lilith's brood dawn adulthood rites and imago octavia e butler

Indeed, the Oankali themselves would be jeopardized.Īkin, the half-human, half-Oankali male child is kidnapped by human 'resisters' who have refused to mate with the aliens at the price of their own fertility. If this human/Oankali 'construct' is flawed and prone to destructive tendencies, the whole genetic 'trade' or cross-breeding would be jeopardized. Indeed, the human male is the embodiment of the so called human contradiction that leads to self destruction. According to the Oankali, the human male is very dangerous and prone to violence. The first half-human, half-Oankali male becomes the focal point for the Oankali attempt to cross-breed with humans. Part two of the Xenogenesis Trilogy, Adulthood Rites is much more engaging and well thought out than its precursor, Dawn. The new species is ostensibly better than its parent species.

Humans are just another of their 'victims' or 'beneficiaries', depending on one's point of view. The Oankali travel about the universe and cross breed with other sapient beings out of necessity. They travel in an interstellar ship that is entirely made of living tissue and the Oankali physically interact with the ship to produce food, dispose of waste, and reproduce other needs.

Therefore it is not surprising that the 'third' gender (it is not really neuter) is the dominant gender of the race. The Oankali are an imaginative race with three genders, the third being a necessary intermediary between the male and female Oankali during intercourse and for procreation.

The main character, Lilith Iyapo, is a strong willed African-American woman who learns to accept the aliens for what they are but never fully comes to accept their plans for the human race. The highly negative reaction of the humans to this idea is very realistic and their interactions with the aliens are conceivable. The Oankali intend to take a number of humans they saved from a nucleated earth, cross-breed with them, and reintroduce them and their alien offspring to the earth. The concept of crossbreeding through genetic engineering with an alien race to create a new species is a truly innovative storyline. Readers interested in the trilogy should read the series in order: Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago.ĭAWN introduces the reader to a fascinating alien race that intends to save a post-nuclear holocaust earth by repopulating it with half-human, half-alien beings. This is a collection of three novels that make up the Xenogensis Trilogy.

Lilith's brood dawn adulthood rites and imago octavia e butler