Dawn (Xenogenesis, Bk. 1)

Known for her African-American feminist perspective, the author presents the first installment of a trilogy exploring the death of the earth as we know it and the advent of interbreeding between humans and extraterrestrials. Reissue.

In a world devastated by nuclear war with humanity on the edge of extinction, aliens finally make contact. They rescue those humans they can, keeping most survivors in suspended animation while the aliens begin the slow process of rehabilitating the planet. When Lilith Iyapo is "awakened," she finds that she has been chosen to revive her fellow humans in small groups by first preparing them to meet the utterly terrifying aliens, then training them to survive on the wilderness that the planet has become. But the aliens cannot help humanity without altering it forever. Bonded to the aliens in ways no human has ever known, Lilith tries to fight them even as her own species comes to fear and loathe her. A stunning story of invasion and alien contact by one of science fiction's finest writers.

Butler could write, no doubt about it, and it's a shame she died so young. Who knows what else she might have done? I've read a half dozen of her books and this is one of the few that qualifies as science fiction. Yet it also matches the sensualist preoccupation of many of the others. Although this time it's hard to imagine a sexual liaison with creatures that look and feel like shuffling collections of earthworms. I gave this a one-star not for quality but because the idea of a planet-devastating nuclear exchange between the US and Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union (the hook that lets the aliens take over) was trite, as well as unbelievable. And, then, the story was so strange, compelling at times but, in the end, too creepy for me to want to go on to the next in the series.

Nothing to add here. the woman was a genius and, even now, not enough people know her work. those of us who do, who were privileged enough to have been in on the "secret' of Ms Butler, feel her loss acutely.

So buy her books, tell your friends to buy her books and share the wealth. She was Great and her works are Mighty.

The main character in this book is Lilith. She is such a deep character, you find yourself wishing that you could meet her in person. This story makes a person think about what it would be like if aliens really took earth over; although the part about our body in suspension inside a tree-like organism was very difficult to imagine. Lilith and the things that happen to her touch a deep-rooted fear- "what if" there are aliens and if so, what would they do with us? Unfortunately, the idea represented here, that human will turn the earth into some place that is unlivable is too easy to imagine. The way that Ms. Butler writes is wonderful; what a joy that is!

Lilith is a young woman saved by an alien race known as the Oankali after the superpowers of the time (US/USSR)nuked the world. The Oankali mix their genes with those of other races to evolve, and they have decided that what is left of humanity should be used for this purpose. Lilith is used by the Oankali as a messenger, an ambassador of sorts, to introduce other rescued humans to the Oankali and share the Oankali's intentions for the remainder of mankind.

This book addresses many moral complexities of man. Butler uses the setting of her novel to focus on issues of human sexuality (the ooloi and manner of Oankali reproduction), the "human conflict" (in spite of their plight, the humans still exhibit hierarchical behavior when they should be uniting), and the self-destructive nature of man (a man-made war destroys civilation and mankind continues on a smaller-scale self-destructive path). On the surface, Dawn is a book about the rebirth of Earth and the meeting between humans and aliens after an apocalyptic event. Beneath the surface, Butler addresses deeper issues about mankind. Although this book is wonderfully written and thoroughly entertaining, I had a couple of issues with it:

1. Lilith gave in too easily in some areas. After reading it, I could not understand her easy acceptance of Nikanj - even though he was a child. Butler adequately explains it, but her response, given the circumstances, does not feel authentic.

2. Lilith could have done more to let the other humans know where she stood on the issues. Her position was clear, but only in her thoughts. It seemed that she would have done more to let those close to her know what she believe and wanted.

3. Several editing errors were somewhat distracting.

Overall, the book was well worth the read and I recommend it.

I'm glad I finally got around to sampling Octavia Butler's SF. She's top-notch, and I only wish I'd found her sooner. "Dawn" is a superior treatment of a classic SF theme that projects troubling here-and-now events into a crescendo of violence that results in the destruction of humanity. This sets the stage for a scenario that posits deliverance at the price of universal slavery to an alien race; a deliverance that will end in extinction as complete as, and far more spiritually devastating than, that already accomplished by fulfillment of the alleged human genetic imperative to self-destruct.

Butler handles this weighty theme with deftness and indirection. The reality of Ounkali domination of every aspect of human life, right down to the neural and cellular level, is masked by the emotional allure of apparently reciprocal inter-species attachments and obligations, and further finessed by the human genetic "sin" of hierarchicalism as manifest in the more than occasional cussedness and irrationality of the humans selected for awakening.

The Ounkali's manipulative genius is such that de facto human enslavement is staged as a benefit of such great value that it cannot be resented - at least not by the principal character, Lilith, whose sense of justice (she and every other human would be dead without alien intervention, after all) is reinforced by the careful indoctrination / conditioning of this woman selected for her unique combination of genetic and experiential characteristics.

I'm deeply impressed with Butler's handling of a theme of such sensitivity and import to American culture without beating us over the head with it. She makes her point about slavery with scarcely a mention of the word itself. It gives us the opportunity to read between the lines, and to think - something we are all genetically capable of, but not necessarily inclined to do.