The Pattern Scars

by Caitlin Sweet

Nola is born into poverty in Sarsenay City. When her mother realizes that Nola has the gift of Othersight and can foretell the future, she sells her to a brothel seer, who teaches the girl to harness her gift. As she grows up, she embraces her new life, and even finds a small circle of friends. All too soon, her world is again turned upside down when one of them is murdered. When a handsome, young Otherseer from the castle promises to teach her, she eagerly embraces the prospects of luxury beyond what she can imagine and safety from a killer who stalks girls by night. Little does she know that he will soon draw her into a web of murder, treachery, and obsessive desire that will threaten the people and land she holds dear, and that she will soon learn the harshest of that being able to predict the future has nothing to do with being able to prevent it.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Dark Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Tragedy

375 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Caitlin Sweet’s first fantasy novel, A Telling of Stars, was published by Penguin Canada in 2003. Her second, The Silences of Home, was published in 2005. Between them, they were nominated for Aurora Awards, a Locus Best First Novel Award, long-listed for the Sunburst Award, and ranked in the top 5 of SFSite’s Best Novels of 2005. For a few years she was deluded enough to think that she might write some epic trilogies. Eventually she returned to her senses and wrote a stand-alone novel, The Pattern Scars, which was published in fall 2011 by ChiZine Publications. In 2014 came The Door in the Mountain (which won the Copper Cylinder Award), and in 2015, its sequel, The Flame in the Maze. You can find her blog at www.caitlinsweet.com.

Reviews

[Charlotte Kersten]

CW: Grooming, emotional, physical and sexual abuse of an underage character, child sex trafficking, body horror, suicide of the main character, LOTS of self-harm, animal cruelty, torture, serial killings

Nola, o Nola,
So lovely, so bold
When will your eyes fall on me?

So What’s It About?

Nola is born into poverty in Sarsenay City. When her mother realizes that Nola has the Othersight and can foretell the future, she sells her to a brothel seer, who teaches the girl to harness her gift. But she will soon learn a harsh lesson: that being able to predict the future has nothing to do with preventing it.

What I Thought

This is simultaneously one of the most beautiful and one of the most horrible books I’ve read in a really long time. The blurb doesn’t describe the overall plot in great detail, but a quick summary is that Nola is groomed and essentially magically entrapped into helping an insane Seer named Teldaru practice blood magic/necromancy in order to try to ignite a war with a neighboring county.

If it isn’t abundantly clear from the content warnings I provided, there is some extremely disturbing content here. The depiction of Teldaru’s abuse is horrific in the extreme and he is an absolute monster, and I say that as someone who is currently embarking on a reading project devoted to depictions of trauma in fantasy. His absolute control over Nola is viscerally depicted and there are some details that make it extremely powerful, especially Nola’s complex feelings and reactions that develop over time and her increasing attempts at resistance.

Nola’s perspective being so beautifully written is one of the book’s principal strengths, and another one is the fact that there are good people who try to help Nola to the best of their ability even though they truly have no idea what is going on. Her childhood friends Berdram and Grasni, as well as her loyal dog Borl, provide some of the only lightness and hope in the entire book, and it would have been a significantly less powerful story without their relationships.

I do want to spend some time talking about the ending. Teldaru’s plan fails and he is killed, but the corpses that he murdered and then re-animated for his plot are stuck in a state that is half-life/half-death because their existence is also tied to Nola’s magic and she still lives. Nola decides to end her life to let them be free. It’s an absolutely gutting ending to a book that is unflinching overall, and I could not stop crying as she sat with Grasni and Borl under the tree where her childhood mentor was buried and read the final poem Bardrem wrote about her.

This book had such an extreme effect on me that I reached out to Caitlin Sweet to thank her for writing it and tell her how much it meant to me. We have had a few email exchanges that I have appreciated so much, including talking about writing characters who may be frustrating to read about because of their trauma and the importance of art about abuse and sexual assault (she also read a draft of the essay about sexual assault in fantasy that I posted a bit ago on r/fantasy). What I really want to highlight here, though, is what she told me when I asked her about how she decided on Nola’s ending. She told me that, despite the potential pitfalls associated with not writing a happy ending for a survivor of extreme abuse, she could not see Nola’s story ending any other way and was still told by many survivors that they found it to be cathartic in the extreme, something that I definitely felt as well. Before I read this book, I don’t think I would have ever imagined that being the case, and it is honestly a testament to Sweet’s skill that it worked as well as it did.

For those of you who read the trigger warnings and think they will be able to handle them, I really, really encourage giving this book a try. It’s beautiful and powerful and visceral and tragic in a completely unique way. I honestly wish I could be more articulate about it because I feel like I haven’t done it total justice in my review.

