The poignant moment comes when the voice becomes aware of its own nakedness, and suddenly we move from appetite to something more self aware – we have the ego. Slowly, as it pieces itself together, recovers from whatever trauma it had, it becomes less a voice and more a character. Images and urges, feelings and disconnect is all we have on the page. The chapter starts with our protagonist who, at the time, is nothing more than a voice, an appetite, an Id. And the opening chapter was near-to-perfect. It is certainly a commendation of the novel that I am really keen to discuss it.
But as a novel, I was left a little cold. The only character given any opportunity to develop was the protagonist, and even her journey felt a bit stilted.Īs a investigation into the vampire genre and into human morality, it is well worth a read. It seemed Butler would take some effort to introduce each character and then, job done, leave them as just another agent in the text. But the story itself and the characters felt lacking. Every chapter, I came away wanting to discuss what I had read with someone else. In fact, it read as nothing quite so much as a philosophical thought experiment – and as one, it is fascinating: throughout the novel it keeps raising and exploring ethical questions through the medium of the narrative. This isn’t quite the Silmarillion, but I found myself reading this book increasingly as I might an academic text rather than a work of fiction. However, I almost feel that, such was the strength of Butler’s vision, that she allowed to take over to the detriment of everything else. What’s more, in every chapter of the novel, the reader discovers more about that world and we are gradually given the impression of a rich and ancient culture living parallel to our own. And that aspect of it, the world building, is truly impressive. From the outset, Butler makes it clear that she has a powerful, unique interpretation of the vampire genre and intends to explore it in depth. There is no denying that this was an ambitious novel.
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