Lilith's Brood: Dawn

Lilith's Brood: Dawn by Octavia Butler is my favorite Science Fiction book we have read so far in my literature class. The story was really good and the characters are really well developed. Reading it is like watching a really good TV show. It was not as fast paced and action packed as some of the others we have read, but the story line is the best so far. Dawn is book one out of three so I plan on reading the next two. Dawn is one of those books that after you read it you start to think, is this possible? Could this happen to us? I am usually not a fan of 'end of the world' type movies, but I like them in book form so some reason.

The story is about a women, Lilith, who was rescued from Earth, along with the rest of the survivors, by extraterrestrials. Our human nature caught up with us I guess, because we all ended up killing each other and Earth had a giant war and it eventually went into what sounds like another ice age. The extraterrestrials came and got us and put some of the humans in plant forms which hold the humans in suspended animation, meaning they do not age while they are "asleep." The whole ship is alive and the extraterrestrials live off of the ship. They do not use machines or technology, which is what makes this story stand out from others. They did keep some awake for studies, and the would awaken a few here in there and put them asleep again to study them too.

They decide to keep Lilith awake after so many times of awakening her and putting her back to sleep. They like her. The ETs are very fascinated by humans. They keep her awake with the intention of having her awaken a number of other humans and train them so they can go back to Earth and rebuild their civilization. They would be starting from scratch in a jungle. They are not cities left, and all the technology they once knew no longer exists. They would pretty much be like cave men. In order to train her they have her live with a family of ETs, which she becomes really attached to one in particular. For one, they do some weird sexual pleasure like thing with their sensory arms. Its like mind sex I guess. Eventually, all the humans that have been awaken, get their own ET to 'bond' with. It is a strange love story, because the ET do not have genders, they are called 'its.' Did I mention that the ETs want to do some kind of DNA experiment between the humans and themselves, so that every generation of humans is more and more like the ETs. Crazy. So I think there is a lot more the ETs are not telling Lilith. They are coming off as helpful, but I think they have a hidden agenda that we have yet to find out.

In the end of book one, the ET send all the humans back down to Earth, except for Lilith because they were afraid that the other humans would turn on her and kill her. I forgot to mention, the ET gave her special powers that the rest of the humans did not have, so the other humans felt that Lilith was not human. That is where the story ends. It left me with enough to satisfy the story but not so much, that Im not excited about the next book. I am looking forward to finishing the last two to see what happens with Lilith and Earth and the Extraterrestrials.