God Emperor of Dune

God Emperor of Dune is a 1981 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert. It was published by Putnam. It’s the fourth book in the Dune saga following Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. My reviews on the previous books can be found here.

God Emperor of Dune takes place 3,500 years after the conclusion of Children of Dune. Leto II Atreides has reigned as emperor of the known universe for millennia. In an effort to preserve humanity’s future, Leto sacrificed his own by becoming inhuman. Under his rule, the desert planet of Arrakis has become a lush paradise, the all-important spice mélange has become scarce and humanity as a whole has been prevented from exploration. A rebellion led by Siona Atreides, a distant descendant of Leto’s, has arisen to oppose the god emperor, but unknown to Siona, Leto’s Golden Path for humanity requires her to fulfill a destiny she never could’ve conceived.

By far, this was the book I enjoyed the least in the series. It’s mentioned in the introduction, written by the author’s son, that Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune formed their own quasi-trilogy and God Emperor of Dune was the start of a new trilogy and that’s evident by the overall tone of this novel. Dune was never the most optimistic story, and it has a recurring theme of “you can’t change what’s meant to happen” but this novel was far darker and far more cynical than its predecessors. While I applaud Herbert for making Leto a tyrant and not trying to shy away from the fact that he’s a tyrant, this series has reached a point where those elements got tiring for me.

My biggest issue with this novel is the pacing. The copy I read was nearly 600 pages, but there’s a large section of the book where nothing of importance seems to happen. The beginning has a lot of things happen, the end has a lot of activity, but the middle is nothing. Siona plans her rebellion. Leto talks a lot about the future and his Golden Path but says very little of substance. There’s a lot of talking and plotting that never seems to go anywhere. This book basically had a lot of filler, and from the writing, I think the filler was meant to make the reader consider the overall themes of the book, but the middle of the book is so dry and boing, that I just found myself getting irritated. This series has also veered away from its science fiction roots. It’s technically still sci-fi, due to cloning, space travel and advanced technology, but most of the plot fits better into the fantasy category than science fiction. I wish the narrative had stuck closer to science fiction.

This novel has a cast of characters, but there’s not a lot I can really say about them. Leto II is the main character, but as a result of his extended life and no longer being human, he doesn’t really have much of a personality or character growth. Most of the scenes he’s in involve him either plotting to achieve his Golden Path, finding it funny that no one else realizes what he’s doing or  waxing poetic about humans unwittingly continuing the same cycle of violence and oppression even as they work to break the cycle. There is Moneo, a descendant, servant and close confidant of Leto’s. He’s torn between being scared of Leto’s non-human side and doing everything in his power to keep the emperor happy and making the Golden Path come to fruition. Hwi Noree, the Ixian ambassador, is sent to serve in Leto’s court and he falls in love with her, as she was designed to ensnare him. While I didn’t have anything against her, Herbert didn’t really give the reader a reason to like her or care about her relationship with Leto. We’re not really shown how she’s irresistible to Leto, or the other characters who fall under her spell. The reader is told that she was designed to make Leto fall for her, but nothing is really shown to enforce that idea. Lastly, we have Siona, who was my favorite character because she had a real personality. She had agency and a goal, which no other character aside from Leto is shown to have, and she read like an actual person. While she wasn’t necessarily a “good” person, she was the best character in the novel because aside from Leto, she was the only one who had real conviction behind her actions, not just blind devotion.

I know this review has been negative so far, however I don’t want to make it seem like this is a terrible book. It’s just a very boring one that I struggled to get through. There are three things about this book that saved it from being a 0 Star book. The first is its message about the nature of humanity. All of Leto’s actions, every act of oppression he’s caused, he’s done because he knows something needs to change within humanity. He spent years keeping humanity as a whole safe, but not allowing people true freedom, in preparation for what will happen when he’s no longer around. He spent three thousand years controlling humanity so that when he’s gone, they’ll become something better than it once was. The second is its discussion about messiahs and godhood. In Dune Messiah, Paul Atreides struggles with being a messiah to the Fremen and dealing with the blood their holy war, in his name, has spilt. In this novel, that idea was taken a step further to explore the idea of godhood and the affect that has on the person being worshipped. And it’s not a nice image, but the acknowledgement of the problems with worshipping a person as a god makes the progression of events and resolution of the plot really work. The last element I enjoyed was the subversion of a particular trope. Early in the novel, it’s mentioned that Siona, as an Atreides, is going to be tested soon. Her “test” is mentioned dozens of times before it happens. The expectation, even in-universe, is that this test will cause Siona to abandon her rebellion and hatred of Leto. If anything, Siona being tested results in her becoming even more convinced of the need for a rebellion. As a result, the conclusion came as a pleasant surprise to me.

