A review by woahno
Patternmaster by Octavia E. Butler

4.0

I feel compelled to talk about the structure of this series, as I am baffled by it. It all began here, with this novel. Well, by publication order. And then we got a prequel that goes into some of the wider concepts. Next, we have the forgotten novel, Survivor. One that I haven't read, and I think I'm okay with that given some other things going on and what Butler said about it. But even that one is set back before the original novel but after the prequel of Mind of My Mind. Confused yet? Because I am. Then there was a prequel to the first prequel and the story that was the first that I read in the series, Wild Seed. For my money, it is the best of the series. But if I was around and up to date on the series when it came out in 1980, I'm not sure I would have thought it was a good idea. Yet somehow, it is amazing. And then the final novel released in the series was Clay's Ark which is inserted in the middle of all this shuffling. I think if I had read Patternmaster first I would be interested in an origin story for the Clayarks. But it honestly doesn't work as well as the rest, at least not for me. And I think the ending in particular for Clay's Ark works better knowing the events of this novel, Patternmaster.

All this rambling is to say that I think the chronological reading order is a mess. But I'm also not sure the publication order is that much better. I think you just have to accept that the series as a whole is a bit of a jumble. I will say, however, that the climax to Patternmaster does serve well as a climax to the entire series. So, there is at least that going for it.

With all that out of the way, I liked this book. It is completely on brand for the series and for Butler. The writing at points feels a bit less refined but most of what I love about Butler's writing is still on display. There are the difficult relationship dynamics to deal with, how Iray is treated really, how I suppose everyone is treated honestly. That theme of power and subservience that is so often in Butler's work is prominent here as well. On a basic level, Coransee is the most annoying character to read. Wonderfully done honestly, as I was cheering against him constantly and wanted to see him fail. Then there is Teray, who I wanted to win but was at times hard to cheer for because of various different reasons. He comes into his own eventually though.

And lastly, I have this silly thought about how the telepathic fighting was pictured in my mind. I think it would be a difficult thing to make this scene look interesting in any kind of visual medium. I kept imagining some rather ridiculous sequences with some head nods and maybe some flashing lights. I don't know, like I said it was silly. But my inability to get over that ruined some moments, I think.

All in all, a good novel and a unique series. I'm sad that I am now almost completely through all of Butler's published novels. I only have Bloodchild and Other Stories remaining and I'm not sure where to go after that.