Imago (Lilith's Brood, Bk. 3)

After a deadly nuclear war, a handful of humans were rescued by the Oankali, an alien race who intervened for a purpose of their own: to interbreed with humans, raising children they hope will be freed of their parents' flaws.

Jodahs is one such child, born of a human mother and Oankali parents. But, in a first for the hybrid species, Jodahs is neither male nor female. Instead, it becomes clear that Jodahs is a member of the Oankali's third sex: an ooloi who can mutate DNA, cause and cure disease, and forge enduring social bonds.

The Oankali have never allowed an ooloi to be born of a human for fear of the devastation an adolescent could cause with its potent abilities if it loses control. Nevertheless, Jodahs - risking exile and madness, while struggling to come to terms with its unexpected new identity - must now master its powers t unite its community before it is destroyed from within.