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    Patternmaster
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    Patternmaster
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    Patternmaster
    Ebook217 pages3 hours

    Patternmaster

    By Octavia E. Butler

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    A tyrant’s heirs battle to control the minds of every human on Earth in this thrilling finale of the Nebula Award–winning author’s epic Patternist saga.
    A psychic net hangs across the world, and only the Patternists can control it. They use their telepathic powers to enslave lesser life forms, to do battle with the diseased, half-human creatures who rage outside their walls, and, sometimes, to fight amongst themselves. Ruling them all is the Patternmaster, a man of such psychic strength that he can influence the thoughts of all those around him. But he cannot stop death, and when he is gone, chaos will reign. The Patternmaster has hundreds of children, but only one of them—Coransee—has ambition to match his father’s. To seize the throne he will have to coopt or kill every one of his siblings, and he will not shy from the task. But when one brother takes refuge among the savages, a battle ensues that will change the destiny of every being on the planet.

    Octavia E. Butler’s first published novel, Patternmaster launched the legendary career of a visionary, award-winning writer. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Octavia E. Butler including rare images from the author’s estate.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Media
    Release dateJul 24, 2012
    ISBN9781453263655
    Unavailable
    Patternmaster
    Author

    Octavia E. Butler

    Octavia E. Butler (1947–2006) was a renowned African American author of several award-winning novels, including Parable of the Sower, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1993, and Parable of the Talents, winner of the Nebula Award for the best science fiction novel in 1995. She received a MacArthur Genius Grant and PEN West Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work and was acclaimed for her lean prose, strong protagonists, and social observations in stories that range from the distant past to the far future.

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    Reviews for Patternmaster

    3.5/5

    272 ratings17 reviews

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    • 3/5
      An underwhelming conclusion to the Patternist series. The protagonist has interesting psychic powers, but no real distinguishing characteristics to set him apart from every fictional Chosen One. He never really has to answer for his chronic lack of consideration for the women he's closest to, which surprised me given Butler's reputation as a feminist writer. If, say, Amber the healer had been the protagonist instead, this could've been a much more interesting book.
    • 4/5

