Kylie's Book Log

Book: 31
Title: Fledgling
Author: Octavia Butler
Genre: Sci-fi/fantasy
One-sentence summary: Shori Matthews appears to be a ten-year-old black girl, stricken with amnesia after suffering a head wound during an attack on her home that left the rest of her family dead and her house burned to the ground. Even through her amnesia, Shori knows this is not exactly what she is; in the course of the book she learns the word "vampire", as well as some of the history of the alien race that that word's meaning inadequately represents.
Why did you get this book? I am, as has been noted, an Octavia Butler fan.
Do you like the cover? I do, actually. I can't tell if it was designed specifically for this book or not: an (apparently) young girl's feet walking down some stairs, with tongues of flame licking at the hem of her dress. It could reference the beginning of the book, or it could be just a random picture someone picked out because it looked striking. That said, it is indeed striking.
Did you enjoy the book? Yes, this was excellent. It's a take on vampire mythology, but because it's Butler, the vampires' motivations are all too human, even as they are quite clearly a different race. And, you know, they're a "different race" in the sense that they are an independent civilization that has coexisted alongside humans for thousands of years, and they maintain a symbiotic relationship with humans in a way that both challenges and illuminates conventional standards of morality, and it's all very matter-of-fact and un-sensationalized. Classic Butler, in other words. This is her last book, and though it may not be quite as good as Kindred, the book that really made her name, I think it's close. I still think Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents constitute her best work though.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? I already bought another one of her books. I'm going to run out soon.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping.
Anything else? The fact that this woman is dead, and at such a young age, is just not fair.
Scale of 1 to 10: 9
Number of pages: 310
Total pages for the year: 9061

Book: 5
Title: Wild Seed
Author: Octavia Butler
Genre: Science fiction/fantasy
One-sentence summary: An ageless creature that survives by killing humans and commandeering their corpses attempts to breed a society of people with psychic abilities, but meets his match in an ageless woman with supernatural powers to heal and transform. Something like that. It actually makes a little more sense when you read it.
Why did you get this book? Because it's Octavia Butler, and the plot seemed slightly less bizarre than that of the other books of hers I looked at. I've been working through her books, from the least bizarre (Kindred, Parable of the Sower, and Parable of the Talents) on up.
Do you like the cover? I do, mainly because the person on it is so androgynous that when I asked λ to pick one sex or another she said if she had to pick she'd say it was a girl, and I said if I had to pick I'd say it was a boy.
Did you enjoy the book? Yes, although it certainly was strange. I am not really a sci-fi kind of girl.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? No, not new to me, and yes, I will, although from the summaries, like I said, they just seem to get weirder from here on out.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping it. This is another one that will be a reread.
Anything else? Just that everyone, especially anyone who's interested in science fiction or feminist literature, should read Octavia Butler at some point. That, and I'm sad that she's dead.
Scale of 1 to 10: 7/8
Number of pages: 288
Total pages for the year: 1697
Bonus! There's a sequel! I totally didn't know that, I'ma get it.