See buying choices for this item to see if it's one of the millions that are eligible for Amazon Prime.

5 used & new from �43.32

See All Buying Options

Have one to sell? Sell yours here

See larger image

Share your own customer images

Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

Patternmaster (Paperback)

by Octavia E. Butler (Author)

4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

Available from these sellers.

1 new from �83.79 4 used from �43.32

Other Editions:	RRP:	Our Price:	Other Offers:
Hardcover (1st)			2 used & new from �49.45
Paperback			Order it used
Mass Market Paperback (Reprint)			5 used & new from �13.20
Unknown Binding (1st ed)			Order it used

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Wild Seed (Gollancz SF collectors' edition)

by Octavia Butler

4.7 out of 5 stars (12)

Seed to Harvest

by Octavia E. Butler

�11.59

Parable of the Talents (Earthseed)

by Octavia E. Butler

4.8 out of 5 stars (17) �5.99

Kindred (Bluestreak)

by Octavia E. Butler

4.8 out of 5 stars (6)

Fledgling

by Octavia E. Butler

5.0 out of 5 stars (4) �8.54

› Explore similar items

Product details

Paperback
Publisher: Avon Books (Mm) (Jan 1979)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0380418061
ISBN-13: 978-0380418060
Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 10.4 x 2.3 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 2,300,404 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links

(What is this?)

Patternmaster

www.Morplan.com/tailoring/UK Professional Tailoring Equipment Same Day Dispatch - Buy Online Now!

Sewing patterns that fit

www.sewing-pattern.co.uk Learn to make patterns in minutes! Watch our online video now

Pattern Master

Ask.com Find the Best Results for Pattern Master on Ask!

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

(What's this?)

Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.

science fiction(1)

See all 2 tags...

Customer Reviews

1 Review

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Patternmaster, 11 Feb 2003

By	Rod Williams "hairybloke@aol.com" (London) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Octavia Butler is a black American writer who, in her later novels, manages to successfully combine feminism, Black issues and SF into some brilliant work.
‘Patternmaster’ is her first novel, and though it doesn’t have the power and depth of her later work it’s an excellent exercise in creating a realistic society in which these post-humans have evolved advanced paranormal powers.
Homo Superior is most often depicted as a powerful but benign species, above the petty squabbling of us mere sapiens, and mostly used as a device with which to hold a mirror to ourselves.
Butler’s Patternists have no advanced moral sensibilities to accompany their formidable powers and are locked not only into the ‘Pattern’ of linked psychic energy which binds them but also a hierarchical slave culture based on mental power.
The system is brutal, controlled from the summit by the dying Rayal while his children battle murderously to succeed him.
The novel is set in some unspecified future and suffers in this respect from no real contact with our present.
Butler’s subsequent novels, including the far superior prequels, ‘Wild Seed’ and ‘Mind of My Mind’ are set either in the past or in contemporary USA, and go far deeper into examining the dynamics of power between individuals. The issue of slavery recurs again and again in Butler’s work, as it does here when Teray – one of two powerful candidates for the position of Patternmaster – is forced into a choice between accepting a benign form of slavery to his brother or losing his wife.
Understandably perhaps, the richest characterisations are those of the women, who are for the most part frustrated and exasperated by the patriarchal system which has evolved within the constraints of The Pattern, but nonetheless attempt to find ways to use the system to their advantage.
It’s a short, deceptively simple novel, but one which still manages to explore the human capacity for exploiting its own species, a theme which is later more extensively developed in ‘Wild Seed’ and indeed, in most of her work since.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all customer reviews...

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; }

Customer Discussions

Beta (What's this?)

This product's forum (0 discussions)

	Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
	No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight

Start a new discussion

Topic:

First post:

Prompts for sign-in

[Cancel]

Guidelines

Listmania!

My favourite science fiction books: A list by Harun Mushod
21 favourite unputdownable reads...(My age?! - I wish!): A list by Terri Bate "tutleymutley"
Fangtastic Vampire Novels!: A list by Fleur-de-lys

Create a Listmania! list

Feedback

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.

The Body Shop

Protect and boost your glow with The Body Shop Vitamin C Skin Boost.

›Shop The Body Shop

More From Octavia E. Butler

Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse

Famine, death, war, and pestilence: the four horsemen of the... Read more

Boys Smell

Lynx Africa Body Spray and After Shave Gift set

But we make sure they smell good...

›Discover male grooming at Amazon.co.uk

Treat Someone

With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

›Learn more about Gift Certificates

Where's My Stuff?

track your recent orders
view or change your orders in Your Account

Delivery and Returns

see our delivery rates and policies
thinking of returning an item? (See our Returns Policy)

Need Help?

Forgot your password?
Buy Gift Certificates.
still have questions? Visit our Help Pages

Your Recent History

(What's this?)

You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.

Continue Shopping: Top Sellers

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

4.5 out of 5 stars (75)�3.86

Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga) by Stephenie Meyer

4.1 out of 5 stars (464)�6.49

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

4.1 out of 5 stars (165)�3.99

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

4.2 out of 5 stars (82)�3.86


Amazon Home

International Sites: United States \| Germany \| France \| Japan \| Canada \| China

Business Programs: Sell on Amazon \| Fulfilment by Amazon \| Join Associates \| Join Advantage

Customer Service \| Help \| View Basket \| Your Account

About Amazon.co.uk \| Careers at Amazon


Amazon Home

International Sites: United States \| Germany \| France \| Japan \| Canada \| China

Business Programs: Sell on Amazon \| Fulfilment by Amazon \| Join Associates \| Join Advantage

Customer Service \| Help \| View Basket \| Your Account

About Amazon.co.uk \| Careers at Amazon