      A very good ""what if.."" style science fiction with early warnings of the thoughts that eventually surfaced in ""Kindred"" by the same author.
    • 3/5
      Not sure how I feel about this one...
    • 4/5
      This is my second Butler book and I liked it even more than the other (which was Kindred, also worth reading). While the formula/genre thing is definitely, well, formulaic, the ideas contained in Patternmaster were very compelling and I was always interested to see what more she would do with them as the narrative progressed. A good read, indeed.
    • 5/5
      An unknown future time, presumably on earth. Man has evolved into a being potentially capable of great psychic talent, and those who have this talent are known as Patternists. There are also beings known as Clayarks, or sphinxes amongst themselves. Clayarks were once human, infected with a virus which reshapes their body into something more resembling a lion. Fighting is par for the course between these people.The lead Patternist, known as the Patternmaster, is dying, slowly succumbing to the Clayark disease. One of his sons has recently completed school and seeks to make his own life. Instead, he finds himself in the household of his older brother, who wishes to become the new Patternmaster. A fight between one wanting power and another wanting his own life.Octavia Butler is one of the best writers in science fiction, period. If you've never read her you are certainly missing out. She tackles social issues with ease and weaves amazing stories.
    • 3/5
      This is the first book Octavia Butler published, and it's fantastic. It gives a great view of a wholly different world, so different you don't realize it's still Earth until you read the next in the series (chronologically, this is the last, but by publication date, the next one is "Mind Of My Mind", which is one of my all-time favorite books). This one shows us the struggle a young Patternist named Teray faces as he tries to stake his claim to his own part of the world (his own life, really), and the trials he faces between people who fear his power and power he's afraid of taking. Wonderful stuff. I don't visualize much as I read. Butler's protagonists are almost universally Black, and it's only that knowledge that gives me a mental image of any of them at all. However, in this book in particular, not a lot of attention is paid to race. I wonder if that's deliberate as it was her first novel and she needed more of a foothold to establish herself before making race more of a face-front issue in her work.
    • 4/5
      Great Environment - environment based plot, too short, not enough plot, very original.
    • 3/5
      An odd story, and an interesting tie-in to Clay's Ark. Human nature and our need for control.
    • 3/5
      I am left with a burning question: What happens if a Patternist gets Clayark disease? I assume they lose their psychic abilities, but it isn't clear...
    • 3/5
      For some reason I had expected this book to be about a far flung future with a grand story of expansion into space accompanied by psychic ability. The opposite is the case with this short story of an heir to the Patternmaster (Mind of my Mind explains better what a Patternmaster is) and his adventure in this narrow world a few generations away in what's left of Southern California. The territory is battled over by the Patternists and the Clayarks. Normal humans are left in the dust as a servant class. It is Butler's first published novel, and not one of her best - but still exciting and interesting. I'm still wondering which human variant will exterminate the other...
    • 5/5
      Would make this compulsory reading in all English classes
    • 5/5
      Loved it!!!!!!!
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed this quite a lot but I feel like I should have enjoyed it more, given its focus on power dynamics and mind control of various forms of subtlety. Maybe the setting kept me so focused on trying to work out how the world was put together (even apart from vital cultural hierarchies, it was a long time before it was fully inclued that this was a post-apocalyptic Earth rather than a fantasy world) that I had less energy to spare on empathising with the protagonist, who came across as a bit of a blank slate at times.But I did like it; especially once we get to know Amber, unapologetically independent and bi; and considering we see nothing directly of Rayal past the prologue, the ending is unexpectedly powerful.
    • 1/5
