![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Title: The Pattern Scars
Author: Caitlin Sweet
Illustrator: Martin Springett
Published: Toronto: ChiZine, 2011
Rating: 5 of 5
Page Count: 400
Total Page Count: 178,925
Text Number: 526
Read Because: recommended here and here, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Nola, with the ability to view the future, is adopted by a powerful and ambitious mentor. The Pattern Scars could only exist in the specific. The convincing magic system and themes of complicity, coerced consent, and abuse function in perfect harmony; rather than contrived, Nola's inescapable situation has an inevitable, claustrophobic logic. It's one of the most pointed and effective speculative works I've ever read, sympathetic, discomforting, and intentional. The Pattern Scars is unlovely to read and lovingly written; Sweet has an assured voice, the justified first person narrative is a rare delight, and her characterization is fantastic. If I have one complaint, it's that the plot's resolution is swift and largely external to the protagonist. But on the whole: phenomenal.
Author: Caitlin Sweet
Illustrator: Martin Springett
Published: Toronto: ChiZine, 2011
Rating: 5 of 5
Page Count: 400
Total Page Count: 178,925
Text Number: 526
Read Because: recommended here and here, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Nola, with the ability to view the future, is adopted by a powerful and ambitious mentor. The Pattern Scars could only exist in the specific. The convincing magic system and themes of complicity, coerced consent, and abuse function in perfect harmony; rather than contrived, Nola's inescapable situation has an inevitable, claustrophobic logic. It's one of the most pointed and effective speculative works I've ever read, sympathetic, discomforting, and intentional. The Pattern Scars is unlovely to read and lovingly written; Sweet has an assured voice, the justified first person narrative is a rare delight, and her characterization is fantastic. If I have one complaint, it's that the plot's resolution is swift and largely external to the protagonist. But on the whole: phenomenal.
