Customer Reviews

Fledgling

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I am a fan of both vampire fiction and Octavia Butler, so learning last spring that her new novel would be about vampires was truly exciting. I have waited with great anticipation. I will say up front that the novel does not disappoint on either front. Indeed, while the novel is self-contained and reaches satisfying closure, the world she creates is interesting enough to warrant sequels and prequels. And I, for one, would welcome them.

In Butler's other fiction, she has often concerned herself with themes of prejudice and power and, just as often, transformation. In taking on the vampire theme, she certainly allows these interests full development. Obviously, she also takes some unexpected twists in her vampires, drawing on familiar images of the (sub) genre, but taking them in fresh and interesting directions.

Take, for example, themes of transformation. Typically, the vampire narrative concerns a protagonist going through "the change," embracing a new (un)life and letting go of his or her former humanity/mortality. Butler has certainly explored the theme of bodily transformation in other novels (e.g. Clay's Ark or the Xenogenesis series, to name a few). The vampires in Butler's novel, however, are a separate species on earth, co-evolved with humanity and full of their own laws and culture. Collectively, they call themselves "Ina."

While they live in a mutually symbiotic relationship with (some) humans, they cannot transform humans into Ina. The Ina have their own careful and intricate systems of reproduction, which shape and guide their culture. Transformation in this novel has more to do with the Ina's interest in genetics, a study some of them have been pursuing long before it interested humans. One group of Ina has successfully engineered a vampire who can stay awake during daylight hours and can endure measured amounts of sunshine. They do this by splicing some African genetic material to their own, creating Shori, a black Ina alone in a world of very pale and mostly blonde Ina. This genetic innovation is, of course, causing a difficult (and unwelcome to some) transformation to millenia of Ina traditions.

We meet Shori first as a nameless narrator coming to consciousness in a cave and discovering, as she heals, the burned out ruins of what she learns was recently her community. Shori suffers from a selective amnesia that allows her to recover language skills and the ability to recognize everyday objects as well as an innate understanding of her Ina abilities, but memories of her family and her past are lost to her. Her amnesia is a clever device that allows Butler to work through a structural necessity of nearly all vampire fiction: sorting through the various folklore of vampires to settle on her explanation of them, winnowing away "myth" from "truth." As Shori moves into other Ina communities, her transformation into vampire is more about rediscovery than the slow turning of human flesh into superhuman creature. However, to Butler's credit, Shori's amnesia plays essential roles in the plot in addition to serving as a device to do some bargain shopping at the vampire mythology store.

One point of criticism in an otherwise fascinating reworking of the vampire: The norm for the Ina is to be catatonic during the day and to burn in daylight. However, in her journey of self discovery, Shori offers little explanation for why vampires of folklore often appeared during the day. The image of sunlight physically destroying a vampire (a staple of the genre today) is actually an invention of early cinema that has been picked up in many subsequent vampire fictions. As most vampire officianados know, Dracula appears no less than three (actually more!) times during the day in Stoker's novel. Other Eastern European and Middle Eastern vampires of folklore often have frequent daylight appearances. If (in Shori's world) our vampire myths are based on Ina, it seems odd that the burn-in-sunlight aspect of the myth didn't develop until the early 20th century. A minor point, but worth mentioning given how much fun Butler has dismissing aspects of the folklore/pop culture in early chapters and generally demonstrating that she has done her homework about vampires.

Another theme that is very familiar from Butler's other works is the image of secret, minority communities living alongside the unknowing masses of humanity, usually in self-contained communes and family groups. I track this theme across the "Patternist" novels, including Clay's Ark. It is also central to the "Parable" novels, beginning with Lauren Olamina's ill-fated gated community in L.A. to the equally ill-fated refuge of Acorn. Arguably, this theme of communes also applies to the plantation in Kindred, although a different sort of commune for a different genre of fiction. One gets the feeling after reading several of Butler's novels that she either has lived on or wants to live on a commune.

