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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery
Moderate: Rape
Not the best of Butler's books, but I still found myself really enjoying it. Obviously it's fucked up how the mutes and Clayarks are treated, but I think that was part of the point if you use your brain to read the book.
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The ending was wrapped up a bit too quickly and neatly for my taste, but I truly couldn’t put this one down.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
There is a lot to unpack here but I think the ultimate summary is “what does true freedom look like?” The is the ultimate exploration of power and control set in a dystopian world. After completing the Patternist Series (including Survivor), I must say I had to sit with all the books for a few days before I could really grasp what Butler was saying through her writing. She does a good job of bending sci-fi and social commentary. Upon re-read of this series, I would like to go in publication order. I read in chronological order for this read.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This sits well as a first novel. You see glimpses of the concerns that drove her fiction for her entire career. You see the great handle she had on character and relationship. But there's also something more traditional here. While relationships take up the most amount of space, Butler seems anxious to always keep her characters moving forward and she threatens a great confrontation for the entire novel. Most of the novel's explicit tension comes from this.
But it's hardly the best or most interesting part of the novel, even if it drives the novel forward.
This is a good novel, but a bit of a weak spot when it comes to Butler's oeuvre, which isn't surprising, this being her first novel. You can see the writer she'll become, but she feels a bit more trapped in the cloak of SF here than in her later novels in this series. While the SF is always present in the Patternmaster series, it takes a backseat for most of the rest of the series, which is all about relationships and people.
But, yeah, as a whole, I loved this series quite a bit. The best novels are the first two, but these final two are a good closure to what began with greatness.
I've been trying to preserve Butler for longer, since she produced so few novels, but I might head into the Parable of the Sower in the not too distant future. The problem, then, is that there will be no more Butler to read.
But it's hardly the best or most interesting part of the novel, even if it drives the novel forward.
This is a good novel, but a bit of a weak spot when it comes to Butler's oeuvre, which isn't surprising, this being her first novel. You can see the writer she'll become, but she feels a bit more trapped in the cloak of SF here than in her later novels in this series. While the SF is always present in the Patternmaster series, it takes a backseat for most of the rest of the series, which is all about relationships and people.
But, yeah, as a whole, I loved this series quite a bit. The best novels are the first two, but these final two are a good closure to what began with greatness.
I've been trying to preserve Butler for longer, since she produced so few novels, but I might head into the Parable of the Sower in the not too distant future. The problem, then, is that there will be no more Butler to read.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes