Imago is the first person telling of the story of an ooloi (the ooloi are null-gendered alien--neither male nor female but being drawn to and by both genders) named Jodahs. Its coming to sexual adulthood could spell miracle or disaster for the alien species Oankali and the race of humankind on Earth. Jodahs' maturity is significant in that it is the first human-born ooloi that has ever come into existence. It has the power to alter the DNA of anything it comes in contact with, which means that it can either give or destroy life, depending upon its level of self control. Jodahs must also take great care to find mates or it can degenerate into a primordial ooze that run the risk of becoming a large mass of independent, harmful single-cell microbes. These microbes that the ooloi can de-evolve into are usually infectious plagues that will bring disease to all other organisms if left unchecked.

This book is number three of Octavia Butler's "Xenogenesis" series. I have not yet read the other books in this series, but I have read "Clay's Ark", "Pattern Master", "Mind of My Mind" and "Wild Seed"--and reviewed them all here at Epinions. I must say that Imago far outperforms any of the other books I have read by Butler. Either that, or the more you read anything by Octavia Butler, the more you love her writing style.

The themes that are present in her other books that I have read--racial acceptance; gender/sexuality/bi-sexuality; coming of age--are all address in this book. Just as she did in "Pattern Master", Butler manages to completely keep a completely imaginative, futuristic world, while in her books that dealt with the Doro character ("Wild Seed", "Mind of My Mind" for instance) she plays with contemporary and ancient history.

What I find comic about the book is the ooloi Jodahs. I see Jodahs and his ooloi null-gendered kind as a personification of clinginess or over-dependency in a relationship. I say that because

1) they will literally die if they do not find appropriate mates--an ooloi will actually decay into nothing if it does not have someone with it
2) they go through physical pain and hard withdrawal if they are not touching someone and/or mated
3) they are always trying to literally fix the people they meet because the ooloi are genetic manipulators by birth and trade
4) the people that mate with an ooloi literally suffer if they try to get away from one unless the ooloi lets them because the ooloi are physically strong and bond neurochemically with their partners
5) the ooloi have touching, sensory tentacles, which they use to stay in constant contact with someone, anyone most of the time. If no one of gender is around, they will touch each other. They HAVE to, or they will die.

The book is both entertaining and intellectual. If you have an off sense of humor or have been in or seen relationships or friendships where one person just can't seem to let go (unless, of course, that leech was YOU), you will laugh at the ooloi as it goes through its angst during its separation from mates and healed patients. The student of politics, history and social science may appreciate a science-fiction take on issues of imperialism, close-kin marriages, culture shock, colonialism and sexuality.



Recommended: Yes