It has been a while since I’ve made a post here, after Pebble in the Sky the next book I read was Heretics of Dune and since Chapterhouse Dune was the next book in my pile, I felt that I should complete that novel thus finishing the entire Dune series and write a post on the series on the whole, instead of writing two posts about the last books. Now that I’ve gotten my pithy excuses out of the way, I shall dive right into my review of the Dune series.
Frank Herbert’s Dune series has the lofty claim of being the best selling sci-fi series ever, consisting of six books Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse Dune released over a period of 2o years (1965-1985). The series was cut short due to the death of Frank Herbert in 1986, this has given the series the fell of not having a proper ending with many questions not only being left unanswered but even being introduced at the end of Chapterhouse Dune. While the series was eventually completed by Brian Herbert (Frank Herbert’s son) and Kevin J. Anderson they have faced much criticism and debate from fans of the series, and are not included as part of this particular post, though they might see some time here in the future.
It can be difficult to explain the plot of the series on the whole, as the story takes place over a 5,000+ year period, though each book focuses on a small period of time with each of the larger jumps occurring between the books. The first book is relatively straight forward, telling the story of Paul Atreides and of the desert planet Arrakis, also called Dune. His rise to power upon the planet a great deal of political intrigue as well as an epic battle, and it certainly proves to be the best book of the series. Dune Messiah continues the story of Paul Atreides and deals with how he has affected the galaxy at large and deals with his eventual fall from power. Children of Dune focuses on Paul’s children Leto II and Ghanima as well as his sister Alia, and the changing face of Dune and serves to setup the situation that leads us into the next book. God Emperor of Dune is place some 3,500 years after the previous book, where a heavily mutated Leto II has been reigning over the galaxy in tyrannical fashion according to his prescient vision of a ‘Golden Path’ to allow humanity to survive. The final two novels are based at least 1,500 years after the death of Leto II and deal with a galaxy very different from the one introduced in the original novel, though some of the major players are still around. The book follows the Bene Gesserit order, and chooses to focus upon those that are descended from the Atreides line, of which there are many by this point. These books deal with how the Bene Gesserit deal with a new threat of a new group calling themselves the Honored Matres that have returned from something called the scattering, which was a group of humans that had left the known galaxy to explore after the death of Leto II. While the stories are slanted to follow the Atreides line, there is one person that appears in each novel. Thanks to a technology in the books that allows the cells of a dead person to be cloned, and have their memories restored, the character of Duncan Idaho appears in each book, with increasing importance in each story.
As far as quality goes Dune proved to be an excellent read that I would recommend to everyone, it is a novel that easily stands alone and there is no need for the casual reader to proceed any further into the series unless they are a completionist like myself, or have absolutely fallen in love with Herbert’s writing. Herbert follows one of the best sci-fi novels written with Dune Messiah which is decidedly among the weakest books of the entire series and may lead some to give up the series at this point, although it does prove to be useful for setting up the following story. Children of Dune is a return to form for Herbert and proves to be nearly as enjoyable as the first, not quite as much for myself but enough that it could stand out for some as their favorite of the series and I would not blame them. God Emperor of Dune also proves to be relatively enjoyable, but not near the level of Dune or Children of Dune. It can drag at parts, and it effectively focuses only upon Leto II, but for some this may prove to be a enjoyable exploration into the galaxy. Heretics of Dune suffers from starting off with very little familiar to readers, all new characters, new names for familiar places causing one to feel displaced, it proves to be one of the most difficult of the books to get into tune with at the start, however as the story progresses it becomes a very good book. Chapterhouse Dune suffers similarly to Dune Messiah not quite as poor as that book, perhaps due to its distance from the original, it takes a very long time to get interesting. In fact the book is effectively over by the point it becomes a fully enjoyable read, the book ends on a high point that served to set up the potential for an exciting followup that looked to turn the entire story over on its head, in a good way. As indicated earlier though Herbert died before being able to release the following story, which is a large detriment. However one could stop at this novel and feel decent with the open ending and let your imagination take you the rest of the way, unless you want to delve into the books of Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson.
Overall Dune provides a highly recommended read from me, the rest of the series proves to be uneven but still enjoyable. The series on the whole however is something that could be passed, I spent just over a year reading the series (with other books being read in between some of them) and some of the books have left me wondering if my time would have been better spent focusing on other series or one-offs, in the end I am happy I went through the whole thing and do plan to at least read the finale released by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson.