God Emperor of Dune was a disappointment for me. Herbert clearly had a lot of very big ideas, but didn’t quite manage to explore on those ideas in an interesting and entertaining way. I liked elements of the plot, but not the plot overall. I can see how this novel sets up the events of the last two novels in the Dune saga written by Frank Herbert, but given how much I disliked this novel, I don’t think I’ll be reading them. Right now, I’m no longer invested in the rest of this story, as its moved so far away from what was seen in the original Dune. Instead, I might read one of the prequel books, particularly the ones focused on the war against the Thinking Machines. A war against robots seems more entertaining to me than god emperors playing 5-dimensional chess with themselves.

Rating: 1.6 Stars

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Children of Dune

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Children of Dune is a 1976 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert. It's the sequel to Dune Messiah and is the third book in the Dune saga. It was the first hardcover science fiction book to become a bestseller. It was nominated for the 1977 Hugo Award. Dune Messiah and Children of Dune were adapted into a Sci-Fi Channel miniseries, titled Children of Dune, in 2003 and received positive reviews.  This novel was the last of Frank Herbert's novels to be serialized prior to publication. My reviews for Dune and Dune Messiah are linked here. Children of Dune can be purchased here from Bookshop.org or here from Amazon. 

Children of Dune takes place nine years after the ending of Dune Messiah and its story centers around twins Leto and Ghanima Atredies. They are the children of  the Emperor Paul Muad'Dib, who disappeared into the desert wastelands of Arrakis shortly after their birth. Like their father, the twins possess supernormal abilities—making them valuable to their manipulative aunt Alia, who rules the Empire in the name of House Atreides. Facing treason and rebellion on two fronts, Alia’s rule is not absolute. The displaced House Corrino is plotting to regain the throne while the fanatical Fremen are being provoked into open revolt by the enigmatic figure known only as The Preacher. Alia believes that by obtaining the secrets of the twins’ prophetic visions, she can maintain control over her dynasty. But Leto and Ghanima have their own plans for their visions—and their destinies.

I feel like I should start off by saying that I liked this novel a lot more than the book that preceded it. I found the twins, Leto and Ghanima, to be fascinating characters. With Muad'Dib dead, one of them will lead the Imperium when they reach adulthood. The enemies of House Atredies don't want this to happen. Alia doesn't want this to happen and the twins don't even want it to happen. Yet, they know that nothing they do can change the fact that one of them will become the next emperor; they can only change the circumstances of their ascension. A common question in the story revolves around whether or not they're completely human. They were "pre-born" as Alia was and can access the memories of past generations. The twins are also aware of the future, much as their father was, and know the outcome of events that haven't happened yet. This means that, much like with Paul in the first book, they know what's coming and have to wait for everyone else to catch up. This means that, rather than Children of Dune focusing on the twins' attempts to achieve a goal, it depicts them trying to create the ideal environment for the inevitable outcome to occur in. Neither child seems like a normal kid, but they aren't supposed to. Some readers might find it hard to connect with them, but I didn't and this is mostly because I've come to the conclusion that the Dune series should be read for the plot and world first and the characters second.

