Given the coarse, operatic nature
of Dune’s two sequels, I was
reluctant to continue the series. I
thought Leto II’s rise to power was an appropriate place to leave off in the
cycle despite the three sequels Herbert penned. After posting my reviews of Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, however, one comment was left stating the first
three novels were in fact just stage-setting for the fourth, God Emperor of Dune, and if I was to
truly appreciate the series I needed to continue. Continue I did, and though I still think Dune is slightly better, the fourth book
is certainly a step above those between and does indeed seem a thematic pinnacle
the first books were aiming at.
God
Emperor of Dune
is set roughly 3,500 years after the conclusion of events in Children of Dune. Leto II, now with arms and legs useless
appendages on a huge worm body, uses his prescience and hyper-senses to
maintain supreme power over the known universe, not to mention his inhuman
appearance. Ruling from Arrakis where
terraforming has nearly completed the change from inhospitable desert to
verdant inhabited land, Leto’s Fish Speakers (an army of unfailingly loyal
female soldiers) enforce his dominion: no technology, no interstellar travel,
and complete obeisance to his rule, including its limited dispersal of the
all-valuable spice. Proclaiming himself
god and starting his own religion, Leto maintains his dominion through belief
and fear in holding to the Golden Path.
Based on the polar nature of the first two books in
the Dune series, Paul’s ascension in Dune
and his descent in Dune Messiah, not
much would seem left to be told in the House Atreides saga. Publishing Children of Dune in 1976, ten years after Dune, Frank Herbert proved there was still more to tell, telling a
solid, not spectacular tale that has some big shoes to fill if it is to live up
to the success of Dune.
With Paul having been cast blind into the desert at
the conclusion of Dune Messiah, Children of Dune opens roughly a decade
later with Alia on the throne and caring for Paul and Chani’s twins, Leto II
and Ghanima. Fearing she is an
abomination due to the ghost of Baron Harkonnen living inside of her, Alia’s
psychological stability takes blow after blow, a fact not helped by the
re-emergence of Paul’s mother, the Benne-Gesserit Lady Jessica, at court. Arrakis terraforming continuing apace, the
desert is being reclaimed, the planet greener by the day. Leto, realizing the threat this represents to
the sandworms, goes into the desert in an attempt to save the spice producing
beasts, leaving his family behind in the process. Topping all of this, House
Corinno once again plots to retake the throne, nobody knowing how the chaos in
the works will turn out in the end.
Frank Herbert’s 1965 Dune was an overwhelming success.
Winning awards and selling millions of copies, little did readers know,
however, it was only the
beginning of the Family Atreides saga.
Picking up events roughly a decade after Paul’s ascension to Emperor, Dune Messiah is the story of his descent
from power. Knocking the hero he created
off his pedestal, readers should be prepared for a large number of changes in
the story—and not all are for the better.
Dune
Messiah continues the saga of the Atreides family in epic,
soap-operatic fashion. Paul, having
expanded his power to over much of the known universe since becoming Emperor in
Dune, is nevertheless helpless to
prevent the religious fanaticism and destruction caused by his Fremen
followers, drawing the hatred and ire of the opposition in the process. Chani, now his concubine, is unable to conceive
due to contraceptives the consort Irulan is secretly slipping her. Paul is aware of the fact, but his visions
have shown him that Chani dies in childbirth, and thus does nothing to stop
Irulan. New cabals have arisen,
also. The Benne-Gesserits, Spacing
Guild, and a newly introduced species of shapeshifters called the Tleilaxu plot
together to dethrone Paul. Everyone’s
fate once again uncertain, major changes on Arrakis are in the works.
