In the third book of her Xenogenesis series, Octavia Butler gives us the alien’s perspective. It makes the Oankali marginally less creepy, but only a tiny bit. Butler excels at creating truly alien life forms, with wildly different forms of reproduction.The Oankali having stinging cells and tentacles, giving them some resemblance to jellyfish (Cniderians) in our world, but they are upright walking, hand-and-arm-possessing, intelligent life forms. And, it turns out, they have a three stage metamo...

Imago is the third and final entry in the Lilith’s Brood series. Honestly, I found it to be the weakest entry by far.Imago is a much more focused story than either Dawn or Adulthood Rites. It really does not add much to the lore. The setting has not changed much. No broad decisions are made the way that Dawn had the resettling and interbreeding of humans and Adulthood Rites had the establishment of the Mars colony. Instead, it focuses almost entirely on Jodahs’ internal experience of transformin...

The last volume of the mind blowing, thought provoking Lilith’s Brood series (I prefer the original name Xenogenesis myself, it has a nice sci-fi ring to it).Jodahs the protagonist of this book is another offspring of Lilith Iyapo. The least human of the series' central characters, especially after its first metamorphosis. As Jodahs is neither male or female, and certainly not a hermaphrodite, the pronoun it is the only appropriate one for referring to characters of the “ooloi” gender; he third

If the first two volumes are written in third person, this last part is told in first one, which makes it even more harder for the reader not to be involved in the story.However, despite the never-ending feeling of discomfort, it is mainly an ode to life and love. “[…] I think I became all the things he liked, even though he never told me what they were.” “His body told you. His every look, his reaction, his touch, his scent. He never stopped telling you what he wanted. And since he was the sole...

hmmmm....somehow, I am suspicious of being manipulated into liking this book.This last installment of Butler's trilogy has us seeing the inside view of the ooloi, the 'third sex' of the aliens that have taken over Earth. Ooloi operate by using their pheromones and sensory arms to calm and pleasure humans. Once this happens to you, you decide you like them and literally cannot live with out them.What we don't know is how bad they NEED humans. If they don't have human contact, they literally go in...

This series is so strange but I loved it!

Maybe I'll be in the minority by preferring the middle book out of the entire series, but the last one definitely puts everything in perspective. We start out from the purely human perspective in the first, the hybrid perspective in the second, and end with an entirely new perspective of a new Ooloi who now threatens the gene-line of the Ooloi, being the most alien out of all the bunch but with a singular interesting gift... Of humanity. :)Enough time has passed since the first book that history...

What an incredible series and what a terrific ending. But I don't want it to end, I want it to go on and on and on indefinitely. In a way it will because my brain will hold on to these characters for years, wondering "what happened next". The characters are so memorable and so unique, as is the storyline. I've never read anything quite like this and probably never will again. As I said in my review of Adulthood Rites (book two), Octavia E. Butler was brilliant.

Imago: Finally, we see the Ooloi perspectiveOriginally published at Fantasy LiteratureImago (1988) is the third book in Octavia Butler’s XENOGENESIS trilogy. It concludes the story begun with the human woman Lilith in Dawn (1987) and continued with her Oankali-human ‘construct’ son Akin in Adulthood Rites (1988). Imago takes the bold but logical next step by shifting the perspective to Jodahs, an Ooloi-human construct. The Ooloi are the third, gender-less sex of the Oankali, the alien race of ‘g...

A solid read, though an interesting shift from third person to first person perspective for this last installment. I stand by the idea that this is my least favorite of Butler’s works that I’ve read thus far. But it’s still a very good series & explores some really interesting ideas about humanity, individuality, independence, and codependence. I’m glad to add the series to my shelves & I’m excited to read more from Butler.

“Listen, no part of me is more definitive of who I am than my brain.”Octavia's Butler's Imago is a fabulous finale to the Xenogenesis Trilogy. The perspective once again shifts as it has in previous books, from Lilith in the first book to Akin in the second book and finally to Jodals, an ooloi-human construct. What's perhaps most impressive is the depiction of Jodahs' perspective; this is a perspective that is demonstrably not human. There is a also a morality here that feels alien and sometimes...

Wow! A stunning ending to a magnificent science fiction trilogy, Imago is brilliant. Octavia Butler creates an earth now almost completely made up of the aliens, their human mates, their children and now a new type of offspring. The aliens have 3 sexes, male, female and it. They have deliberately not allowed humans to reproduce by themselves any more, because of their historic violence and hierarchy. They have also only allowed males and female constructs to be created from their matings with hu...

Octavia E Butler has amazed me again. I don't know why but i expected this to be a little more about Akin and the mars colony. Akin is barely mentioned and not by name. This is about Jodahs the first human born Ooloi, son of Lilith! Jodahs is first viewed as a mistake by the Oankali. But Nikanj can't find a flaw in him. So, he metamorphizes into a Ooloi much to the concern of the Oankali. Jodahs has other concerns he needs mates a Human pair and Oankali pair. The problem is there is human mates,...

WOW! What a perfect end to this great series! Definitely the strongest book in my opinion. Will I recommend the series? Only to a certain extant. It's a heavy read, not because of the style or the descriptions, but because of the existential questions you are constantly being bombarded with. It's a world where you can't even decide what's truly wrong or what's truly right, it can be quite infuriating if you try to pick sides. Basically, if you like dystopian books with "peaceful, well-meaning" a...

The oankali have three sexes: female, male, and ooloi. The ooloi is a crucial part of the reproduction process as it controls and manipulates genes and is responsible for the gene trade. Up until now in the story, there have only been male and female construct children. The creation of a construct ooloi has only been discussed, but not yet attempted until now. Imago tells the story of Jodahs, the first ooloi construct. This book ties the previous two together seamlessly by showing what Jodahs is...

Spoiler Alert. The following is a metaphorical plot summary of Octavia Butler’s Imago. The scene is a meet-up night club. A and B are strangers to one another. A sneaks up behind B and whispers.A: If I don’t have sex with you, I’ll die. B whirls around and faces him angrily.B: You are disgusting! Get away from me!A: Oh, don’t be like that. Here, let me just touch you like this. B screams.B: Get your limbs off me! I told you you disgust me! Go away!A: If you would just be still and let me finish

2021 reread:This is the book I first picked up off the shelf by Octavia Butler.I have the 80's paperbacks of this trilogy and the cover has human face with fish and other animal body parts. It was fascinating and only upon reading the back blurb did I realize this was the 3rd and final installment in a trilogy. I picked up Dawn and OB became my favorite author🤷🏾‍♀️I love how this story comes fully circle. Elements of this story exist in Survivor/Alanna novella as well as the short story Bloodchi...

One of the best scifi series ever, and what's interesting, it remained just as good throughout the entire three books. I am in awe.

In an nuclear apocalypse, humans have virtually wiped out life on Earth. From the aliens' point of view, their rescue of humans and repopulation of Earth is for their own good. Without cross-breeding with humans, and blending their DNA with that of humans, the human race is on a direct course for extinction. Human predilection for forming hierarchical societies is the basis for human self-destruction.But the aliens have their own survival in mind, also. Their motivation is not entirely altruisti...

Wow. Butler really was a genius.This is the kind of book/series that I wish was read in English classes, because it is both an intensely absorbing narrative and a perfect jumping-off point for a myriad of discussions: about consent, biological determinism, transhumanism, the extent to which we can ever truly understand other people... it is thought-provoking and rich without being didactic. You could argue that the Oankali truly have destroyed humanity just as well as you could argue that they h...