The opening is so strong, a being coming to and recovering from substantial wounds, rediscovering who they are. Then it gets into some “child loving” dynamics that were not for me. Also, vampires and courtroom drama — not my taste ( )

3.5-4. I think there are many legitimate criticisms of this book and the choices it makes; I am not surprised there are a fair few people who find it distasteful or unreadable. I did, however, read it in a matter of days--for me it was often uncomfortable but deeply propulsive. ( )

Butler reimagines vampires as a long-lived humanoid species that has evolved alongside Homo sapiens, with the two species in an allegedly symbiotic relationship but one that has echoes of slavery apologism ("they were happy and better off under the benevolent care...") if the reader looks beneath the surface of the story. The human "symbionts" double their lifespan, quickly heal from any health issues, receive immense pleasure from being fed on, and never have to worry about their material needs, but they also must go wherever their vampire masters go, follow their masters' orders, and will die if separated from them.

Butler's vampire heroine, a black girl with the appearance of a 10 year old child, is thus analogous to a kindly slave master. If that isn't enough to make the reader uncomfortable, if it escapes the notice, she also has sexual relationships with her symbionts in her 10-year-old-appearing body; while it's true that she's actually been alive for 53 years, this is still a pre-pubescent in the vampire species, as she's physically unable to reproduce yet. Yet everyone, vampire and human, sees nothing wrong with these relationships.

So we have a slave owner sexually exploiting their slaves with all the apologism for that that once in fact existed, essentially, but the historical associations that conjures in America are flipped, such that the underage black girl is on top of this power structure. For that to happen she'd no doubt have to be a vampire.

However there exist among the vampires families of white supremacists who are angered that some of their species have been using genetic engineering to blend black human DNA with vampire DNA to create black vampires who are not as vulnerable to sunlight. It's a bit confused at times whether they are violently bigoted against humans in general or black humans in particular, both I suppose, but in any event, they mad. Vampire slavery they feel should not be open to individuals who appear black due to spliced-in human DNA.

It sets up an interesting and fun ride particularly if the reader has a soft spot for vampire mythologies, as I confess, I do. It gives us an atypical vampire heroine and shows the seductive power that slavery apologism once wielded, as it's easy to see the symbionts as truly in fact better off while you're immersed in the story, though there are hints otherwise... ( )

Didn't finish and I will not go back, although I got a little wrapped up in it while I was reading it. I found the young in body not in mind a very very hard thing to get over. ( )

I am appalled at this book and cannot finish it.

The main character appears to be about 10 or 11 years old. A man picks her up off the side of the road, at first intending to help her by taking her to the hospital or the cops. After some dialogue in the car, they have a physical struggle which results in her biting him. He ends up putting her on his lap and saying inappropriate things. Neither character knows yet that she isn't human.
He takes her to his cabin, knowing full well how inappropriate it is. She says something about being older than she looks, and he has no problem at all having sex with her. Regardless of whether she was or wasn't human, it is entirely inappropriate for this to happen. He has no proof that she's not a minor, he was making sexual advances before he ever was told that she might not be human. His acceptance of her word that she's "old enough" is just an excuse to act on the pedophillic desires he was already having.

I might have been able to accept a sexual relationship with a non-human who appears to be a human child, but when it is presented like this it is absolutely inappropriate and unacceptable. ( )