[Lorina Stephens · Rating 5 out of 5]

It would be very easy to wax poetic about Caitlin Sweet's, The Pattern Scars. Deservedly so. From the first sentences Sweet demonstrates her craftsmanship by translating the reader into a richly and perfectly realized world, populated by people who are very human despite extraordinary and sometimes dark abilities.

With astonishing subtlety, Sweet presents a relationship between a clairvoyant girl who is employed as a seer in a brothel, and a psychopathic and megalomaniacal seer who holds the trust of his lifelong friend, the king. What unfolds is a horrifically mesmerizing tale that is haunting and heart-breaking, and in the end even hopeful.

Throughout the novel the pace vibrates with tension, married to elegant yet simply drawn prose, spare on detailed description, allowing the reader to fall into the action. In fact, the only descriptions of significance are those of the seers' eyes, which brilliantly serves to heighten the importance and power of the characters.

If you are of a tender heart, as am I, it is a novel that will make you weep, and one you will return to time and again.

[Juushika · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[rameau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shall we begin with the warnings? If any of these (spoilerish) elements disturb or trouble you in any way, you should probably run back to reading The Princess Diaries or something equally scary: abortion, abuse, blood play, child abuse, cutting, death, dead babies, lying, murder, necromancy, paedophilia, physical abuse, psychological abuse, prostitution, rape, scars, slavery, zombies.

Now that all of the sane, self-preserving, healthy people have moved on, that just leaves the creepy mentally disturbed people like me.

This book was a slow read for me. There was something about the story and the writing that told me right away that I need to take my time and pay attention to the words. Maybe it was because the narrator reminded me of Fitz Farseer in Robin Hobb's trilogies The Farseer and The Tawny Man. Like Fitz, Nola is telling the story of her life from some point in the future and she starts from her childhood, if you can call it that.

It turns out that being poor in Sarsenay City can mean growing up with a mother who'd rather be pregnant with another mouth she can't feed than endure her monthly bleeding. It can mean that a girl will be sold to a brothel for few coppers and not because mother needs to feed her other babies. It can mean simply growing older only because the brothel is where a girl can earn money.

And all that without the burden or gift of Otherseeing.

"A seer's place is apart - and if you forget this you'll be flogged. It's not your flesh that matters, after all, and I won't fear you as the others will."

Who could have guessed that these words spoken to an eight year old would turn out to be just as true as they were false? But of course she doesn't get to stay in that innocent place with Bardrem and Yigranzi for too long.

Nola leaves the brothel when her friends, and other seers, die and she believes her life to be in danger. There's a serial killer loose in the city and she isn't safe as long as any of her customers could be the faceless murderer. So, when a stranger from the castle offers to protect and teach her, she leaves thinking of fancy dresses and gems and luxurious life of the castle. She gets those things, in time, along with a last glance to a young, beautiful and innocent girl.

The horrors she has to witness and do are unimaginable. Or were right up until the moment I read this book.

I'm not as strong a character as Nola was, because I would have walked of a balcony long before that ceased to be an option for her. She's not a weakling, but she isn't strong enough either - she gets out of breath for just walking down the corridor on few occasions. She doesn't really care when she hurts people's feelings, like telling her eager-to-please maid she isn't needed, but that's only understandable since hardly anyone cared about hurting Nola's feelings. She wasn't taught to think for herself and because her mind has been twisted by a morally corrupt man, she can't see a way out.

And just as there wasn't an escape for Nola, there was none for me. I couldn't stop reading even when I knew I was making those micro-expressions of disgust non-stop. I had to keep going even when I was tired or yearning for something fluffier - yes, I ran for fluffy fanfiction in the middle of this book - and I had to see how it all ended.

Both Nola and I won our partial freedom. She from the secrecy Teldaru forced her into and I from the disgust factor. The most rewarding part, for me, was when Grasni managed to lure Nola back into the sunlight.

Caitlin Sweet doesn't disappoint. The ending she chose, although we could have a serious discussion about the method of delivery, was the only one possible for such a story.

I received an Advanced Readers Copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Hallie]

Not giving this a rating, because I thought the writing was generally very good but the story just got too bleak for me to listen all the way through. I listened for over two-thirds, then went to the last few chapters. I had to give up at the point because there had just been too many chapters depicting Nola's utter powerlessness at the hands of the creepiest of villains (no names, as it's a bit of a spoiler, though by the time it comes out who he is, it's not a big surprise), and her powerlessness was so appallingly portrayed. Not only was she unable to escape him, but she was unable to tell anyone what was happening, and then he kept talking to her like the worst sort of sexual abuser, so lovingly, and she was sexually attracted to him, no matter how much she didn't want to be. I'm still not at all sure what I feel about the portrayal of this horrific emotional and physical abuse, especially as Nola was so young when it started, but that's a larger question than just about this book. I can't rate it, anyway.

