Patternist #3-4

Clay's Ark by Octavia E. Butler (1984) 241 pages

Patternmaster by Octavia E. Butler (1976) 208 pages

I continued the series with audiobooks on Libby. I did not like this second half of the series as much as the first. Both have a tenuous connection to book 1 and 2 of the series. Clay was a character introduced in Mind of My Mind. I expected Clay's Ark to continue his story. That expectation was totally wrong. Instead we are in a near future dystopia when a father and his two daughters are kidnapped from their car and taken to a strange isolated colony of people living in the desert. The people appear to be diseased and, in fact, are contaminated with an alien organism that gives them telepathic abilities and strength that is vaguely similar to the powers of Doro's ancestors in the earlier part of the series. The organism is clearly extraterrestrial though and the people give birth to children that are physically described like cats or sphinxes. I'm reminded of the shift in zombie movies. There are early movies with zombies based on Haitian voodoo customs. Then Romero's 1968 movie Night of the Living Dead shifts most future zombie movies to giving a possible alien virus explanation. I'm not saying these books are about zombies. It just seems odd that a foundational shift happened in the middle of this series from something ancient to something alien. Butler's Clay's Ark approaches closest to the horror genre, which I don't read often. Patternmaster pushes further into the future with barely any un-powered humans left alive. The Patternist and Clay's Ark groups fight for resources and power. It is mainly about two sons of a distant old Patternmaster competing to rule. Butler, I think, is using speculative fiction to explore concepts connected to slave narratives, which is a noble pursuit. To "flip the script" and make readers consider the impact of slavery is worthwhile. However, again there wasn't enough connecting this book to the first two. In both books 3 and 4, I was not captivated by any characters. I struggled with the lack of intriguing character development too. I'd recommend just reading the first two books of the series unless your goal is to read Octavia E. Butler's complete works.

Patternist #1-2

 Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler (1980) 321 pages 

I listened to both of these as audiobooks on Libby narrated by Robin Miles. I finished Wild Seed back in September, but the second book just this week. This is a series where the series order is different from the order in which the author wrote them. Butler writes Wild Seed to sound like ancient myth with gods and mortals. It is more fantasy than sci-fi, but like the other books I've read by Butler holds close to reality. Doro is an immortal spirit that has possessed many human bodies over thousands of years. His possessions are described in terms of a predator eating his prey. His children, originating from Africa at first, but later through all races, have various telepathic abilities. Latent abilities sometimes become active. It is interesting how Butler imagines all sorts of special superhuman powers as beginning with abilities in the mind. Again, picture most of these powers as being hidden unless the person wants to be accused of being a witch of some sort. There are no masks or capes or action-heavy fist fights. Still, my imagination made comparisons to X-Men comics/movies without the heroics. Most of the book is about the relationship between Doro and a distant descendant Anyanwu. She has healing/shapeshifting powers and may be immortal like Doro. Doro plans to strengthen his descendants through selective breeding, which brings concepts around eugenics to mind. This story progresses from 17th century Nigeria to 19th century America. There is a huge power struggle between Doro and Anyanwu, but also a shaky romance. (Are they equals?) Anyanwu eventually raises generations of telepaths for Doro as America is founded.

 Mind of My Mind by Octavia E. Butler (1977) 228 pages

It took a long time for me to figure out when this second book is set. There are very few historical markers, which is not a bad thing. It makes the story timeless. In fact, it is set roughly in the 1970s when Butler was writing the novel. It flows smoothly from Wild Seed, so it surprised me to learn it was written earlier. Anyanwu has changed her name to Emma. She and Doro are still around. But this story focuses on one of her granddaughters, Mary. Doro moves Mary, who has incredible telepathic abilities, to California. Mary's power develops as the "Patternist" that gives the series its name. She is able to link the minds of less than a dozen active telepaths at first. She builds and strengthens a community of hundreds of telepaths and some unpowered humans until she becomes a threat to Doro's power, and a competitor to his master plan. Butler's writing is so good at the drama of relationships and the inner working of peoples' minds. At the end, there is something close to an action scene out of a superhero comic book, but it is powerful because of Butler's character development over these two books.

Aftermath

 

Aftermath by LeVar Burton (1997) 320 pages

The author, who is the same actor from Roots, Star Trek: TNG, and host of Reading Rainbow, wrote this in the '90s. In a way, he predicted a future America that would elect its first African American President in 2012, but within three short months the President was assassinated. Then a civil war over race in America collapses our society. This reminded me a bit of Stephen King's The Stand, which I've only read in graphic novel form, but this book has fewer characters. There are really four separate stories for three quarters of the book. Renee is a scientist who has invented a neuro-enhancer, and she is able to mentally call out for help when a rival scientist steals her invention and imprisons her. I wish the four characters' stories wove together sooner and that combining their skills to save Renee took more planning. As it is, it all wraps up in less than 50 pages and it doesn't seem like there is a great reason for each of the characters to be there. Still I mostly enjoyed the journey.