I'm endlessly impressed with Octavia Butler. Fantasy enticements heavily balanced with terrifying entailments, laden with keen observations of psychology, biology, sex, culture, and ethics. In a story that doesn't quit. Wow.
I read through it much faster than I expected. It really gripped me and I kept on reading page after page.
I'm torn between recognizing the Human Contradiction as being so painfully true and on the other hand also sympathizing with the Resisters. Argh, what to do, what to choose!
If you're looking for a truly alien concept this is your book. It takes mastery to mesh the alien with the human and weave a coherent and relatable story.
There is a fatal contradiction in humanity. The aliens are here to help, and are here to destroy us. Intensely conflicting portrayal of genetic engineering.
I liked this series a lot. Theme-wise, it's pretty similar to much of Octavia Butler's other work - what does it mean to be human? How do you build a community around yourself? etc. It's also very cohesive - it's very much one story told over three books, and none of them are duds. I think my favorite aspect of this series, as opposed to the Patternist series, or Earthseed, was how, by the end, the aliens seemed almost more human than the humans. They are certainly more aligned with many human ideals than the humans are - but at the same time, whenever you start to feel too comfortable with them there is a reminder that these beings are totally different from the rest of us. There's a lot to chew on here and I suspect that it will keep popping back into my awareness for a long time.
