Get Your Free Audiobook
-
Dawn
- Xenogenesis, Book 1
- Narrated by: Aldrich Barrett
- Series: Xenogenesis, Book 1
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Categories: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction
Non-member price: $27.79
People who bought this also bought...
-
Adulthood Rites
- Xenogenesis, Book 2
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Aldrich Barrett
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this sequel to Dawn, Lilith Iyapo has given birth to what looks like a normal human boy named Akin. But Akin actually has five parents: a male and female human, a male and female Oankali, and a sexless Ooloi. The Oankali and Ooloi are part of an alien race that rescued humanity from a devastating nuclear war, but the price they exact is a high one the aliens are compelled to genetically merge their species with other races, drastically altering both in the process.
-
Imago
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Barrett Aldrich
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Human and Oankali have been mating since the aliens first came to Earth to rescue the few survivors of an annihilating nuclear war. The Oankali began a massive breeding project, guided by the ooloi, a sexless subspecies capable of manipulating DNA, in the hope of eventually creating a perfect starfaring race. Jodahs is supposed to be just another hybrid of human and Oankali, but as he begins his transformation to adulthood he finds himself becoming ooloi - the first ever born to a human mother.
-
Parable of the Talents
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Patricia R. Floyd, Peter Jay Fernandez, Sisi Aisha Johnson
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Environmental devastation and economic chaos have turned America into a land of horrifying depravity. Assault, theft, sexual abuse, slavery, and murder are commonplace. And a zealous, bigoted tyrant has won his way into the White House. Directly opposed is Lauren Olamina, founder of Earthseed - a new faith that teaches "God Is Change". Persecuted for "heathen" beliefs as much as for having a Black female leader, Earthseed's followers face a life-and-death struggle to preserve their vision.
-
-
A must read book, but bad narration
- By Philippa Clarkson on 12-02-2021
-
Parable of the Sower
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Lynne Thigpen
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
God is change. That is the central truth of the Earthseed movement, whose unlikely prophet is 18-year-old Lauren Olamina. The young woman's diary entries tell the story of her life amid a violent 21st-century hell of walled neighborhoods and drug-crazed pyromaniacs - and reveal her evolving Earthseed philosophy. Against a backdrop of horror emerges a message of hope: if we are willing to embrace divine change, we will survive to fulfill our destiny among the stars.
-
-
A timeless, brutal classic
- By Amazon Customer on 27-02-2021
-
Wild Seed
- The Patternist Series, Book 1
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a thousand years, Doro has cultivated a small African village, carefully breeding its people in search of seemingly unattainable perfection. He survives through the centuries by stealing the bodies of others, a technique he has so thoroughly mastered that nothing on Earth can kill him. But when a gang of New World slavers destroys his village, ruining his grand experiment, Doro is forced to go west and begin anew. He meets Anyanwu, a centuries-old woman whose means of immortality are as kind as his are cruel. Now they begin a struggle that will last centuries.
-
Mind of My Mind
- Patternist, Book 2
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Christie Clarke
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 4,000 years, an immortal has spread the seeds of a master race, using the downtrodden as his private breeding stock. But now a young ghetto telepath has found a way to awaken - and rule - her superhuman kind, igniting a psychic battle as she challenges her creator for her right to free her people.
-
-
love the story but struggled with the narration
- By kn kells on 09-09-2020
-
Adulthood Rites
- Xenogenesis, Book 2
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Aldrich Barrett
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this sequel to Dawn, Lilith Iyapo has given birth to what looks like a normal human boy named Akin. But Akin actually has five parents: a male and female human, a male and female Oankali, and a sexless Ooloi. The Oankali and Ooloi are part of an alien race that rescued humanity from a devastating nuclear war, but the price they exact is a high one the aliens are compelled to genetically merge their species with other races, drastically altering both in the process.
-
Imago
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Barrett Aldrich
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Human and Oankali have been mating since the aliens first came to Earth to rescue the few survivors of an annihilating nuclear war. The Oankali began a massive breeding project, guided by the ooloi, a sexless subspecies capable of manipulating DNA, in the hope of eventually creating a perfect starfaring race. Jodahs is supposed to be just another hybrid of human and Oankali, but as he begins his transformation to adulthood he finds himself becoming ooloi - the first ever born to a human mother.