One thing I do find quite irritating though, is the fact that even in a completely secondary world, the protagonist and all the people she knows are pretty clearly white, while an island country with whom they have a lot of trade (and more, later) are very definitely dark-skinned. And they're also depicted quite a bit as Other - exotic and beautiful often, but decidedly Other. Why do that in a secondary world?

[Liviu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Pattern Scars is a book that has so much going for it - prose, narrator, world building - that I kept hoping the author won't partly squander that by keeping it a one note novel to the bitter end; but sadly the novel while starting promisingly, morphs into a s&m - ok mostly psychical and magical, not purely physical, but that's beside the point - relationship that takes precedence over everything else.

A page turner and well written but its one dimensionality keeps it from being more than a B for me.

[DMS · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://dms.booklikes.com/post/520923/...

[zeynep]

This book works on some levels and not on others.

A man crafts, with magic, a perfect victim: someone who is physically unable to tell others about her suffering, someone whose feet will always take her back to him. As a narrative of living through abuse, I thought this was very good. Multifaceted and sad. Even when Nola is magically prevented from speaking about it, I still wished for someone to see her scars and ask why? But no one ever did. (Which I suppose is realistic.) Nola both hating her abuser and seeking comfort in him because she can go to nobody else, etc.

As a fantasy novel, I was not as impressed, bc the protag is from generic fantasy Europe and her country is clashing with like, generic fantasy Africa. And I was like, ok I guess. But clearly the book's intent is not to do painstaking world-building or anything, so I can't fault it for that.

[Anncleire · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Pattern Scars” è rimasto per un sacco di tempo nei libri da leggere, lo avevo richiesto ma poi come sempre mi era passato di mente perché presa da altre letture. Finalmente ci ho messo mano e devo dire che è stata una piacevole sorpresa.

Il libro si sviluppa come una sorta di diario e racconta le vicende di Nola da quando era una bambina. Nola è una Otherseer, una sorta di veggente, o comunque una ragazza che è capace di leggere il futuro o meglio il Pattern delle persone, con la cera, con l’inchiostro, con il sangue. La madre per sopravvivere la vende ad un bordello dove vive Yigranzi la sua mentore che le insegna i rudimenti dell’arte di vedere le strade che un individuo può percorrere entrando nell’Otherworld. Nel bordello vive anche un ragazzo Bardrem, cuoco e poeta, che diventa subito amico di Nola. Quando lei ha 14 anni un uomo viene a prenderla per insegnarle l’arte del Bloodseeing, lui è Master Teldaru il più grande seer che esiste in Sarsenay, il luogo dove si svolgono le vicende. Teldaru ha un grande piano, e Nola ne sarà complice perché costretta da una maledizione che le ha imposto lo stesso Teldaru e niente riuscirà a darle pace, anche quando tutto sarà finito.

La storia non è facile da riassumere, sia perché ci sono molti elementi, e quindi per la sua complessità, sia perché è estremamente toccante. Parla soprattutto di futuro, di destino, della non chiarezza delle visioni e soprattutto del fatto che il nostro Pattern non è definitivo ma sempre in evoluzione come un corso d’acqua che si snoda nel tempo e nello spazio dell’Otherworld in attesa delle nostre decisioni.

Nola è una protagonista a tutto tondo, un personaggio molto interessante. Non ha nulla della classica protagonista da YA e anzi è molto forte e anche se lo è non si comporta mai da damigella in distress. Rimane sempre consapevole di quello che fa, sempre fedele a se stessa anche se Teldaru esercita una forte influenza su di lei. La fa diventare Mistress, le insegna un’arte proibita e pericolosa, la sceglie come la sua favorita e la fa diventare la sua amante. E quando un uomo dal fascino di Teldaru molto più grande di lei, potente, e quando vuole dolce e appassionato è difficile resistergli. In realtà Nola resta immune dalla spinta sentimentale di Teldaru perché innamorata di Bardrem, ma alla fine vittima consenziente del grande Master. E alla fine testimone impotente di gran parte delle vicende.

Teldaru che è l’antagonista della vicenda conserva sempre un’aurea di insegnante e alla fine è solo un pazzo accecato dal potere e dalla voglia di governare. Deve essere il migliore. Afferra e potenzia un’arte che faceva bene ad essere proibita, gioca con la vita e con la morte, percorre le strade dell’Otherworld come se fossero reali e trova la fine che merita. Ma è un personaggio affascinante, complesso, descritto magnificamente e se ne ha una percezione così forte che sembra di avercelo davanti. La Sweet è stata estremamente brava, e forse è anche migliore di Nola.

Anche il caleidoscopio dei personaggi secondari è estremamente vario e interessante e vorrei citare Grasni, e le donne di Belakao Zemiya e Ispa Neluja (il corrispettivo di Seer) che in qualche modo sono le più importanti nella vicenda, hanno un ruolo chiave e soprattutto sono le più riuscite.
E non da ultimo Borl, il cane di Teldaru che ha un voltafaccia incredibile e a cui spetta il compito più importante e che ho semplicemente adorato e Uja l’uccello di Neluja, che era andato con Teldaru e che si affeziona a Nola e la aiuta in diverse circostanze.

