Rabu, 12 Januari 2011

REVIEW: Fledgling by Octavia E Butler

Fledgling by Octavia E Butler
Format: Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Warner Books; (2 Jan 2007) [Originally published: 2005]
ISBN-10: 0446696161
ISBN-13: 978-0446696166
Reviewer: Cara
Copy: Bought online

From the back of the book:
Shori is a mystery. Found alone in the woods, she appears to be a little black girl with traumatic amnesia and near-fatal wounds. But Shori is a fifty-three year old vampire with a ravenous hunger for blood, the lost child of an ancient species of near-immortals who live in dark symbiosis with humanity. Genetically modified to be able to walk in daylight, Shori now becomes the target of a vast plot to destroy her and her kind. And in the final apocalyptic battle, her survival will depend on whether all humans are bigots - or all bigots are human...


Fledgling is a disturbing novel that uses the mythology of vampires to explore race, sexuality and what it means to be human. It is not a comfortable read. And that, I think, is Octavia Butler's intention.

Told in the first person, the book opens with the central character waking in total darkness, badly injured and with no memory of how she came to be in this situation. All she is aware of initially is pain and a powerful hunger that, when an animal approaches her, drives her to kill. When she has consumed her prey, she is  recovered sufficiently to venture out of the cave. As she explores the woods and nearby burnt out buildings, fragments of knowledge return to her. It is through her returning memory and internal dialogue that we, the readers, begin to understand that she is not a normal human being. When she is found by Wright, it is through him we learn she is a vampire, with the physical appearance of a pre-teen black girl.

It is not until later in the book that we learn that the girl is called Shori and is fifty-three in human years, which is young for her species. By this stage we know that she forms symbiotic relationships with humans who provide her with fresh blood in return for the highly pleasurable sensations felt when she is feeding from them.  The humans become almost addicted to these sensations which, although not stated overtly, seem to be of a sexual nature. Certainly Shori is sexually confident, seducing Wright early on. He, in turn, quickly dismisses any misgivings about her physical size and appearance. And this is where Fledgling becomes uncomfortable but not just because of the seemingly paedophilic nature of the relationship. It is how quickly she has complete control over Wright, and soonafter Theodora because Shori needs more than one human to sustain her. The chemical that is injected by her feeding not only generates those heightened feelings of pleasure, but a dependency which is almost a slave-like devotion.

When we get to meet Shori's people, the Ina, the issue of racism moves to the forefront. Not only is Shori black-skinned and darker than most of her people, but she has also been genetically enhanced. The underlying themes move to embrace the issue of racial purity and the extremes to which some people will go to ensure this. While Shori's colour was used against her, the overwhelming prejudice appeared to be the mingling of Ina and human genetics in her. Having read some of Octavia Butler's books before, racism is a familiar theme and by using two distinct humanoid species, as opposed to people of different races, she is able to explore this quite thoroughly. The arrogance and assumed superiority of many of the Ina towards their human symbionts translated into violence by a few and this reflected much of the racial politics of our own real world past history. What was clear, however, was the dehumanising terminology used towards the non-Ina characters - symbionts being a prime example.

The vampire mythology and the Ina culture were used to good effect as devices to explore discrimination. Yet Fledgling is more than a metaphorical exercise, it is a strong and engaging story too. Shori is a fascinating character because she has to learn or remember who she is from the beginning due to the violent attack that caused her injuries and resulting amnesia at the start of the book. There is a mystery element... who attacked Shori and her family? There are some exciting action sequences plus a courtroom-style trial by judgement. I felt by the end however, that the story of the Ina was unfinished, and that there was more to follow. The novel read like the first in a trilogy, in that the main plot was resolved but there were several minor threads left hanging. Sadly, Octavia Butler died after completing Fledgling, so we will never know if she intended to make this a series or not.

Plot: 7
Characterization: 7
Style: 8

Overall 7/10

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