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rubius_pepperwood's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
rachelrazzle's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
I’ve only recently (and belatedly) discovered Octavia Butler, but I’m hooked. This novel was amazing. It explores race and prejudice and history and hatred and so many complex ideas all wrapped up in a very compelling, very sexy, vampire story. But unlike any other vampire story you’ve read or watched. Ultimately I think it’s a novel about power and it’s just exquisitely well done. I’m devastated that this was Butler’s last book before her untimely death. Would highly recommend.
amkozy23's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
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? Yes
4.0
This book was so interesting! It showed vampires in a way that was different from any other book or movie. I enjoyed that we do not know the main character's name until about halfway through and the amnesia part made for a unique plot device. Some of the history parts were a little dragged out which made it a 4 star instead of 5.
cas_sun_dean_rising's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
usuallykayla's review against another edition
4.0
THOUGHTS (Written after having finished the book, spoilers throughout)
- Shori is young by Ina standards, and looks young (when she first meets Wright, he tells her she looks no older than 10 or 11.) Her youth often puts her in a position of being underestimated by those around her (
when she meets one of her elderfathers, and he asks how the Gordon family found her, Shori shoots back that she was the one who found them ) as well as to be undermined (a la the Silks at the trial, that Shori can't be trusted because she's a child. ) There are many clear places where age is intersecting with power and informing the various power dynamics (at the Council, Milo Silk is the presiding head, because he is the oldest Ina present, etc. ), but the one that I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around is where Shori's age intersects with sex. When Wright first meets Shori, before knowing there is anything supernatural about her, before she tells him that she thinks she is much older than he looks, it seems like there's an attraction Wright is feeling toward her — maybe that gets chalked up to Shori's Ina pheromones or ambient compulsion powers, but there is still this jarring initial moment of his interest in her. Later, back at his cabin, after Shori begins to have a sense of her own age, they have sex—and, yeah, Shori isn't a child by human standards, and even though she's young by Ina standards, we later establish she already had her own community of symbionts before her home was destroyed. The role of pleasure vis a vis symbionts makes sense from a lore and practicality purpose, and it is emphasized throughout that the emotional benefits in addition to the physical ones are mutual between symbionts and their Ina. So, once you've introduced that aspect of the symbionts, and if the dynamics you want to explore hinge on Shori's youth, then maybe the ensuing sexual dynamics are unavoidable—but I still feel like I can't figure them out, particularly given how early they're introduced and how prevalent they are throughout (I was pleasantly surprised at how open conversations around bisexuality were—Ina have both male and female symbionts, and Shori has clear physical attraction to her female symbionts that is reciprocated.) - The inherently polyamorous nature of symbionts — one Ina has a group of 7 or 8 symbionts, and there's an early discussion around an Ina's responsibility to avert jealousy and infighting between members (in Shori's case, the immediate jealousy Wright feels at the notion of other symbionts, and Joel specifically.) But it's also established that symbionts are welcome to, and frequently do, have relationships with other symbionts (e.g., Joel is the child of another symbiont)
After the death of their Ina, Brook and Celia need to be claimed as symbionts by another Ina, or else die. Shori takes that on, but the moment of her first biting Brook and Celia was unexpected. There's initial innate discomfort on both sides, and though Shori takes care to be as gentle as she can with them both, there is also this physical aspect of holding them down as they instinctively resist being bitten by another Ina. Given that an Ina biting their symbiont is supposed to be pleasurable, and here we have this uncomfortable version of it in which both are still persevering for the sake of duty—I don't know, did Butler intend this to also be read through a sex framing? - When Shori meets with the Gordons, they talk about property and inheritance — there's a lawyer they'll work with who will help sort out what Shori will receive from both sides of her family. Generational wealth element of Ina that allows them to build these stable, sprawling, independent compounds to keep themselves and their family members safe
- All the ways in which Shori is an individual and marked as different from other Ina — her skin color, her strength, her resilience and adaptability, but also her loss of memory. She's learning everything for the first time along with the reader, but also perceives and reacts to situations differently from other Ina because she no longer has the context of established Ina norms and expectations
- The addictive nature of the symbiosis — it's framed as a clear good (symbionts are healthy, they live for 150-200 years, the relationship between Ina and symbiont is emotionally and physically fulfilling, etc.), but there is this aspect of necessary commitment—symbionts cannot leave their Ina without dying. We get into it with Wright in the beginning, before Shori has the language and understanding to articulate it fully, she lets him know that they are reaching a point in which she either has to leave or they'll be bonded for life, and then later with Joel, who was raised in a community of symbionts and chose to leave, but then ultimately to return. Nature of power and influence — when an Ina gives a symbiont the choice of being bonded, is the symbiont making that decision with a clear head? Can they, given how alluring Ina are by nature? Or, as evidenced by Joel leaving and then deciding to return, is the choice to bond one that's freely made, with a full understanding of any potential consequences?
