'Fledgling is a captivating novel that tests the limits of 'otherness' and questions what it means to be truly human. Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life, she must at the same time learn who wanted-and still wants-to destroy her and those she cares for and how she can save herself.

'Parable of the Sower and 'Bloodchild will recall that never asks easy questions or settles for easy answers.'-Gerald Jonas in 'The New York Times 'Fledgling, Octavia Butler's first new novel in seven years, is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly unhuman needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion: She is in fact a genetically modified, 53-year-old vampire. A master storyteller, Butler casts an unflinching eye on racism, sexism, poverty, and ignorance and lets the reader see the terror and beauty of human nature.-'The Washington Post Book World 'Readers familiar with. Butler is one of the finest voices in fiction-period. The Silks fear the genetic “marriage” of human and Ina DNA, which is the basis of Shori’s existence.Octavia E. Although America’s anti-miscegenation laws were struck down in 1967, widespread fear of interracial relationships and the “tainting” of the white race still exist today. This alludes to the historical fear of miscegenation, which led to the criminalization of interracial marriage. In a racist twist on the “slippery slope” fallacy, the Silks also believe that Shori’s Blackness will somehow lead to harmful genetic modifications of their species. Although Shori’s dark skin allows her to stay awake during the day and withstand the sun longer than pale Ina, the Silks denounce the genetic experiments that made her possible.

They consider humans-even symbionts who are needed for Ina survival-to be beneath Ina and no better than animals. The Silk family, Katharine Dahlman, and their sympathizers believe that Shori Matthews’s (Black) human DNA goes against the very fabric of the “superior” Ina species.

Butler uses the Ina, a vampiric species closely related to humans, to show how racism is so systemic that it can even transcend species. Fledgling is primarily an allegory meant to illustrate the deadly power of white supremacy in our society.

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