Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - Fledgling

Screw this book! Who said this was good? How? The pedophilic stuff was wayyyy worse than I thought it would be going in. I want to say I know why Butler put that in this, but I would be lying. It was just gross, and if you didn't know, pedophilia is normal and okay in this world. So just know that going in. I'll never forget this book, that's for sure. I also didn't connect to the plot, and the book just ended. I would have given this 2.5-3 stars. If it weren't for the abrupt ending, I would have said the pedophilia stuff was just not for me and the purpose was over my head. However, I literally have no idea why the main character had to be a sexualized child, and the book ends before it could convince me. RIP Octavia Butler, though, because she probably would have made this a series which might have righted my problems with the novel. I hope I have more luck with Butler's other works because so far, I have only really liked one.

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jayeless's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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redcapediver's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Weird! Let’s pray they never make a movie

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solenekeleroux's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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livlosiewicz's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Our narrator wakes up in a cave, badly injured with no memory of her previous life. She comes to realize that she craves human blood, belonging to a species of vampire-like creatures. Now she must relearn everything about her kind that she once forgot, while dealing with the fact that someone is out to get her family.

Pros:

· I found this to be super interesting; I loved learning about the Ina through Shori’s eyes, and I thought the memory loss was a cool plot device to introduce the reader to everything at an easy pace

·Butler has a way of building a world that still centers around people, even though she’s using fantastical/scifi concepts. I find it so fascinating and so easy and fun to jump into. Plus, she manages to use these concepts to highlight important themes like racism and sexuality

Cons:

· towards the beginning of the end/end of the middle, the pacing starts to slow a bit.

·There are a lot of characters to keep track of, which didn’t bother me but I could see it being difficult for others

Recommendation: I recommend if you like scifi or speculative fiction. I usually find myself disappointed with scifi, but this one did not disappoint. If you’re turned off by the vampire thing because of YA romance novels, don’t be- this is Queen Octavia, we’re in good hands. Avoid if you dislike supernatural/scifi elements in novels or want something light.

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jessthanthree's review against another edition

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challenging emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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ekmook's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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jenny_d's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This was... okay. I enjoyed a fair amount of it, but parts of the ethical dilemmas felt kind of half-baked, or not as well explored as they could have been, especially the "it's okay because she only looks like a child but is actually 53 in human years" issue. I felt that it dragged a bit around 2/3rds of the way in. Very informative in regards to the setting, but very slow otherwise.

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