-
Parable of the Talents
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Patricia R. Floyd, Peter Jay Fernandez, Sisi Aisha Johnson
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Environmental devastation and economic chaos have turned America into a land of horrifying depravity. Assault, theft, sexual abuse, slavery, and murder are commonplace. And a zealous, bigoted tyrant has won his way into the White House. Directly opposed is Lauren Olamina, founder of Earthseed - a new faith that teaches "God Is Change". Persecuted for "heathen" beliefs as much as for having a Black female leader, Earthseed's followers face a life-and-death struggle to preserve their vision.
-
-
A must read book, but bad narration
- By Philippa Clarkson on 12-02-2021
-
Parable of the Sower
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Lynne Thigpen
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
God is change. That is the central truth of the Earthseed movement, whose unlikely prophet is 18-year-old Lauren Olamina. The young woman's diary entries tell the story of her life amid a violent 21st-century hell of walled neighborhoods and drug-crazed pyromaniacs - and reveal her evolving Earthseed philosophy. Against a backdrop of horror emerges a message of hope: if we are willing to embrace divine change, we will survive to fulfill our destiny among the stars.
-
-
A timeless, brutal classic
- By Amazon Customer on 27-02-2021
-
Wild Seed
- The Patternist Series, Book 1
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a thousand years, Doro has cultivated a small African village, carefully breeding its people in search of seemingly unattainable perfection. He survives through the centuries by stealing the bodies of others, a technique he has so thoroughly mastered that nothing on Earth can kill him. But when a gang of New World slavers destroys his village, ruining his grand experiment, Doro is forced to go west and begin anew. He meets Anyanwu, a centuries-old woman whose means of immortality are as kind as his are cruel. Now they begin a struggle that will last centuries.
-
Mind of My Mind
- Patternist, Book 2
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Christie Clarke
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 4,000 years, an immortal has spread the seeds of a master race, using the downtrodden as his private breeding stock. But now a young ghetto telepath has found a way to awaken - and rule - her superhuman kind, igniting a psychic battle as she challenges her creator for her right to free her people.
-
-
love the story but struggled with the narration
- By kn kells on 09-09-2020
-
The City We Became
- By: N. K. Jemisin
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every city has a soul. Some are as ancient as myths and others are as new and destructive as children. New York City? She's got five. But every city also has a dark side. A roiling, ancient evil stirs beneath the earth, threatening to destroy the city and her five protectors unless they can come together and stop it once and for all.
-
-
Not for me
- By Amazon Customer on 07-07-2020
-
Kindred
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Kim Staunton
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably wrenched through time into antebellum Maryland. After saving a drowning White boy there, she finds herself staring into the barrel of a shotgun and is transported back to the present just in time to save her life. During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes she's been given a challenge.
-
-
Get past the beginning.
- By Casey on 31-01-2017
-
Clay's Ark
- Patternist, Book 3
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Neal Ghant
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a violent near-future, Asa Elias Doyle and her companions encounter an alien life form so heinous and destructive, they exile themselves in the desert so as not to contaminate other humans. To resist the compulsion to infect others is mental agony, but to succumb is to relinquish humanity and free will. Desperate, they kidnap a doctor and his two daughters as they cross the wasteland--and endanger the world.
-
Patternmaster
- The Patternist Series
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Eugene H. Russell IV
- Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Patternist is a telepathic race, commanded by the Patternmaster, whose thoughts can destroy, heal, rule. Coransee, son of the ruling Patternmaster, wants the throne and will stop at nothing to get it, including venture into the wild mutant-infested hills to destroy a young apprentice - his equal and his brother.
-
The Dispossessed
- By: Ursula K. Le Guin
- Narrated by: Roddy Doyle, Tim Treloar
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shevek is brilliant scientist who is attempting to find a new theory of time - but there are those who are jealous of his work, and will do anything to block him. So he leaves his homeland, hoping to find a place of more liberty and tolerance. Initially feted, Shevek soon finds himself being used as a pawn in a deadly political game. With powerful themes of freedom, society and the natural world's influence on competition and co-operation, The Dispossessed is a true classic of the 20th century.
