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scifi_rat's review
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Plot: 3.75★
Prose: 4★
Pace: 3.5★
Concept/Execution: 3.75★/4★
Characters: 4★
Worldbuilding:4★
Ending: 4.25★
Prose: 4★
Pace: 3.5★
Concept/Execution: 3.75★/4★
Characters: 4★
Worldbuilding:4★
Ending: 4.25★
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Incest, Pregnancy, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, War, Xenophobia, Body horror, Chronic illness, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, and Physical abuse
Minor: Abandonment, Animal death, Biphobia, Sexism, Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Rape, Sexual assault, and Vomit
lottiegasp's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I liked but did not love this series. I did really love Wild Seed when I read it a few years ago (maybe because I hadn't read much fantasy/scifi to develop my tastes or Butler's writing improved as the first in the series was the last published?) But I read the 2nd-4th recently and found them all just okay. Sometimes the writing is disjointed, like the dialogue is unconvincing or the characters will act or speak in seemingly contradictory ways. But the ideas are quite interesting, I.e. the mind-reading "pattern" and the virus that creates the new species Clayarks, and the ways that power hierarchies manifest across gender, race (it's not so specific in Patternmaster but plays a bigger role in the other 3 books) and I guess you could call it "sub-species"/ability/neurotype (that is, the 3 fictional types of humans or human-like species, the Patternists, Clayarks and so-called mutes who have no powers and haven't caught the virus)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship, War, Rape, and Incest
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