Finally, Shori herself is a very familiar Butler heroine. She is a strong-willed diminuative female narrator who is black. She is a literary sister of Lauren Olamina of the Parable novels or even Dana of Kindred, narrating her experiences and perceptions with poetic bluntness. Shifting to third-person narrative, there also seems something similar here to heroines like Lilith Iapo of the Xenogenesis series and Anyanwu of Wild Seed. There is also something of Mary from the mixed point of view novel, Mind of My Mind. Certainly, these narrators' race and gender matter. But other commonalities are also striking. These are strong, practical women who may falter in their faith in themselves but always pick themselves up from the dust and fight tooth and nail (sometimes literally) for themselves and their loved ones. Many of them are somehow burdened with a flaw - amnesia

in Shori's case, a birth defect causing extreme empathy in Olamina's, cancer in Lilith's, etc. - but almost always a flaw that also has advantages. And, again, Butler has written another strong female protagonist who comes into her own before reaching adulthood - the twist here being that Shori is a juvenile vampire of 53 who appears to be an 11 year old human girl. A wise child; A child forced into adulthood. Sound familiar?

In the hands of a less talented writer, these similarities might seem hackish. But Butler makes them feel like important elements of her thought experiments, getting a fresh reworking in a different scene. As she would be first to point out, it's not as if too many other authors of science fiction or even the vampire (sub) genre are exhausting representations of this sort of character. I welcome Shori into Butler's pantheon of strong and interesting black heroines and eagerly hope there is more to come about her in the future.

I truly enjoyed this novel and recommend it to fans of vampire fiction. I need not recommend it to fans of Butler because they will, doubtless, consume it as happily as I have. Without giving too much away, the last third of the novel turns to a kind of courtroom drama, albeit a vampire court. In the process, we learn that the elder Inas' claims to be above such human concerns as racism turn out to not be exactly accurate. Similarly, claims that the Ina's Council of Judgement is nothing like "the silly sports of human law courts" also turn out not to be true, and the findings of the Council seem to drip with Butler's cynical critique of contemporary high-profile legal judgements. But then, Butler rarely uses the SF genre to propose better worlds or happier ways of being together. If anything, she seems to remind us that all life is struggle and no being (human or otherwise) is free of corruption...or far from grace.

The sad thing about reading this book was knowing that there will never be another one written by Ms. Butler, who died tragically earlier this year.

Since the plot is well covered in the description and by other reviewers, I will simply give my own brief impressions of the book.

Ms. Butler has always excelled at telling great stories while making significant social commentaries about our world, and "Fledgling" in no exception. Issues of race and genetic engineering are at the forefront of this tale, and the unique way Butler deals with these issues here is handled skillfully, albeit not so subtly, as some readers might prefer. But then Octavia Butler was always an author who tackled such social commentaries within her writings head on, while stil creating a compelling read.

For me, the story is at its best the first half to two-thirds of the book, when Shori and her symbiots are on the run from the mysterious assailants who are on her trail. But the story seems to flatten out once she finds a safe haven and begins to learn who may be responsible for the murder of her families.

The story becomes more about revealing the ins and outs of the Ina culture, the vampire like race to which Shori belongs. Even the death of someone close to Shori, and the eventual "showdown" between Shori and the guilty party, lack (for want of a less punny word) bite. I just felt more like an observer to the events and not emotionally involved in them. I believe this is due to the lead character's memory loss, which has left her far less emotionally affected by the tragic events around her. And what strain she does feel are more told than shown in any empathetic fashion.

I wish I could say that this book, apparently the last ever written by a widely respected author, was her best. But I think there was much that was left unsaid, and much more story to tell.

Knowing that Shori's tale, along with that of Ms. Butler's, has come to a far too early end makes this book one I will always keep, not as a greatly treasured addition to my personal library, but as a remembrance of a writer I greatly admired, respected, and will sorely miss.

