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Since this post is a review and discussion, the first part (review) will be spoiler-free and the second part (discussion) will contain a lot of spoilers. Without further ado, let's talk about this book.
Dawn (Xenogenesis Trilogy #1) by Octavia E. Butler
Short Summary: Lilith Lyapo is dealing with the loss of her husband and son when earth is destroyed by atomic fire. When Lilith awakens a few hundred years later, she finds out that the Oankali have managed to salvage what's left of earth and save a number of humans. Life with the Oankali is completely different from life back on earth. Lilith is chosen to lead a group of human back to earth. The only catch? Not only will thing be difficult but their children won't exactly be human.
Review: This book grabbed my attention from the very beginning and didn't let go. I was a bit disappointed in myself that: 1. I didn't have the rest of the trilogy at the time of finishing the book and 2. I didn't pick up her books as a teenager. The way Butler's describes Lilith's surroundings and what the Oankali look like is very detailed and vivid. As the reader, you are learning about this new world with the main character. I found myself relating to Lilith in some ways. As far as the other human and Oankali characters, I don't think they're entirely good or bad. That factor alone is something that keeps me interested. In between parts and chapters, I realized that there are gaps in time that either aren't explained or are explained very little. I don't see that as a problem but if you're the kind of person who doesn't like that kind of thing, here's your heads up. This book left me with two thoughts: "What does it mean to be human?" and "If I were in Lilith's or any of the other human's shoes, what would I do?" Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to continuing the trilogy.
Age Suitability: Older teens and adults
Recommendation: Everyone, especially sci-fi fans. In fact, if you haven't read a lot or any sci-fi for whatever reason and you want to read more, this is a great book to start with.
My Rating: ★★★★★
My Rating: ★★★★★
My Goodreads Rating: ★★★★★
Now onto the discussion. WARNING: The rest of this post will contain spoilers. If you have not read the book and spoilers aren't your thing!
Seriously. Spoilers.
Last call.
Discussion
Oh, hey! Glad that you're still here. Except for that one person who left to scroll through Facebook. We're going to assume that they want to read the book for themselves first. 😉
I absolutely loved the description of how Lilith sees the Oankali world and how she is perceives Jdahya. When I picture the Oankali in my head, I see beings that are larger than humans with wriggly gray worms all over their body and face. *shudders* I was intrigued with the fact that the ship that they're on is living. Any waste or uneaten food is absorbed and re-utilized. I'm not sure if the second and third book will go more into detail about the ship but, I would be interested in reading more about it.
The one thing that made me raise my eyebrow towards the Oankali was anytime they said that they knew more about humans than humans knew about themselves. Haha, yeah right. So when a large group of the humans started rebelling and some of the Ooloi are hurt in the process, I thought, "Um... what did you think was going to happen when you imprison a being for a couple hundred years and then keep them in a prison-like setting??" It goes to show that you can study something intently for hundreds of years and still not know enough about them. At the beginning they also denied Lilith books or paper and pencil to write with. 😒 NOPE! Of course the Ooloi have the ability to make small chemical changes within the humans to make them a little stronger, faster and remember everything that happened in their lives. Still there's no need to deny basic necessities like books and stuff to write with.
As much as I started to dislike some of the supporting characters, you have to look a little deeper into the character's personality, background and human behavior and ask why are they acting the way they are? How are Peter, Curt and Paul Titus seeing things that make them thing violent actions are the answers? How are Tate and the other women (except Lilith) experiencing things that they have such a need to awaken and cling to the men? What made Joseph so gentle in comparison to the other men? And Gabriel is neither violent nor gentle. What would you expect to happen if you were in their situation?
None of the human characters are all good or all bad. They all react and respond differently to certain situations. Their actions may not always be favorable but I think Butler managed to show that there are reasons (known and unknown) behind their responses. The Oankali do not appear to be entirely good or entire bad either. For one, they're gene traders and one of their goals with the humans is to create Human-Oankali hybrids. Lilith and none of the humans like the idea of their children walking around with tentacles. Unfortunately they really don't have a choice. I know as fellow humans it makes sense to root for the humans but, if the they got their way and Human-Oankali hybrids didn't exist, there'd be no story. With that being said, I'm interested in what these children will look like and how they will behave.
Then there's the matter of an evolved form of intimacy between humans, between Oankali and between humans and Oankali. To be honest, when these parts came up I didn't really understand what was going on so I had to re-read them. Oankali males and females don't have sex with one another in the way that humans do. The Ooloi, neither male nor female, (in a way) taps into their nervous system to give them the sensation of sex. As a result, the male and female both feel what the other feels despite never touching each other. The same thing was done with Lilith and her mate at the time, Joseph. The side effect for humans who have engaged in this form of intimacy is not being able to tolerate any skin to skin contact. All I could think was "Nope. No thanks!"
There was a scene where Lilith wants to partake in intimacy with her mate, Joseph and Nikaanj as the mediator. While Joseph wants to be with Lilith he doesn't want Nikaanj to be involved. The scene ends with it happening with Lilith's consent and without Joseph's consent. After reading that part, all I could think of was how relevant it was to what people, primarily women, are saying about rape. It doesn't matter what the person's body is "saying". No means no. With all of the Oankali's studying about the humans and our history, you would think they'd understand consent.
