Patternmaster
- 186
- Pages
- about 3.5 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“Patternmaster” is a lean, dark coming-of-age story about power and rank among linked telepaths. Published first but set last in the Patternist series, it follows Teray, a young telepath who learns he is the ruler’s son and must fight for his place. Some readers see a western under the science fiction; others rank it below the books Butler wrote later. Read after them, it shows where the whole saga ends.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Patternmaster (1976) is a science fiction novel by American author Octavia E. Butler. Patternmaster, the first book to be published but the last in the series' internal chronology, depicts a distant future where the human race has been sharply divided into the dominant Patternists, their enemies the "diseased" and animalistic Clayarks, and the enslaved human mutes. The Patternists, bred for intelligence and psychic abilities, are networked telepaths. They are ruled by the most powerful telepath, known as the Patternmaster. Patternmaster tells the coming-of-age story of Teray, a young Patternist who learns he is a son of the Patternmaster. Teray fights for position within Patternist society and eventually for the role of Patternmaster.
Reading order · Patternist series
Full order & progress →- PatternmasterThis book
7.67.6 / 10 - Mind of My Mind
7.97.9 / 10 - Survivor
–Not ranked yet - Wild Seed
8.08.0 / 10 - Clay's Ark
7.67.6 / 10
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.3 across 58 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 28% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Science fiction average of 7.8. That is how 7.6 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardcover | 7.3 | 58 | 100% |
Frequently asked
How long is Patternmaster?
It has 186 pages — shorter than 95% of the ranked books in Science fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Science fiction — and a score of 7.6, the closest to this book.
