Survivor is a science fiction novel by Octavia Butler. First published in 1978 as part of Butler's "Patternist series," Survivor is the only one of Butler's early novels not to be reprinted after its initial editions. Butler expressed dislike for the work, referring to it as "my Star Trek novel."
Survivor follows the early contact between the "Missionaries," a group of human colonists fleeing a plague on Earth, and the Kohn, intelligent natives o...
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Survivor is a science fiction novel by Octavia Butler. First published in 1978 as part of Butler's "Patternist series," Survivor is the only one of Butler's early novels not to be reprinted after its initial editions. Butler expressed dislike for the work, referring to it as "my Star Trek novel."
Survivor follows the early contact between the "Missionaries," a group of human colonists fleeing a plague on Earth, and the Kohn, intelligent natives of the planet on which the Missionaries have arrived. In particular, the novel focuses on Alanna, the adopted daughter of the Missionaries' leader, as she attempts to prevent the Missionaries' destruction or assimilation at the hands of a dominant local culture. During the course of the novel, Alanna's experiences assimilating and negotiating with the Kohn draw upon her earlier, similar experience joining the Missionaries themselves, and Alanna's ability to interact with the various cultures becomes the key to their survival.
Although set...
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