Imago

In “Dawn,” Lilith wants a choice, and it is denied to her at every opportunity. She has to live with that, and we as readers have to decide if her captivity is morally acceptable. We are as human as she, and we share her conflict.

In “Adulthood Rites,” Akin wants a chance and has to fight to allow that Human part of him its expression, its freedom. Akin is a construct, and while we obviously side with him, we are given a deeper understanding of the Oankali morality.

In “Imago,” Jodahs wants a challenge and must take an active role in self-fulfillment. As an ooloi construct, it is our first window into truly Oankali thinking. For once, we are sympathizing with the Oankali perhaps more than the humans. We feel the needs and pressures that its Oankali nature presses on it, and we can't help but sympathize even as it does really reprehensible things like binding unsuspecting humans to it. We watch, like Lilith, hoping it'll succeed and wondering what that says about us as humans. Jodahs is the fruit of the Oankali mission, and Imago is fruition of this trilogy. It is a thoughtful and thought-proving look at human nature and morality, continuing to make the reader question themselves, their choices, and their suddenly ambiguous values.

I'm very glad it's summer vacation and I could just devour this trilogy in one go. Butler's prose is a thing of beauty and regularly pulls on your emotions enough that setting the book aside is pretty much impossible. The book both stands on its own and provides a solid conclusion to the series, something that is not at all easy to do or common in modern trilogies. To be fair, all three books suffer a bit from abrupt endings, but this was the first one that disappointed me because there is no story to follow. Still, I can see why Butler would leave that prediction up to the reader. Even without more to read, it is a story that will stay with me.