Dawn by Octavia Butler: Book Review (School Edition)!

Hello, everyone! I'm back with another book review. This time I'm reviewing Dawn by Octavia Butler. This book, as well as being one of my books for my Popular Genre Class, is the first of the Xenogenesis Series. It has been nominated for science fiction related rewards and has had much acclaim throughout the science fiction community. But enough about that, let's get on with the review!

Dawn tells the story of Lilith, a woman that has survived a world wide nuclear world thanks to the help of an alien race called the Oankali. Lilith is one of many people that the Oankali have taken in hopes that they could help repopulate the Earth. The Oankali have a request for the assistance. They wish to mix their genetic material with humans in order to create a better version of themselves and they want Lilith's help. Will Lilith help the Oankali with their mission? Or will she be forced to stay on the Oankali ship for the rest of her life? Only time will tell!

Actually, I can tell because I've read all of this book and halfway through the second book before my professor spoiled that book and the third one, but that's not what we do here. We don't spoil books. We review them. My short book review: despite my aversion to science fiction, this book was pretty awesome.

I love these characters. Lilith is such a warrior and tries to be strong in the worst situations. One of the reasons why the Oankali chose her was because of her will to live. I love seeing her conflict between having them help her live and her feeling like she's completely dependent on creatures that she doesn't completely understand or trust. There is a lot of stress and tension coming from her, and I really think that gives the novel a really cool dynamic.

I also liked Nikanj. He is one of the Oankali that is assigned to Lilith. We first see him as a child, and
he grows into adulthood by Lilith's side. Through him, Lilith sees that while these creatures are manipulative to their own goals, there are Oankali that really want to help human kind. They just don't know how to be polite about it.

I'm also really impressed with how Butler was able to depict a space ship that is completely different than what first come to mind, or at least, what comes first to my mind. It isn't a giant metal ship that is full of the most advance technology with scanners and consoles and things of that nature. Everything is alive, and the Oankali work with the ship as much as the ship works with them. It is a very interesting concept that makes sense for the entire novel.

The one thing that I felt could be better was the ending. I don't want to give anything away because I would hate to spoil this book, but I will say that something happens that leaves Lilith devastated. I was under the impression that it was the end all of what she really wanted, but that is proven to be false in chapter one of the next book. It really threw me for a second, but really, it is a bit of a nit picky reaction to the story as a whole.

In conclusion, I found this book quite enjoyable. I would have probably finished the series, but my professor told my class how the second and the third book end. That definitely put a damper on my excitement. All in all, I would give this book four and a half Oankali's out of five.

That's it for this review! Write some comments down below about your experiences with people spoiling a promising book series or television show. You can subscribe to the blog by adding your email to the Subscribe Box down below. You can add me to your circles by clicking the Google+ button on the right. You can also get up to date information about the blog or ridiculousness about my life by following me on twitter @KK_Donna_Blog. Also, you can follow the tumblr dedicated to this blog, and you can find it at this link. That's it for now! Read on, lovelies! I'll see y'all next post!