Throughout my reading of “Dawn,” I found myself torn between where my sympathies should lie. The Oankali seemed compassionate enough and Lilith’s relationship with Nikanj struck me as genuine and surprisingly not creepy. And yet it is difficult to trust the motives of a group of creatures that put humans asleep for centuries and then keep them trapped in a ship. There were moments when Lilith’s resistance annoyed me and then at other times I was shocked by her ability to cohabitate with these seemingly grotesque features.