Mind of My Mind

Mind of My Mind

1977 • 224 pages

Ratings2

Average rating4.5

15

Short Review: Octavia Butler is a fascinating writer. This second book in the Patternist series gets to the reason for the series title but seems an almost different genre than the first. From a totally different perspective, Butler again looks at what it means to control and use people. A great piece of speculative fiction.

What gives me a bit of pause about Butler as a writer is the way she uses sex (in pretty much all of her books.) It is not erotic, nor explicit. Most of the sex is off the page. But it is almost always controlling or manipulative or part of obligation or a breeding program or something that is not about love. In many ways this corrupted use of sex is some of the most difficult parts of reading her books for me.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/mind-mind-octavia-butler-patternist-2/

October 1, 2014