Indiscutibile è il ruolo svolto dal paranormal, non so di preciso in che definizione metterlo, ma è stato rinfrescante leggere di qualcosa di diverso che non fossero demoni, angeli, vampiri o simili. L’idea è originale e il libro fila veloce, dopo la prima metà in cui si parla dell’infanzia di Nola nel bordello. Da quando fa la sua comparsa il Master, il libro assume un nuovo ritmo, e non ci accorgiamo della gravità delle sue azioni finché non ne siamo catapultati nel mezzo. È un incredibile corsa, in cui non facciamo che fare il tifo per Nola e alla fine sono rimasta di sasso, perché mi aspettavo qualcosa di diverso, ma riflettendoci questa è l’unico finale possibile e mi sono commossa leggendo le ultime righe.

Ve lo consiglio anche perché Caitlin Sweet è davvero una brava scrittrice, molto in gamba, questo è il suo terzo romanzo e sono curiosa di leggere anche gli altri. Davvero brava. Good Luck!

Io d’altra parte ringrazio Netgalley e ChiZine Publications per avermi concesso il piacere di leggere in anticipo questo libro in cambio della mia onesta opinione.

[Hannu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel held the top of my Must Read-list for a very long time, and now that I've finally got a change to read it, I was really pleasantly surprised: It was even better than I expected.
This is an exquisitely written novel of literary fantasy that will linger in the memory long after the last page.
Although The Pattern Scars hardly belongs to the "grimdark" or "edgy" school of fantasy, it's still a very dark tale. But the novel's somber undertone stems more from its exploration of the darker side of human condition than any dreary, entropic setting. And this it does extremely effectively.

The Pattern Scars is very light on world-building, but that is as it should be: This is very much a character-driven novel.
The book's main protagonist and narrator, Nola, is born into poverty in the prosperous nation of Sarsenay, and sold to brothel as a seer when her mother discovers she has the gift of Othersight, the ability to catch a glimpse of the future through Otherword - a kind of fantasy equivalent of quantum world. But this gift is a double-edged sword really. The universe here is very deterministic; you simply can't change the future no matter what.
In Sarsenay, brothels serve two purposes - the obvious one and the one where the customers come and pay the seers to tell them their future. Nola spends her girlhood in the brothel dreaming of life in the castle among Sarsenay City's nobility where she would prophesy for the king and the court.
This dream proves to be her undoing, as it leads her to trust the promises of a charismatic and handsome seer who turns out to be a narcissitic sociopath with very dangerous delusions of grandeur.
Nola gets caught into his web of dark deeds and treachery and soon learns that there is a darker aspect of otherseeing that is strictly forbidden for a very good reason.

It is interesting to note that the novel gets even darker as the story progresses - it gains almost a horror aesthetic. At this point the entire story could have easily become a depressing, melodramatic mess, but Sweet handles her difficult subject matter extremely well.
Nola is never quite a passive wictim in a helpless situation - she has her own plans and agendas - although it becomes clear she starts to eventually suffer from some form of Stockholm Syndrome. The seer - the book's main antagonist - is exquisitely realized. He is as unpleasant a character as you'd expect such a psychopath to be, but he's never one-dimensional. It is truly fascinating to follow his slow slide from Merely Psychotic all the way to the realm of Batshit Insane. In the end he becomes so consumed by his obsessions that he simply turns out to be more pitiful than just monstrous.
The account of their destructive chemistry makes really compelling reading, and on one level it could be read as a pretty insightful examination of dangerous and abusive relationships.

The Pattern Scars is not only monochromatic gloom, though. There is beauty, melancholy and quiet moments of joy to be experienced as well - vibrantly brought to life by Sweet's lyrical, assured prose.
Caitlin Sweet's very personal prose style is pretty much the highlight of this novel. She's extremely sparing on fancy wordwork; instead she makes the world and the characters come alive through lucid, beautiful prose.
Yet some more interesting layers are added to the story, as it is almost entirely told in the form of Nola's memoir. This might subtly indicate Nola belonging to the category of unrealiable narrator. Is the account really accurate or perhaps unintentionally falsified by a mind gone through really traumatizing events? Towards the end, the novel seems to gain also a slight mythical undertone as Nola will surely become one of the darker legends of Sarsenayan history.
But these are just my interpretations. Your mileage may vary.
The novel's ending - although not exactly happy - is logical and satisfying.

At this point it should be glaringly obvious I loved The Pattern Scars utterly. It flew straight into the top ten of my favorite fantasy novels of all time. It is simply one of the best I've read in a long, long time. I would highly recommend this novel to anyone, especially those with penchant for gorgeously written literary fantasies.
Caitlin Sweet is a real talent and deserves much wider recognition.

