I read some Octavia Butler in college (it was long enough ago I don't remember which book, and I get the impression "it's the one where she talks about colonialism with weird alien sex" does not narrow anything down) and I read Fledgling a couple years ago and, with this, now 100% of the books of hers that I'm aware of involve human breeding experiments, intense sexual bonding based on either psychic powers or some kinda sex pollen, long detours for worldbuilding and nailing down the nitty-gritty of everyone's weird biology, and "hey I just met you and this is crazy but join my polycule"
Fledgling I found p jarring because it was like "hey let's talk about assimilation and the commodification of Black women's bodies and how fucking creepy people are about prepubescent girls. By having a hopelessly naive amnesiac biracial vampire with the body of a 12-year-old whammy a bunch of adults into joining her harem." It was, uh... not my thing, but I have to admire Butler consistently just going for it, like, laying out her thesis in the most complicated and horny way. Very "THIS IS TERRIBLE but isn't it also HOT? Isn't it hot how terrible this is???"
...Anyway this one sounds possibly more my speed so I'll see if the library has it, ty for the review!
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Date: 2021-02-06 01:55 pm (UTC)Fledgling I found p jarring because it was like "hey let's talk about assimilation and the commodification of Black women's bodies and how fucking creepy people are about prepubescent girls. By having a hopelessly naive amnesiac biracial vampire with the body of a 12-year-old whammy a bunch of adults into joining her harem." It was, uh... not my thing, but I have to admire Butler consistently just going for it, like, laying out her thesis in the most complicated and horny way. Very "THIS IS TERRIBLE but isn't it also HOT? Isn't it hot how terrible this is???"
...Anyway this one sounds possibly more my speed so I'll see if the library has it, ty for the review!