Not counting the twins, there are three characters that really shape the plot of this book: Alia, Jessica and the mysterious Preacher. In the nine years between Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, Alia has served as Regent for her niece and nephew, running the empire until they come of age. She has gotten used to the power she wields and feels threatened by anything that could interfere with her ruling. She also struggles with an addiction to the spice melange and her exposure to the Water of Life while in the womb and that giving her too much knowledge and memory for any person to reasonably handle. These factors all combine to create a brilliant spiral into insanity and devolution into the very thing she fears becoming. Jessica left Arrakis after the events of Dune and has returned at the behest of the Bene Gesserit to test if Paul's twins are human. Any sympathy I had for Jessica in Dune was erased over the course of this book. She's conceited, conniving and has this holier-than-thou attitude despite being responsible for numerous events that led to the events in this book happening. I'd be fine with that if she seemed to have a shred of self-awareness or guilt, but she doesn't and continues to act as if she's done nothing wrong. Lastly, there is The Preacher. By Dune Messiah, Muad-Dib was already seen as a god  and deified. He's the focal point of his own religion. The Preacher appears, walking out of the deep desert, and lectures the waiting pilgrims about all of the failings of Muad'Dib's religion. The meanings of Paul's teachings have been forgotten, the people he sought to protect and empower have lost their way. It seems like The Preacher's sole mission is to tear down the religion and empire Paul had built before his demise. The Preacher's character arc, and his connection to the overall story, is tied heavily with the themes about religion, mob mentality and loss of narrative control I mentioned when discussing Dune Messiah. The Preacher is by far the most nuanced character I've read in this series and once his motivations become clear, it's difficult not to agree with him.

One of my major complaints about Dune Messiah was that there isn't much plot for the length of the novel. I referred to it as being a very transitional book. The scope of the story is bigger in Children of Dune, Herbert was willing to take more risks and the plot is a lot more cohesive. Much like the original novel, all of the plotlines converge together towards the end of the book. There was also a much larger degree of world-building in Children of Dune although the aspects that are expanded upon appear to be about minutiae at first. With all of that being said, there were still some pacing issues. All three books in this series that I've read so far have the same problem: great beginnings, great endings, but middles where not a lot happens. This story did drag in the middle as events needed to happen to bring characters together that were separated and push the plot along. When I was discussing this book with my dad, the only person I know has read the whole series, he admitted that the middle of the book is somewhat of a bore. While I wanted to see more of the Dune universe, including other planets, most of what happened off of Arrakis was boring. People talking about events happening on Arrakis or scheming about future events to happen there. Pages of conversations and plotting with no action slowed the story down.

As I mentioned above, my dad is the only person I know who's read the entire series. When I told him I was about to start Children of Dune, he said he was jealous because I was about to experience the story for the first time. You can read a book several times, but you can only read it for the first time once. He told me, without giving anything away, that some of the events of the book are "completely insane". Obviously, this intrigued me and the story had a lot to live up to. It certainly fit his description, as anyone who's read Children of Dune knows. As a rule, I don't spoil books. I bring that up whenever there's a big plot twist or reveal I want to talk about, but can't. I'm not going to spoil what happens in this book and anyone who's thinking of reading it absolutely should fight the urge to search it on Wikipedia. All I will say is this: as I was reading, I was trying to figure out where the plot was going. (I feel like most readers do that, but just stick with me for a second.) There were a few plot elements that I guessed, or had an idea about. There was one that I didn't see coming at all. Never in a million years did I see that particular plot twist coming. I thought the relevant foreshadowing was moving in a completely different direction and I was wrong. The twist surprised me in a way no other twist has. Every other plot twist will be measured against this one. Now, I need to read the next book God Emperor of Dune, because the twist in Children of Dune makes me want to know where the story is going to go from there.

Children of Dune is overall a good book. It built upon its universe in a new and unique way. It had a number of surprises within its story and set up a sequel with nearly endless possibilities. There are some pacing issues and some characterization problems. As mentioned above, I've figured out that what I like about the Dune saga is the overarching plot and universe, not necessarily the characters. This book might not be for everyone, I know some people who claim the series is a little too "out there" for their tastes, but I think anyone who likes the original Dune should definitely read Children of Dune, even though it does mean having to push through the second book. I liked the book overall and because of how this one ended, and the plot twist that completely floored me, I'm definitely going to read the next book in the series.

Rating: 3.9 stars

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Dune Messiah

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Dune Messiah is a 1969 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert. It’s the sequel to 1965’s Dune and is the second novel in the Dune series. The story was originally serialized in Galaxy magazine in 1969. Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, its sequel, were adapted into a miniseries by the Sci-Fi channel in the early 2000s. Dune Messiah can be purchased here from Bookshop.org.

