Fledgling - Octavia Butler (3.9🌟)

Fledging is a vampire novel, but not a horror one. Obviously it has some disturbing scenes showing what vampires do. However I would call this a coming of age and social criticism novel focusing on discrimination and racism.

Fledging tells the story of a 53 year old child vampire who has to rediscover herself, relearn what and who she is as well as the customs and protocols of the society she belongs to. The novel starts when she wakes up badly hurt and with amnesia inside a cave. She wanders around and hunts wild animals to satiate her hunger. She is later rescued by a man, Writgh, who saw her walking on the road. He is worried for her and tries to take her to a hospital or the police. She doesn't want to go to any of those places although she doesn't know why. She tries to escape and he grabs her. She ends up biting him.

No, she doesn't kill Wright but loves sucking his blood. Wright doesn't panic but is surprised by the pleasure this girl has given him. The young vampire asks the man to help her find out who she is and he accepts right away.  This is the start of a bizarre relationship. This is more than weird but I guess this is what vampires do with their prey. She needs Wright for food and protection and he needs her because he is attracted to her in more than one way. To start their search they go back to were the vampire child woke up. They explore a ruined, burnt house and later find her father.  He calls her Shori and takes the couple with him to his house hold. There she learns that her mothers and sisters died in a fire and that she is the only survivor. He wants her to live with him now but she is not sure and wants to go back to Wright's house to think. Little did she realise that this would save her life again as her father and brothers are killed in a other house fire.

Opinion: this is not what I expected. I have read other science fiction novels by Butler and thought this one would have a scifi twist. No. I also assumed this could be a horror story and I was wrong.  I can't complain though. This is a well written, well tought out vampire story. Butler reconfigures the vampire mythology in an intelligent and interesting way. She creates and ancient society with history, customs, traditions and norms that has coexisted with humanity without being discovered. She creates the symbionts, humans who willingly live with vampires, in remote locations. Symbionts are used for their blood but in return they are given healthy longer and comfortable lives. Their relationship with vampires is odd to say the least. Some sort of sexual partners, who are also family and friends but with whom they cannot procreate as they belong to different species.

I found most of the charactees interesting especially Shori. She is well constructed, growing and learning from start to end. The relationships between vampires and symbionts were hard to swallow at the beginning. Particularly Shori's. She is an underage vampire child who is not ready to mate yet but who has sexual desires (for vampires and humans). However this is well accepted in her society.

On the negative side, I found the first half of the novel not that interesting. Yes, we follow Shori in her learning process and we see her doing nasty things but the reason for all this to happen is not clear until the last few chapters. And this was not a plot twist. It was more like filling a hole in the story for me. All the elements of social criticism are justified and make sense but I wanted more before the end.

My edition was published in 2007 by Grand Central Publishing. It has 310 pages.

Lilith's Brood - Octavia Butler (4.5🌟)

Lilith’s Brood is a science fiction trilogy which deals with topics such as slavery, gender diversity and sexuality. This trilogy is also known as Xenogenesis and is comprised of Dawn, Adulthood Rites and Imago.

Broadly, the trilogy tells the story of an alien invasion after humanity had destroyed earth with wars. The Oankali is a species who have been traveling across space for thousand of years collecting and exchanging genetic information with other species. They could be described as merchants of genes and the result of countless of controlled genetic mixes between alien races. The way they operate is not simple. Once they identify a civilization on the verge of extinction they “save” them not because they are good Samaritans but to use them to evolve the Oankali with their genetic input. The Oankali use biotechnology. Their homes and ships are made of organic materials which create self-sustainable habitats. They use their own bodies to carry out their genetic experiments as they are capable of perceiving and altering every single cell, gene, chromosome in theirs and other bodies. They value life before everything, but they cannot free what they capture but they assimilate them. The Oankali enact complex social structures based on their biological schemes. They have three sexes: female, male and ooloi. These last ones facilitate reproduction. They live in trios focusing mainly on procreation which is more a biological need rather than emotional.

In Lilith’s Brood the Oankali rescue the survivors of the apocalypse after a war. They put them to sleep, cure their injuries and illnesses. After sometime they start awakening the humans in small groups to follow a process of indoctrination and training to fulfil the aliens’ plans which involves humans to consent to the procreation of hybrid babies. A plan which could take centuries.

Dawn: in the first book of the trilogy Butler relates the story of Lilith the women the Oankali choose to lead the human race in the aliens’ gene mixing project. Lilith could be the leader of a new race or the worst traitor in history.

Adulthood Rites: years after the end of Dawn Lilith’s first boy baby learns to live with his human and Oankali sides. Earth is inhabited by people living in Human-Oankali settlements and rebels living isolated from the others.

