Fledgling
A Novel
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4.4 • 181 Ratings
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Fledgling, Octavia Butler’s last novel, is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly un-human needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion: she is in fact a genetically modified, 53-year-old vampire. Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life, she must at the same time learn who wanted—and still wants—to destroy her and those she cares for, and how she can save herself. Fledgling is a captivating novel that tests the limits of "otherness" and questions what it means to be truly human.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The much-lauded Butler creates vampires in her 12th novel (her first in seven years) that have about as much to do with Bram Stoker's Dracula as HBO's Deadwood does with High Noon. They need human blood to survive, but they don't kill unless they have to, and (given several hundred years) they'll eventually die peacefully of old age. They are Ina, and they've coexisted with humans for millennia, imparting robust health and narcotic bliss with every bite to their devoted human blood donors, aka "symbionts." Shori is a 53-year-old Ina (a juvenile) who wakes up in a cave, amnesiac and seriously wounded. As is later revealed, her family and their symbionts were murdered because they genetically engineered a generation of part-Ina, part-human children. Shori was their most successful experiment: she can stay conscious during daylight hours, and her black skin helps protect her from the sun. The lone survivor, Shori must rely on a few friendly (and tasty) people to help her warn other Ina families and rediscover herself. Butler, keeping tension high, reveals the mysteries of the Ina universe bit by tantalizing bit. Just as the Ina's collective honor and dignity starts to get a little dull, a gang of bigoted, black sheep Ina rolls into town for a species-wide confab-cum-smackdown. In the feisty Shori, Butler has created a new vampire paradigm one that's more prone to sci-fi social commentary than gothic romance and given a tired genre a much-needed shot in the arm.
Customer Reviews
Butler’s Final Novel
“Fledgling” was the last novel Octavia Butler wrote, and it is both a disturbing and fascinating story. The protagonist, Shori, wakes up severely injured and with amnesia. She literally has no idea of who she is or where she came from. She begins to explore her world, and discovers that she has both inhuman needs and abilities.
Over the first half of the novel she learns that she is a member of a species known as the Ina, who are essentially vampires. They form symbiotic families with individual humans, who become addicted to their venom. This aides both parties and the Ina cannot survive without bonded symbiotic humans.
Shori is a genetically modified Ina, who has been enhanced by African DNA, giving her resistance to sunlight, as well as allowing her to wake and be active during daylight. She has to discover who has destroyed her family and is still trying to kill her, as well as who she is and what is her role in Ina society. The novel essentially analyses race relations and eugenics through the use of another intelligent species.
Okay
Good read, flat ending.
Great book
Good read