Dune Messiah continues the story of Paul Atredies, better known as Muad’Dib, which was told in the original novel Dune. Beginning twelves years after the end of the previous novel, Paul is now the Emperor of the Known Universe and possesses more power than any single person was ever meant to wield. Worshipped as a religious figure by the Fremen, some of whom have attributed him god-status, Paul faces the hostility of the other influential families he displaced when he became emperor and a conspiracy taking place right under his very nose. As his enemies plotting leads to House Atredies crumbing around him, the true danger to Paul comes to his partner Chani and her unborn child, the heir to his family’s dynasty.

I found the story interesting from several perspectives. As mentioned above, Paul has become a religious figure to the Fremen and a great deal of Paul’s inner conflict comes from the result of the Fremen viewing him as their messiah. They believed he was a messianic figure during the events of Dune, since he fit the criteria of one of their oldest legends. He accepted his role as their messiah, but as a result, he unleashed a jihad which has conquered most of the universe by the time Dune Messiah begins. (As a side note, jihad is the actual word used in the text. The Dune series uses a lot of Arabic or Arabic-sounding terminology and I don’t know why). I found Paul’s inner struggle fascinating because very rarely do you read books with religious themes that show the bad parts of being the focal point of a religion in such stark lighting. Muad’Dib is the foundation of the Fremen religion now, and in taking their religion off of Arrakis to spread, billions of people have died and many worlds have been destroyed. Paul is the most powerful being in the universe, and practically a god, but he’s unable to stop or curb the violence being done in his name and by his worshippers. At the same time that Paul is resentful of his role as this messiah, due to his prophetic visions, he knows that this isn’t the worst possible outcome for humanity, as terrifying as it seems. He seems to be operating under the idea that by being the messiah, and allowing the religion to spread and accepting his god-like status, he can set humanity down a path that leads to something other than destruction. I talked briefly in my Dune review about Paul’s view towards his destiny, which is that he’s “the chosen one”, he knows that he is, he’s never doubted it, but he seems to be the only person who knows what that means and what it will really cost him. He’s destined for great and terrible things, he doesn’t want to be, but he knows he can’t change it. Not only is he unable to change his fate, he’s unable to change anyone’s which becomes a driving force in why he makes certain decisions. He can’t prevent anything, only delay it.

Paul isn’t the only person who has become a religious figure in the years since he became the emperor. Paul’s younger sister Alia, who his mother was pregnant with when they escaped into the desert, was born with powers similar to Paul and, like only the most powerful Bene Gesserit, can access the memories and personality of previous generations. She isn’t the basis of her own religion, but she is a revered figure within Paul’s and finds the strain on her, combined with other factors, to be too much. Alia is seen as an abomination by some and a savior by others, which is both sad and disturbing, since she was born with more power and knowledge than a child could ever know what to do with. I’ve got a feeling that Alia not having a great grip on reality or her true identity is going to become an issue in the next book.

Although a great deal of Paul’s inner conflict comes from the inevitability of fate and his frustration towards his own destiny, the main plot of Dune Messiah is only tangentially related to those two themes. The overarching story revolves around a conspiracy between the Bene Gesserit, the Spacing Guild, Paul’s wife Irulan who he married only to become emperor and the Tleilaxu, another powerful and nefarious organization, to destabilize and dethrone Paul and put someone they can control on the throne. They attempt many different tactics to achieve this, from presenting him with a clone of a deceased comrade to trying to manipulate him into impregnating Irulan so that the Bene Gesserit don’t lose control of the bloodline. Even though this is the main plot of Dune Messiah, there isn’t a lot done with this idea. It’s very hard to successfully conspire to overthrow a ruler who is worshipped as a god, can see every possible future and is an expert at reading people. This plotline exists, or so it seems, mostly to allow certain moments at the very end of the book to happen without them seeming to come out of left field. All the conspiracy seems to do is give Paul another reason why he doesn’t want to be emperor any longer, but knows he has to accept the role.

