Bloodchild

This was definitely one of the most bizarre stories I have ever read. The way Octavia Butler's Bloodchild had been written contributed to the uneasy feeling while I read it (though perhaps this was intentional.) Bit by bit, we are introduced to a strange world where humans are eating eggs as if they are drugs. T'Gatoi is mentioned, but not immediately described. At first, my mental picture of her was some sort of human like species of Alien- nothing as terrifying revealed later on. Starting with vague snippets of her appearance- long velvet underside, limbs (at first there is no number revealed, but soon we discover she has as least 7) and so on. The reader begins to realize this world is very far off from our own, and that these seemingly drug like, life prolonging eggs have a much more sinister side to them.

I really loved this sort of "climbing" reveal in writing. If the author had gone off and set up the climate of the world and overall relationship of the humans and these creatures, our main character's story would not be so impactful! So even though the story became more twisted and horrible for the characters (and almost painful to imagine), the writing style was really fun.

That being said I was also really surprised by the ending of Bloodchild. So many "sci-fi" genre movies and shows revolve around the humans having to stand up and conquer the aliens. Same old story with a few twists and different characters. So I was really thrown off when the girl accepted to be this kind of "vessel" for T'Gatoi's eggs. It's a very strange story...it's a horrific tale of humanity's survival, but also the struggle for coexist-ion.