Dawn by Octavia Butler: Review

The first book in the Lilith’s Brood series

Photo by Justin Clark on Unsplash

Title: Dawn. Author: Octavia Butler. Date of Publication: May 1, 1987. Pages: 320. Genre: Science Fiction, Post Apocalyptic

This is a profoundly uncomfortable book, and that is its purpose. In depicting a potential future of humanity it hearkens back to a history of colonialism and eugenics.

Prior to the events of Dawn a nuclear armageddon destroys much of the life on earth. An alien race known as the Oankali manage to save a small percentage of the population from destruction, keeping them in stasis as they work to rebuild the ruined environment. Centuries later they awaken the humans to prepare them for a return to their planet.

This miracle comes at a cost, assimilation. The Oankali have mastered genetic engineering and want to use human DNA to further their species’ evolution. The future children of humanity will slowly drift to become less human and more alien over the generations. The awakened humans have no choice in the matter. They must either accept or die out completely.

The Oankali believe they have identified the fatal flaw in humanity’s genetic makeup that caused its self-destruction, that being a combination of intelligence and hierarchical tendencies. They believe their intervention will put humanity on a sustainable, better path. They believe that the humans in their care will eventually come to see this, despite their present objections.

Many ugly things take place in the book at the hands of the Oankali. Forced sterilization. Medical procedures conducted on patients without their knowledge or consent. Extended periods of solitary confinement. They are draped in the mantle of progress and civilization as such actions have often been.

But that is not all as the humans are not entirely innocent. There is sexual assault. Old prejudices. Deadly power struggles. It raises the question of how much of our familiar world would be worth saving.

Butler does not take sides and lets the reader grapple with that existential conflict.