Fledgling

by Octavia E. Butler

He kept almost taking my hand. He would reach a little, then catch himself, and drop his hand to his side.

Aww that’s so cute, the millionth character in this book finds her attractive 🥰

Preston says you have the scent of a female who will have no trouble producing children. His sense of smell is legendary among Ina. I believe him.” He paused, leaned forward, took my hands. “My brothers and I will mate with you.”

I’m just thinking of how fellow humans would find this so cringe if they listened in on this, and it makes me so happy 😌

“No, little mate, not yet.

Some poor dude from Australia who had to read this shit: 😀😀😀😭

If you had, well … If you had, no one could prevent our union. No one would even try.”

Aren’t they like 14 in vampire years lmao

“That long?” I hesitated, then asked, “Did you eat raw meat?” “At first. I don’t digest it well, though. If I had been able to eat more of it, I probably would have healed faster.”

Bro why didn’t you just cook that shit

“How can you risk yourself this way?” I whispered. “I know what I want,” he said.

King shit right there, Jesus 💅

Milo had looked directly at me as he spoke his last few sentences. He was straight bodied and white haired, six and a half feet tall, and even leaner than most Ina. He was sharp featured and fierce looking somehow.

All I can visualize is Von Karma help 💀 It also doesn’t help that this takes place in a courtroom

Katharine Dahlman’s family ran a ranch that was a tourist resort in Arizona, but they were planning to move to Canada, away from the sun and toward the longer nights of northern winters.

w h y a r e v a m p i r e s l i v i n g i n a r i z o n a i n t h e f i r s t p l a c e . . . ?

“What are those notes you’re making there, Milo? No one else is taking notes. Are you having difficulties with your memory, too?”

Oh shit she put him in his place 💃💃💃

He had kissed her between her breasts and taken her nipples into his mouth … I tried that, and she giggled.

I- why would you make the protagonist look ten years old? How was Butler not fucking arrested by the FBI when she published this? There’s nothing wrong with sexually liberal characters, I love that, but don’t make them UNDERAGED

Perhaps I could find a human criminal—a murderer—and have him kill her and then die himself before he could be made to say who had sent him.

Shori: I won’t use human symbionts as weapons to kill other people! Also fucking Shori:

Theodora had been murdered so that I would begin to stumble in all sorts of ways.

*WHEEZE* Guys, guys, Shori tripping is symbolic of her grief and her disorientation! She’s stumbling in real life because she’s sTuMbLiNg emotionally. Get it? gET IT?! Isn’t that SO SYMBOLIC-

And she had just told me more about the basics of being Ina than anyone else ever had.

Me, who had to read through dozens upon dozens of infodumps on the “basics of being Ina”: Say sike right now. Please say sike right now

The rest of the seats were filled by symbionts who also had opinions about me. Not surprisingly, the symbionts who spoke were on my side. It was the Ina who were divided.

The whole question of the synopsis was “are all humans bigots or are all bigots human?”. Motherfucker, the humans are literally the coolest people in the book. Like literally the only human who was bigoted towards her was a symbiont who said racial slurs against his will, and even then, he was devastated right after. And maaaybe Theodora, but she became really supportive and loyal right after. The only people who actually fucking suck in this book are the vampires. “Are all bigots human”, yo get the fuck outta here, this ended up restoring my faith in humanity

Just for an instant, he looked the way Ina do when we’re very, very hungry.

Wait I’m so fucking confused 💀 He heard this girl describe, in vivid and grotesque detail, the serious injuries she suffered and… he’s turned on?? Why?! Is that something he’s being forced to express? Is this some kind of fucked up kink? EXPLAIN 💀💀💀

No wonder he had been so interested in my injuries. I wondered whether he hated the Silks.

Was this actually the reason?? Why would you use the word “hungry”? My mind naturally went in a COMPLETELY different direction because of all the stupid erotica in the book. You know what. I feel bad for the redhead, and I feel bad for myself 😩

I got the impression she thought the Braithwaite symbiont was more than just “okay.”

I ask this as someone who’s constantly horny: why is every single character in this book constantly horny?

He shook with the intensity of his feeling. He had to take several breaths before he could continue. “We are not them,” he whispered. “Nor should we try to be them. Ever. Not for any reason. Not even to gain the day; the cost is too great.”

Watching him, I decided I could ride him.

What 😀

I stood up and away from the table, ready for him, eager for him. It was like being eager for sex or for feeding.

For me, it’s like being eager for this fucking book to be over -.- Good god, am I tired of sex and vampires, 97% done bitch

“Murdering black mongrel bitch …” and “What will she give us all? Fur? Tails?”

The Ina: Ina aren’t racists, we don’t care about skin color like humans ☺️ Also the Ina:

She leaned forward to speak into the microphone, then had to lower it to her height.

Oh shit, I just realized this bitch gon be a midget if she gets them legs chopped off 😔