Fledgling by Octavia Butler

Until recently, I thought I had seen it all when it came to vampire fiction. Worse - I thought it had all been done before. That everything about people who drink other people's blood (or fed on their energy) that could be said, had been said. That the genre was, to a certain extent, played out. There could be entertaining repetitions, even clever parodies, but nothing truly original.

Fledging has proved me wrong. Wow. When I first heard the premise, I thought, "Gods - why didn't Butler write vampires before?" It was an incredibly natural pairing, because of Butler's fascination with the Other and the loss of humanity. I hope she writes more on this topic, although it doesn't seem that likely, sorry to say - she's not much for serials.

This was even better than Sunshine. I don't want to say much about the plot, since it went in some directions I really didn't expect and I would hate to spoil that for other people, but it dealt with issues of bigotry, jealousy, belonging, and interdependence. I loved it. Five stars. Not because it changed my life, but because I think it has the potential to change the genre.