Patternmaster
Ratings13
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings13
Average rating3.7
An all-powerful ruler's son vies for control over the human race in this brilliant conclusion to the Patternist saga, from the critically acclaimed author of Parable of the Sower. In the far future, the human race is divided into two groups striving for power. The Patternmaster rules over all, the leader of the telepathic Patternist race whose thoughts can destroy or heal at his whim. The only threat to his power are the Clayarks, mutant humans created by an alien pandemic, who now live either enslaved by the Patternists or in the wild. Coransee, son of the ruling Patternmaster, wants the throne and will stop at nothing to get it, even if it means venturing into the wild mutant-infested hills to destroy a young apprentice -- his equal and his brother.
Series
4 primary books5 released booksPatternmaster is a 5-book series with 4 primary works first released in 1976 with contributions by Octavia E. Butler.
Reviews with the most likes.
Not as good as Wild Seed. That really trumps every other book in this series. Still decent though.
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.
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.
