The science fiction masterpiece continues in the "major event,"( Los Angeles Times) Children of Dune. With millions of copies sold worldwide, Frank Herbert's Dune novels stand among the major achievements of the human imagination and one of the most significant sagas in the history of literary science fiction. The Children of Dune are twin siblings Leto and Ghanima Atreides, whose father, the Emperor Paul Muad'Dib, disappeared in the deserts of Arrakis. Like their father, they possess supernormal abilities—making them valuable to their aunt Alia, who rules the Empire. If Alia can obtain the secrets of the twins' prophetic visions, her rule will be absolute. But the twins have their own plans for their destiny.
An improvement over Messiah, but it suffers the same problem the first two books had: for all of the foreshadowing and interior monologues about the path ahead, the main actual surprise appears mostly out of nowhere. Still, the action is well done and the fantastic elements are inspiringly weird. I wish Alia’s characterization was better or the last book had led more towards the state in this book, but it was still a fun read.
I think the best summary of my review is that I had to read a recap of the book when I finished it as I got really lost in the plot this time.
This book, as seen in the previous volume, expands on the struggle for power over the galactic empire between the main characters
I didn’t get lost in the different plot points, but I was just very confused in understanding what each character was plotting for and why they were taking the actions they were taking. I couldn’t break that wall to understand the character’s psyche and in a way could not identify with them in any way.
Once again, it felt to me like the main characters had very similar personalities though I can note the development of Alia and Paul/The Preacher.
To me those character developments …
I read the first three Dune books in a row.
I think the best summary of my review is that I had to read a recap of the book when I finished it as I got really lost in the plot this time.
This book, as seen in the previous volume, expands on the struggle for power over the galactic empire between the main characters
I didn’t get lost in the different plot points, but I was just very confused in understanding what each character was plotting for and why they were taking the actions they were taking. I couldn’t break that wall to understand the character’s psyche and in a way could not identify with them in any way.
Once again, it felt to me like the main characters had very similar personalities though I can note the development of Alia and Paul/The Preacher.
To me those character developments came in too strong and in too stark contrast with the previous books which, once again left me at a loss of understanding them and their motives.
This was particularly true when Herbert was describing Leto’s spice trance. I could feel what the character was going through, but I couldn’t understand anything else, especially what he saw in the future and why it made him change course or keep the course he had planned for himself.
Him meeting with his father made Paul seem like a token character placed for fan service as I assume a lot were upset with his death at the end of the second book.
Overall, I still praise the world building by Frank Herbert and the way he expands on it but despite the depth it still felt to me like this book fell a little flat.
I enjoyed this more than the very convoluted Dune Messiah, but considerably less than the original Dune. The mysticism and the abundance of statements and dialogue that seem little more than meaningless word salad gets tiring after a while. A key plot point remains rather underdeveloped and some moments seem to clash with what has gone on before in the series.
Perhaps some of the tiresomeness also comes from the fact that pretty much every protagonist in the trilogy is an anti-hero, and the few somewhat decent characters are weak and do little else than obey. Nonetheless, it's a fun read with great world-building around a future humanity in which science and technology are mostly rejected in favour of religion, militarism and mysticism.
Yet another book in the series where I’m like “great world building, but super weird, dunno if I’ll read/listen to the next one”, and yet I realise now that I definitely will read the next one. It’s just surreal, and at time beautiful, and thus fairly decent escapism.
Children of Dune is a very weird and cool book. I greatly enjoyed the story and felt that it was a fitting conclusion to the trilogy. By the end, I felt as though Herbert was trying to communicate some deep and heavy themes, but it wasn't entirely clear to me what they are. Maybe I'm just not reading deep enough! I don't know. Dune is cool and weird and I'm excited to read the next one.
Children of Dune is a tough read, and at times it feels like it's just dragging on with random metaphors and meaningless statements, but at the end is a tremendous climax with page after page of revelations and action. It's a worthy read, but I think I'm going to need to take a break for a simpler novel after this.
At the heart of Children of Dune lies a complex set of interwoven plans that the various cast enact upon each other, and like game theory, the cast predict the moves of each other and devise counterplans that also get countered, with so many layers that the plans and outcomes need to be directly explained to the reader. I typically despise Telling instead of Showing, but even being lead to the solution, I struggle to understand why things are unfolding the way they are. This leads to the best parts …
Children of Dune is a tough read, and at times it feels like it's just dragging on with random metaphors and meaningless statements, but at the end is a tremendous climax with page after page of revelations and action. It's a worthy read, but I think I'm going to need to take a break for a simpler novel after this.
