Imago, Octavia E. Butler
Imago, Octavia E. Butler
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

Imago

Author: Octavia E. Butler

Narrator: Ron Butler

Unabridged: 7 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/30/2023


Synopsis

From the award-winning author of Parable of the Sower:After the near-extinction of humanity, a new kind of alien-human hybrid must come to terms with their identity -- before their powers destroy what is left of humankind.
Since a nuclear war decimated the human population, the remaining humans began to rebuild their future by interbreeding with an alien race -- the Oankali -- who saved them from near-certain extinction. The Oankalis' greatest skill lies in the species' ability to constantly adapt and evolve, a process that is guided by their third sex, the ooloi, who are able to read and mutate genetic code.

Now, for the first time in the humans' relationship with the Oankali, a human mother has given birth to an ooloi child: Jodahs. Throughout his childhood, Jodahs seemed to be a male human-alien hybrid. But when he reaches adolescence, Jodahs develops the ooloi abilities to shapeshift, manipulate DNA, cure and create disease, and more. Frightened and isolated, Jodahs must either come to terms with this new identity, learn to control new powers, and unite what's left of humankind -- or become the biggest threat to their survival.

About Octavia E. Butler

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 the Hugo and Nebula Awards and in 1995 was the first science fiction writer ever to receive the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” grant.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Emily on April 27, 2022

This series is so strange but I loved it!......more

Goodreads review by Tim on January 06, 2023

Let me get right to the point. Octavia Butler’s Imago is about colonialism. Octavia Butler believes colonialism is evil. She thinks we can't change history. We can't magically make a world where there's economic justice for everyone. But if creative people of goodwill come together, we can create sm......more

Goodreads review by Apatt on October 27, 2015

The last volume of the mind blowing, thought provoking Lilith’s Brood series (I prefer the original name Xenogenesis myself, it has a nice sci-fi ring to it). Jodahs the protagonist of this book is another offspring of Lilith Iyapo. The least human of the series' central characters, especially after......more

Goodreads review by J.L. on March 28, 2020

“Listen, no part of me is more definitive of who I am than my brain.” Octavia's Butler's Imago is a fabulous finale to the Xenogenesis Trilogy. The perspective once again shifts as it has in previous books, from Lilith in the first book to Akin in the second book and finally to Jodals, an ooloi-human......more

Goodreads review by Dan on August 07, 2016

Spoiler Alert. The following is a metaphorical plot summary of Octavia Butler’s Imago. The scene is a meet-up night club. A and B are strangers to one another. A sneaks up behind B and whispers. A: If I don’t have sex with you, I’ll die. B whirls around and faces him angrily. B: You are disgusting! Ge......more


Quotes


"An internationally acclaimed science fiction writer whose evocative, often troubling, novels explore far-reaching issues of race, sex, power and, ultimately, what it means to be human."—New York Times

"A revolutionary voice in her lifetime, Butler has only become more popular and influential . . . A generation of younger writers cite her as an influence, from Jemisin and Tochi Onyebuchi to Marlon James and Nnedi Okarafor . . .She is now praised as a visionary who anticipated many of the issues in the news today, from the coronavirus to climate change to the election of President Donald Trump."—Associated Press

"Butler is one of the finest voices in fiction-period . . . A master storyteller with a voice that cradles and captivates, Butler casts an unflinching eye on racism, sexism, poverty and ignorance, and lets the reader see the terror and beauty of human nature."—Washington Post

"Wild Seed is a book that shifted my life . . . It is as epic, as game-changing, as moving and brilliant as any science fiction novel ever written."—Viola Davis

"If we're talking must-read authors like Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison, the one-and-only Octavia Butler needs be a part of the conversation. The groundbreaking sci-fi and speculative fiction author was a master of spinning imaginative tales that introduced you to both the possibilities -- and dangers -- of the human race, all while offering lessons on tribalism, race, gender, and sexuality."—O, The Oprah Magazine

"Brilliant, endlessly rich...pairs well with 1984 or The Handmaid's Tale."—John Green, New York Times (on Parable of the Sower)

"In the ongoing contest over which dystopian classic is most applicable to our time, Octavia Butler's 'Parable' books may be unmatched."—New Yorker (on Parable of the Sower)