Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - El mesías de Dune

I really enjoy the writing style where the villains' intention is presented and then we follow the story from that point until the final resolution. I think this narrative style is what keeps me so engaged and invested in the story itself.

I like the ending and how the whole story from Dune until the ending of Dune Messiah turned out on the whole philosophical and religious level.

However, the only negative thing to say about the second book is how female characters were written and unfortunately, it affected my reading enjoyment. In Dune, Herbert wrote female characters as strong, independent with their own minds. Even though they had the more traditional roles in the story, they were still written well. However, I didn't like how the women were handled in Dune Messiah. Mainly Alia. I felt uncomfortable how sexualized her character was when you think about her age. Also, all of the female characters lacked their personalities from the first book and here they were just submissive and shallow, really.

I'll probably read the next book but will read it with caution and much lower expectations.

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bergha1998's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The main theme of this book is how power corrupts. It takes the whole Dune series in a completely different trajectory. We watch Paul in Dune and believe him to be the “savior,” but in this one we see that even he falls when given absolute power.

“They’re trained to believe? Not to know. Belief can be manipulated. Only knowledge is dangerous.”

“There is nothing firm, nothing balanced, nothing durable in all the universe—that nothing remains in its state, that each day, sometimes each hour, brings change.”

“If you need something to worship, then worship life—all life, every last crawling bit of it! We’re all in this beauty together!”

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camelliagwerm's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Frank Herbert giveth (giving me two girlbosses) and Frank Herbert taketh (pulls out some absolutely fucking insane plot points that I wish to repress forever)

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elizlizabeth's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

3.0

Kind of a bummer because I enjoyed Dune a lot. This one focuses on bringing some darker aspects to the saga, but the pace is so slow for such a short book that I couldn't be as into it as I was with the first book. I think the ending saved it for me, so I'll continue to read but gah this book could've been an email.

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dannilmp's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This book felt like a breath of fresh air compared to the long haul that Dune felt. Dune Messiah felt like a completely different novel with a whole new cast of characters. Following a large time skip from the final events of the previous book, here we see the fallout of Leto I's actions of the first book. Boy are they some severe consequences! In this section of the story, he will try to please everyone before making a final choice on who his actions will save.

Of all the books in the series, this one didn't stick out much to me so it's hard to think of anything I actually enjoyed while reading it as I write this review months after I finished the novel. Watching the plot against Leto unfold was quite interesting, due to Leto's character I didn't think they would be able to plot anything against him at all without him being able to detect and ruin it.

Sometimes, the writing in this book was not great, especially when it came to Leto I starting to monologue on certain mundane things. I know he has all these great powers now but, it seemed to me that he just enjoyed hearing the sound of his own voice by trying to philosophise all these little things. That or he just really didn't like talking to some people and wanted to bore them to sleep?

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danaaliyalevinson's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

So, I love the first book.

This one felt like a prolonged first act to a new phase of the story, not always in the best way. I also felt like some of the best characters were sidelined or not in it at all.

That said, I appreciated the ending and how it clearly sets up a new phase. The palace intrigue is wonderful as always. And its commentary on savior complexes still really works here, maybe even better than the first book.

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aegireads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.5

(bdg voice) i just wish it was something else.

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