Rating: 
Summary: Can it really happen?
Review: Being the Octavia Butler fan I am, I must say (without bias) that I found this book interesting. When I read any of her books, I don't do so with any preconceived notions or expectations. . . Just crack the cover and get going.If you're used to her style you know it's about us on earth and a being or beings from another world. The most interesting thing here is that you can take any of the present-day medical situations and insert it here. Since this was one of her first books I read, I was truly eager to reach the end. This is a must if you want to complete the Patternists series, as well as a creativity motivator. Enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: A great book, unless compared with Butler's others
Review: Compared to most other SF novels, Clay's Ark could be considered a great book. However, compared to other books by Butler, it falls short. Not because of craft. The book's pacing and plotting are near perfect; there are no wasted words. But while, it is extremely readable, the book suffers in it's characterisations. Here is where my initial remark comes into play. Compared to most SF, characters like Blake are extremely interesting, but compared to the characters Butler creates in her other Patternist novels 'Wild Seed' and 'Mind of my mind'. The moral dilemmas facing the main characters are not as balanced as in Butler's other work. The survival instinct of the alien virus is so strong, that the characters are partially excused for their actions. In addition, the story builds magnificently, but wraps up abruptly. Bottom line -- if you have never read an Octavia Butler novel start with 'Wild Seed' or 'Kindred', but if you are already a fan, there is enough in this book to make it enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: A great book, unless compared with Butler's others
Review: Compared to most other SF novels, Clay's Ark could be considered a great book. However, compared to other books by Butler, it falls short. Not because of craft. The book's pacing and plotting are near perfect; there are no wasted words. But while, it is extremely readable, the book suffers in it's characterisations. Here is where my initial remark comes into play. Compared to most SF, characters like Blake are extremely interesting, but compared to the characters Butler creates in her other Patternist novels 'Wild Seed' and 'Mind of my mind'. The moral dilemmas facing the main characters are not as balanced as in Butler's other work. The survival instinct of the alien virus is so strong, that the characters are partially excused for their actions. In addition, the story builds magnificently, but wraps up abruptly. Bottom line -- if you have never read an Octavia Butler novel start with 'Wild Seed' or 'Kindred', but if you are already a fan, there is enough in this book to make it enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Bleak Doomsday Tale
Review: Having read several of Butler's books, I must say that I found this one far less readable than Dawn or the Patternist novels. Not only is it tedious and depressing, but it offers less food for thought than Wildseed or Dawn. Whereas those books describe the creation of unique and idealistic societies, the community described in Clay's Ark is a besieged group of pariahs staving off inevitable doom.
Furthermore, I read novels mostly for escape and enjoyment. Reading end-to-end accounts of bruality and human misery just isn't my idea of an escape.
Finally, the story abruptly ends, with no real sequel apparently in the works, right where an interesting sociological experiment could have been invisioned: the unleashing of the Clay's Ark virus upon humanity. A real bummer for an Octavia E. Butler novel...
Rating:
Summary: Too much pain, not enough gain
Review: I have read everything Octavia Butler has in print. I adore her depth of emotion and insight that goes into every story she writes. CLAY'S ARK is the exception. This is easily her worst book. But remember, Octavia's worst is still better than most author's best. Simply put, if an artist is going to take me to hell, they better teach me something important. This book contains gang rape scenes of a young leukemia-victim girl, bloody fights described in excruciating detail, an relentless stream of utterly mind-numbing scenes of violence. And, unlike PARABLE OF THE SOWER, which also contains many difficult scenes and images, you get virtually nothing from the story. No lessons, no hope, nothing. Octavia has written that she was very depressed when writing this book, sharing chapters with a friend who was suffering from a terminal illness. I respect that this reflects where she was, but that doesn't mean I want to go there with her. And those of you wanting to read everything in the Patternist series should know that CLAY'S ARK barely touches on threads from the other books. I was sucked into reading it to satisfy my completist strain as well, and suffered for it. Skip it. Period. Read all her other works.
Rating:
Summary: Too much pain, not enough gain
Review: I have read everything Octavia Butler has in print. I adore her depth of emotion and insight that goes into every story she writes. CLAY'S ARK is the exception. This is easily her worst book. But remember, Octavia's worst is still better than most author's best. Simply put, if an artist is going to take me to hell, they better teach me something important. This book contains gang rape scenes of a young leukemia-victim girl, bloody fights described in excruciating detail, an relentless stream of utterly mind-numbing scenes of violence. And, unlike PARABLE OF THE SOWER, which also contains many difficult scenes and images, you get virtually nothing from the story. No lessons, no hope, nothing. Octavia has written that she was very depressed when writing this book, sharing chapters with a friend who was suffering from a terminal illness. I respect that this reflects where she was, but that doesn't mean I want to go there with her. And those of you wanting to read everything in the Patternist series should know that CLAY'S ARK barely touches on threads from the other books. I was sucked into reading it to satisfy my completist strain as well, and suffered for it. Skip it. Period. Read all her other works.
Rating:
Summary: Not Butler's Best
Review: I was so enthralled by "Dawn" and the subsequent books in that trilogy that I set out to read everything I could by Butler. Overall I find her novels to be exceptional sci-fi with some very thought provoking anthropology and history thrown into the mix. I was disappointed in Clay's Ark, and I think it was primarily because, compared to Butler's other novels, it was the leanest. While she comments on the bleak direction the future of the U.S. is headed in, this tale did not stay with me or terrify me the way the "Parable" books did. I didn't feel as attached to these characters as I did to their parallel counterparts in the Patternmaster. It's an interesting story, but not Butler at her best. If you're as obsesseive as I am about my favorite authors, read it anyway! If you're new to Butler, start with Parable of the Sower or Dawn.
Rating:
Summary: Not Butler's Best
Review: I was so enthralled by "Dawn" and the subsequent books in that trilogy that I set out to read everything I could by Butler. Overall I find her novels to be exceptional sci-fi with some very thought provoking anthropology and history thrown into the mix. I was disappointed in Clay's Ark, and I think it was primarily because, compared to Butler's other novels, it was the leanest. While she comments on the bleak direction the future of the U.S. is headed in, this tale did not stay with me or terrify me the way the "Parable" books did. I didn't feel as attached to these characters as I did to their parallel counterparts in the Patternmaster. It's an interesting story, but not Butler at her best. If you're as obsesseive as I am about my favorite authors, read it anyway! If you're new to Butler, start with Parable of the Sower or Dawn.
Rating:
Summary: again, a slow start
Review: Perhaps Butler must establish a concept before she really gets going with it in sequels. It is another mark of the great depth of her imaginative powers, which surpass any scifi writer that I know. I did not get into the characters of the Clayarks as much as her other characters. This novel seemed more labored than her other efforts, thinner, much as Dawn inaugurated her mutagensis series. It is only later that the true depth and elegance of her vision comes out.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: Read the book! Gets your mind focus on the future and what it can hold! Also read Kindrad!
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