Xenophilia and Diversity: My two favorite things!
Against my better judgement skills (and time constraints), I desperately wanted my first post to be on a book that I've wanted to read for a very long time, Lilith's Brood.
Personally, I expected something vastly different than what I read. Lilith's Brood tends to be spoken of among different circles and after finally having a chance to read it, I immediately jumped on it. To start off, while I felt that Lilith's reactions were more than realistic for most people, I'm not gonna lie, I was hoping for some serious alien sex. Instead though, Lilith spends a majority of the book rather upset about her current situation, working solely to escape it. And don't get me wrong, that's normal, but maybe it's my love of anthropology mixed with aliens, but I would've adored that kind of opportunity. So much language and culture if you're simply willing to take the time and learn it; but of course, every character encountered (living) take no interest whatsoever and simply wish to return to Earth. An Earth, might I add, has already been bombed by nuclear warfare and is now completely terraformed beyond typical recognition. And not only do they want to go back, but they feel as though mixing and having children with aliens is the worst thing that could conceivably happen. I know they're aliens, and don't look that great and all, but that's harsh. I refuse to believe every human on that ship (living) refuses to get excited about aliens.
On the other hand, I can't explain how happy it makes me to see a nonwhite character in a lead role! And it's a role in science fiction, a genre that typically doesn't even have POC characters! And topping that off, interspecies romance is usually narrowed down to white characters. So yeah, while I was disappointed, I still feel like we have to start somewhere with inclusion in niche circles, and this is more than a good start. I need to hurry and graduate so that I can add to the genre.
Personally, I expected something vastly different than what I read. Lilith's Brood tends to be spoken of among different circles and after finally having a chance to read it, I immediately jumped on it. To start off, while I felt that Lilith's reactions were more than realistic for most people, I'm not gonna lie, I was hoping for some serious alien sex. Instead though, Lilith spends a majority of the book rather upset about her current situation, working solely to escape it. And don't get me wrong, that's normal, but maybe it's my love of anthropology mixed with aliens, but I would've adored that kind of opportunity. So much language and culture if you're simply willing to take the time and learn it; but of course, every character encountered (living) take no interest whatsoever and simply wish to return to Earth. An Earth, might I add, has already been bombed by nuclear warfare and is now completely terraformed beyond typical recognition. And not only do they want to go back, but they feel as though mixing and having children with aliens is the worst thing that could conceivably happen. I know they're aliens, and don't look that great and all, but that's harsh. I refuse to believe every human on that ship (living) refuses to get excited about aliens.
On the other hand, I can't explain how happy it makes me to see a nonwhite character in a lead role! And it's a role in science fiction, a genre that typically doesn't even have POC characters! And topping that off, interspecies romance is usually narrowed down to white characters. So yeah, while I was disappointed, I still feel like we have to start somewhere with inclusion in niche circles, and this is more than a good start. I need to hurry and graduate so that I can add to the genre.
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