Mind of My Mind
Registered by 
erishkigal
of Salt Lake City, Utah USA on 1/17/2011
This book is in a Controlled Release!
erishkigal of Salt Lake City, Utah USA on 1/17/2011 This book is in a Controlled Release!
2 journalers for this copy...
another brilliant Butler! This one came tome by way of my sister, Miceala, in a box my b-i-l passed on to me.
4000 year old Doro is attempting to breed a "master race" of telepaths. He breeds and disposes of his children like cattle. Utterly without conscience, his powers have not made him super-human, but inhuman. And now he may have finally achieved his goal....
The struggle for power often inherent in Butler's novels is overt here. Tho it can go either way, what ultimately happens has become inevitable. But for me, that foreknowledge of plot did not detract, as I was interested in the characters~ those I liked and those I loathed (trying hard here to talk about the book without spoilers~ain't easy). And an aspect I found intriguing is Butler's exploration of how those with psychic abilities might function in a world populated mostly by people without such abilities.
4000 year old Doro is attempting to breed a "master race" of telepaths. He breeds and disposes of his children like cattle. Utterly without conscience, his powers have not made him super-human, but inhuman. And now he may have finally achieved his goal....
The struggle for power often inherent in Butler's novels is overt here. Tho it can go either way, what ultimately happens has become inevitable. But for me, that foreknowledge of plot did not detract, as I was interested in the characters~ those I liked and those I loathed (trying hard here to talk about the book without spoilers~ain't easy). And an aspect I found intriguing is Butler's exploration of how those with psychic abilities might function in a world populated mostly by people without such abilities.
Now travelling in the Science Fiction Bookbox!
This book came to me in Erishkigal's science fiction bookbox, and I have decided today to take it for reading. Thanks!
This is the second book in Octavia Butler's Patternist series. The titles of all four volumes are Wild Seed, Mind of My Mind, Clay's Ark, and Patternmaster. I have previously read Wild Seed a few years ago, so this was in the correct order for me.
The consequences of Butler's speculative concepts were quite logically worked out. I believe that involuntary telepathy and the need for power over others as described here, would lead to the brutal behaviors that come to be accepted by, in some cases, good and ethical people - but that makes it really hard to identify with them. Mary is not as bad as Doro, who made her what she is, but still she's pretty evil for a main character. I just don't get how the other characters come to accept and even love her dominance. I'm sure that Butler intended this to reflect on the history of slavery in the world, as that was very explicit in the first book. In the end, I found the book entertaining, but not as great as Butler's Parable of the Sower or Kindred.
The consequences of Butler's speculative concepts were quite logically worked out. I believe that involuntary telepathy and the need for power over others as described here, would lead to the brutal behaviors that come to be accepted by, in some cases, good and ethical people - but that makes it really hard to identify with them. Mary is not as bad as Doro, who made her what she is, but still she's pretty evil for a main character. I just don't get how the other characters come to accept and even love her dominance. I'm sure that Butler intended this to reflect on the history of slavery in the world, as that was very explicit in the first book. In the end, I found the book entertaining, but not as great as Butler's Parable of the Sower or Kindred.
I sent this book to someone in Florida, as part of a trade arranged through paperbackswap.com
