Fledgling

by Octavia E. Butler

Paperback, 2007

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Your library, Fiction

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Publication

Grand Central Publishing (2007), 320 pages

Description

Fiction. Science Fiction & Fantasy. HTML: Fledgling, the late Octavia E. Butler's final novel, is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly un-human needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion: she is in fact a genetically modified, 53-year-old vampire. Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life, she must at the same time learn who wanted--and still wants--to destroy her and those she cares for, and how she can save herself. Fledgling is a captivating novel that tests the limits of "otherness" and questions what it means to be truly human..

Media reviews

NPR

Even for a dyed-in-the-wool science-fiction fan like myself, the opening chapter of "Fledgling" asks a bit much of the reader. Shori, the narrator, awakens in darkness, hungry and in pain without any memory of who or what she is. But within a few pages, we begin to figure things out it along with

her. And within a few chapters, we're utterly seduced by the forward motion of the narrative. Bitten, is how the narrator herself might put it.

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Washington Post

How many of our happy relationships involve a degree of dominance or dependence that we can't acknowledge? This is Butler's typically insidious method: to create an alternative social world that seems, at first, alien and then to force us to consider the nature of our own lives with a new, anxious

eye. It's a pain in the neck, but impossible to resist.

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Kirkus Reviews

A finely crafted character study, a parable about race and an exciting family saga. Exquisitely moving fiction.

Feminist Review

Fledgling is a reprint of a terrific vampire tale that provides a deep look at family, race relationships and sexuality, yet is loaded with action.