Fledgling, the late Octavia E. Butler's final novel, is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly un-human needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion: she is in fact a genetically modified, 53-year-old vampire. Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life, she must at the same time learn who wanted--and still wants--to destroy her and those she cares for, and how she can save herself. Fledgling is a captivating novel that tests the limits of "otherness" and questions what it means to be truly human.
Readers who believe that the science fiction genre boasts no quality literature need look no further than Butler for proof to the contrary. Though the story revolves around nonhuman vampires, this is not a horror novel, nor is it a romance, yet it contains elements of both. In Butler's hands this is a much deeper and much more emotional story about what it means to be "other." Tracey Leigh turns in a performance worthy of the material, which is no small feat, as the main character is an amnesiac 53-year-old female vampire in the body of an 11-year-old. Listeners follow the character while she figures out who and what she is, and they will not doubt the journey for a single moment. S.D.D. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
About the Author
Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, one of very few African-American women in the field. She won both Hugo and Nebula awards, and was the first science fiction writer ever to be a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant in 1995.
