Adulthood Rites (Xenogenesis, #2)

by Octavia E. Butler

From the award-winning author of Parable of the Sower After the near-extinction of the human race, one young man with extraordinary gifts will reveal whether the human race can learn from its past and rebuild their future . . . or is doomed to self-destruction.In the future, nuclear war has destroyed nearly all humankind. An alien race intervenes, saving the small group of survivors from certain death. But their salvation comes at a cost. The Oankali are able to read and mutate genetic code, and they use these skills for their own survival, interbreeding with new species to constantly adapt and evolve. They value the intelligence they see in humankind but also know that the species-rigidly bound to destructive social hierarchies-is destined for failure. They are determined that the only way forward is for the two races to produce a new hybrid species - and they will not tolerate rebellion. Akin looks like an ordinary human child. But as the first true human-alien hybrid, he is born understanding language, then starts to form sentences at two months old. He can see at a molecular level and kill with a touch. More powerful than any human or Oankali, he will be the architect of both races' future. But before he can carry this new species into the stars, Akin must reconcile with his own heritage in a world already torn in two.

• ISBN10: 0446603783
• ISBN13: 9780446603782
• Publish Date: 1 April 1997 (first published 1 June 1988)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
• Imprint: Warner Books
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[Heather]

To sum up:

Earth has been destroyed by nuclear war. Right before humanity was going to totally wiped out, an alien race called the Oaklani picked up the survivors and put them in suspended animation on their ship. Hundreds of years later they had rehabilitated the Earth and are ready to wake up the humans. All they ask in return is for some humans to cross breed with them to make a new species that combines the best of both.

Am I The Only One Who Isn't Bothered By This?

 

Some humans have lost their fool minds over this. They have run away and are trying to live on the land without alien help. The aliens have made sure that no humans can breed without the help of alien DNA. This is because the aliens have rightly deduced that humans are too blindly self destructive to be allowed to continue unchanged.

The human resisters have taken to kidnapping the human/alien construct offspring. They want to have children so they steal the ones that they refuse to consent to make themselves. It doesn't make any sense.

Akin is a male construct who looks very human as a child. He is kidnapped and held for a year. He has a perfect memory and the ability to collect and hold data. The aliens are delaying rescuing him so they can gain more information on the resisters.

Here's all they need to know. They are right. Humans are jerks. They've regressed to a violently patriarchal society where woman are stolen and sold as commodities. I think we are meant to feel sorry for them since they can't breed. I was glad they couldn't! No one needs more of these people.

Then they started carrying on because their lives had no meaning since they had no children. Get off it. If you require children to give meaning to your life, you are an idiot. Get out and do something meaningful.



I wanted to say that I was done with this series because obviously I'm not the target audience for it.  But then I looked at the description of the last book in the series.  The first book is from a female perspective.  The second is from a male perspective.  The third book is from the perspective of an oolani.  That is a third gender in the alien race.  They have lots of powers that haven't fully been explained.  Now I want to read that one to see what that viewpoint looks like.  I just know I'm going to get mad at humans all over again!



 

After I wrote this review, I saw something that Juniot Diaz wrote about how this series reminded him to be thankful for all the black women did to keep their families together during slavery.  I've run that around in my mind for a few days and still don't get it.

Black women were taken from their lives in Africa and taken against their will to America.

Humans in this book were saved from certain death and taken to a world that was specially designed to benefit them in exchange for not breeding more idiots.

This isn't slavery.  This is Cake or Death.







If you aren't familiar with this skit by Eddie Izzard, basically it involves British soldiers offering people they are conquering the choice of being killed or having some cake. They are surprised that they are running out of cake. They thought people would resist more.

It is the same here.  You can have a perfect world and an incredibly rich and sensual relationship with a group of aliens or you can let your species die.

I still don't see how this is a hard choice.

I have to go now.  Book three has come in at the library for me....This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story