Blindsight by Peter Watts had a great impact on me, because it introduced me to neuroscience. Especially the long bibliography in the online edition was very helpful. So, when Watts married Caitlin Sweet, I got interested in her works.

The Pattern Scars is a dark story, bordering on horror. Nola, a young seer, gets trapped in a plot of murder and intrigue. Quite an intense read.

The magical system involves seeing (and even manipulating) possible futures of a person. A nice twist: it is considered too dangerous to look at your own future. ( )

Nicely done. Turns expectations of the genre upside down. Lovely prose, and an ending that actually brought a tear to my eye. Chizine is turning out to be a very interesting publishing house - full of odd, scary, and intriguing work, beautiful rendered. ( )

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. ( )

I really adored this book. I picked it up because, quite honestly, I thought the book design was really cool; the summary of the book doesn't do it justice and makes it sound like a typical fantasy fairytale. However, I'm really glad I went with it, because "The Pattern Scars" takes a really interesting, dark look at what it would be like to have a seer's ability.

This is definitely a book that could appeal to fans of action and tense plotlines, but maybe the greatest strength of the book are the characters. While there are some parts of the book that don't have too much action in them, the rich detail and characterizations are always present, and they make this book a very compelling read.

Ultimately, I appreciated the fact that this story drew me in and made me feel good without succumbing to any typical fantasy tropes, which would have made this a guilty pleasure instead of a damn good read. I really recommend this for anyone who wants to read a great story driven by realistic, intriguing characters.

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. ( )