Patternmaster
On sale
23rd June 2026
Price: £10.99
A stunning new edition of Book Four of the Patternist series, in which two immortals chase each other across continents and centuries, binding their fates together – and changing the destiny of the human race.
‘A book that shifted my life… Epic, game-changing, moving and brilliant’ VIOLA DAVIS on WILD SEED
‘If we’re talking must-read authors like Maya Angelou, James Baldwin and Toni Morrison, the one-and-only Octavia Butler needs be a part of the conversation’ O – the OPRAH MAGAZINE
—
In the far future, the human race is divided into two sides striving for power. The Patternmaster rules over all, the leader of the telepathic Patternist people whose thoughts can destroy or heal at his whim. The only threat to his authority is the Clayarks, mutant humans who live either enslaved by the Patternists or in the wild.
Coransee, son of the Patternmaster, wants the throne and will stop at nothing to succeed his father – even if it means killing every one of his siblings.
But when one brother – his rival and his equal – takes refuge amongst the Clayarks, a war ensues that will change the world forever.
A PATTERNIST NOVEL: BOOK FOUR
‘A book that shifted my life… Epic, game-changing, moving and brilliant’ VIOLA DAVIS on WILD SEED
‘If we’re talking must-read authors like Maya Angelou, James Baldwin and Toni Morrison, the one-and-only Octavia Butler needs be a part of the conversation’ O – the OPRAH MAGAZINE
—
In the far future, the human race is divided into two sides striving for power. The Patternmaster rules over all, the leader of the telepathic Patternist people whose thoughts can destroy or heal at his whim. The only threat to his authority is the Clayarks, mutant humans who live either enslaved by the Patternists or in the wild.
Coransee, son of the Patternmaster, wants the throne and will stop at nothing to succeed his father – even if it means killing every one of his siblings.
But when one brother – his rival and his equal – takes refuge amongst the Clayarks, a war ensues that will change the world forever.
A PATTERNIST NOVEL: BOOK FOUR
Reviews
One of the most significant literary artists of the twentieth century. One cannot exaggerate the impact she has had
Butler's prose, always pared back to the bone, delineates the painful paradoxes of metamorphosis with compelling precision
[Her] evocative, often troubling, novels explore far-reaching issues of race, sex, power and, ultimately, what it means to be human
No novel I've read this year has felt as relevant, as gut-wrenching or as essential... If you've ever tweeted "All Lives Matter", someone needs to shove Kindred into your hand, and quickly
Kindred is that rare magical artifact . . . the novel one returns to, again and again
One cannot finish Kindred without feeling changed. It is a shattering work of art
[A] must-read novel
Everyone should read at least one novel by the grand dame of science fiction, and Kindred is a perfect (and harrowing and disturbing and brilliant) place to start
The immediate effect of reading Octavia Butler's Kindred is to make every other time travel book in the world look as if it's wimping out... This is a brilliant book, utterly absorbing, very well written, and deeply distressing. It's very hard to read, not because it's not good but because it's so good
A searing, caustic examination of bizarre and alien practices on the third planet from the sun
One of the most original, thought-provoking works examining race and identity
If you haven't read Butler, you don't yet understand how rich the possibilities of science fiction can be
Butler's books are exceptional
Few writers in our field are so good at blending page-turners with philosophical questions so seamlessly
A dark, compelling and still horribly resonant time travel story
Impossible to turn away from once you've devoured the first few pages