I didn't expect the culmination/climax of the book to be a trial, but of course it makes sense that, since so much of the book is exploring questions of identity and community, we would end in a place of Shori interacting with the greatest number of Ina so far, and contrast her instincts and expectations against Ina views of justice (also all the elements of Shori being advised not to show too much emotion, to seem calm and collected, effectively to seem like the victim the Council expects her to be, despite how much stronger she is in actuality. The advice, "You must seem more Ina than they," even though Shori is clearly Ina, she must perform to an exceptional degree to be taken seriously and afforded the justice she deserves) Was really charmed by Theodora — when Shori first visits her, it's clear that she's a lonely woman, and the contrast between that initial presentation vs. her excitement when she arrives at Punta Nublada and now has this whole second life in front of her, full of opportunity (of course, that much more tragic that Theodora is the one who is killed) Going through each of the votes and explanations for both Katharine and the Silks — that there are those who vocally support Shori; those who support her somewhat reluctantly, acknowledging that Katharine and the Silks have committed crimes, but still wary of Shori; those who side with the Silks and Katharine, even recognizing the deceit throughout, but essentially saying that it is not worth punishing a venerated and established family of Ina The dynamics and hierarchy between Ina, symbionts, and humans, and how Shori plays into that. The Silks and Katharine clearly perceive Ina at the peak, discounting Shori because of her part-human heritage. Katharine uses one of her own symbionts as a tool to kill another symbiont—and the murder of a symbiont is seen as unconscionable, though no similar weight is given to the humans used by the Silks who died while trying to complete their orders under compulsion (see also, Katharine trying to justify her own actions by claiming Theodora wasn't even a symbiont—i.e., just a human—because Shori is not an Ina)
FINAL IMPRESSION
- Overall—I mean, dang, does Octavia know how to give you a lot to think about. So many analogues and parallels, such an interesting platform to explore intersections of race and power. I enjoyed it, even if there are still pieces that I don't know how to unravel, or don't fully understand the purpose they're serving. What to say that hasn't already been blurbed on the book? Lots of unique and novel introductions of vampire lore (didn't get into the historic piece, that Ina are meant to be older than humans, and have written records going back 10,000 years, and the inter-Ina questions around where they came from, what their purpose is on Earth, etc.)
haileyldavidson's review against another edition
3.0
VAMPIRE AUGUST! BOOK#5
I feel weird about this.
3.5
I feel weird about this.
3.5
seiivad's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
asparagusisreading's review against another edition
FMC is supposed to be 50 something in her species years but is often described as young, innocent, and adolescent with “no hair, no breasts,” “tiny,” etc. Also, they have no memory or full understanding of things going on around them, similar to a child. The constant reminders that the FMC is a child but an adult, their sexual relationships with adults without full consent, and their childlike but sexual power over others is not for me. I was uncomfortable and disgusted with the story, pausing and skipping ahead whenever she was described as young or engaging in sex. If the intention was to dive deep into messy power dynamics in relationships through a science fiction/fantasy lens, I can see it but the execution did not engage me. Instead of the story feeling thought provoking, it felt gross. I could not get my past discomfort so I am DNFing at 39%.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, and Sexual content
siri1's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
It's a really good book! It was kind of jarring once I had realize the Shori was in a child's body sleeping with an adult man but the plot and story is good. I wish we gotten a sequel to this