missbookiverse 's review for:

Patternmaster by Octavia E. Butler

3.0

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Butler's first published novel is also the last installment of her Patternist series, but going by the reading order recommended by the Literature Science Alliance I decided to start here. It's not that hard to grasp the concept of the Pattern, its Patternists and the Clayarks. Despite the idea being more on the abstract side it reminded me of other scifi works (that probably drew inspiration from Butler and others before her) and was easy to picture. I enjoyed learning more about this unique society and the Pattern itself. On the one hand I like how fast and short of a read this is, on the other it made the development of relationships between the characters a little unbelievable, especially between Teray and Amber. Maybe this could've been worked out by explaining the intimacy that being close to each other in the Pattern brings but it wasn't addressed. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to reading the prequels to this series in order to learn how this world came about.

[3.5 stars]