Dune Messiah feels very much like a transitional book. I don’t know if that’s the word for it, but that’s what I’ve decided to call it. By that, I mean that unlike Dune, this novel doesn’t introduce a huge number of changes or a great deal of world-building. It feels to me like Dune Messiah exists mostly to set up Children of Dune. Dune ends with Paul usurping the Padishah Emperor’s throne and becoming emperor. Dune Messiah ends with Paul leaving his life as the emperor behind to wander the desert, the reason why he does this is a huge part of the plot, so I won’t say exactly why. The novel consists of a lot of people plotting Paul’s downfall, a tiny bit of personal growth and interpersonal drama for a few characters and then setting the stage for Children of Dune. I know that with any series, the first book sets up the second, and the second one sets up the third and so on, but there isn’t enough story in Dune Messiah for it to be complete. I’ve heard from others who read later books that part of Children of Dune could’ve instead been part of the conclusion of Dune Messiah to make the story flow a little better and feel more complete.  The novel’s also short compared to its predecessor. Dune is about 500 pages, with Dune Messiah coming in at around 275. It’s a shorter story with a lot less plot, which made it kind of a disappointment in my eyes.

Dune Messiah is an okay book. It’s not bad, but I feel like it doesn’t quite live up to the standard Dune set four years earlier. Someone I know who read it described it as the weakest of the original books, and I can somewhat see why they’d think that. I feel like it doesn’t add as much as I was hoping, but maybe I set my expectations too high. It didn’t reduce my love for the series, but I don’t think I have as much faith in Children of Dune being as good as the original novel. I’m going to read Children of Dune, because Paul’s story, the Atredies’ story, isn’t over yet. I’d recommend Dune Messiah, but would advise any readers not to expect too much of it.

Rating: 3.5 stars

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Dune

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Dune is a 1965 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert, published by Chilton Books. It shared the 1966 Hugo Award with Roger Zelazny’s The Immortal, and won the first Nebula Award for Best Novel. Dune is the first installment of the Dune saga and is the world’s best-selling science fiction novel. It can be purchased here from Bookshop.org or here from Amazon.

It isn’t just the best-selling sci-fi book of all time, its also one of the most influential. Even if you haven’t read Dune, you’ve encountered one media property or another that was inspired, at least partly, by the series. Herbert’s novels are as influential on science fiction as Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series is on fantasy. Herbert wrote five sequels to Dune: Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune and a series of prequels and sequels have been released following his death. 

Dune tells the story of a young man named Paul Atreides, whose family is tasked with ruling the desert planet of Arrakis. While the planet is nearly inhospitable, it is the only place in the known universe where the drug mélange, also known as “the spice”, can be found. Melange is capable extending life and enhancing consciousness. (As an aside, in the original Star Wars trilogy, Han Solo is on the run from Jabba the Hutt for dumping a load of spice and many interpret this as being an homage to the spice from Dune.) The spice is the most valuable commodity in the universe, making control of the planet Arrakis a coveted and dangerous position. House Atreides is betrayed and attacked by their rivals, House Harkonnen, and the destruction of Paul’s family sends him into the desert where he joins one of the native tribes, known collectively as the Fremen and begin a campaign that could change the face of Arrakis and the universe as a whole. Ever present in Paul’s mind, and his mother Jessica’s, is the possibility that he could be destined for something even greater than he could’ve ever imagined.

Before I can discuss certain plot elements, there are a few aspects of the Dune universe that need to be explained. Dune takes place in a distant future where space travel is possible. The series is unique in that its what’s considered “soft sci-fi”, having very little technology. Taking place 10,000 years after humanity waged war against the “thinking machines”, aka computers and robots, that had enslaved them. As a result, there’s no artificial intelligence, no robots and the only technology that exists is very rudimentary such as the machines used to harvest spice. Instead of computers, humanity relies on people known as Mentats who are trained to be human thinking machines, basically human computers. As a result of the war against the thinking machines, the society is organized as a feudal empire with houses controlling planets as their fiefdoms. While there is an emperor, he doesn’t hold absolute power. One powerful group is the Spacing Guild, who hold a monopoly over space travel, given that they are the only beings able to “fold space” and thus make faster-than-light travel possible, in part due to the spice. Nothing in this universe moves without the Guild. Another important order in the Dune universe are the Bene Gesserit, a powerful order of women who’ve operated as a form of shadow government for years, leading humanity down a very specific path. Slowly building their own power and influence over the years through a breeding program with the powerful families in the universe, their goal is the creation of the Kwisatz Haderach, a male Bene Gesserit whose abilities can bridge space and time. The Bene Gesserit can tap into prophetic knowledge, but there are certain aspects of that knowledge that they can’t access but the Kwisatz Haderac can. To meet the needs of breeding program, the Bene Gesserit can control both when they get pregnant and what gender the child will be.  There’s a lot more minutia that I could get into, but this information should make it easier to understand the book and my review of Dune.

