Lilith's Brood by Octavia E. Butler

In contemporary times the addition of diverse voices in any genre especially Sci-Fi is bound to elevate and heighten any new media being put out. Purely for the fact that new and interesting takes on existing ideas or even new ideas will be formed. Lilith’s Brood is no exception and parallels many ideas and themes while expounding and building upon all of them. First, pairing this work with her other work a short story named “Bloodchild” is a fantastic idea, for I truly believe it’s almost a condescend version of some of the key themes present in Lilith’s Brood. Both taking the form in an overlord Alien species that controls humanity for a surprisingly similarly purpose. For Breeding. While the Aliens in Bloodchild are parasitic in nature interest enough the aliens in Lilith’s Brood use humans to create a whole new multiracial group of alien-human hybrids. This is where I feel that the story's themes differ, where one can be seen as purely self-interested the other is symbiotic and argued by the aliens to be beneficial to all parties. Later on, we find that there are some complications socially which complicates matters more. Turns out mixing DNA with messy humans and their “humanish” ways lead to similar problems humans have, which is a great commentary on the issues that eternally plague human societies like our hierarchal predisposition and deviancy. Even in the act of attempting to help the humans these overlord Aliens still find the problems that have always been here, which is a cynical but reasonable take on the future of humanity.