Summary

      Patternmaster is a story dealing, like most other stories, with the struggle between good and evil. One might call it a Cane and Abel for the sci-fi reader. It is a struggle for the control of the Pattern, a force that has the power to gain insight to all minds, and can harness the energy of the universe. It is also a story dealing with the relationships between three groups of people: the Clayarks, the Mutes, and the Patternists. The Patternists have the ability to utilize the Pattern. They are the dominant group in the society which Octavia Butler has created. The Mutes are a race very similar to humans. They are technologically inclined but have no ability to manipulate the pattern. They are mainly found in subordinate roles to the Patternists. Finally, the Clayarks are an infected race whose main goal is to infect everyone else in order that their race can control the planet. 
Patternmaster begins with the attempted assassination of Rayal, the Patternmaster, by the Clayarks. His lead wife, Jansee, is killed and Rayal himself is mortally wounded and infected with the Clayark's disease.
We then flash forward approximately twenty years and the story picks up the Redhill sector. Rayal is on his deathbed far away in the Forsyth sector. His son, Coransee, believes that he is next in line for Patternmaster, when his father passes on. However, a conflict arises when he realizes that his brother, Teray, may also have the potential to control the Pattern. Through a trade with a fellow Patternist, Coransee acquires Teray as his servant.
Coransee watches carefully over Teray as he serves him in order that he does not attempt to usurp his power. He offers him a bargain of freedom as long as he promises never to make an attempt for the control of the pattern.
Teray, not inclined to bargain with his life, escapes and flees south towards Forsyth he believes that if he can reach his father, Rayal, before Coransee, he may be able to save himself from Coransee's rule. He brings a companion, Amber, who is a healer along with him on the trip. Now that they are outside the boundaries of Redhill, they
are vulnerable to Clayark attack.
Through their journey to Forsyth they encounter troubles with not (The summary is continued on the Ideas and Opinions Page.)