dennisfischman 's review for:

Patternmaster by Octavia E. Butler

3.0

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Octavia Butler has her themes set in place in this first book, and over the course of the series, she returns to them again and again. Hegel did it first, though, in the master-slave dialectic. The master has power but cannot compel or perhaps feel love, or know himself. The slave has true self-consciousness and can exert what a later writer would call [b:Powers of the Weak|736213|Powers of the Weak|Elizabeth Janeway|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|722395]. A little of this goes a long way.