Customer Reviews

Imago

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The third book in the Xenogenesis series involves more of the Oankali-Human children born on an earth that will be reaved of its natural resources and left for dead in a scant few centuries.

Butler shocks reader and characters alike -- two of the Human-Oankali children do not take after their parents despite careful genetic planets -- they develop, on their own, into Ooloi -- the most powerful and dangerous creatures of the Oankali race: capable of great healing or concocting lethal poisons from the genetic information that every sense has experienced over their lifetime.

Imago follows first one, then the other ooloi youth as they discover what they are, suffer greatly from lack of skill with the ooloi talents, and loneliness from being the only ones of their kind in the new generation. Eventually they find themselves and manage a sort of stability. The third gender is not as disturbing as it might have been in the hands of a less sensitive author.

This series closes with a solid finality the assimilation of mankind into the Oankali genetics...and the hard fate remaining for the 'purist' humans who choose to terraform another planet to live on, since there will be no earth for them after the Oankali are through.

The series has left me feeling marginally unsettled, given Butler's vision of the future is one that indicates the human race must change if it is to survive en masse

this is a wonderful book, but buy "Lilith's Brood" instead, which includes this book and the other two in the trilogy.

An outstandingly fine story! This is the third and final book of Xenogenesis, also published as "Lilith's Brood" (all 3 books in one cover; cheaper than buying them separately). See "Lilith's Brood" for reviews of the entire series.

watziznaym@gmail.com

If you love watching scfi and not reading the books this is the writer to start with. The first in the xenogenesis series is Dawn I could not put the book down if you could image the earth been destroyed by nuclar war then a alien race comes and saves human kind. The second book Adulthood Rites answer's the question what will the future look like for human kind as a race then the third book Imago shows you what you will become. If you have not read these books you are missing some great writing from a different point of view.

By focusing down on one character, more or less, this third book in the series provides the greatest entertainment and the greatest means of connection between characters, situations and reader. Of course the book cannot not stand on its own, generally a sign of greatness in a book, but in series that is to be expected.

The complexities of Oankali sexuality are fully revealed as Butler introduces Jodhas, the first construct ooloi. Butler addresses unanswered questions such as why Lilith never left Nikanj, how ooloi get and keep mates - some that don't want them, etc. In addition, human sexuality is brought to the fore with the construct ooloi-human relationships and taboos such as incest are touched upon. That Butler is able to introduce these topics without causing her readers to cringe is a testament to her storytelling ability.

Readers receive snippets about the Mars colony and human emigration. Butler also allows her readers to truly feel what ooloi's experience when they need a mate. She does a wonderful job of retelling the story of a construct's life on Earth (previously told in Book 2) while still keeping the story fresh, exciting, and interesting. Jodahs is introduced as his metamorphosis begins and, as the first construct ooloi, we are taken with him as he discovers his ooloi and construct abilities. Jodahs is a captivating character and, as we are pulled along on his journey, we cannot help but care about the outcome for him. The only issue I had with this final book is the series was:

1. There was no follow-up on Akin and the Mars colony. Akin was such a well-crafted character that I wanted to follow him to Mars to see how he fared. The way this book was written makes Book 2 seem incomplete.

Overall, it is a good story and I would recommend it.

Imago was one of the first Butler books I've read. The only disappointing part was that I read it too quickly. Eventually, I'll go back and read it again; it was that intriguing.

Amazingly the more books, written by Butler, that I read, the more I wonder just how in tuned she may be with my vision of human reality and future.

In every book is the common theory of change; and how we as arrogant, "galactically-supreme" terrestrials believe we are invincable. So much so that we look change in the face and outright deny that it exists or has to be adhered to.

In life, the only thing that remains constant is that all things must change. I received it in a card from a close friend one day, then years later I read essentially the same thing in one of Butler's books.

Imago is enteraining, suspensefuly and delightful to read. Be careful though, you'll get so wrapped up in it, that you'll wish she was sitting across from you (when you finish) so you could ask her a ton of questions.

Wow! What a great ending to the series! The strange story finally came together superbly. The writing is excellent. There were plot twists, an interesting main protagonist, a weaving together of all the characters and their fates from the first two books of the series, Dawn and Adulthood Rites. I highly recommend this but suggest that you read the other two books first to get the full effect.

Imago is the concluding volume in Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy and one thing that should be apparent by the time the readers gets more than a handful of pages into Imago is that Octavia Butler has written a trilogy in the more classic sense of the term. Butler's trilogy is a collection of three novels which tell otherwise complete stories that while they expand on the previous novel, each novel does not depend on the other to stand. Octavia Butler's trilogy is three stand alone novels telling three stories related in theme and setting and that builds an overall story arc as well as three smaller story arcs.

Imago is the story of Jodahs, the latest Oankali / human hybrid child of Lilith Iyapo. An interesting thing about the Oankali child is that as a child their gender is not set, so depending on the stimulation and experiences given to the child, the child may develop into a male, female, or ooloi (a third gender). Up until this point no construct (hybrid) children have been permitted to develop into ooloi because the Oankali have had concerns about how they would develop and it was only recently that male hybrids were permitted to develop. Jodahs, of course, develops into an ooloi hybrid rather than the male he, or it, was intended to be.

The story of Jodahs is one of isolation and dependence and the reader gets to experience the anxiety Jodahs feels and experiences from his community (an ooloi always needs to find a new home because of sensory differences with those in the home it was raised in).

We are now at least several decades, perhaps longer, from the events of Dawn and Adulthood Rites so Butler reveals some of how the Earth has developed and how the Oankali / human project has progressed. We learn that the Mars colony that was proposed in Adulthood Rites is a success and giving humanity the only chance to survive unchanged.

Imago is written with a strong sense of character and Butler describes the alien culture in such a way that it feels authentic and the hybrids in a way that we can see why some humans would never accept them, but also why others have accepted the Oankali.

As always, Imago and the Xenogenesis trilogy is an examination about race, differences, fear, prejudice, the future, and identity. As always, Octavia Butler does an excellent job with her storytelling. And, as is the case with the two previous Xenogenesis novels, Imago is a very strong work of fiction but somehow less outstanding than some of her other work.

-Joe Sherry

Butler at her usual best. Blending the what ifs into now and what could be. Butler as always brings new meaning to "Why can't we all get along?"