was identical to the voice in Kindred, so if you liked one you will probably like the other. Both books deal with a lot of the same themes, too: how important is free will? can humans live peacefully together and see each other as equals? how do people react and change when they are trapped and imprisoned by other ...more

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