Fledgling

Book: Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

I liked this book. In short, not one superfluous sentence or sentiment, got the point & feelings across, entertained you & made you care, just a great story. (I needed this after reading Mockingjay).

This may be the third book I've ever read about vampires. Aside from the usual lore; they drink blood, they can't survive in sunlight, & they live long, I think Butler mostly developed her own lore for Fledgling. At least I don't remember seeing it on TV.

One of the characters briefly mentioned a popular creation myths amongst the young vampires where vampires settled on Earth after immigrating from another planet. This statement reminded me of a short story in Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman, where frightened inhabitants made spaceships and expelled their vampire-like brethren from their home planet. I just thought that was pretty cool... almost as if Gaiman's story was reference material. Who is to say those expelled vampires didn't settle on Earth and founded Butler's breed of blood suckers?
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Now the main character, Shori, is 53 yrs old, but looks like a 10 yr old human girl. She has two more growth spurts to go through to look like a human adult. And she does some very adult things in this story. Blood sucking, ripping people apart, but it's the sex with the people she enthralls that squicks you out. Butler never gets graphic with that (this woman dispensed words like they cost money), but still.... At least Butler does the job of reminding you that you're reading about a 53 yr old fledgling vampire and not a young human girl.

Fledgling is a self contained story, but I can't help thinking that if Butler were still alive we would have gotten another book or two with Shori at other stages in her growth.

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While I'm on Octavia E. Butler, I'd like to recommend Parable of the Sower, Wildseed, and Mind of My Mind. Phenomenal stories. I can't write a review because I read them so long ago. Just trust me. Google them out of curiosity, at least. Butler's stories are golden.