-
-
space anarchism with a heart
- By Red Skippy on 30-09-2020
-
Endymion
- By: Dan Simmons
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 23 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here, Simmons returns to this richly imagined world of technological achievement, excitement, wonder and fear. Endymion is a story about love and memory, triumph and terror - an instant candidate for the field's highest honors.
-
-
So so so soooooo good
- By Aleksandar on 03-11-2020
-
Empire in Black and Gold
- Shadows of the Apt, Book 1
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Ben Allen
- Length: 23 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The city states of the Lowlands have lived in peace and prosperity for decades: bastions of civilisation and sophistication. That peace is about to end. In far-off corners, an ancient Empire has been conquering city after city with its highly trained armies and sophisticated warmaking.... And now it's set its sights on a new prize. Only the ageing Stenwold Maker, spymaster, artificer and statesman, can see the threat. It falls upon his shoulders to open the eyes of his people - as soon a tide will sweep down over the Lowlands and burn away everything in its path.
-
-
great
- By Anonymous User on 07-02-2021
-
Revelation Space
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 22 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nine hundred thousand years ago, something annihilated the Amarantin civilization just as it was on the verge of discovering space flight. Now one scientist, Dan Sylveste, will stop at nothing to solve the Amarantin riddle before ancient history repeats itself. With no other resources at his disposal, Sylveste forges a dangerous alliance with the cyborg crew of the starship Nostalgia for Infinity. But as he closes in on the secret, a killer closes in on him because the Amarantin were destroyed for a reason.
-
-
A well told and complex narrative
- By Thesle on 05-04-2015
-
A Memory Called Empire
- By: Arkady Martine
- Narrated by: Amy Landon
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ambassador Mahit Dzmare travels to the Teixcalaanli Empire’s interstellar capital, eager to take up her new post. Yet when she arrives, she discovers her predecessor was murdered. But no one will admit his death wasn’t accidental – and she might be next. Now Mahit must navigate the capital’s enticing yet deadly halls of power, to discover dangerous truths. And while she hunts for the killer, Mahit must somehow prevent the rapacious Empire from annexing her home: a small, fiercely independent mining station.
-
-
Like listening to Siri for 15 hours
- By Onyajay on 26-10-2020
-
The Rise of Endymion
- By: Dan Simmons
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 29 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the stunning continuation of the epic adventure begun in Hyperion, Simmons returns us to a far future resplendent with drama and invention. On the world of Hyperion, the mysterious Time Tombs are opening. And the secrets they contain mean that nothing - nothing anywhere in the universe - will ever be the same.
-
-
The priest is attractive, in case you didn't know
- By Anonymous User on 14-04-2019
-
The Damned Trilogy
- A Call to Arms, The False Mirror, and The Spoils of War
- By: Alan Dean Foster
- Narrated by: Mikael Naramore
- Length: 36 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For millennia, the Weave, an alliance of species, have fought to resist the telepathic Amplitur, who strive to unite all self-aware life-forms in their great "Purpose." The Weave is slowly losing ground, but for both sides, warfare focuses more on outthinking and outmaneuvering your foe than destruction. In fact, most regard violence as hideously barbaric, and even the thought of harming another sentient being is beyond imagining.
-
-
Favourite book great in Audible too!
- By Anonymous User on 17-02-2021
-
Revenger
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Clare Corbett
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The galaxy has seen great empires rise and fall. Planets have shattered and been remade. Amongst the ruins of alien civilisations, building our own from the rubble, humanity still thrives. And there are vast fortunes to be made, if you know where to find them.... Captain Rackamore and his crew do.
-
-
Great, gripping adventure story
- By Matthew M on 15-11-2016
Publisher's Summary
In a world devastated by nuclear war with humanity on the edge of extinction, aliens finally make contact. They rescue those humans they can, keeping most survivors in suspended animation while the aliens begin the slow process of rehabilitating the planet. When Lilith Iyapo is "awakened", she finds that she has been chosen to revive her fellow humans in small groups by first preparing them to meet the utterly terrifying aliens, then training them to survive on the wilderness that the planet has become. But the aliens cannot help humanity without altering it forever.
Bonded to the aliens in ways no human has ever known, Lilith tries to fight them even as her own species comes to fear and loathe her. A stunning story of invasion and alien contact by one of science fiction's finest writers.
