Dune full series

First off, the cover art for this series is amazing. The colors and page-layout are perfect. The only thing that might be off-putting is that the sequels don’t match the same size as the first book. Maybe its because I bought the first book at Barnes and Noble? But the smaller and more compact size is actually quite nice and feels like you’re breezing through pages faster.

What to say about Dune Messiah that hasn’t already been said? Well, it turns out Frank Herbert was making controversial decisions before George RR Martin. He takes the “messiah/heroic archetype” and flips it on top of its head. In a brilliant way, nothing happens the way you think it’s going to happen, not even for our protagonist, Paul Atreides. But wait, how is that possible? Paul Atreides, Muad’Dib, a trained mentat, the male equivalent to a Reverand Mother, the Kwisatz Haderach who can see endless possibilities, doesn’t have all the answers? This is why you should read Dune Messiah. It shows the internal struggle and isolation of a man (Paul) and his sister (Alia) being treated as god-like figures, but Frank Herbert does a great job reminding us that they’re still human, which makes them relatable and easy to empathize with.

The conspiracy surrounding Paul’s Imperium is most compelling, the thoughts and discoveries from our beloved characters are engaging, and the philosophy that Frank Herbert communicates through his story-telling is even more thought-provoking than the first book. Everything about this book just kept propelling me forward.

I found Dune Messiah to be a near-perfect sequel that greatly expounds on ideas that were introduced in the first book. But it also reveals many new ideas and teaches new things to the reader. One of the greatest joys I take from this series is how much I learn, and Frank Herbert has a lot to teach and expound upon through his characters. You’d be selling yourself short if you didn’t continue reading the series.

Messiah is a bit of a dividing book, but then again so are all the books that followed Frank Herbert’s Dune. Dune is an all-time sci-fi classic, unimpeachable thanks to its vast influence over other a broad range of media. Messiah? Not as much.

What is Messiah about? Set 12 years after Dune, Messiah is about the world Paul-Muad’dib set in motion in the first book. You see the ramifications of his decisions, and you get quite a bit of pontificating about the nature of fate. Can the fortune-tellers of Dune really affect the future, or are they only catching glimpses of a destiny that already awaits them? That’s what this book is really about.

What makes Messiah different? Messiah takes the political subtext that was a big part of Dune, and elevates that aspect of the story until it nearly excludes the other portions. You’re not going to get the same big battles, the fascinating technology, the brand-new ecologies. A lot of fans of Dune were really into that book book because of those far-future technological aspects, so they find this book strangely lacking. In Messiah you get what is almost an alternate-universe political treatise with oblique only references to the technologies of the first book. It’s one part philosophy, one part politics, and really only a splash of far-future science fiction for flavor.

Is Messiah good? I think it’s so-so. At half the length of Dune, it’s certainly not as epic in scope. Dune was not slow in pace, so that page count really does mean something. Messiah is by comparison just a short treatise. It’s not bad, but it really doesn’t expand on the Dune universe in a way that I was hoping for. I love the politics, but Herbet really skimped on the rest of the book getting there. If you padded out this book to Dune’s length by inserting those action scenes back in, I might like it more. Repeatedly having characters wander from room to room pontificating while offhandedly mentioning the genocide of dozens of planets at a go does leave room for some exploration into that latter part of the story.

Is Messiah worth reading? I’m in the process of re-reading the Dune novels before the upcoming movie, so at the moment I’m solidly in the camp of saying it’s fine to stop with Dune. I have vague memories of Messiah and Children and Chapterhouse, and I found the whole thing underwhelming. People often say God Emperor is worth the trip, but having been so long since I read it and obviously since that book didn’t stick with me, I’m not sure I agree. Maybe my mood will change after going through the series again but from where I stand – either stop at Dune, or buckle in for the whole series. Messiah is definitely more along the lines of the rest of the series. There’s a lot of politics and philosophy ahead, so maybe that will help you decide if you want to go on.

Overall: Messiah is okay. There’s a reason people only talk about Dune, and not its sequel books. This is in stark contrast to something like Lord of the Rings, where people almost exclusively talk about the series (or at least the main trilogy) as a whole. Messiah isn’t bad, but it also differs from its predecessor in fundamental ways. There’s less action, less technology, and more philosophy. If that’s your bag, maybe Messiah is for you.

This first sequel to Dune is only about 330 pages long, but it’s still a dense and complex read. Dune Messiah picks up the story of Paul Maud’Dib 12 years after Dune, now the Emperor of the Known Universe- and as powerless as he ever. While a challenging read, Dune Messiah lacks the narrative drive of its predecessor, since there is no longer compelling villains like the Harkonnens to help propel the story forward and keep things moving. Plot threads and characters from the original that were implied to be of great importance in the future only warrant a brief mention or are totally ignored; likewise, Dune Messiah continues Herbert’s tendency from the original to not depict major events or plot twists, but leave them only to discussion after the fact The original Dune, for all its thematic complexity, was still a fairly straightforward “hero leads a rebellion against evil villains” tale; in the sequel, there is a conspiracy in place against Paul Maud’Dib, but the novel spends more time on philosophical discussion than it does on investigating and unmasking this conspiracy. There is, however, a lengthy section of the novel about 2/3 of the way through, which sees the main character going out in disguise among the people, deliberately walking into a trap, and fully aware of how events will proceed due to his unique prescient abilities – this section alone is some of the finest crafted storytelling I’ve ever read, and it alone resuscitated the novel. (Or awakened the Sleeper, if you’re a hardcore Dune fan.) Dune Messiah is a quick read, despite the denseness of the work. It’s still worth reading, but at times it feels more like an epilogue to a more compelling story that preceded it. (Think less Empire Strikes Back and more Scouring of the Shire from Lord of the Rings.)

I loved the first book “Dune”, but this sequel is terrible. In the first book our characters did things and made decisions. Some turned out well. This is the basic structure of a story.

In this book our main protagonist can see the future, he spends the entire book refusing to do anything at all (apart from be sad about what is going to happen) because he can see that doing something to protect himself from the bad stuff that is coming will make it worse. No explanation (other than “he can see the future”) is ever offered for why acting in his own defence would make things worse. We spent the entire book waiting for the thing every character knows is coming to happen (but of course the audience is left in the dark about what is comming). Then not much happens.

If you liked “Dune” then show it the respect it deserves, by never touching this horrid sequel.

This second book in the Dune trilogy polarises people. I confess when I first read this back in 1979 about a year after reading Dune for the first time I didn’t particularly like it because it is very different, yes same characters, locations etc.. but the story line is not the same fast paced action and eventual results you hope for for the main character Paul. Having now just read Dune again 40 years later immediately followed by Dune Messiah I now get it, it can’t be the same as Dune as it wouldn’t work as a book. Dune is about change and the excitement of that happening, Messiah is about the consequences of that change and having to deal with the awful reality of it all, so its a bit bleak at times but reading it straight away after Dune was important to me as it felt like the conclusion to Paul’s Dune experience. Do I like it, sort of, well maybe but it makes sense and anything is difficult to compare with Dune so I guess I do like it.

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