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A review by bergsteiger
Lilith's Brood by Octavia E. Butler
4.0
Wow. I'd never hear of Octavia Butler before or read anything by her, but this was a phenomenal story. I think I enjoyed the first book the most, although the final book did a good job of completing the evolution cycle (literally).
Perhaps one of the reasons I loved this book so much was its depiction of the human race. An unthankful lot that was ready to fight and kill aliens and themselves, even though they are almost annihilated by their own hand. Pigheaded, unable to grasp reality, and destructive in the face of extinction--yep that sums us up.
However, her true genius, I mean the absolute brilliance here, is her ability to create an alien race and then actually develop individual characters that are engaging, while clearly coming from a different baseline viewpoint than humans. They are neither anthropomorphized nor are the individual aliens acting as a monolithic block. They are some of the most realistic and exquisitely crafted aliens I have ever read about.
This was a fascinating story to read, although the middle book and first part of the third book bogged down a bit. The storytelling wasn't great in these parts, becoming both redundant and painfully obvious where the plot was going. However, the evolution that occurs in the third book brings the story home for a 4.5 star tale.
Mrs. Butler is from the old school of "thinking sci-fi" and if that's your jam then definitely pick this up. I will certainly be on the look out for more of her work.
Perhaps one of the reasons I loved this book so much was its depiction of the human race. An unthankful lot that was ready to fight and kill aliens and themselves, even though they are almost annihilated by their own hand. Pigheaded, unable to grasp reality, and destructive in the face of extinction--yep that sums us up.
However, her true genius, I mean the absolute brilliance here, is her ability to create an alien race and then actually develop individual characters that are engaging, while clearly coming from a different baseline viewpoint than humans. They are neither anthropomorphized nor are the individual aliens acting as a monolithic block. They are some of the most realistic and exquisitely crafted aliens I have ever read about.
This was a fascinating story to read, although the middle book and first part of the third book bogged down a bit. The storytelling wasn't great in these parts, becoming both redundant and painfully obvious where the plot was going. However, the evolution that occurs in the third book brings the story home for a 4.5 star tale.
Mrs. Butler is from the old school of "thinking sci-fi" and if that's your jam then definitely pick this up. I will certainly be on the look out for more of her work.