Here's the thing.

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. Like, I really, really wanted to if for no other reason than Octavia Butler being the pioneer she was in the literary world. But I just didn't. The only reason I didn't end up hating it was because I recognize that this is a staple in sci-fi history. And that alone deserves a small measure of respect.

As a small warning there's no real way to explain this without giving slight spoilers, so read at your own risk.

The two main characters are Doro and Anyanwu. I'd like to list the good and bad about them but there is no good...only bad. Doro is a eugenics obsessed monomaniacal tyrant who breeds his offspring to whomever he feels will yield the best specimen for his powers. He doesn't even care if they're related so guess what if he decides his seed is best with a daughter or that his son and daughter should marry to produce a super baby guess what's going to happen? It was vomit inducing. The eugenics aspect was bad enough on its own because, sorry not sorry, no matter the reasoning behind it, eugenics is a bad, bad thing. But then you add in how he didn't care about how relationships factored in? Ugh. That is one of the few things I agreed with Anyawu with; he and the mindset he had on it was an abomination. Because he was that way he had no trouble passing people along like they were pieces on a chessboard, including Anyawu. He used people up until they gave him all the breeding stock he wanted, and then used them literally when he took over their bodies. He was a piece of poop. No way around it and there was no redeeming him at all.

However, Anyawu is not without her own faults. She kind of let herself get put into this position many times with him. While I could see the why at first, when she did escape him, she still continued having kids. Which gave him something to hold over her had forever. She even mentioned it at one point that she has kids because she doesn't want to be lonely. But having those kids left her vulnerable to being able be blackmailed by Doro. In her own way, she was just as selfish as him even if it was on a different level. Since she knew having children and staying in human form too long anywhere would call him to her. So when they 'found' each other again and got into that whole song and dance it was very tedious and she was once again under his control simply because she couldn't not have children.

And then there was that ending. I expected a fight to the death, or as close to death that they could get. At the very least a constant battle. But no. The ending was them entering into some type of relationship and I guess it is supposed to be considered romantic? But it was completely out of left field and out of character for both of them. I would have thrown the book had I not borrowed it from a friend. It felt phoned in, phony, and just like Butler had to make one quickly. No rhyme or reason to it at all.

These two were completely unlikable and there was a shortage of that in the book to begin with. If someone was likable, they didn't hang around long. I just wasn't a fan and won't be finishing this series. I may try one or more by Butler just to see but I have reservations about it although most of that can be chalked up to not being a huge fan of sci-fi to begin with.