Patternmaster

Reading the conclusion and understanding the publication order of the series makes a lot of things clearer. The strange transformation of Anyanwu into Emma, the vague reference to Doro here, the unspecified nature of the Clayarks. I think the effect is still somewhat diminished, nevertheless; the series feels like it moves in the wrong direction. Wild Seed is an epic generational tale, Patternmaster instead is merely a vignette into the conflict and society that we expect to have been built up. It is fun to see how the powers shape the society but nevertheless seems somehow disappointing after all of the build-up. There is a balance between theme and worldbuilding, and the latter felt a little lacking.

Not as fun as the other books in this series imo, but we do finally get a badass bisexual character from Butler who survives. So, major points. (I wish we had spent more time on that!!!!! Butler spends so much time interrogating and imagining sexual and romantic dynamics between men and women. Imagine if she had spent more time on queer women?!)

The patternmaster series is interesting in that the books are really only tangentially related, the first two more than the last. Wild Seed was probably the best one. Patternmaster had to spend way more time on the world building; Clay's Ark had an absolutely bleak and almost gratuitously gorey ending. At least Patternmaster ends on a high note.

The more I think about this book the less I like it. So that's why I've dropped the star rating by 2. I just can't get over the feeling like it's an unfinished work.

Thought-provoking and engaging plot. This book—perhaps predictably, as it's her first—is not as well-developed as other books I've read by Butler. If reading this series, I recommend starting with Wild Seed.

Am i missing something or is this series incomplete?

I was really surprised to learn that this last in the series was actually the first book written. The five stars is really for the series as a whole because it sweeps its themes of humanity, slavery, and tradition from pre-colonial Africa to a distant and terrifying dystopia of a future. Three strains of humanity, one cast aside as prey for one group and pack animals for another, struggle to survive in a world where even your mind isn't safe. This is what Doro's great labor wreaks, and it is definitely nothing like I would have predicted. Butler was a master, and even when I find myself getting angry at the characters for their bizarre notions, I see how their inclusion in the story highlights themes that are sadly always relevant.

3.5

Book Review: Patternmaster (Patternist #4) by Octavia Butler - Once I realized that this is the last book in the series, but the first written (actually Butler's first ever book that she started when she was 10) the series makes a lot more sense. The rest of the book in the series are really to fill in the holes in this book more than a traditional series that progresses on a timeline. Not her best book, but still worth reading.

Click through for the full review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/patternmaster/

reviews.metaphorosis.com

2.5 stars

A talented young telepath finds himself sold off to a powerful lord. While he fights and plans to escape, he falls in with an independent female telepath and they form a bond.

People like to say that space opera is derived from westerns. Octavia Butler seems to have set out to prove that on a smaller scale. Patternmaster is transparently the story of a young cowboy (‘civilized' man) out in the wilds, killing or escaping wily natives (mutated humans) at every turn. There's a gloss of science fiction, but it's a western at heart.

Sadly, this is not a very good western. It doesn't have the purple prose of Zane Grey, though it does have some of the convoluted relationships of Louis L'Amour. The story adds a layer of slavery, but does so little with it that it remains no more than a thin veneer. This, what should have been the heart of an interesting story, is a device only - characters are acted upon and react, but there's very little introspection. The protagonist resents being sold off, but ... oh well. He doesn't think much about the fact that “hey, slavery looks different from the other side” or “huh, those natives are more interesting than we give them credit for”, or even “gender relations in the future seem to have regressed to the 1800s”. It's unfortunate, becuase Butler so clearly sets up the possibility for all these considerations, and then utterly fails to capitalize on them.

When I started this series, it was with the impression that Butler was a pretentiously intellectual, elitist author. The first couple of books proved me wrong. The stories were well written and low key, if a little dry. How I wish now that my first, mistaken impression had been correct. The third book was incomplete, the fourth a disaster, and this one not that much better. A dose of elitist erudition might have turned it into a work deserving serious thought.

As it is, what the book has is a very thin story of betrayal, detention, and a long chase scene, with very little philosophical expansion. It's not much, and since the emotions and relations are almost as restrained as in the earlier books, it's not enough even for this story.

This last book in the series was written before the others. It's hard for me to see how it got published. It relies heavily on events established in the prequels, but they're not explained clearly enough for the book to stand alone. Maybe this version was revised after the others were written? If not, I'm not confident an audience would be able or interested to make sense of the world it describes.

I was clearly wrong about Octavia Butler - she's not the stuffy writer I thought she was, and Wild Seed was a good book. Unfortunately, based on this five book series (or even just the four she didn't disavow), she's also not the writer her reputation says she is. If she were, she'd be a lot more interesting.
< br >* On the plus side, the main books of this series had few of the editing flaws I've come to associate with Open Road Media.

Not as good as Wild Seed. That really trumps every other book in this series. Still decent though.