[Nighteye · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Predicting the future dosen't mean you can prevent it..." are the words on the backcover and these words are mirroring the book well!

I meet the auhtor at Swecon and then read her book, we talked a bit about the book after I've been reading a bit into it. The book is about a young girl who's mother sells her to a brothel when she discovers that her daughter is a seer, a person who can foretell the pattern of the future for a person .
Then she lives there a time, dreaming to come to the chaste, and then a person come that says that he will give her a chance to go to the chaste if she only follow him... and after that nothing is the same any more.


It's a good book, I really love it for several reasons and here are some of them: first of all it's difficult to say what will happened next (which I like), as soon as you think you'll know what will happen then something totally unpredictable happens and you are lost again...
It's a lot of twists in it, especially the sequel surprised me a lot and in the last half of the book there are twist after twist. Another thing I like are that it constantly happens things all the time, like in trudi Canavans books, and I would like to read more books like that!

And in almost every chapter there are small clues of what Nola are doing right now, who I really liked and were searching after, sometimes it's only a sentence or two of words who says something about it but if you are looking closely you will find them...

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love this book, for a variety of reasons. I think it does what spec-fic needs to do, and it does it well, in that it takes something fantastic, like the power of foresight, and portrays it in a new and different way that really makes you think about the human psyche. Of course, it's also a really great book; there's a good balance of action, contemplation, romance, and conflict in here, and Caitlin Sweet's characters are all very well developed in a way that makes them not only three dimensional, but realistic. It's a fun story, and its straightforwards without being overly simple--and you don't have to wade through the wordiness and extraneous plot that so many other fantasy novels fall victim to. I absolutely recommend, both to fans of the genre, and those who are just looking for an interesting read.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could give this book twenty stars, I would happily do so. I stayed up 'til after three a.m. to finish it, and cannot recommend it highly enough. What an absolutely gorgeous book.

[l · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not satisfied with the epilogue tbh but the rest....

[Dominick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: this review is riddled with spoilers.

Who would have thought someone with a name like Caitlin Sweet would write such a dark, hard-edged fantasy? We have our standard Fantasy scenario: medieval otherworld with magic. Except, here, magic is very narrowly-defined. Otherseers can see the patterns of someone's future when they do a reading of that person's "pattern." One culture believes that what is seen is fixed; another believes it represents only the most likely possibility. The novel ultimately seems to come down on that side, though that question is complicated by the fact that the Otherseer's vision is not a literal revelation but rather a collage of symbolic images. Our protagonist and antagonist are both Otherseers. The narrator, Nola, begins her account of her life as a child in training as an Otherseer (in a brothel; for some reason, Otherseeing and sex work are linked; I am not sure why). Someone is killing the girls, cutting them up. Looks at first like we may be getting a medieval fantasy serial killer story. Turns out, however, that there is a forbidden variation on Otherseeing, blood magic, basically, which our antagonist wants to use to raise from the dead heroes from the distant past, have them fight, and then intervene himself to "save" the world and take over himself. By the end of the novel, Nola comes tot he conclusion that this guy, Teldaru, was mad. Well, no shit. For one thing, as an Otherseer himself, you'd think he would have been able to foresee his own failure--though one is not supposed to turn the Otherseeing eye on the self, presumably plenty of other folks' patterns would have been affected by such a cataclysmic event. Two elements of this novel, foe me, make it stand out. One is that Sweet, while flirting with romancey elements, presents Nola as an adolescent not only seduced by but explicitly attracted to Teldaru. That's a risky move for a recently-written book--to present what is essentially grooming and pedophilia in complex terms and without explicit condemnation. Nola even restores Teldaru to life after his death, albeit to keep him in a cage. The other is that the novel plays with the standard Fantasy scenario of world-changing threats that have to be prevented by our hero. Instead, Teldaru's grand plan, while it does lead to changes in the kingdom of Sarsenay (since the king gets killed) is more of an anti-climax than anything else; no fundamental change to anything takes place, and he gets his throat torn out by a resurrected dog (Borl, one of my favourite characters). And our hero is, as is often the case, profoundly changed by her experiences, set adrift by all the personal devastation she suffers, a la Frodo perhaps. Unlike Frodo, however, she doesn't get a moving metaphor for death. This is a dark, violent novel, reminiscent of the sort of thing George R. R. Martin does (did? will he ever finish?) in A Song of Ice and Fire but without Martin's prolixity and with a more nuanced sense of character than one finds in Martin. Not for readers looking for comfortable good triumphs over evil against impossible odds fantasy, but very much for readers who like solid world-building and edgy plotting and characterization.

[susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the exact kind of fantasy I adore and aspire to write.
It was relentlessly dark and so hopeless, but it wasn't the grimdark edgy misery that permeates the genre now. The darkness wasn’t inherent in the world, but all within the characters and their actions.

