Part of Butler's Patternist series. Mary, the main character (chapters telling her story are written in first person) is not very likeable. She seems to develop more and more compassion towards fellow human beings as the story develops, but it's still not enough. When reading the book you ultimately find yourself rooting for the lesser evil, with the greater evil being Doro, and the lesser being Mary and her "First Family". There is a chilling savageness about what almost all the characters do, which works in the books favor. Character development is somewhat lacking however. You really don't get to know Mary, Doro, Emma, Karl, Vivian or any of the others. All in all, a somewhat interesting (albeit fast) read mainly because of its chilling nature. ( )

My favorite Octavia Butler book, well toward the top of my list of favorite books ever, is Mind of My Mind, which is part of the Patternmaster/Clay's Ark universe. It follows Mary, daughter of Doro (from Wild Seed, as her mental powers develop and she actually creates the Pattern. Origin stories done well are really excellent, and this one creates something that I was familiar with after Patternmaster and makes it all logical and fascinating and easy to see, and it also focuses hard on a powerful Black woman who's in no way willing to turn away from the responsibilities her power grants her. It's awesome.

Another very early book of hers. Not great, although the slavery themes she brings up are interesting. It's similar in premise to the excellent Fledgling, only with telepaths instead of vampires.

As I said for Patternmaster, this series is a crappy introduction to Butler - go read Kindred, then Lillith's Brood, then Fledging, and then Parable of the Sower (which I didn't like much but other people have). Then maybe you can read this. ( )

This novel is the 2nd book in a group of five 'Patternist' novels by Octavia Butler who wrote the five books in the series out of sequence. The first novel chronologically is Wild Seed and a good place to start. In that book, we are introduced to Doro, an immortal and, frankly, a parasite, who has been breeding throughout the centuries, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. In Mind of My Mind he confronts a telepathic daughter who has developed into something special, something he has been waiting for, for a long time. Be careful what you wish for.

I'm not sure the book stands on its own very well - it is a complete story but, imo, the reader is better served by reading the whole series. I enjoy Butler's novels because she draws great characters and always has something to say about family, gender, race, and power. ( )

Doro from Wild Seed has created some very powerful telepaths. So powerful that they create a society without him. Mary is the most powerful, she creates a pattern of minds, that can make weak telepaths stronger, can heal physical and mental aches, and by the book’s end kills Doro.
Butler’s second novel, published in 1977, this mentions that “mutes” (non-telepaths) are just another way of saying the "n" word. (Butler's books use the actual word where it is warranted.)
It also gives a little attention to the slavery of the mutes to the telepaths. There are three more books in this series, the newer ones, I’ll bet, give more attention to this part of the new society. ( )