Dune takes place almost entirely on Arrakis, with only the very beginning taking place off of the desert planet, and a few scenes intermittently happening off-world as well to fill in on a few aspects of the plot that couldn’t be shown on Arrakis. These short, cut-away sections provide context that’s important for the novel’s climax and give a little more detail of how events on Arrakis are impacting the rest of the universe. One of the most interesting aspects of the story is Arrakis itself. As previously mentioned, Arrakis is a planet that’s basically one giant desert. There are settlements, but not many and the open desert is home to colossal sandworms that are at least a few hundred feet long. Arrakis is the most valuable planet in the empire because it’s the only place mélange, which is the most valuable commodity, can be found. On Arrakis, traces of the spice are in the air, in the food, and the vegetation and to the people there, it’s not nearly as valuable as water. It’s rather ironic that the spice is the most important thing in the universe to everyone except the people who live in the one place it can be found. Water and mélange are the two biggest symbols in Dune with the spice representing untapped human potential and water representing life and hope for a better future to the Fremen tribes. A major theme tying into both symbols mentioned above is the theme of power and control. The family that controls Arrakis controls spice production, which in turn controls the universe, and gives them power. This theme becomes more and more overt as the book continues until the climax becomes entirely about, on a surface level, how Paul’s power gives him control over the spice. Power gives control and with control comes power.

One of my favorite aspects of Dune is Paul’s character arc. His arc doesn’t end with this novel, instead continuing into Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, but he goes on quite the journey in this novel alone. He begins the novel as a fifteen year-old-boy who, after being told that his father will not live long on Arrakis, wants to do anything he can to stop it. By the end, he’s a leader among the Fremen and a force of change in the universe. A major aspect of this change is Paul’s destiny as the Kwisatz Haderach, and the fact that this prophesized figure wasn’t supposed to be born yet. Paul’s mother Jessica, a Bene Gesserit, was instructed to have a daughter, but chose to give birth to a son instead. This decision caused the Bene Gesserit’s “chosen one” to be born early and relatively outside of their control. Unlike most "chosen ones", Paul isn't in denial about being chosen, he knows he's the Kwisatz Haderach, he's never doubted it. He's just reluctant to take up the mantle. As if being the chosen one of the Bene Gesserit wasn’t enough, the Fremen also believe Paul is Lisan al-Gaib, who it is said will lead them to paradise. Unsurprisingly, fate is a central theme in the book, as the narrative style makes it clear that fate can’t be changed and the characters are powerless to change events, even if they have advanced knowledge of it. Dune is, in many ways, the story of Paul learning to stop rejecting his destiny and do, at least in some capacity, what he was destined to do. It’s also one of the best revenge stories of all time.

Not including Paul, there are a handful of important characters that I should mention. This series has more characters than I can count, but only a few are essential to the story of the first book. The first of which is Jessica, Paul’s mother. Her role at the beginning is confined simply by being his mother, and helping train him in the Bene Gesserit ways because she’s believed, or at least hoped, from the beginning that he was the Kwisatz Haderach. Once she and Paul escape into the desert, she takes on her own position within the Fremen that puts her at odds occasionally with her son. Paul wants to transform Arrakis, Jessica believes it needs to stay as is. Jessica is one of the biggest influences on Paul and in shaping the direction of the story. Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is the primary antagonist of this story. He’s the one who plots and executes the downfall of the Atreides, as part of bigger plans for the empire as a whole. While he isn’t featured prominently in the book as a whole, he’s responsible for the entire plot getting kicked off. It’s the Baron’s plans that lead to Paul and Jessica escaping into the desert and, in turn, Paul no longer resisting his destiny and leading the Fremen to victory over the tyranny they’ve been dealing with for centuries. He's also one of the most genuinely creepy and unsettling characters I've read in recent memory. There is nothing about him that isn't gross and disturbing. The planetologst Kynes, also known as Liet and Liet-Kynes, is a scientist who studies Arrakis and is secretly a Fremen. He wants to change Arrakis from a desert planet to a lush, green paradise, at nearly any cost. While Kynes may seem like a throwaway side character at first, his vision shapes Paul’s journey and the course of the novel. There are a number of other named characters that I liked, mostly among the Fremen, but the three mentioned above have the biggest impact on the plot.