The setting was very good for a novel like this – I enjoyed the two kingdoms, the casual and effortless inclusion of a cast full of poc in fantasy (even if they all felt Othered at times). I loved Sweet’s description, bringing a fairly stock-standard fantasy setting to life. Sarsenary City was perfect in its realism, to me – poverty and hardship portrayed with enough frankness that it ended up showing, well, life. It didn’t relish in the rape and starvation and trauma such an upbringing would give someone like Nola.

Nor did it relish in the trauma of Nola’s life as she was taken away from this life. The book was interesting to read in the section in the brothel but after she left I was completely unable to put it down. It was told in a way more akin to a horror story than a fantasy, which was entirely unexpected and so good. So good because even though it was depicting a lifetime of abuse and atrocities, there were moments of levity and triumph, showing the positive and healing human connections one can find as well as the destructive. It shows in such a frank light how abuse can ruin these good relationships as well, but also how these relationships can be redemptive.

The plot and its pacing was fantastic, I was completely engaged in the story the entire way through. The characters, I loved, I got so invested in Nola and Bardrem, the royals and her fellow seers, and honestly, even Teldaru. A villain entirely without sympathy but he was electric. The chemistry between him and Nola was fascinating and horrific to read about, and was the heart of this novel – an exploration of the relationship between abuser and victim.

(In a lot of ways it reminded me of Cagebird by Karin Lowachee, one of my favourite novels of all time. The protagonist is an exploited child, without anyone advocating for them, absolutely powerless and can only rely on themselves; groomed to commit violence and unspeakable atrocities by their own hands, sexually abused so young that attraction, hurt and hate is so muddled, with a moral compass so skewed by their circumstances but still good hearted deep down. A very very different novel in plot and setting but these struck similar)

I enjoyed the attention paid to prophecy magic, that was different. Prophecies and sightseeing in fantasy is so often taken for granted so it was good to see a book that explored the mechanics and implications power like this would have on the world. It was interesting and horrifying, to see it used for controlling people’s fate and raising the dead.

I had some problems initially with the ending. On principle I hate stories that imply that someone has been so abused that their entire life is ruined and they might as well die, they’re better off that way. This book wasn’t so explicit with that message, neither did it go for that message entirely, BUT the undertones were there. I can understand why this was the approach taken, though, and can see that it was a fitting end

Also, this is the second book by ChiZine publishers that I've loved utterly and entirely. I definitely want to keep checking on this company now omg

[Bethany Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

OOF. This is a strong contender for my roughest read this year! It's beautifully told -- the prose is deceptively simple at times, but Nola has a strong narrative voice and her sensory descriptions really make the book come alive. Even when, uh, she's describing something nasty. Perhaps especially then!

This book also gives us a weird sort of gift: a villain with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. If you need a character to hate, Caitlin Sweet has got you covered!

It is at times a frustrating read, because Nola is so sheltered and yet so aware of her situation, but I do think that frustration is a deliberate choice; we rarely see glimpses of the larger world, but that only helps to heighten the helplessness and desperation Nola feels. And we're never far from remembering that in spite of the things Nola does, she is forced to do them, and is tormented by her choices.

My major criticism of this book is regarding the Belakao people, who are a nation of dark-skinned islanders with a tense relationship with the (seemingly) majority-white country of Sarseney, Nola's home. The portrayals of the Belakao characters feels a bit...other-y, to me, for lack of a better term, though they're all still dynamic, complete, flawed characters. The conversation around portrayals of race in speculative fiction has evolved in the 12+ years since this was written, so I'm definitely benefiting from being around for that conversation, but it did stick out to me as I was reading.

I always enjoy reading about characters blessed with great power, who are also totally hamstrung by that power, and Nola certainly fits that description! My heart breaks for her -- for pretty much every character in this book, except [redacted], whose face I want to see run over by a truck (to start with). It's not a happy book, by any means, and the role that trauma and manipulation play in the plot may be hard for some people to stomach, but the beauty of the writing and the unexpected grace throughout the story made it a worthwhile read for me.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of, if not the, darkest books I’ve read. A part of me wishes it could have been a bit lighter toward the end, but I also understand why it ended the way it did. I don’t know how Nora could have come back from everything she’d been through unless Bardrem had also survived. I was pretty sure there was no way he’d survive from the first time we meet him, and was disappointed to be right. Which is why I actually appreciate the ending of books like The Hunger Games, where characters live with their trauma after everything is done. However, I also see that Nora committing suicide was a way to put the world right since it was the only way to lay to rest the bodies she and Teldaru resurrected. .

This book was tightly written. Despite being less than 400 pages, it felt like a much longer series. The characters, world, themes, and plot were executed perfectly. For example, we meet Chenn for only a few chapters before she’s murdered, but she leaves a lasting impact on us as readers, as well as on Nora. The same can be said for Nora and Bardrem. They don’t have that many interactions, and even fewer romantic ones, but their relationship tore my heart out .

