Discovered I have an omnibus edition of this series (Lilith's Brood, aka the Xenogenesis Trilogy), so the individual books will be available even though I haven't read them yet.

This is book 1.

Other books in the series:

Book 2: Adulthood Rites
Book 3: Imago

Reserved for JudySlump612's Superluminal VBB.

This book is off to Scotland...at sub-light speed, unfortunately. But maybe that's just as well, given the 451°F limit used by Ray Bradbury's firemen..

This just arrived -- it must have travelled at an entirely respectable percentage of the speed of light as it's only taken a week to cross the Atlantic!

hyphen8 introduced me to Octavia E Butler with a bookray for Kindred, which I thought was brilliant. Butler isn't well-known in the UK and most of her books are out of print and hard to get hold of. I'm delighted that this one was in the VBB. Many thanks, hyphen8!

Thanks also for the cute origami corner bookmarks. I haven't seen them before; they look like a great idea.

Interesting read!

A lot of imaginative creation has gone into the three-gendered Oankali species -- their society, their spaceships, their genetic technology (if technology is the right word for something that seems to be their nature), their sex lives -- although I'm not sure I understand their motivations. Possibly that will come together more in the sequels; I, like the protagonist Lilith, am only just starting to grasp the Oankali.

Against this backdrop, Butler considers humans in crisis. The people in the story have survived world-destroying war only to discover that they've been captured by aliens. The pressures on them are huge. Butler uses this to explore how people behave under stress. Lilith is carefully drawn: conflicted, trying to do what's best, not understanding what's going on, and torn in two directions as her loyalties are split. The ending surprised me, but is clearly the right ending for the story -- even if not entirely a happy one for Lilith. Issues of power, gender and race make the book as relevant today as it was in the eighties.

And, the whitewashed cover art is also an issue that's still relevant, unfortunately. The cover shows a woman who has to be assumed to be Lilith Iyapo, in the act of Awakening another human. Lilith, a black woman, is drawn white.

hyphen8, thanks for the bookmarks I found scattered throughout this book -- there's quite a collection of them, all rather cute. My favourite is "Books fall open, you fall in"!

Reserved for UK SF and Fantasy VBB, starting July 2012.

greenbadger has picked this from the VBB. I've got it packaged up ready to go; I'll take it to the Post Office on Monday. Happy reading, greenbadger!

Received from Nell-Lu as part of the UK only Sci-fi & Fantasy VBB - thank you very much!

Following a nuclear war, aliens have rescued the surviving humans, but their aid comes at a price - they want to trade. But the trade demanded is in genetic material and is totally unacceptable to Lilith, chosen to be leader of the group returned to earth. There are a few cliches in here but also some interesting ideas explored.

As has been said above it's really not great that a black woman has been depicted as white on the front cover.

Sent to Lamilla as RABCK for August. Enjoy! :)

Arrived with another two books from the series and a card. Thank you!

reserved for the October (originally June) International RABCK Sweepstake

You've found a travelling book. Hurray!
The book's journey continues by its finder's cooperation and creativity. By making a journal entry on this book, you can add to the book's story as it travels from reader to reader around the world.
Enjoy your reading!

Привет!
Спасибо, что нашли время зайти на сайт и сделать запись в журнале! Напишите, когда и где вы нашли книгу.
Перед тем, как попасть ко мне, она побывала в других уголках света. История ее путешествий записана на сайте, и теперь к ней добавился еще один пункт. Я очень рада, что она нашла нового читателя в вашем лице.

Thank you Lamilla for these 3 great books! Looking forward to reading them!