11-16-2024, 07:53 AM
Decided to read the six Frank Herbert Dune books. Just finished Children of Dune.
Dune (1965) - Co-winner of the 1966 Hugo award, with This Immortal by Roger Zelazny, and winner of the inaugural Nebula Award. What really needs to be said about this book? There are few who read sci-fi who haven't read Dune. But who knows with kids these days? I like Herbert's use of third-person omnipotent. Most, and by most I mean almost everyone but Herbert, writers limit the omnipotence to a single character for the entire novel or chapter by chapter. Herbert switches the perspective/private thoughts from character to character between paragraphs and sometimes from one sentence to the next. Apparently, some people find that off-putting. *shrug*
Dune Messiah[b] (1969) - Takes place twelve years after the events of Dune. Paul is emperor, distraught about the tens of billions who died in his name, and not comforted by the knowledge that it would have been worse without his efforts. The story centers on a conspiracy to overthrow him. Herbert has said that the book was written as an inversion to Dune. I liked the ending but at times, with all the philosophical maundering, found it a slog to get there. Fortunately, it's a little over half the length of the other books so it was over quickly.
[b]Children of Dune (1976) - Nine years later. Paul is gone (or is he?); Alia is regent and batshit crazy (or is she?); and Leto and Ghanima, Paul and Chani's twin "children", are plotting the future of the known universe. I enjoyed it. Less seemingly pointless blahblahblah and more seemingly pointful do-do-do.
Now on to the final three which, if memory serves, and after more than three decades, it doesn't, gets more into the blahblahblah. I can't even remember if I've read Chapterhouse: Dune, the sixth book in the series.
Dune (1965) - Co-winner of the 1966 Hugo award, with This Immortal by Roger Zelazny, and winner of the inaugural Nebula Award. What really needs to be said about this book? There are few who read sci-fi who haven't read Dune. But who knows with kids these days? I like Herbert's use of third-person omnipotent. Most, and by most I mean almost everyone but Herbert, writers limit the omnipotence to a single character for the entire novel or chapter by chapter. Herbert switches the perspective/private thoughts from character to character between paragraphs and sometimes from one sentence to the next. Apparently, some people find that off-putting. *shrug*
Dune Messiah[b] (1969) - Takes place twelve years after the events of Dune. Paul is emperor, distraught about the tens of billions who died in his name, and not comforted by the knowledge that it would have been worse without his efforts. The story centers on a conspiracy to overthrow him. Herbert has said that the book was written as an inversion to Dune. I liked the ending but at times, with all the philosophical maundering, found it a slog to get there. Fortunately, it's a little over half the length of the other books so it was over quickly.
[b]Children of Dune (1976) - Nine years later. Paul is gone (or is he?); Alia is regent and batshit crazy (or is she?); and Leto and Ghanima, Paul and Chani's twin "children", are plotting the future of the known universe. I enjoyed it. Less seemingly pointless blahblahblah and more seemingly pointful do-do-do.
Now on to the final three which, if memory serves, and after more than three decades, it doesn't, gets more into the blahblahblah. I can't even remember if I've read Chapterhouse: Dune, the sixth book in the series.
Getting me free admission into gaming conventions for a decade