More from the same
Narrator
What listeners say about Dawn
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 06-11-2016
Humans are not your friend
This is a book that makes uncomfortable observations about humans in a setting where another author might have gotten away with lazily allowing the reader to root for humanity. It is toughly uncomfortable in a good way.
I found the voice used for the main character a little shouty: I could not always reconcile this with the patience and empathy expressed in her actions. However, I feel confident that this is a personal choice of the listener
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jessica A.
- 16-01-2021
Brilliant novel and really well read.
I listened to this novel as apart of a university unit, and the story is very interesting and engaging. I genuinely enjoyed listening! The narrator has a very relaxing voice and made it very easy to listen!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sam Jones
- 27-06-2020
Loved this!
I’m not normally a big sci fi person, and I worried that this book might be a bit out of my depth, but it was so accessible and such a seemingly simple story with some really complex themes hidden behind it.
The narrator did a wonderful job on the voices and helping to create a sense of “other.”
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Lindsay
- 31-01-2016
I couldn't tell if I loved it or hated it.
It was interesting. It is 'true' science fiction, not action in space, romance in space, drama in space, etc. ad nauseam.
The sci-fi components center primarily on biology and what it means to be human. But it also touches on human behavior, the limits of the mind, and physical limitations.
Additionally, the aliens seem truly alien, and their ship is even more imaginative, which I definitely appreciated. The other thing I really enjoyed was the constant edge that Butler keeps you on about the ethics of the Oankali. Are they good aliens or bad aliens? I still haven't decided. This is not an ugly invader alien shoot 'em up story. The conflict is very deep. I don't know if I want the humans to win, or if Earth would be better with the Oankali. At this point, it's interfering with my sleep.
184 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Dubi
- 17-04-2018
Good SF Tale, Rich in Subtext, Symbolism, Allegory
I once had a doctor check something out, turned out to be a spider bite, by (he said) the second most dangerous creature in New York City, the brown recluse spider. What's the most dangerous? I asked, knowing he would answer, "People". If you watch The Walking Dead, you know the gross deadly zombies are not the most dangerous or frightening denizens of that post-apocalyptic world -- the live humans are, by far.
In Dawn, even before the scary aliens arrive, humans have already wreaked so much havoc that billions are dead and the planet in uninhabitable, a ruined wasteland. When the kindly aliens try to help the few survivors reclaim a reborn Earth, they are met with recalcitrant, rebellious, and ultimately violent humans doing what humans to best, wreaking havoc.
But Dawn is so much deeper than that. Human nature is a major subject, examined in many ways. Yes, some are negative, but he whole package is too complex for simple statements -- humanity comes with its good, bad, and ugly, replete with warts and all, no matter how hard a super-advanced alien race tries to appeal to its better nature.
Such is Dawn. In the aftermath of a near-total worldwide apocalypse, aliens rescue the few remaining survivors and put them in suspended animation while they restore Earth. They revive Lilith Iyapo and task her, despite her reluctance, with leading the first group of humans to return to the newly reconstituted Earth. Early on, the story is about Lilith, her awakening, her initial exposure to the aliens, her way of dealing with a complex situation in which her saviors are also her captors.
The story then turns to the group under Lilith's care, as she awakens them one at a time or in small groups and tries to tell them about what is going on, hoping for cooperation as they work toward a peaceful and free return to Earth. Different people react in different ways -- and then the whole thing takes an unexpected turn when the aliens' true intentions are realized (no spoilers).
The plot and characters can easily be taken a face value -- it all works as straight ahead sci-fi, good but certainly not great classic sci-fi. What takes the whole enterprise to another level is the varied subtext which symbolizes contemporary issues of what we now call identity politics (a term not in wide use in 1987 when this book was published), raising issues of class, gender, sexual orientation, race, reproductive rights -- the most obvious symbols form an almost complete allegory about one particular issue that I will leave unnamed so as not to give anything away.
This is potent stuff, addictive and compelling listening, sometimes disturbing, always fascinating. Octavia Butler deserves all the praise she has gotten. I look forward to reading the rest of this trilogy.l
32 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Ryan B.
- 14-10-2019
Intriguing, but ultimately unenjoyable.
