Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsI wanted and expected more.
Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2020
I looked forward to reading Octavia Butler, given her reputation. This was the first book of hers I have read, and I wavered between 3-4 stars. Giving it 3 because I wont be reading the sequels, as I didn't find this work compelling enough. Why not? Her writing is crisp and clear, her descriptions are good enough to convey scenery, etc. well and enable really excellent worldbuilding, so where did I get lost?
Characters. Her protagonist is well drawn and fleshed out, and has flaws and personality and a point of view, which I loved. All her supporting human characters, though, are drawn so sparingly that they are more cliches than people.
MILD SPOILERS BELOW
At one point, she is literally reviewing dossiers about other humans in order to make some decisions, and the brief sketches she reads in them are the primary method for introducing these characters. Carl is exactly what he is presented as, and we never hear these supporting characters enough to really dig into their personalities, conflicts, etc. so when there is conflict. It is more like ‘character versus NPC’ than against another character. The book is so short, it would have been easy to add dimension to the supporting characters to illuminate the protagonists choices and challenges. Instead, we get a lot of eloquent internal monologue and a bare-minimum of external dialog. Some characters oppose the protagonist? Well, an NPC will tell her ‘X, Y and Z are plotting against you!’ So now the reader knows.
This is her story, but it is told with so little else in terms of other characters that we get a one-dimensional view of her and a zero-dimensional view of the other human characters. The aliens are slightly more fleshed out and there is more interaction, but I feel like Butler focused too much on the protagonists inner thoughts and ignored the opportunity to show her as a full, rounded character by giving us other more richly-drawn characters for her to bounce off of.
This book was good enough I wish it had been better.
