Far better than the first installment of this series. Bursting with inventiveness. ( )

Good. The mind of Butler was whoo!

I was fully immersed in the story and watching Akin’s journey of becoming something not quite human or alien. But this was very slow-moving and long-winded, so I found myself getting fatigued. I don’t think I’ll finish this trilogy, at least no time soon, but it’s not bad at all.

The humans here are so distinctly human that they’re frustrating.

SN: I cannot get over once Akin reaches puberty, how down bad he was for those sea anemone-looking thangs lol ( )

see my review of the 1st book for details of why i'm ambivalent about it. book is interesting and good but my creeped out feelings about the way the aliens act means i didn't enjoy it as much as i could ( )

In conclusion, Octavia Butler is amazing.

I'm not even sure where to begin. The Xenogenesis trilogy is completely unlike anything I've ever read before. The closest I can come in comparison is to [b:The Left Hand of Darkness|18423|The Left Hand of Darkness (Hainish Cycle, #4)|Ursula K. Le Guin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388229638s/18423.jpg|817527]: this is a book with rich, thorough world/species building, compelling characters, a solid plot and more theme than you can shake a stick at. Butler understands that meaningful speculative fiction asks "what if" questions to cause readers to reflect on the world as it is. And here, she does that artfully, weaving in questions about whether human nature is intrinsically violent, how different we are able to tolerate our children being from us and still perceive them as "ours," whether it is better to die sticking with the familiar, or be irrevocably mutated and survive.
In there are implications about environmentalism, gender relations, racial relations, consent, and warfare.
But all of this lies under an intricate plot, and beautifully devised characters: the bitter, resigned, maternal Lillith; the optimistic, daring Akin; sweet Tino and others. The Oankali as an alien species feel so real: Butler has developed for them a physicality, a culture, a morality, subdivisions, etc. such that it is as easy to predict how an Oankali will feel as a human character, and yet they feel so alien that it's easy to feel that undercurrent of revulsion towards them that is felt by the characters. ( )

For a short book, it dragged on interminably. I gave up on it with 80 pages to go. I cannot understand why Octavia Butler gets such accolades. Her writing is in no way compelling and her plots are incomprehensible ( )