A Monkey book report

Octavia Butler is a late African American writer who specialized in science fiction novels. I heard about her only upon her death when many of those 'in the know' praised her body of work. I made a mental note to one day read some of her books and recently I was finally able to keep that promise to myself. I just finished this novel of hers:

The book is about a group of vampire like beings, called Ina, who live along side of us here on earth. The live incredibly long lives and they intermingle with select humans. They're not like the vampires you've read about before, they don't kill for the pleasure of it and their bite doesn't turn people into vampires. Instead they have a symbiotic relationship with those they bite.

One of these Ina, a young dark skinned female, awakens in a cave with her memory wiped clean, all she knows is that she's been severely injured and needs food to heal. She marshals her strength long enough to kill a few creatures and eat their meat. Then after healing she meets a human man while walking along the road and he helps her. She bites him and they begin the process of falling into a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship. The young Ina female, name of Shori, goes on to discover just who she is, where she came from, what happened to her before the cave, and goes on to exact her revenge to those who hurt her and her family.

I've never been a fan of vampire novels but this one was so unlike any that I have ever read that I could not help but like it. The pacing is whiplash fast and before you know it, the book is over with and it's left you wanting more, which of course is the sign of a great book. I'll go so far as to say this is not only one of the best vampire novels and sci fi novels I ever read, it's one of the best novels I have ever read period. I highly recommend it.