This is a smart and isolated story about a woman awakening to a lost world and to an utterly alien species that has taken her as prisoner. It is certainly uncomfortable, and strange, and eerie and I totally get the body horror vibe Ana mentions. Suffice it to say for now, that Dawn is an unsettling yet powerful story and I am very happy to have read it. In fact, I thought about Invasion of the Body Snatchers a lot) but that’s maybe a result of my own personal projections into the story, something I feel, is exactly what was intended by the author. Because of how the story progresses it reads more like Horror than Science Fiction to me (not that both genres don’t go together. I say this in the best possible way: because this book is thought-provoking in ways I was not expecting. Those are probably the best words to describe my reactions whilst reading Dawn. Stand alone or series: First novel in the Xenogenesis TrilogyĪna’s Take: Discomfited. They healed the planet, cured cancer, increased strength, and were now ready to help Lilith lead her people back to Earth–but for a price. Creatures covered in writhing tentacles, the Oankali had saved every surviving human from a dying, ruined Earth. Lilith lyapo awoke from a centuries-long sleep to find herself aboard the vast spaceship of the Oankali. This month’s OSW Readalong pick is Dawn by Octavia E Butlerįor every readalong book, we’ll structure this a little bit differently than our usual Joint Review fare – first, we’ll give our (brief!) opinions regarding the book, then we’ll tackle some discussion questions.

In March 2013, we asked YOU for your favorite old school suggestions – and the response was so overwhelmingly awesome, we decided to compile a goodreads shelf, an ongoing database, AND a monthly readalong/book club. What better way to snap out of a reading fugue than to take a mini-vacation into the past? We came up with the idea towards the end of 2012, when both Ana and Thea were feeling exhausted from the never-ending inundation of New and Shiny (and often over-hyped) books. Old School Wednesdays is a weekly Book Smuggler feature.

Dawn by octavia e butler