I enjoyed the premise and the story, but the main character is so unlikable and really an unpleasant individual.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Michael G Kurilla
- 22-08-2019
Conjugal alien encounters
Octavia E Butler's Dawn is the first book in her Xenogenesis series. The Earth has essentially destroyed itself through nuclear war. An alien species manages to save the few remaining humans and maintains them in a suspended animation while it restores the Earth itself. A young woman is selected to lead the reintroduction of humanity to Earth. This comes with a high cost. The alien race survives by co-mingling their genetic material with other races to form unique hybrids. This situation becomes untenable to most of the surviving humans and the woman must balance her need for companionship with irreversible loss of being strictly human.
Butler explores the loss of nearly everything, even down to the level of genetic heritage. The struggle for survival against the need for companionship is evident. At the same, the subtle, but substantial genetic enhancements serves to initiate her separation and eventual betrayal, by her fellow survivors. The fundamental question is how far will someone go to survive and survive as what?
The narration is well done, with reasonable character distinction. Pace is appropriately aligned with the plot making for a quick listen.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- David
- 02-05-2016
Strange, interesting, uncomfortable
This is an unusual story of a post-apocalyptic alien invasion. "Invasion" is not even really the right word, considering that mankind had all but destroyed itself already, and the alien Oankali merely rescued the survivors. "Rescued" them and put them in a sort of suspended hibernation aboard their giant world-like ship.
When Lilith Iyapo awakens, she is slowly made aware of her new situation. Not only is she one of the last survivors of the human race, but it's actually been hundreds of years since she "died" and she is now the unwilling "guest" of an alien race that has definite but unspoken plans for humanity.
Lilith behaves like a human being - imperfectly, sometimes irrationally. Slowly, the Oankali establish a relationship of sorts with her, characterized by mistrust on Lilith's part and inscrutable affection mixed with frustration and condescending from the Oankali. Lilith wants to meet other humans, but it never seems to go well. The Oankali are frustratingly vague, and while despite all of Lilith's paranoid imaginings, they never mistreat her or do anything to her at all, they also refuse most of her simplest requests, like paper to write on.
As she learns more about the Oankali and what they plan for her, she realizes that humans and Oankali are now inextricably bound together whether either race likes it or not.
Octavia Butler, the late, lamented genius of SF, wrote stories that were very much statements about race, sex, and power, and in plain sight, but like her prose, it was straightforward and unelaborate. A lot is left for the reader to infer, though none of it is very hidden. Butler writes the Oankali as very interesting aliens who are themselves imperfect - vastly more advanced and in most ways wiser than humans, but still prone to errors of judgment, as well as letting their feelings overcome their common sense. They are also weird and, as Lilith's reactions make clear, creepy, even moreso when it turns out that Oankali actually need humans for some sort of interspecies bonding future, which does in fact involve sexual contact, which is also described plainly if not graphically.
There is a lot in this first book of the Xenogenesis trilogy to find disturbing. Butler usually includes sex and power relationships in her books and they're always uncomfortable. There's also a lot to like, as the human-alien conflict rarely involves violence and never escalates to a military confrontation (humans don't even have a military any more), so you might think of it as a story akin to "The Body Snatchers" if the alien pod people were... well, individuals and not really malevolent and also not really trying to replace humanity, per se. So not much like the Body Snatchers at all, except that they elicit the same fears from humans and not completely without reason, because whatever their intentions and however sympathetic they may be, they are going to do what they're going to do regardless of how humans feel about it.
A very interesting novel, and while I found some parts a little predictable (like almost all the other humans inevitably proving violent and untrustworthy), and I might have enjoyed just a little more literary embellishment, I will probably continue the trilogy.
47 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Dealosaurus Rex
- 29-03-2016
High solid! My first Butler book.
This was a great story. It reminded me of another recent read: The Book of Strange New Things. Hard to believe it predates it by nearly 30 years! I'll definitely finish the trilogy.
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- echoes
- 28-03-2016
Starts well, gets irritating, best read in print
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
The story is interesting, and I was hooked from the very start, but I will say as the story went on I found myself getting annoyed at the narrator's voice. Her performance is generally good, but the various character voices she does are extremely annoying, the alien voices in particular. The aliens are supposed to sound 'neutral' but she makes them (particularly one main alien character) whiny. Eventually this gets very cringeworthy to listen to, especially when the novel gets 'weirder' with alien and human relationships. I would definitely recommend reading this on paper, and would not recommend the audiobook.
