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A review by aruarian_melody
Dawn by Octavia E. Butler
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Super interesting setup but the book lost me half-way through. As soon as other humans were introduced, the pacing increased too much and with the introduction of 40+ people, there just wasn't a lot of character depth. The named characters felt more like tropes than fleshed out characters. Because of this I found it hard to keep being invested in the story. While the characters were diverse from a racial point of view, the cast and relationships were very heteronormative, which hasn't been the case in other books by Butler. I did not like that rape was clearly stated to be unacceptable but a scene involving a man being coerced/forced into a sexual act was brushed asides with very problematic language (reaction of the body being seen as consent despite very clearly being denied consent). As much as I liked other books by Butler, I will not continue the series.