      Als der Seelenmeister starb (Patternmaster) ist das erste Buch der 2006 verstorbenen Autorin Octavia E. Butler. Sie begann mit dem Schreiben dieses Romans im Alter von zehn Jahren, und auch wenn sie im Laufe der Jahre einiges daran überarbeitet haben dürfte, ehe er veröffentlicht wurde, merkt man dem Buch deutliche Schwächen eines Erstlingswerks an.Die Autorin hat sich in ihrem Roman einer Menge schwieriger Themen und moralischer Fragen genähert. Darunter die Privatsphäre des Menschen, die Frage des freien Willens, Menschenrechte, Inzest, Sklaverei, Rassenkonflikte, Feminismus und der Umgang mit (Homo-)Sexualität. Viele große Themen, zu groß, um in einem derart knappen Büchlein, von gerade einmal um die 200 Seiten, wirkliche Beachtung finden zu können. Das Resultat ist eine Geschichte, die viel Unterdrückung, Menschenhandel, sexuelle Ausbeutung und Machtgier beschreibt, in der auch unterschwellig Kritik an einzelnen Dingen auftaucht oder eben auch eine (leider noch) utopische Akzeptanz der Homosexualität; letztendlich bleibt es aber nicht mehr als eine Zustandsbeschreibung ohne Herleitung oder Entwicklung. Mit der richtigen Handlung hätte sich sicherlich trotzdem eine spannende Darstellung einer futuristischen Welt darum herum aufbauen lassen können, in diesem Fall ist das wenig geglückt. Denn die Protagonisten ergeben sich wehrlos ihrem Schicksal, emanzipierte Frauen fügen sich ganz natürlich und selbstverständlich in die klassische Rolle der Maitresse, der vermeintliche Herausforderer gibt sich allzu kämpferisch, nur um im nächsten Moment die am wenigsten konsequente, unterwürfigste Handlung zu begehen usw. Unter diesen Unstimmigkeiten von Wille und Handlung leidet die Glaubhaftigkeit der Protagonisten enorm und untergräbt die ansatzweise vorhandene Kritik an den herrschenden Zuständen.Von den Verlagen als Science Fiction angepriesen, weckt auch der Klappentext entsprechende Erwartungen und dürfte die Leser damit zusätzlich enttäuschen, denn in der Praxis ist es schwer, die typischen Merkmale der Science Fiction in diesem Roman zu finden. Es wird zwar ab und an von einer Reise ins Weltall berichtet, die lange zurück liegt und nur noch in der Erinnerung weniger Menschen präsent ist, man erhält Informationen darüber, dass wir uns in einer entfernten Zukunft befinden und unsere alte Zivilisation zugrunde gegangen ist, doch der Rest, und damit ist im Prinzip das gesamte Buch gemeint, erweckt den Eindruck einer eher primitiven, rückständigen Klassengesellschaft mit einer telephatisch begabten, dominanten Menschenrasse ohne technologische Errungenschaften, die sich im Krieg mit einer der Sphinx-ähnlichen Rasse, den Clayarks, befindet. Warum, weshalb, wie lange schon … man weiß es nicht.Neben den ideologisch sehr guten Ansätzen, denen es deutlich an Ausarbeitung mangelt, werden auch die Hintergründe zur Entstehung dieser streng hierarchischen Gesellschaftsform nur am Rande angekratzt. Die durchaus interessanten Informationsschnipsel, die im Laufe der Handlung nebenher immer mal wieder eingestreut werden, werfen viele spannende Fragen auf, bleiben jedoch bis zum Schluss gänzlich unbehandelt und unbeantwortet. Als der Seelenmeister starb konzentriert sich alleine auf die Haupthandlung, den Kampf zwischen Coransee und dem jüngeren Bruder Teray, und vergisst darüber hinaus ein stimmiges Gesamtbild der sie umgebenden Welt zu erzeugen. Neben alldem mag man sich über die Übersetzungsfehler der deutschen Ausgabe schon gar nicht mehr ärgern und ignoriert die zahlreichen Rechtschreibfehler, sperrigen Formulierungen und die Buchstabendreher bei den Namen.Die Kürze dieses Romans wird schlussendlich sowohl zum Segen als auch zum Fluch für das Buch. Zum Fluch, weil hier ein großes Potential verschenkt wird, zum Segen, weil man ein Buch in diesem Stil nicht zuende lesen würde, wenn es mehr Seiten hätte. Man kann nicht sagen, dass Als der Seelenmeister starb wirklich schlecht wäre oder gar keinen Unterhaltungswert besäße, das Buch lässt einen eher aufgrund inkonsequenter Verhaltensmuster der Protagonisten und zu vieler nicht behandelter Fragen frustriert und gelangweilt zurück. Als Einstieg zu dieser Autorin eignet sich ihr Erstlingswerk daher weniger.
    • 3/5
      I actually started with this book first, until I realized it was meant to be the last. I understood what was going on, but the other books really help develop the overall ideas. Slavery. It's a bad bad thing. Would you kill to survive? Sometimes you don't have a choice. But the choice to enslave others is a theme running throughout the books. It's bad. Human nature being what it is, cannot resist the temptation to control others if it can.
    • 3/5
      Originally published in 1976, the book is one of a series about the Patternists, a race with telepathic powers. The Patternists are the "superior race" having control over the mutes who serve as their workers. Patternists have varying strengths of mind powers and use them for fighting and for healing, and to "link" to others to supplement their own powers. Patternists who are children of the current Patternmaster, Rayal and his lead wife Jansee are the strongest and are the only children who can succeed their father as the Master. Now that Rayal is dying, there are only two of these children to contend for the title - Coransee, the head of his House in Redhill, and Teray, just released from "school." Both are ambitious. Both must avoid the Clayarks, their enemies. When it comes to a showdown, who will have the combination of strengths to succeed?

      Once I got into the story, I liked it. But science fiction is not my usual reading choice, so I probably missed some nuances. I did, however, see the feminist influences.
    • 2/5
      Butler’s very first book, this is truly difficult to read and get through. Disjointed.