With time and a few more hunts, the girl recovers physically. As the pain fades and her sight returns, though, it becomes clear her memory is a complete blank. When she finds a small settlement of recently burned houses, her sense of smell reveals that the place was almost certainly her home. Perhaps fortunately, she cannot remember the people who died in what was clearly a meticulously planned slaughter. She strikes out in search of other people and is quickly picked up by a construction worker. The man, Wright Hamlin, is at first horrified to find an ordinary-looking child wandering the highway in bloody clothes. Later, when they both discover that Shori's hunger for meat has turned to a need for human blood, the two form a close bond.
Octavia Butler's Fledgling tells the story of Shori as she tries to understand both her vampiric nature and the tragedy that deprived her of her memory. It is not long before she has met up with other Ina—as the vampires call themselves. They teach her a few basics about their bizarre approach to relationships, both with each other and with the humans they rely upon for nutrition. Unfortunately, Shori has no leisure for self-exploration or making mistakes. Whoever killed her family is still hunting her, and her life as well as Wright's depends on discovering the truth as quickly as possible.
Intriguing vampiric twist
As narrative devices go, amnesia often comes across as forced and artificial, the stuff of soap operas. In Octavia Butler's Fledgling, on the other hand, Shori's memory loss is masterfully handled, giving readers a gentle step-by-step introduction to the complicated question of who she is and where she comes from. The mystery has many layers, not only because the Ina are significantly different from the vampires of popular culture, but because Shori herself is unique among the Ina. The product of genetic experiments intended to free her people of their need to sleep during the day while avoiding all contact with sunlight, she is both partially human and the first Ina with dark skin.
Butler's fans will not be surprised to see her tackling heavy subjects in this book: sexism, racism and, above all, miscegenation. Because Shori is underaged, female and lacking her memories, even the allies she finds among the Ina are inclined to dismiss what she says. Other vampires, meanwhile, are violently offended by her human genes and African heritage. As the book unfolds, Shori becomes enmeshed in the Ina equivalent of court proceedings concerning the murder of her family. This conflict plays out suspensefully, laying bare the cultures and customs of a 10,000-year-old vampire society.
Offsetting the darker currents in this novel are the strongly affectionate ties among many of its characters, intricate human—Ina love relationships which make the book a delight to read. Ina culture is extremely different from human society, a gender-segregated webwork of profound emotional relationships draped over primal urges and a genuine vein of savagery. The interdependence between Ina and their chosen human companions creates peculiar family units whose dynamics—despite believable drawbacks—are strongly appealing.
Though it leans on the conventions of vampire novels, Fledgling is in no way a conventional book—it is a fascinating, one-of-a-kind story. In Shori Matthews, Butler has created a remarkable heroine: self-sufficient, proud and resourceful ... and more than a little frightening.
This is one of those seductive novels that plays with the reader's mind long after the last page has been read—its layers and complications are thought-provoking and deeply satisfying. —A.M.D.
