This book is amazing. Butler has the ability to spin off alternate realities and alien races with an ease and grace that are frankly astonishing. My frequent complaint about sci-fi alien cultures is that they are too similar to humans for my taste. Not so in these worlds. The title story, "Bloodchild", centers around the relationship of a human family and an alien being native to their current host planet. Gan, a Terran boy, has known T'Gatoi since birth. T'Gatoi has worked tirelessly her whole life to mend relations between her race and the Terrans, serving as a steward and ambassador. Her kind offer humans some of their own sterile eggs to consume, which can extend human lives for many years beyond their natural course. But these things are offered in exchange, not for free, and Gan witnesses in this story the bloody offering he is expected to make of his own body, so that both Terrans and Tlic can continue to thrive. Another standout story (not that there's a bad one) was "Amnesty", in which a set of beings known as Communities have arrived on Earth and set up colonies in most of the harshest desert regions. A young woman named Noah works as a translator for these self-aware ecosystems. In this story she attempts to train a set of 6 new translators- each one clinging to deeply embedded fears and hatred of the alien race. I have already picked up my next Octavia Butler book!