unspeakablehorror: (Default)
2024-10-20 03:18 pm

Oankali Politics

I finished the Lilith's Brood trilogy by Octavia Butler recently and I found it a really easy and engaging read. Not sure how much of that has to do with my interest in the story concept and how much is to do with the writing style, but I just breezed through it.

The Oankali are so fascinating in the contradictions they embody. They judge humanity as needing to have our autonomy stripped from us because they believe us to be inherently hierarchical. Eventually it's shown that the Oankali don't have any leaders and make political decisions via consensus. I really enjoyed seeing how their political process works. They do a sort of mind meld where they are still distinct entities but are able to very directly interface with each other to make decisions.

I love the detailed worldbuilding in this series.
unspeakablehorror: (Default)
2024-10-11 12:55 pm

Lilith's Brood by Octavia Butler

Reading the Lilith's Brood trilogy by Octavia Butler. Still working my way through this trilogy, but I've finished the first book and I just think it's such a powerful statement about social dynamics on both a personal and societal level.

One of the consistent themes of Lilith's Brood is that there's a difference between loving someone and respecting them. The Oankali love humans. They don't respect them. And this story shows the horror of that lack of respect, the horror of giving help that the person being helped did not consent to.