Kindred is one of those books I have always meant to read. It tells the story of a black woman, Dana, in 1970s Los Angeles, who time travels to a plantation in Maryland in the pre-Civil War era. She is taken as a slave by the plantation owner and is transported back and forth between her own time and the time at the plantation, for reasons unknown to her. As well as discussing the realities of slavery during this era, the novel also examines the legacy of slavery and the inequalities that persist in contemporary America. 

Kindred was published in 1979, during a time when science fiction and fantasy were dominated by stories of white men. Butler was writing something new and different; something that was intersectional, something that examined inequality and structural oppression. That being said, as a 21st century reader, I thought it was a good novel, but I wasn’t really as blown away by it as I expected to be. I actually found the storytelling and characters a little flat and unimpressive. Initially I was really disappointed by this, but now I’ve had a few weeks to think about it, I realise that it’s probably a good thing that I wasn’t as taken by Kindred as I expected to be. If it were as radical and noteworthy today as it was in the 70s, it would be a sad testament to the progress of science fiction! 

If you enjoy science fiction and/or fantasy I think it is definitely worth picking up, especially if you enjoy writers like NK Jemisin and Naomi Alderman.