I loved this series (Xenogenesis/Lilith's Brood). The first book (Dawn) was a wonderful introduction to the series, but it's ending was extremely unsatisfying. After reading the second book (Adulthood Rites), I appreciated Dawn a little more, but I still thought its ending left room for improvement. After reading Imago, I am satisfied with the series as a whole.

Some thoughts:

The sexual differences and eventual relationships between the Oankali and the humans were unusual and took some getting used to. BUT I loved that each book primarily described the experiences of a different gender (female, male, and ooloi). I felt that by the beginning of this third book, you are prepared to understand what it means to be ooloi, which would have been a lot to introduce in Dawn or even in Adulthood Rites.

I also loved that this trilogy is multigenerational in terms of the amount of time that passes and the progress that is made (and the fact that there are literally different generations involved), but that many of the "first-generation" characters from Dawn remain relevant and involved in the story throughout.

One continued frustration for me (intentional, I'm sure) was the relationship of the Oankali to the humans. Humanity would have died out without these Oankali, but now only survives to participate in a "gene trade" with them. Anyone who refuses would be sterilized. Deciding how and if she will cooperate with the Oankali is Lilith's essential struggle in Dawn, and it remains problematic for her throughout the series. We discover the Oankali will essentially be destroying Earth when they eventually leave. The sterilized humans will have died by then, and those who have become part of the Oankali will leave in their ship. At the end of Adulthood Rites, the humans finally have some semblance of a choice in what will happen to their own race. Akin convinces the Oankali to allow humans to create a colony on Mars. So the humans now have three choices: become Oankali, resist and die, or go to Mars. There is a feeling of emancipation there.

In Imago, though, this frustration continues through the forced bonding and influencing the two ooloi constructs impose on their human mates and on other humans in the mountain settlement. It feels a little too much like a trap, and in the case of the protagonist and his mates, it almost literally was. Pretty rapey, to be honest.

All that being said, the author does an excellent job of portraying the Oankali perspective. What the Oankali impose on humanity is what they know to be best for humanity (Oankali definition of "best," but still...). You never stop believing that the Oankali believe to be acting in humanity's best interest.

Final thought: I strongly disagree with what is said to be humanity's fatal flaw. Strongly.

Anyways. It was a lot. It was an excellent series. Read it and decide for yourself.