Dawn

I've just finished (actually a little while ago...) reading Dawn, by Octavia E. Butler. Unfortunately, this book wasn't really my favorite—an imaginative idea, fleshed out in an interesting way, but lacking compelling characters or human interest. In a few words (which I find myself frequently saying about science fiction books) it might have been a better short story.

My favorite part: the wealth of interesting ideas. I loved the descriptions of the Oankali, rendered so disgusting and alien, covered in small tentacles that move in strange ways. The most compelling thread for me was by far Lilith's struggle to reconcile her feelings about the Oankali, between anger, disgust, pleasure, and acceptance.

The ooloi's hijacking of human sex I also found interesting—one of the scariest parts by far, was seeing Lilith react to Joseph's touch with disgust despite her love for him.

Apart from that though, the book did fall flat for me. I never found myself into Lilith's character, and I really struggled to get the sense of her relationship with Joseph through the brief moments we saw. The relationships between the rest of the humans felt somehow stereotyped and flat. In general the book is quite fast-paced—this requires a great deal of care in choosing which moments to show, and I don't feel this care was taken.

And so, despite a few interesting ideas, in my opinion the book is stuck between being a good book and having interesting ideas, and unfortunately manages neither.