{ This is hilarious. I actually wrote about Lilith’s Brood way back in 2016, but hadn’t remembered that when I re-read them with a good friend recently. So, yeah. Here’s the original write up. It’s different, and I’m intrigued by how my voices has changed in these things over the last near-decade. Anyhow, since I had already written this, I figured I’d post it as well. }
I don’t have a ton to say about these books: they are absolute fundamental within the genre, brilliant treatises on potential alien contact, and deeply affecting.
Go. Read. Them.
Lilith’s Brood refers to the combined publication of a trio of novels by Octavia Butler, originally released 1 per year from 1987 to 1989: Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago. Each are relatively short, more novellas than novels, making the single volume combination the way to go. The trilogy follows, across 3 generations (although that may not be quite the right term, given the alien physiology and reproductive patterns) of interactions between the remaining inhabitants of Earth and a deeply, fundamentally, often incomprehensibly alien race.
The opening 50ish pages of Dawn may be among the finest openings to an alternative fiction narrative ever written.
Go. Read. Them.
Butler’s conception of the aliens is the key to the books: they are totally different from us, even to the point of being immediately repulsive to humans, often deeply manipulative, and possessing an ethics that only partially intersect with humanity’s concerns. Butler not only confronts the notion that if we do encounter aliens, of course we’ll want to have sex with them, but makes that a central pillar of the relationship between the species. So, that may or may not make the book more or less intriguing to you.
There are issues with the books: the secondary human characters are a bit under developed, and the core emotional (and sexual) moral issues that permeate the narrative remain unanswered. The latter, of course, is a feature as much as a bug: it is rare that alternative fiction makes us think and question things, in addition to quickly turning pages late at night in a desire to finish the chapter.
The highest recommendation, especially for Dawn. If you like it, you’ll like the other 2, but you should read Dawn, for sure.