A review by chrobin
Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

challenging fast-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

While clear and simple in style, the convoluted mess of power dynamics will twist around inside you. Occasionally the prose will lull you into a sense of safety, only for you to round the corner on  extreme discomfort.

As someone who has been obsessed with vampire stories since I was a pre-teen, raised on Anne Rice, I always knew that vampire stories were allegories for sexual desire, lust, consent, etc. Many vampire stories are written as romantic fantasies of women losing agency, but wanting it so badly… romanticizing age gaps, enthrallment, violent acts of all natures, always coming back to pleasure, repressed sexuality. Just look at Twilight...  Butler takes all of these themes, flips them around, and makes you look hard at them, very plainly - which for me adds to the discomfort. And while many claim she didn’t address the pedophilia appropriately, I think that her ability to make you so very uncomfortable in so few words is a part of this matter-of-fact horror.
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