The themes in this book reminded me a lot of the book series by Kathleen Duey, Skin Hunger, which I probably would have considered the darkest books I’d read before this one. Like that series, The Pattern Scars deals heavily in themes of power and abuse, and how these impact individuals and societies. It can be very difficult to read at times. However, I think it’s an important topic, and handled very well here. I would go read some other reviews that list out the content warnings in more detail if that concerns you, since it’s throughout the entire book. I am glad to have read this (though that word is not one I’d attach to this book) because it is so beautifully written, and there are some poignant scenes throughout.

[Heaven-Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just as a heads up for people like me who have a very specific phobia of veins: not only is there blood play and blood letting, but there are lots of very detailed descriptions of veins (size, color, location, etc). Because of that, the first half of the book was difficult for me to get through because I had to keep putting it down to take deep breaths. I don't know why blood doesn't bother me the way veins do, but if you feel the same way then pick up this book with caution.

Overall the book was a solid OK. Beautifully written and intriguing with a mystery I enjoyed unraveling, but it never really sucked me in. I felt more of a passive interest. I read it on the bus or during lunch, but I was never itching to get to it.

[Rosamund Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling but deeply sad novel about a young woman who can see into the future. She becomes trapped by an unscrupulous magician and compelled by him to do terrible things. This fantasy novel works because of the author's subtle and careful understanding of trauma and her ability to look unflinchingly at pain others might shy away from.

[™ · Rating 5 out of 5]

this booooooook Messed Me Up. i liked the weird problematic relationship between the narrator and her "mentor" and the worldbuilding and just everything tbh. pretty dark and intense ending but i am a Fan.

[Brian Gaston · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 3+. This is not normally my type of reading but I like Sweet's writing. Recommended for those that read fantasy.

[reem.☽]

dnf at 50%

[Kevin Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lyrical, imaginative, bleak. Villainy sometimes cast in cartoonish extremes, but otherwise probing and insightful.

[Sandra "Jeanz" · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nola is born into poverty in Sarsenay City. When Nola's mother realizes that Nola has the gift of Othersight and that she can foretell the future, she sells her to a brothel seer, who then teaches the girl to harness her gift. As Nola grows up, she embraces her new life, and even finds herself a small circle of friends. All too soon, Nola's world is again turned upside down when one of that small circle of friends is murdered. When a handsome, young Otherseer from the castle promises to teach her, she eagerly embraces the prospects of luxury beyond what she can imagine and the safety from a killer who stalks girls by night. Little does Nola know that he will soon draw her deep into a web of murder, treachery, and obsessive desire that will threaten the people and the land she holds dear. Nola will soon learn the harshest of lessons: that being able to predict the future has nothing to do with being able to prevent it happening.


Hmmm how to describe this book?.....like nothing else I have ever read is totally honest. It was quite complicated in some places and in others at the beginning a touch slow but wow once it got going it all happened. Then you realised you needed the slow paced part of the book to have set the scene and given you the background on the history of Sarsenay and of course the history of Otherseeing. The book is quite dark, and the blood seeing is mysterious and dark in itself as well as what Nola and Taldaru are doing with it. Its difficult to know what to say without giving away spoilers but at the end Nola makes the ultimate sacrifice to try to put all the darkness and wrong doing right. I loved the perseverance of Baldrem, how he is beaten but still tries to help and protect Nola even though he ends up paying the ultimate price. You find yourself saying if only things had been slightly different for Nola and Bardem, they could have been so happy and things so different. Nola is not totally innocent but does come across as quite naive and then she seems to be in so deep she cannot escape no matter how she tries and she does try. Nola also tries to warn people but because of the curse laid upon her she is unable to do so.
Like I said the book could at times be confusing but all the paths and ends came together in the end and made sense. So I did enjoy the book overall. It is aimed at adults, though I think some younger adults may also read it too. I would also add it is a thought provoking book too, you ask yourself what you would do if you had Nola's gift. I also liked the character of Grasni who turned out to be a true and honest friend to Nola when she most needed one at the end of the book.

[Dezra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm giving this book 3 Stars because the book itself merits 4.5 stars but I personally didn't like it and would give it 1 star.

Here's my timeline in trying to read it:

December 2012. I'm having a hard time getting into this book at the moment. Right now, I need light reading, or non-fiction, or no reading, until the holidays are over.

January 2013, Update: I checked it out from the library again. It sat for three weeks until I returned it, unread. I couldn't make myself read it.

February 2013, update: I checked it out again. It was the only book I checked out so that I would HAVE to read it. So I started reading it.