At the heart of Children of Dune lies a complex set of interwoven plans that the various cast enact upon each other, and like game theory, the cast predict the moves of each other and devise counterplans that also get countered, with so many layers that the plans and outcomes need to be directly explained to the reader. I typically despise Telling instead of Showing, but even being lead to the solution, I struggle to understand why things are unfolding the way they are. This leads to the best parts of the novel: characters that are meant to be post/superhuman truly are. They think and act beyond a layperson's predictions, and to pull that off as a human author, I applaud Frank Herbert and his imagination.
On the other hand, the dense plot is not helped by equally dense scenes. Characters speak in riddles and metaphors, resulting in conversations that require multiple reads before you tease out all the meaning. This means that there are large chunks of the book that flew over my head, and I'm not personally looking for a novel that's an intellectual challenge like a textbook teaching me new subject matter.
All that said, Children of Dune is a worthy successor to the original Dune. I enjoyed it and recommend it. Now I need a vacation.
Within the safety of spoiler tags... the novel is also a bit of a retread of Dune except without the military element. We ultimately get an Atreides vs Harkonnen battle, though the latter through Alia and the former through many, many elements of the family retainers. House Corrino is around as before, inserting themselves but really a secondary element and they get played pretty well. Finally, the children once more outshine the parents...
Also, I'm not sure how Frank Herbert managed a novel that is almost entirely combat by conversation.
But we're onto the Golden Path and Leto II is doing what Paul was afraid to do, so I suppose by design, Dune 3 has to be a retread of Dune 1. I'm excited to see what happens in the fourth novel, and though I know a lot by absorbing elements around the internet, I'm sure there are plenty of surprises in store.
I'm surprised by how well the story has held up, considering that it was written in the 70s.
I need to reread the part about the transformation in the desert, because I'm not sure how or if that really fit into the story's world. It felt more like magic than science or evolution.
The author describes patterns of human activity that repeat over eons. He approaches the idea that people need to stay connected to the immediacy of life and human nature. Somehow, the story strikes me as being anti-technology and a call for people to be spiritual but not religious.
The end of the story gave me some ideas about Shai-Hulud. Unless I really misread things, the goal of the Dune story is to describe replacing the big worm or driving force below the desert, which makes me wonder if this is a repeating cycle that has happened before. …
I'm surprised by how well the story has held up, considering that it was written in the 70s.
I need to reread the part about the transformation in the desert, because I'm not sure how or if that really fit into the story's world. It felt more like magic than science or evolution.
The author describes patterns of human activity that repeat over eons. He approaches the idea that people need to stay connected to the immediacy of life and human nature. Somehow, the story strikes me as being anti-technology and a call for people to be spiritual but not religious.
The end of the story gave me some ideas about Shai-Hulud. Unless I really misread things, the goal of the Dune story is to describe replacing the big worm or driving force below the desert, which makes me wonder if this is a repeating cycle that has happened before.
Herbert draws heavily on various religions in the creation of his universe, so a circular conception of time and the embodiment of "divinity" in an actual character whose existence becomes the literal and spiritual foundation for galactic civilization would be right up his alley.
The scale and complexity of the ideas the author is tackling grows in each new Dune book. Some people may not like it or understand a lot of it. I know I didn't when I tried to read these books at 13, but they are thought-provoking and fascinating to me now, 27 years later and being much more well-read.
Review of 'Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
So...I'm gradually working through the Dune books, and this was the first one that really felt like a slog. All of the books require a certain amount of faith, that this prophecy you've never heard of until now will somehow become important later, or that these six characters referenced in this conversation will make an appearance later, or whatever, but this was the first one where it just felt like chapters and chapters went by in which I had little sense of what anyone's actual aims or motivations were. Leto II refers to the "Golden Path" throughout the book as his primary driving motivation, but exactly what that was remained unclear until the closing pages. The book retains the incredible scope and mythology of the previous installments, but that scope feels like it's starting to weigh the whole enterprise down.
Review of 'Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)' on 'Goodreads'
No rating
I somehow keep expecting less than the Frank Herbert Dunes deliver. They do read more like fantasy than sci-fi now, but they're still really fun intrigue books.
Review of 'Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, #3)' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I'm amazed by the consistency in this mind-boggling trilogy. Written over a decade, any changes in values are subtle and overwhelmed by the scope of the story. This is first time I've ever done this: at the climax I was so impressed with the foreshadowing that I just started reading again at the beginning, and appreciated everything more the second time.
Review of 'Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Leto et Ghanima, les enfants jumeaux de Paul Muad'Dib Atreides et de Chani ont grandi. Leur tante Alia assure la régence. Leur grand-mère Jessica revient sur Arrakis après plusieurs années de retraite sur Caladan. Quant aux héritiers de l'ancien empereur Shaddam de la famille Corrino, ils complotent pour reprendre le trône impérial. C'est dans ce cadre que débute le troisième volet du cycle de Dune. Le récit est passionnant, jusqu'au final, surprenant et haletant. Quel plaisir !
