I first read Bloodchild last year, I think, and re-read it now. It's a very Octavia Butler story – aliens cohabitating with humans and making ties that touch on reproductive and life cycles is a thing she does. But she does it well, and it's not a repeated shtick. I didn't enjoy the story as such, but it was expertly written, and viscerally stuck in my memory. (Also: ew.)

Very very nearly a five-star book for me due to the ending, and I enjoyed it much more than the first volume. The story of Olamina told by herself, but commented on by her daughter, is really something. The pacing is outstanding and not very conventional (meaning you don't anticipate how the story is going to evolve and end). I was happy and impressed to follow Olamina through her budding community, her imprisonment, pregnancy, and founding a religion.

Wow wow wow. Real scifi, brilliant scifi. The Oankali are delightfully alien.

A very cool end to the series! I liked how after the human and the regular construct experience we now got the ooloi construct view of the world. To me, many things we were shown in the earlier two books grew clearer, even if this books story in itself wasn't groundbreaking. 3.5-4

Patternmaster was very enjoyable, and presented great characters (ever Octavia Butler's strength). There was decent worldbuilding, and I'd love to learn more about this world that is a distant decendant of ours – but sadly, the book ends way too early, at a point where I felt there hadn't been all that much plot yet.

I liked Mind of My Mind by Octavia Butler – to me it was the most interesting part of the Patternmaster series so far. It explores how, within our society as it exists today, the Patternist community came to exist, and soon dominated life everywhere. It's exactly the bit of backstory I was missing. That said, I didn't feel particularly attached to any of the characters. I think this was due to the rushed feeling – by skipping large intervals of time, we get told about important character and group developments, instead of being shown, which is unfortunate: with more space and exploration, this would have made an outstanding book.

Wild Seed (first part of Octavia Butler's Patternmaster series) was good, but not great. She experiments with the implication of mortal and immortal characters, who definitely aren't gods, and while I enjoyed the premise, and the writing, and the characters immensely, I felt that the story meandered and didn't quite know where to go. It was still a very pleasant read, and I'm looking forward to see in which direction the series develops. (After finishing the book, I was told that I had started the series in the chronological order, not the published order, which was not at all my intention, and may contribute to my impression of a vague plot.)

4.5 stars for me, but let's round it up.

I was still very interested in the progress, but less impressed as no terribly new concepts were introduced. Light and pleasant reading!

Man, Octavia Butler doesn't do nice – in the end, there's always violence/rape/horror. I'm starting to see a little too many parallels between her books in terms of characters involved, and the general feeling/direction, so I'll probably lay off them for a while. I still enjoyed Clay's Ark (which is part of the Patternmaster series, although VERY loosely connected), but it's not a book I'd care to read again.