The story itself is intriguing initially, although as the novel goes on, I found myself cringing more at the events, the aliens and their actions, and the way the plot was playing out. The human characters (besides Lillith, most of the time) are not particularly interesting either, although I feel that is partially the fault of the narrator (again, read this on print...it will make for a different experience I'm sure). It was at times also difficult to follow and understand, but I think that's part of it.
12 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Ken
- 24-02-2019
Trash
Half way through a mediocre story before it turned to shitty tentacle soft porn. Do not pay for this.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Diane Walter
- 01-02-2017
Felt like a novel for teen girls
I was disappointed in just about everything in this book. The plot was full of inconsistencies, the characters were unrealistic, and their emotions and reactions gave the book a feeling of over dramatic teen angst. The narrator contributed to the feeling of a teenaged emotional roller coaster. I give this book four "Blahs".
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Carolina
- 26-07-2014
Amazing, a wonderful Sci-Fi! Super recomended
Originally published at: A Girl that Likes Books
Intelligence does aloud you to ignore the fact you dislike
First impression
When this was selected for the Sword and Laser I learned that my library only had the second book in the series. The premise seemed so unique and I really wanted to read a book by Octavia E. Buttler so I decided to get myself a copy through Audible. Now I am very happy I did since I want to be able to give it to people to listen too; I will be getting the rest of the trilogy too.
Final thoughts
The book works with the premise that human race has been almost annihilated from Earth, due to war. A few survivors have been "rescued" by an extraterrestrial species, called Oankali, who are described as being covered by tiny tentacles (I imagined their skin like an inside out version of the small intestine, but that's just me) with slight human appearance when approaching Lilith, the main character, at first. Lilith is a black woman who has been awaken several times before (she ignores how many) and she has been selected as the person who will train a new group of humans to be taken back to Earth.
This book was absolutely amazing. I was afraid I was going to have a problem with the voice given to the Oankali since a lot of people were wondering about this on the Internet, but Aldrich Barrett made a great job, at least for me. Independent of the format that you are reading this book will touch a very big question: What exactly makes us human? Is it our bodies? Is it our culture? Can one be separated of the other?
Such a unique book. It has a great main character, that not only questions her own humanity but puts into discussion how human relationships are built and their outcomes. The way she is treated by this alien race and then the way the other humans treated her for me was a questioning of the society we've grown accustomed to. It was interesting to see secondary characters that represented greed or fear to an extreme point and how this type of behaviours affected the construction of a whole new dynamic between individuals.
I liked that, for a sci-fi, it wasn't "plagued" with terminology. Sure, we have the names of the different Oankali, but doors aren't call intramural passages for example, or worst, made up words without context. All is being explained to Lilith and through her to ours and yet it all feels so alien.
Someone said that for him this book was racist and homophobic, which I feel obliged to counter here. Yes there are comments against Lilith being the leader, as she is a woman, but this comment came from another human and from my point of view, this was pout there precisely to point out how society still reacts like that with a woman on a position of power. The fact that the book has a sexist or an homophobic character, does not make the book sexist nor homophobic. The book deals with several "hard" subjects, such as race, sexism, rape just to name a few. But I think the author's intention was to start a discussion about them, show how this can appear and the consequences. I believe this book pushes a lot of buttons, but in a very good way. I have already recommended the book all over the place and can't wait to continue with the story, learn more about the Oankali and Lilith's outcome.
48 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- gary
- 11-03-2019
You'll root for the aliens
The story is quite good, the narration is calming but i have never met a bunch of more sullen whiny human being in my life. They are uniformly annoying alternating from petulant teenagers to irrational idiots. Give the book a go but i defy you not to root for our alien overlords within a couple of chapters .
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Christian Langlois
- 03-06-2020
Absolutely brilliant!
