Reviews with content warning for Violence - Dawn

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Dawn by Octavia E. Butler

57 reviews

ashenlar's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

5.0

The first Octavia Butler book I've read - thank you book club! Incredible writing and imagination - simply written with no need for over-explanation/elaboration in areas like setting/time (like some, esp softer, sci-fi, can get bogged down in). The Ooankali are such a uniquely conceived 'alien' species (again, unlike lots of sci-fi where 'alien' means 'humanoid but different') that simply having them as the focus of a novel would be fascinating, but Butler uses them brilliantly to generate reflection on the whole range of big topics - gender, ethics, humanity, power, colonialism... The perfect example of science-fiction as a genre both of fantasy world-building and of philosophy

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cinderackerman's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful informative tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I was addicted to this book from the beginning. Something about it captured me early on and kept me enraptured for the entirety of the book. I want to know more and am ready to read more about this dystopian world and how everyone fares on their return to Earth.

Lilith's fear is very understandable. I don't know what I would've done in her position, though I would like to think I wouldn't be as fearful. But we can never know until we are in that sort of a position.

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pandact's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad 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

5.0

It's wild to think that this book came less than a decade after the HeLa cell line was revealed to be Henrietta Lacks! The worldbuilding was so good that I liked the Ooankali when I read it as a kid, unaware of how they were colonizing human DNA! I think about Xenogenesis every time I hear genetic engineering, and I need to reread now that I know more about scientific ethics

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