Reviews

Adulthood Rites by Octavia E. Butler

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ejr_5's review against another edition

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challenging sad medium-paced

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

3.0

papervoyage's review against another edition

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dark reflective medium-paced

madi22w's review against another edition

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adventurous informative 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

4.0

oh Adulthood Rites. Octavia Butler does not fail—in fact, I would have to say this is the most satisfying sequel I have ever read. I plan to pick up the third book tonight, even though AR didn’t leave me as desperate as Dawn did. I found my only major issues with AR came with the humans. (As someone who believes that humanity is not evil or even hierarchical at it’s core, the arguments for why it was and why that was okay? or i don’t know, they just felt a little muddled. like one thing that i’ll never understand is why humans feel so necessary to live our their blood line in the first place? like i feel like i’ve seen people online equivocating the Oankali to colonizers and YES i agree! but it also just kind of feels like you have to change, you cannot stay the same forever which is WHAT? earthseed. but like yes they are literally colonizers in the way they take human creation/ideas/genes? but then also is the taking of genes equivalent with cultural appropriation eh eeh idk. so it’s all very confusing. hoping imago will shed some light. either way it’s a very intriguing and intense internal discussion this book has given me so no points docked for confusion). Akin’s story line is necessary, and Akin felt fully flushed as a character—as did everyone. Of course, I wanted to see more of the old characters we knew, but the glimpses of them that we did see made sense for them. looking forward to Imago!