I read the paperback in 1993 and then avidly went through all of butler's books, this trilogy being the best in my opinion. Dawn, the first in the series, the best of the three. She has a fantastic way of weaving biology, species, humanity, and feeling into a Sci-fi form like no other I've come across. A true master of her craft. This audio book lived up to my expectations, the narrator read it well. Enjoyed whilst working on my allotment, and became totally engrossed in both.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Strayficshion
- 22-08-2019
Best recommendation, I'm buying the whole trilogy
I think the best recommendation for this book is that I'm going to buy the next two in the trilogy. While it isn't for the literary purist, it is a very inventive plot-driven tale of the way two cultures - one rescued, the other the rescuer - finding out about each other and moving forward with the aim of re-populating the damaged Earth. The problem is one of the cultures is alien, the rescue feels a lot like capture, and the benign interference in human physiology is done without consent. The main character is a woman who discovers in herself more strengths than she knew she had, or maybe even wanted; she's flawed (I do wish there was another word I could use there), and I want to know what happens next. I'll add that the narrator does a marvellous job of rendering the various voices without 'acting' them and I'm glad to see she's the narrator for the next two books.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Dean
- 15-07-2020
Good concept, ok narration, but too much Lilith.
By the time I got to the end I was so bored with Lilith that I contemplated not listening to the free chapters of book 2. But hoping we would move on to new characters I gave it a go, and as soon as Lilith started her interminable whining, I quit. I do not understand why this author is so highly regarded. Life is too short to spend in Lilith's company.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Heisenberg
- 16-10-2019
Couldn't stop listening.
This is the first Octavia Butler book I have listened to, and I found it totally compelling, with good characters and a convincing stoyline, set after a nuclear holocaust, when an alien species has intervened to save humanity. I have already downloaded the next book and cant wait to find out what happens next.
First class narration as well.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- an italian in london
- 25-08-2015
masterpiece
If you could sum up Dawn in three words, what would they be?
For years I read Octavia E. Butlers books and then I stopped and now Audible is giving me a chance to re-read (or better: listen to) books I had already read decades ago but also to listen to books I did not know.
Xenogenesis is a group of 3 books that I had not read before and it's great.
This one in particular, the first one, it definitely the best because it introduces the Oankali and their culture.
What did you like best about this story?
Everything
Which character – as performed by Aldrich Barrett – was your favourite?
All of them
If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
Learn about others and you'll learn about yourself
Any additional comments?
thanks for producing these audiobooks!!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Mike
- 19-02-2018
Good but grating on the ears at times
The plot is good but all the human characters are angry and annoying which likely they would be in their situation but not one of them appears to accept it, even the main character who’s attitude is wholly aggressive and negative. I will likely progress with the 2nd book but I just hope that it steers the characters toward a more positive demeanour.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Mark Williamson
- 27-01-2021
Just not believable
I really could not get on with this at all. An alien race completely different from ours with a completely different biology and technology....fine! But so similar that it understands and uses irony and sarcasm. Emotions and reactions that are pretty much the same as humans. Seemed to me that the alien characters were just the literary equivalent of people dressed in alien suits. Just not believable for me. Sorry.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- L. Sheppard
- 20-01-2021
‘Out of this World’
1. If you could sum up ‘Dawn (Xenogenesis Series, Book 1)’ by Octavia E. Butler in 3 words, what would they be?
- Imaginative, visionary and conflicted.
2. How credible/believable did you find the narrator to be?
- I felt rather impartial towards Aldrich Barrett’s narration.
3. Any additional comments?
- The concept was highly original, ingenious and well executed. At times I found myself feeling very conflicted and ambivalent towards the intentions/actions of the Oankali. Overall it was a fabulous read.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Michela
- 11-10-2020
Aliens willing to save humanity, at a cost
Great novel, exploring how humans may learn to interact with aliens (and viceversa) who are willing to help humanity thrive again after a catastrophe nearly destroyed earth, but the trade off seems to be a change in the definition of humanity itself. Brilliant story about the best and the worst in both humans and these aliens, and a solid story on how the protagonist manages to live in both worlds and to contribute to humanity's future. This audiobook also includes the beginning of the second novel in the series, quite intriguing.
16 Best Audiobooks by Aboriginal Authors
Across genres, there’s no shortage of brilliant titles from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers of Australia.



25 Best Celebrity Audiobooks
It’s always a pleasant surprise to pick up a familiar story and find an unexpected famous friend in the narrator’s booth.



Best Audiobooks of 2020
We've crunched the numbers, heard from our listeners and gotten expert opinions to round up the best listens of 2020.