The language and imagery are beautiful. I like how Sweet constructs her sentences and engages the senses. The characters are very well developed. They are so well developed that this is the reason I stopped reading it...again. Perhaps it's not the characters, but the situation. This book is a book about abuse, about silencing a woman in a horrible way, and forcing her to be a slave to a man's desires (not necessarily sexual, but in accomplishing his personal, arrogant goals). I was so angry that I stopped reading and skimmed through the book, trying to find where she is freed from his tyranny, and found only a broken woman. I admit that because I didn't read the last half of the book (just a page here and there), I may have missed out on her redemption. But if so, it was too little, too late.

If you want a good read and don't have the issues I have, I would definitely recommend this book. In fact, if I could find a book club who would want to talk about it, I would work through the rest of the book because I really think it has a lot of value. I was just too angry to read it alone.

[Linnéa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book Two of my "peruse through the library shelves" expedition. It was nice to read a novel by a Canadian author that isn't one of the typical heavyweights of Canadian literature, and I'd definitely be interested to read her other published works. This was a very very very very interesting novel. To be quite honest (without sounding melodramatic), I don't think I've ever read anything quite like it. It's an extremely unique, original and beautifully vivid book, while simultaneously being super creepy, suspenseful and dark. I know that's a very strange statement to make, but if you read the novel for yourself, you'll understand how true it is. I think what I appreciated most was the story's uniqueness. I'm finding as of late that many fictional works just seem to be variations on a theme or on a formula that have worked for someone else, so the originality of this book was quite refreshing and also shocking. The ideas of how seers see into peoples' futures, Bloodseeing, curses, kidnapping with hints of Stockholm Syndrome, prophecy fullfillment... An incredible mix of concepts and storylines. I guess the two main reasons that I didn't give this book more stars was that A) there were a few sections where I got lost in fogs of characters and/or Otherworld visions and B) parts of it just really really creeped me out. However, I would recommend it, and I think if you've got open-minded and discussion-hungry people in your book club, this could be a great choice. Just be prepared for some gory bits, and a few sex/rape bits (made even creepier by the whole kidnapping situation). Not the greatest sell, but like I said, I would recommend it.

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 Stars


This is one of the most somber stories I’ve ever read. It took me an extensive amount of time to get through this book, probably because of its somber tone. Well written, but if you like your stories to have some glimmer of hope or happiness, you’ve come to the wrong place. This is a standalone book written in 1st person POV, about Nola, a common girl who has a strong talent to see into someone’s future.

After being sold by her mother to a brothel for that purpose, she finds that her path is not destined for happiness. Without giving too much away, Nola spends almost the entire story as a magically mute slave, to a very sadistic and sick master seer. He uses her talent in a very twisted and forbidden way, which leads her to a path that she can never return from. The characters are three dimensional, but utterly unredeemable, which went along with its somber non-HEA tone. There is a just sliver of romance, between Nola and her childhood friend that comes back later to find her enslaved but unable to say so. No sex is described, but there is a fair amount of violence and gore, not YA.

If you like your books on the darker depressive side, then this one might be for you. But for me, it was out of my comfort zone, and not exactly satisfying, to say the least. Still well written and constructed, which were the only redeeming factors, besides its unpredictability.

I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley.

[Cryptid · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Nola, you must get it out of you. It's bile-poison, remember? Vomit it out, than, right here. Bleed it onto paper. Promise you'll try, at least. Promise!"
Which is what this book is all about - although Caitlin Sweet's writing has really nothing to do with vomit in any way (unless reading about blood actually makes you uneasy)... It's basically about a young girl Nola (living in a fantasy world where people have strange names) having a fortune-telling ability called "Otherseeing" and quite soon falling into the hands of a significantly more powerful seer (also psychopath) who wants to use her for his own purposes while also teaching her some really dark and interesting stuff. Which doesn't sound all that original... and most of it has to do with this poor girl being mentally and physically abused... and being just generally defenseless against it. I didn't expect I would enjoy it all that much, but I found myself really interested in finding out where it was going, what would Nola learn about her next Bloodseeing lessons, and whether she'd just give in (and become her master's true accomplice) or find some way out of her horrible situation. It's a bit like Sansa's story-line in A Game of Thrones, but even more disturbing and I'd also say interesting... requires a great deal of masochism.

[MA · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Pattern Scars was exquisitely written and very well crafted. I am sick to death of stories about brothels, but Sweet's writing was so delicate and evocative that I talked myself into giving it a try. The main character, Nola, is sold to a brothel as soon as her starving mother discovers that she has the gift of prophesy. There, she is apprenticed to the brothel seer, and makes friends with the cook's son and, later, a young prostitute who is inexplicably hiding her own gift of prophesy.

When Nola finds out what her new friend is hiding from, everything goes to shit. From there, the book is a long, lovely, depressing spiral down to a predictably disheartening ending.

I will be interested to read some of Sweet's other work, since she has a gorgeous knack for making a scene come alive, but I would not recommend this book to anyone who likes their pathos with more than a thin smidgen of hope or nobility.