- Gregory Bernard Banks, author of "Phoenix Tales: Stories of Death & Life"

It is indeed bittersweet that "Fledgling: A Novel" brings to a close the brilliant career of science fiction writer Octavia Butler, whose engrossing fiction made her a noted writer not only of science fiction, but truly, among our most compelling fictional commentators of American race relations and elegant literary stylists (She was one of my favorite science fiction writers, and her untimely death last year is truly a great loss to literary science fiction, contemporary Afro-American literature, and indeed, all of contemporary English language literature.). Her final novel can be regarded as a triumphant coda to that career, truly encapsulating all of her sociological and anthropological concerns, and acting as a mesmerizing, profound fictional commentary on the state of race relations here in the United States. She has done the impossible, reviving the time-worn vampire novel genre, and instilling in it, a breath of fresh air, by writing a most memorable tale on the nature of individuality, free will and prejudice. In Shori Matthews, she has sprung forth a most compelling literary creation, telling her tale in a fascinating combination of fast-paced, truly "blood-and-guts" thriller and legal drama that ranks alongside the best from the likes of John Grisham, for example, in her compelling description of Ina society and culture. This splendid novel is destined to become a literary classic, favored not only by Octavia Butler's fans, but more importantly, those interested in reading the finest fantasy and science fiction literature.

There's plenty of long reviews here that provide summaries of the novel, so I won't bother with that...

Many people reviewing here are clearly Octavia Butler fans. I admit the only other book of hers that I've read is _Kindred_, which I thought was a fantastic novel. It took the concept of time travel and lifted it from a pretty mundane science fiction trope and made it interesting, important literature. It was a truly creative method for exploring racism, a topic well that's been dipped in so much, it's often hard to be original.

Obviously, with _Fledgling_, Butler is attempting to do the same thing, to take two things people have read about over and over (racism and vampires) and do something new and different with them as a means for getting people to rethink concepts of otherness, etc.

But I think she fails because she tries too hard to undermine the vampire myths of old. As Butler's narrator, Shori is constantly reiterating how different the Ina are from the myths she read about online. This seems a little heavy-handed to me, as though Butler had to keep saying, "See! See! I've done something different here!" It took me out of the story several times when attention was drawn to Butler's deviations from the usual vampire lore.

Like another reviewer, I also felt ickiness at the idea that a girl who looks 10 or 11 is having sex with a 23-year-old, regardless of her "Ina age." It also made me wonder why, of all the vampire characterizations to keep, did Butler keep the overt sexual nature of the vampire. The whole thing felt a little too Anne-Rice-softcore porn to me.

And finally, this may seem minor, but this is one of the most poorly copyedited books I've ever read. The mistakes (missing words, words in the wrong place, missing quotation marks, etc.) were dismissable at first, but then became so numerous they were distracting. My only guess is that the publishers were so eager to get Butler's book published that they did her and the reader the disservice of putting out such a poorly proofread version...

I like Octavia Butler. I pretty much like anything she's written and I am sad she died last year. I've been looking forward to reading this book for a while. It's very easy to get into and the characters are quite likable. I had some reservations about the meeting between Shori and Wright early on but it was explained well later.

That said...I did enjoy the book but I have that Chinese food feeling about it. It just left me wanting more. What happens next? How does Shori proceed with re-educating herself? Does she successfully manage to set up a household and resurrect the Matthews name? How do Wright and Joel manage? How do Celia and Brook manage? Does she become the potent ally Joan Braithwaite believes she will?

I know that with the death of Ms Butler those questions won;t get answered. Or at least not for some time if someone gets hold of any notes she may have left.

Anyway, it's an excellent read, just...vaguely unsatisfying due to the "unfinished" feeling.

For those who thought that Anne Rice and Joss Whedon

had the last word on the vampire saga,this story

will come as a startling and innovative revelation;

one full of romance and peril, high drama and

suspenseful intrigue.

For those who yearn for some Science Fiction with

a more multicultural range, with strong, relentless

questions about gender preference, community-

building and the folly of indulging intolerance

at any level, this book represents the literature

as true Speculation about the nature of humanity;

where we've been, what we are, and who we can

be.

Welcome to the imaginative visions posed by

world-renowned author Octavia E. Butler in

her groundbreaking latest novel, FLEDGLING.

Setting precedents is a Butler trademark, one

which has drastically altered and expanded

every literary field she's tackled for over

30 years. Before Butler, Science Fiction and

African American Culture never crossed idioms

in so boldly upfront a manner. Before Butler,

for that matter, African American authors were

rarely seen or recognized in any type of genre

fiction other than what was deemed "Black enuf",

often by the most narrow-minded of standards.

