You are horror and beauty in rare combination.
Octavia E. Butler, Lilith’s Brood
I originally bought this book because of a Bookbub promotion. For those who don’t know Bookbub, it is a daily newsletter you receive with tons of book deals on ebooks.
I have been wanting to enrich my science-fiction repertoire for a long time. I tend to read young adult novels, but increasingly, I am open to other types of experience.
Butler’s Xenogenesis series (aka Lilith’s Brood) was a game-changer for me. She made me feel things I didn’t know existed and left me with my mind buzzing with vivid images of an alien race that might actually exist.
Isn’t that scary? Hell yes it is!
Cover
Originally published as one book, this new edition features three parts with decent covers that are a far cry from the first edition. This is a successful attempt in drawin a much larger readership. I believe this strategy worked very well.
Synopsis
Intelligence is relatively new to life on Earth, but your hierarchical tendencies are ancient.
Octavia E. Butler, Lilith’s Brood
The Earth has been completely destroyed by a war, and an alien species saved humankind. Is it an act of kindness, or does it hide some ulterior motives?
Lilith is a survivor who was in suspended animation for a long time while some aliens fixed her and the others. When they wake her up, she will learn what happened but especially what they expect from her.
Their saviours might not be who we think, or what they say they are.
Characters
Lilith is the main character of Dawn, the first book, though the sequels have other protagonists.
Oankali is the name of the alien specie who came to rescue humans from utter destruction left by warfare.
Worldbuilding
A destroyed Earth left the sole human survivors stranded aboard the aliens’ ship, but is it true?
The world serves a purpose here, but it’s not so much about the location but rather about the alien species, which is the main point of this series. They are described to the finest details, but don’t expect a thorough description of the locations except the said spaceship and a few areas.
There is nothing lyrical about it, but I believe it helps really grasp the concept Butler had in mind and not being distracted by unnecessary descriptions we often see in fiction nowadays.
I did wish there was more about the world because I am curious by nature, but it didn’t bother too much since the mystery enshrouding the aliens’ rescue mission and their plans engrossed me.
What I think
How could they let insane people gain control of devices that could do so much harm? If you knew a man was out of his mind, you restrained him. You didn’t give him power.
Octavia E. Butler, Lilith’s Brood
The most alien aliens I have ever met. I have felt very strong emotions while reading this series from utter belief to disgust to surprise. In other words, the whole gamut of emotions!
Maybe I am too sensitive or I don’t read enough books about alien, but they felt so real I had to put down the book several times just to calm down. When I told my friend about it he said: isn’t this the best feeling in the world? I mean, that a book can make you feel so much?
He might be right. Reading this series was a hell of an experience which opened my eyes on a different kind of science-fiction that can exist. It also changed my way of seeing possible futures and how complex other alien species could be.
I definitely recommend to the most daring of you or those ready for an experience like no other to pick up this book NOW!
It will change you in a very unexpected way and maybe reconsider whether there truly are limits in this universe.
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