The other really cool thing that was described in the book was that there was a space on the ship that resembled earth so much that it was hard for some characters to determine whether or not they were actually on earth or still on the ship. This goes back to me wanting to know more about the ship in general. What it looks like. What's it made of. It's size. I wonder how different would the story be if the Oankali had awakened and released the humans into this earth-like environment first.
The story ends with Lilith finding out that she's pregnant with Joseph's child. This child will also have genes from Nikaanj, Ahajas and Dichaan making them the parents as well. At the same time, Ahajas is also pregnant with Lilith and Joseph being the parents as well. That's some mixed up family tree there. It's going to be interesting how Lilith gets along in her pregnancy and how she reacts to these new hybrid children. I can't imagine the sense of horror, unpreparedness and helplessness that she feels. Will she come to terms with what her children are? How do we know that Lilith isn't going to try to kill the child inside of her or try to kill herself again?
*sigh* I've said enough. If you've read this book. Tell me your thoughts about it in the comments.
I absolutely loved the description of how Lilith sees the Oankali world and how she is perceives Jdahya. When I picture the Oankali in my head, I see beings that are larger than humans with wriggly gray worms all over their body and face. *shudders* I was intrigued with the fact that the ship that they're on is living. Any waste or uneaten food is absorbed and re-utilized. I'm not sure if the second and third book will go more into detail about the ship but, I would be interested in reading more about it.
The one thing that made me raise my eyebrow towards the Oankali was anytime they said that they knew more about humans than humans knew about themselves. Haha, yeah right. So when a large group of the humans started rebelling and some of the Ooloi are hurt in the process, I thought, "Um... what did you think was going to happen when you imprison a being for a couple hundred years and then keep them in a prison-like setting??" It goes to show that you can study something intently for hundreds of years and still not know enough about them. At the beginning they also denied Lilith books or paper and pencil to write with. 😒 NOPE! Of course the Ooloi have the ability to make small chemical changes within the humans to make them a little stronger, faster and remember everything that happened in their lives. Still there's no need to deny basic necessities like books and stuff to write with.
As much as I started to dislike some of the supporting characters, you have to look a little deeper into the character's personality, background and human behavior and ask why are they acting the way they are? How are Peter, Curt and Paul Titus seeing things that make them thing violent actions are the answers? How are Tate and the other women (except Lilith) experiencing things that they have such a need to awaken and cling to the men? What made Joseph so gentle in comparison to the other men? And Gabriel is neither violent nor gentle. What would you expect to happen if you were in their situation?
None of the human characters are all good or all bad. They all react and respond differently to certain situations. Their actions may not always be favorable but I think Butler managed to show that there are reasons (known and unknown) behind their responses. The Oankali do not appear to be entirely good or entire bad either. For one, they're gene traders and one of their goals with the humans is to create Human-Oankali hybrids. Lilith and none of the humans like the idea of their children walking around with tentacles. Unfortunately they really don't have a choice. I know as fellow humans it makes sense to root for the humans but, if the they got their way and Human-Oankali hybrids didn't exist, there'd be no story. With that being said, I'm interested in what these children will look like and how they will behave.
Then there's the matter of an evolved form of intimacy between humans, between Oankali and between humans and Oankali. To be honest, when these parts came up I didn't really understand what was going on so I had to re-read them. Oankali males and females don't have sex with one another in the way that humans do. The Ooloi, neither male nor female, (in a way) taps into their nervous system to give them the sensation of sex. As a result, the male and female both feel what the other feels despite never touching each other. The same thing was done with Lilith and her mate at the time, Joseph. The side effect for humans who have engaged in this form of intimacy is not being able to tolerate any skin to skin contact. All I could think was "Nope. No thanks!"
There was a scene where Lilith wants to partake in intimacy with her mate, Joseph and Nikaanj as the mediator. While Joseph wants to be with Lilith he doesn't want Nikaanj to be involved. The scene ends with it happening with Lilith's consent and without Joseph's consent. After reading that part, all I could think of was how relevant it was to what people, primarily women, are saying about rape. It doesn't matter what the person's body is "saying". No means no. With all of the Oankali's studying about the humans and our history, you would think they'd understand consent.
The other really cool thing that was described in the book was that there was a space on the ship that resembled earth so much that it was hard for some characters to determine whether or not they were actually on earth or still on the ship. This goes back to me wanting to know more about the ship in general. What it looks like. What's it made of. It's size. I wonder how different would the story be if the Oankali had awakened and released the humans into this earth-like environment first.
The story ends with Lilith finding out that she's pregnant with Joseph's child. This child will also have genes from Nikaanj, Ahajas and Dichaan making them the parents as well. At the same time, Ahajas is also pregnant with Lilith and Joseph being the parents as well. That's some mixed up family tree there. It's going to be interesting how Lilith gets along in her pregnancy and how she reacts to these new hybrid children. I can't imagine the sense of horror, unpreparedness and helplessness that she feels. Will she come to terms with what her children are? How do we know that Lilith isn't going to try to kill the child inside of her or try to kill herself again?
*sigh* I've said enough. If you've read this book. Tell me your thoughts about it in the comments.
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