Now, let’s discuss Herbert’s writing itself. Plot elements, character arcs and themes are important to any story, but the actual writing is just as significant to a book being good or bad. Herbert did an amazing job creating an entire universe in a book that’s less than 500 pages. Not every single thing was fully explained, but other books he released afterwards, and books released by his son, expand upon some of the unexplained aspects. Some aspects are given context later in the novel, when it makes more sense and less like what I call "exposition via dialogue". There are also appendices in Dune that fill in a little more detail. I also feel like “world-building” too easily turns into “explain every single detail” sometimes and if this happened in Dune, the story could never start. Knowing how the war against the thinking machines started and ended doesn’t really make Dune easier to understand.  Having knowledge of how the Spacing Guild started, or the Bene Gesserit or who discovered the spice doesn’t change this book’s story. There are also some terms that, while the reader might not get an exact explanation of what it means, you can fill in the blanks. Frank Herbert also managed to pack a lot of themes and motifs, some of which aren’t easy to quickly portray such as the impact of manipulating nature to suit your own ends, into this novel. The prose is spectacular and his vivid descriptions made me feel like I was on Arrakis in the desert or the hideouts of the Fremen. The sense of urgency and action in key scenes was prevalent and the tension in others was palpable. Another thing to point out is the use of foreshadowing. Paul begins the novel having prophetic dreams, which later come true, but it doesn’t just end with him. Little details and moments at the beginning of the book resurface or are referenced throughout and at the end. In fact, there’s a scene at the very beginning that foreshadows how at least one character dies by the end. Overall, very well-written and I can understand why this book is such an influence on science fiction as a whole.

While I enjoyed Dune, there are a few things about it that I didn’t like. Towards the middle, the story does drag a little bit. I feel that some of this is done to not rush straight to the ending while also giving some context to the Fremen society, which becomes important at the end, and in the sequels. I can understand the need for that, but there are some scenes that could be shortened, especially ones occurring between the duke’s death and Paul and Jessica joining the Fremen. Reading about them wandering the desert for several pages isn’t exactly exciting. Some sections of dialogue are also a bit clunky. The scenes and conversations do what they need to do, they further the plot along and relay the necessary information, but a few times I found myself thinking “no one talks like that”. The balance of “show vs. tell” when it comes to character motivations isn’t completely achieved here, and its obvious during a few scenes. Another, pettier, complaint that I have is that Dune does not have chapters, it has sections. There are three “books” within Dune, each containing one part of Paul’s journey, that range from 130 to 200 pages each, but instead of having chapters, one scene and another are separated by experts from in-universe historical texts that have been written after the conclusion of Dune. Some of the excerpts can be a little spoiler-y, but thankfully this was a reread for me, so my annoyance comes from the lack of chapters being more inconvenient than anything else.

Dune is a landmark novel in science fiction. It tells a very personal story inside of a tale with much bigger implications and stakes. It’s easy to see why so many books, films, television shows and games have made homage to it or borrowed certain aspects of it for their own stories. Unfortunately, given how much of a game-changer Dune was, it’s sometimes accused of copying material it inspired, which is a little annoying to me at least. Still, we wouldn’t have a lot of the sci-fi properties we do today without it. I can only think of one other modern writer who had close to the same impact on his genre as Herbert did on sci-fi, and that writer is, of course, J.R.R. Tolkien. I do need to give Herbert slightly more praise here though. Tolkien created a world; Herbert created a universe. Dune is an excellent novel, not a perfect one, but better than most. I’d recommend it to any science fiction fan that hasn’t read it, however few they may be. Most importantly, now that I’ve reread Dune and reviewed it, I can move on to Dune Messiah which I haven't read before, much to my father's chagrin.

Rating: 4.7 stars.

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