Patternmaster

I never cease to be amazed by octavia butler her writings are vivid and interesting. all her books are great quick reads I ahyave read several and have yet to be disapointed

After reading Wild Seed, the first book in the series, I had to read Mind of Mind (Book 2) and finally, The Patternmaster. This book is the 3rd of a series and it makes much more sense if you read the previous two. In The Patternmaster, Butler finishes the story of the Pattern which began in Mind of My Mind. I would NOT recommend this book if you have not read the previous two. Too many questions are unanswered, it would only be confusing. I would recommend the first novel, "Wild Seed," followed by the second, "Mind of My Mind." "Clay's Ark" is a side novel, but it explains the origin of the Clayarks and part of the reason Earth is so messed up. If you read them prior to "The Patternmaster," things will be clearer. To Schwinghammer - The reason it seemed that she didn't tell you where the novel took place was because she'd already done so in the previous books. I think you'll find Wild Seed interesting and entertaining; Mind of My Mind is the set up for The Patternmaster.

If you are a fan of Ms. Butler's writings, you do not need a review to prompt you to read her works. If you are NOT a fan - pick up any one of her books and you will be transported to a world as vivid as the one you wake up to every morning! Ms. Butler's books capture your attention from the first page and keeps it there until the last word is read . . . . Yep! This is the same thing I wrote about Mind of My Mind . . . you will not go wrong - trust me!

Perhaps not her best, but I enjoyed this novel and have re-read it several times. The writing is lean and elegant, so carefully written that it can be perused many times with profit. Her notions of human speciation - and her merging with the themes of the mutated Clayarks - are masterfully covered and expanded, as are her notions of the power of the mind. The battle at the center of the novel - the passage of power over a new mass mind of mutants - is taut and frightening, even as she must explain the unusual powers that are being wielded. Once again, her characters are full, first-rate creations that live on in the readers' mind afterword.

The coming of age novel was a golden age mainstay. Butler's work here is reminiscent of the novellae of golden age writers. As we might have been in an Asimov, Heinlein or Silverberg, we are placed in midstream in a future history constructed as an extension of other Butler novels. Butler novels typically feature the dilemma of being human in a dystopian setting--this novel is no exception. This "future earth", inhabited by one group of humanoids with enhanced mental powers, and another group of intelligent nomads infected by an alien virus, is easy to wrap one's imagination around even if one is not familiar with the Butlerverse. Butler also spares us the detailed rehash of "prior future history to the present future history" that could weigh down (and no doubt increase word counts in Astounding Magazine of serializations of) the golden age novels. Instead,we have all of Butler's strengths at play--a direct, intelligent writing style, an ability to convey character in spare, plausible phrases, and plotting which is neither heavy science nor pure fantasy, but has a unique fictive plausibility allowing an easy "buy-in" by the reader. The book also has the factors that can make a Butler slightly off-putting--casual violence, a chilling soul-lessness permeating the characters, and an abiding sense of otherness. If you've always wanted to try Butler, but want to do one in an afternoon to see if you like her, this is the one to try. I read this during a 3 hour interval, and found myself never bored nor particularly desirous of a longer stay in this particular world than need be. Butler is the real thing--and this is not a bad introduction to her.