Imago: Follows another descendent of Lilith, this time the first hybrid Ooloi. This novel fills some hole explaining the nature of the Oankali, their biology and their paradigms of life.

Opinion: excellent, excellent. I think this is the type of Science Fiction I enjoy the most. Social and Anthropological Science Fiction. The Oankali are very well described and developed. For most of the three books I imagined they were real. They are very interesting beings, not only because of their appearance but because of the way they think and operate. The humans in the trilogy are trapped, kidnapped with few options and all dependent on their “saviours”. Humans have to learn how to live and survive under the Oankali’s paradigm of life. Although the Oankali could grant them “freedom” that freedom would be framed by their way of seeing the world. On many occasions Humans appear to be only puppets, seduced to form quintets with the aliens to reproduce or if they do not allow, they are left living sterile and meaningless lives. I ready somewhere that this trilogy takes from the lives of African slaves in the USA. I think the themes of slavery and racism are pivotal in the story.

My edition is a paperback containing the three books in one. It was published by Grand Central Publishing in 2007 and it has 746 pages.


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Lilith's Brood es una trilogía de ciencia ficción que toca temas de esclavitud, diversidad, genero, sexualidad entre otros. Esta trilogía también es conocida como Xenogenesis y esta conformada por Dawn, Adulthood Rites y Imago.

A groso modo la trilogía cuenta la historia de una invasión alienigena luego de que los humanos destruyeron la tierra en guerras. Los Oankali es una especie que ha estado recorriendo el espacio por miles de años recolectando e intercambiando información genética con otras especies. Son una especie de comerciantes de genes y el resultado de innumerables mezclas controladas de razas a través de los siglos. Su forma de operar no es sencilla. Una vez que identifican una civilización a punto de desaparecer, la "salvan", no por ser buenos samaritanos, sino para usarla y mezclarse con ellos para evolucionar en una raza mejorada. Los Oankali usan bio tecnología. Sus naves y hogares están hechos de materia orgánica que se alimenta creando ecosistemas autosuficientes. Sus experimentos genéticos los hacen usando sus propios cuerpos ya que tienen la capacidad de percibir y alterar cada célula,  gen, cromosoma,  en sí mismos y en otros organismos. Ellos valoran la vida por sobretodo pero no pueden darle independencia a lo que rescatan, sino más bien lo asimilan. Los Oankali tienen una estructura social compleja, basada en sus esquemas biologicos. Tienen tres sexos: femenino, masculino y ooloi, que son los que facilitan la procreación. Ellos viven en trios y siempre enfocados en la procreación, que es una necesidad biológica más que emocional.

En Lilith's Brood los Oankali rescatan a los sobrevivientes del apocalípsis de la guerra, los duermen, curan sus heridas y enfermedades y luego los van despertando poco a poco para un  proceso de adoctrinamiento y entrenamiento para cumplir el plan de los alienigenas que es que consientan a la procreación de bebes híbridos. Un plan que va a durar siglos.

Dawn: en el primer libro de la trilogía la autora nos presenta a Lilith la mujer que los Oankali escogen para liderar a la raza humana en su proyecto de mezcla con alienigenas. Lilith podrá ser la líder de una nueva raza o la peor traidora de la historia.

Adulthood Rites: unos años después del final de Dawn el primer hijo varón de Lilith aprende a convivir con su parte humana y su parte Oankali. La tierra esta poblada de asentamientos Humano-Oankali y de focos humanos rebeldes.

Imago: sigue a otro descendiente de Lilith, esta vez el primer Ooloi hibrido. Esta novela termina de explicar el mundo Oankali, su biología y paradigma de vida.

Opinión: muy muy buena. Creo que este tipo de ciencia ficción es la que más me gusta. Ciencia ficción social y antropológica. Los Oankali esta tan bien descritos y desarrollados que ya me los imagino reales. Son unos seres muy interesantes, no sólo por su apariencia sino por su forma de pensar y operar. Los humanos en la trilogía están atrapados, con pocas opciones y todas dependientes de sus "salvadores". Tienen que aprender a vivir y sobrevivir bajo el paradigma de vida Oankali. Aunque los Oankali quieran darles libertad esta libertad esta enmarcada en su filosofía de vida. Los humanos aparecen muchas veces como marionetas, a veces seducidos a formar quintetos con los alienigenas para procrear o a vivir vidas estériles y sin sentido. Por ahí lei que está historia refleja un poco la vida de los esclavos africanos en EEUU, y si, los temas de esclavitud y racismo se reflejan en la historia mucho.

Mi edición es en Paperback y contiene las tres novelas en uno. Tiene en total 746 páginas.