Dawn
When I'm reading a series, I try to review each book before I read the next one. It helps me keep them straight. But that didn't happen this time. As I'm writing this, I've already finished the entire trilogy. It's given me a lot to think about. This trilogy deals deeply with consent and oppression and appropriation, with reproductive freedom and the nature/nurture debate. Plus there are aliens. I'm going to do my best to just talk about the first book, but the fact is that I've been thinking about this for weeks now and I keep thinking about new things.
Dawn focuses on Lilith Iyapo, a human woman who survived an apocalyptic nuclear war - because aliens happened to be passing by and they abducted and healed her and are now holding her captive. The book starts slow, with Lilith waking in a cell and only gradually coming to understand what has happened and where she is. She is eventually released to live with an alien family, where she is coerced into helping them.
It took me awhile to make the connection between the Oankali and Star Trek's Borg. But once I did, I couldn't stop seeing the similarities. Both travel the universe, assimilating any life they find into their own culture. Both are highly adaptable, and resistance definitely feels futile. The main difference is the timescale on which they work. The Borg strike quickly, gobbling everything up in a matter of hours, while the Oankali work over centuries, lying to themselves about how much choice they offer their victims in order to serve their own self-image as benevolent.
Lilith spends the book making a series of difficult choices. She knows that she's being manipulated. She's constantly aware of it. But there's nothing she can do to stop it except claim the small agency that's made available to her, and hope that she can provide other humans with the tools to eventually fight back or at least escape.
The thing about the Oankali is that they're so calm and logical that it's easy to start thinking that maybe they're right. That humanity is doomed and this is a way for humans to live on. But then something new happens and you're jerked right out of that complacency. This is something Lilith struggles with throughout the book, and it's amazing to go through that with her. The Oankali are kind and generous. They don't lie or deliberately hurt anyone. But their inability to recognize the violence they're perpetrating doesn't make it any less real.
Like all of Butler's books, this one gets better the more I think about it. And there's a lot to think about here. It's amazing that she was able to pack so much into such a slim volume without making it feel overly dense. Butler definitely had a gift.
Dawn focuses on Lilith Iyapo, a human woman who survived an apocalyptic nuclear war - because aliens happened to be passing by and they abducted and healed her and are now holding her captive. The book starts slow, with Lilith waking in a cell and only gradually coming to understand what has happened and where she is. She is eventually released to live with an alien family, where she is coerced into helping them.
It took me awhile to make the connection between the Oankali and Star Trek's Borg. But once I did, I couldn't stop seeing the similarities. Both travel the universe, assimilating any life they find into their own culture. Both are highly adaptable, and resistance definitely feels futile. The main difference is the timescale on which they work. The Borg strike quickly, gobbling everything up in a matter of hours, while the Oankali work over centuries, lying to themselves about how much choice they offer their victims in order to serve their own self-image as benevolent.
Lilith spends the book making a series of difficult choices. She knows that she's being manipulated. She's constantly aware of it. But there's nothing she can do to stop it except claim the small agency that's made available to her, and hope that she can provide other humans with the tools to eventually fight back or at least escape.
The thing about the Oankali is that they're so calm and logical that it's easy to start thinking that maybe they're right. That humanity is doomed and this is a way for humans to live on. But then something new happens and you're jerked right out of that complacency. This is something Lilith struggles with throughout the book, and it's amazing to go through that with her. The Oankali are kind and generous. They don't lie or deliberately hurt anyone. But their inability to recognize the violence they're perpetrating doesn't make it any less real.
Like all of Butler's books, this one gets better the more I think about it. And there's a lot to think about here. It's amazing that she was able to pack so much into such a slim volume without making it feel overly dense. Butler definitely had a gift.
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