Butler's steadfast persistence in forging her

own literary perspective has long defied

institutional stereotypes from all sides, and

has come to represent a major, long-overdue

expansion of African American authors into

the varied corridors of American letters; from

multimedial mavericks such as Thulani Davis

and Dwayne McDuffie to singular trailblazers

such as Mystery master Walter Mosley.

FLEDGLING establishes a whole new facet in

the Butler landscape. Expect no Draculas or

Lestats here. No leering post-Victorian ghouls,

no curse of lust-crazed, cancerous demonry, no

forlorn predators taking to wing and commanding

gross vermin lurk within these pages. In this

take on the vampire saga, the focus is on family,

tradition, and transition between the blood-

nourished Ina and their equally life-nourished

chosen humans; a focus broken when Ina communities

are suddenly the targets of mindless, genocidal

slaughter.

Just who is responsible for these hate crimes,

and the reason for such wanton terror, is at the

heart of a thrilling odyssey which centers around

an amnesiac child named Shori... and what she

represents to all involved.

The two-time Hugo and Nebula award-winner is known

for her crisp dialogue and meaty characterizations,

coming straight to the point and taking the reader

into intricate scenarios of thought-provoking

adventure.

In FLEDGLING, the questions abound with gleeful yet

sobering energy. Community or captivity? Evolution

or eugenics? Vigilance or aggression? Erotic need,

narcotic fixation, or simple loving? Those who have

seen Butler weave these and other topics into the SF

field over the decades will, nevertheless, be stunned

by the sheer virtuosity and seeming ease with which

she dances her points into the reader's eye here.

Make no mistake about FLEDGLING. The Seven Stories

Press presentation is a major thematic summation of

Butler's life and career, a signature statement from

an acclaimed artistic pioneer.

This is the work of a MacArthur Foundation grant-

winner, once more sharing her formidable genius with

the world. Encouraged by her mother early in life,

and bolstered at the start of her career by the

multifaceted Harlan Ellison, Butler stands tall as

a writer's writer.

Her stunningly credible wordscapes of other worlds,

other species, and often-unimagined compatibilties

bring an uncanny, unimpeachable credence to her

frequent commentary on the human condition. Small

wonder, then, that she can communicate the tragedy

of an innocent lover's senseless murder with mute

shock and gnawing melancholy; making us deeply

outraged, perhaps just a bit more fragile and

thoughtful about what we dare to risk -or think

to withhold- in our own relationships.

Small wonder, too, that one of the most quiet

points of the story holds what has to be one of

the author's most intensely personal reflections.

Later in FLEDGLING, an Ina tests the range of her

hearing, and takes in a myriad blend of sounds,

and the emotions behind them.

One of them is a woman "reading a story about a

wild horse to a little girl" (pg. 184); a tender

moment adding further texture to what poet Margaret

Danner once characterized as the varied-patterned

lace of a true society.

That Butler, in one fell swoop, has paid loving

homage to her own mother's encouragement, and fond

remembrance of the very first book that she -herself-

ever purchased, is a bonus to those who know something

of her history. For those who never read her

autobiographical essay "Positive Obsession" from

the collection BLOODCHILD, the moment stands,

nevertheless.

A sweet capper to a fleeting interlude, it poses

a pivotal springboard for the tribulations and

contemplations to come.

Bearing witness to the power of one person's

integrity, and her drive to bridge the gaps in

our experience, FLEDGLING is Octavia E. Butler

at her most challenging; setting her sights on

nothing less than the myth and folklore which

can either shroud us in fear and ignorance,

or bolster our struggles to break free, gain

wisdom, and encourage compassion.

The choice, of course, must be made by each and

every one of us... freely, and of our own will.

Octavia Butler's "Fledgling" is a vampire story, but Butler has taken on one of the most well loved genres and totally turned it on its head. The story follows an amnesiac trying to find her place and her past.

Telling much more than that without giving away much about the book is fairly difficult, so instead I'll focus on the book's style and themes. Like several of Butler's other books, there's a great deal to be said about race, sex, and sensuality. Butler presents a society where the usual stereotypes about these things have no applied before, but such things become exposed not as a societal norm but as an abberation and viewed on with horror. As the protagonist finds her place, we find an understanding of the society into which she leaves.

