Lilith's Brood | Octavia E. Butler | Friendly but Invasive Aliens

Lilith's Brood | Octavia E. Butler | a tidy package

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Lilith's Brood

	Lilith's Brood Octavia E. Butler Grand Central Publishing, 2000 - 752 pages average customer review:based on 34 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Dawn: After nuclear war destroys the world, Earths survivors are rescued by the miraculously powerful Oankali aliens- who survive by merging genetically with primitive peoples without their permission. Adulthood Rites: Desperate to regain their world, childless humans seek to cleanse the alien taint by kidnapping hybrid children. But the raiders are blind to the truth of Earths new children. Imago: The futures of both humans and aliens rest in one young beings successful metamorphosis into adulthood.

Friendly but Invasive Aliens

The way she writes is as if I'm watching events unfold on CNN, its real feeling and spooky. The set up is great and the plot unfortunately all to believeable. Humans mess up in foriegn affairs and get into a thermo nuclear war while aliens watch from orbit. They haul us out of the flames but now there's a price to pay and its a biggie. I got into this book and I think anyone who likes books about aliens and human interaction will really enjoy this. Its complicated and at times depressing. But all in all a good book, it will stay with you long after you're done reading.

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a tidy package

octavia butler is one of the best sci/fi authors ever and Lilith's Brood is a repackaging of three of her books. dawn, adulthood rites and imago tell the story of an alien race called the oankali who save the earthlings who survive an apocalypse. if you are new to octavia butler's work this is a good volume to start with.

Fabulous Collection!

In my opinion, these 3 novels (Dawn, Adulthood Rites and Imago) are some of Octavia's best work. These novels explore many of her popular themes, race, sex, gender and humanity at large. Great starter for anyone looking to build their collection.

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A forced breeding program for humans - with a heart

Lilith's Brood is the trilogy "Dawn," "Adulthood Rites," and "Imago" in one book. A fascinating tale of post apocalyptic Earth visited by a race of aliens physically designed to interbreed species through genetic manipulation. The remaining humans must learn to accept the species, interbreed and live in harmony with them, or else be condemned to a Earth covered with raging jungles, angry displaced men and few resources ... and even that Earth may not last as long as the Humans think ...

Lilith is an intelligent black woman who initially resists the aliens but eventually comes around to their way of thinking - for her own good, and the good of her people. By "Brood" refers both ro Lillith's own children, and humanity in general - the fate of which constantly weighs on Lilith's shoulders despite the sorrow she's experienced at their hands. Butler does a great job taking you along Lilith's emotional ride, and you feel not only for Lilith, but for the aliens, the humans and humanity in general.

A lot of social commentary - about race, gender, and nationality - is encompassed in this story, sometimes not too subtly. But to me it never felt preachy - I almost always came away with a felling of "yeah, that is probably exactly what would happen". Butler has a great grasp of the basic nature of the human psyche.

One of the major faults, and the reason I gave this book 4 instead of 5 stars, is that the authors descriptions of the aliens and their habitats, while imaginative, lacks the kind of descriptive, relatable detail required to create a picutre in your head of what your reading. Visualization is especially important with science fiction and/or fantasy, so this shortcoming seriously effects some parts of the story.

After reading this I went on to read the Patternmaster Trilogy. I would advise against it. The themes are somewhat similar, but in a more bizarre, disjointed form, totally devoid of the sensitivity that makes Lilith's Brood a pretty good read.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

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