Lilith's Brood is the trilogy "Dawn," "Adulthood Rites," and "Imago" in one book. A fascinating tale of post apocalyptic Earth visited by a race of aliens physically designed to interbreed species through genetic manipulation. The remaining humans must learn to accept the species, interbreed and live in harmony with them, or else be condemned to a Earth covered with raging jungles, angry displaced men and few resources ... and even that Earth may not last as long as the Humans think ...

Lilith is an intelligent black woman who initially resists the aliens but eventually comes around to their way of thinking - for her own good, and the good of her people. By "Brood" refers both ro Lillith's own children, and humanity in general - the fate of which constantly weighs on Lilith's shoulders despite the sorrow she's experienced at their hands. Butler does a great job taking you along Lilith's emotional ride, and you feel not only for Lilith, but for the aliens, the humans and humanity in general.

A lot of social commentary - about race, gender, and nationality - is encompassed in this story, sometimes not too subtly. But to me it never felt preachy - I almost always came away with a felling of "yeah, that is probably exactly what would happen". Butler has a great grasp of the basic nature of the human psyche.

One of the major faults, and the reason I gave this book 4 instead of 5 stars, is that the authors descriptions of the aliens and their habitats, while imaginative, lacks the kind of descriptive, relatable detail required to create a picutre in your head of what your reading. Visualization is especially important with science fiction and/or fantasy, so this shortcoming seriously effects some parts of the story.

After reading this I went on to read the Patternmaster Trilogy. I would advise against it. The themes are somewhat similar, but in a more bizarre, disjointed form, totally devoid of the sensitivity that makes Lilith's Brood a pretty good read.

I'm not normally "into" sci-fi, but I was more intensely drawn into this book the longer I read it. It is intriguing to me how similar this is to how Lilith was drawn into the Ookali way of life. The author did a wonderful job of gradually introducing the reader into new ways of thinking. You find yourself accepting a portion of the alien society you didn't think you would. Then, a few pages later, you accept another part. Toward the end of the book (which is actually 3 novels in one), I found myself liking the alien way of life a bit better than what we humans have produced in earth's general culture. But, this all makes it sound so cerebral. Actually, it is FUN to read, too.

Octavia Butler recently died in Seattle. Her passing is a great loss to literature in general and science fiction in particular. She once said that she didn't really write `Science Fiction' as such because she did know much about science. In fact her books do tackle some of the big themes of SciFi, but are not in the `hard science' genre. Her themes were race, sexuality, and the nature of `reality.'

Ms Butler was dyslexic, [...], above average in height, African American, and a genius. She lived as a hermit in the middle of a major city and created a body of work which stands with the very best. She won both Hugo and Nebula Awards several times and the MacArthur Foundation `Genius' Award in 1995. I think she is one of the few SciFi writers to have received this recognition.

I am posting this review on each of the Xenogenesis Trilogy (Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago) sites as well as the volume where they are collected; `Lilith's Brood.' All are excellent and recommended.

In this series Ms Butler took on sexuality and the nature of `humanity' in a startling new way. She gradually takes the reader from the perspective of a `human,' specifically an Earthling who encounters an alien race to the perspective of the `alien,' specifically the descendent of interbreeding between humans and aliens who is now the `human' and sees Earthlings as the aliens.

Ms Butler skills are so great that this change in perspective goes so slowly that the reader is largely unaware until it has been accomplished. While some will dither about which of Ms Butler's novels are her `greatest,' few will argue that this series is superb. I have read nearly all of Ms Butler's works and enjoyed them all. I think she was one of the finest writers of speculative fiction in recent history and will miss her work.

Lilith's Brood contains Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago, the three books making up the Xenogenesis trilogy. The book starts with Lilith waking up in a non-descript room. She doesn't know how long she's been there or were it is. Slowly, the story unfolds. An apocolyptic war (cliched, it seems too many sci-fi books begin this way) occured between the US and the USSR, devestating earth. An alien race saved the remains of humanity, but at a price.

The Oankali evolve through other species, going from planet to planet, interbreeding their species with others through DNA manipulation. Dawn starts off the series about 250 years after the war. Humans have been kept in suspended animation, occasionally being woken up for observation. These observations test to see who will be woken up first to begin 'the trade' as the Oankali call mixing of genes. The trade is voluntary, but a heavy toll is extracted for refusing- sterility, but a strong healthy body to live for hundreds of years, knowing that if you don't accept the trade, humanity will become extinct, but, also, knowing that making the trade humanity will become extinct in a different way. The Oankali chose Lilith to choose who to wake up out of about a hundred people, in any order she chose. She had to explain the situation to everyone and, of course, not all liked what they heard.

Adulthood Rites begins a few years after humans and Oankali return to Earth. Many humans chose to leave the Oankali, to live a sterile life without the trade. This begins to degrade the value of life, knowing that everyone is sterile makes people a little desparate and uncaring. Lilith decided to trade and her first 'construct' male, the first ever, decides that forcing humans to trade or go extinct is wrong. He fights to have a settlement on Mars where humans can again resume theirs lives as best they can. Many Oankali are against this because they believe that humans have a genetic flaw making self-destruction inevitable.

Imago takes place about 40 years after Adulthood Rites ends, with the maturing of the first construct 'ooloi' one the three sexes of the Onkali (male, female, and Onankali). This presents a problem because ooloi are very powerful, and almost all Oankali view this new ooloi as a threat. They want him to live in exile in space away from humans.

All in all, the story is entertaining, though grating because the whole story insists that mankind will commit suicide as a species. That it's just inevitable. I generally don't like books with that attitude, but so many sci-fi books have that. The books are a quick read, though, and not too heavy, although, I get the feeling Butler meant this to be a heavy, philosophic commentary on humanity. It is not.