The book pacing is somewhat bizarre-- it starts off pretty aggressively paced, but as the story develops, it slows to a crawl before picking back up again. It's all presented in a first-person perspective, so the protagonist, being an amnesiac, provides an outsider-looking-in viewpoint into this world of hidden vampires and secret communities.

Butler manages an intriguing read-- the society she puts forth is stunning, and the views on relationships between races and sexes is intriguing, but the book feels to fizzle out at the end. While the largely dialog-driven last several chapters of the book really is the best part of the book, I found the end itself by and large unsatisfying. Still, it made for a good read, those interested in Butler's work should definitely check it out.

Okay, I should begin by admitting that Ms. Butler will never have a bigger fan than I. But, that said, it is also true that, while I historically have bought her books as soon as I hear about them, this one I avoided for a few months purely because I have _never_ been into vampire stories.

Curiosity, and the realization that this was the last book we will ever get from this remarkable artist, finally got the best of me and I ordered a copy from Amazon.

I was hooked from the first chapter. Which is saying a lot considering that I do not read vampire books. But, the thing with this one, unlike other vampire books, is that it does not glory in the usual blood and guts sort of masochism. Instead, it focuses on hunger and sensual desire... something we fans of Butler's Oankali trilogy are quite familiar with.

Yes, Butler dangles issues of race in this story. And, I applaud her for it. As with her Earth Seed series, she never dwells on it. She merely refuses to ignore the obvious.

There are a handful of proof reading errors, no where near as many as some reviewers here have indicated. But, that is a knock against Seven Stories Press, not Butler.

There is a simple explanation as to why some people have rated this book only 2 or 3 stars. Ms. Butler is/was/will-always-be one of the greatest Science Fiction writers ever. If you compare this one with "Wild Seed" or either of the "Parable of" novels, then, yeah, it is not quite as brilliant. But, name any sci-fi novel written by anyone else in the last decade which is on that level?

I rated "Fledging" 5 stars because it is, unquestionably, among the best works of its genre ... far above the row after row of mediocre crap you normally find in the sci-fi/fantasy section of your local Barnes and Noble.

I've alway been a fan of Octavia Butler, but haven't read anything recently.(in fact, I just learned of her death)
The Fledgling is her most intriguing tale. I'm sure you've picked up the whole amnesia aspect of this young phoenix. Ms Butler has shown us the love and caring between races (of human and Ina)by using the tiniest details. Shori's "first" symbiont is jealous of her need for other food sources. He is allowed to feel jealous, instead of being put down as an insecure man. The newer parts of her "family" have their own issues, each of which are admirably revealed and valued. In fact, valuing family is what this story is all about, in many diverse layers.
My description is vastly ineffective, but this lovely tale is a wonderful read.

Fans of Anne Rice (B.C.), would want to check out this 'vampire' novel, that takes the myth, and turns it on it's head. Shori looks like a young (nine year old) African American girl, but has already logged over fifty years of life. When she "awakes" her head is pounding, she is in a cave, and has no recollection of how she got there, or worse, who or what she is. In the most simplistic terms she would be considered what we know as a vampire.Yet Butler takes this idea, and morphs it from the traditional garlic and stake fearing blood sucker, to a race of people that eventually die, but only after a long life that involves multiple human partners both male and female called symbionts who lead productive and fulfilling lives, each party enriching the other. This pansexual nature of the character favors Rice's world, but the story feels much more modern, and I'd even go as far to say a supernatural allegory about race relations on the world. Much has been said about Butler's beautiful prose. I thought it fine, but nothing spectacular, with minor quibbles on character inconsistencies, like how she can't understand how to open the glove compartment in a car, yet can walk into a room and give detailed descriptions of what's in it? The downside to the book is that it ends opening a whole world that begs to be explored but will never come to fruition because of Butler's unfortunate death. I wouldn't say it's a complete cliffhanger, but as I neared the end I was wondering how she'd ever wrap it up. The answer is, she does, and doesn't. An entertaining if not wholly satisfying read.