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story_singer_101's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
3.75
The themes are as fascinating as always, but I would have preferred there not be a sexually explicit scene that contained plot-important details. It was short though, which I appreciated.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
bl0ndekitten's review
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This was a bit of a weird book. I liked parts of it but the descriptions of sex seemed out of place. It wasn't as compelling as the previous four books because you are no longer following a close-knit Atreides family.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
mike_n_ike5555's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
iliaa's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia and Sexual content
Moderate: Rape, Trafficking, and Sexual violence
curbaby's review
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
muffinunchained's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
peggy_racham's review
4.0
By far my favorite in the series, so far. Loved Miles Tag and his view, enjoyed Duncan for the first time since the first book. Overall a good read, filled with existential questions answered in a true Frank Herbert fashion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Addiction, Drug use, Colonisation, Sexual assault, War, Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, and Misogyny
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Incest
sir_willyam's review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
A return to some of the fundamental story telling in previous Dune books found in Messiah, and Children, Heretics is a lot more character-based than the philosophy-heavy slog that God Emperor sometimes felt like. Despite Arrakis being recognizable again, aspects of Frank Herbert’s story telling doesn’t. The inclusion of sex-driven plot was the single most disruptive part of the entire series, and is a big factor in why I DNF the last book in the series, Chapterhouse: Dune.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Torture
Moderate: War, Murder, and Death
Minor: Addiction, Kidnapping, Child abuse, and Drug use
dannilmp's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
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
1.25
Now we have another time skip, to see the long lasting consequences of Leto II's final choice in God Emperpr of Dune. It was nice to finally move away from the Atreides family and focus on some other characters.
This book finally felt like the knive that split the series, with the loss of Leto II, all of our major players are finally dead and gone and this sets the stage for a new cast to rise up. However, not all of these new players were particularly brilliant and once again they were not written very well.
Herbert's ability to write women with the way he wrote the Honourned Matres was shocking to say the least, I'm not sure this man has written a decent female character in this entire series. If one does start to look they have slightly positive qualities it feels like this is instantly rectified in the next book and we're back to women as the bad guys again.
This book finally felt like the knive that split the series, with the loss of Leto II, all of our major players are finally dead and gone and this sets the stage for a new cast to rise up. However, not all of these new players were particularly brilliant and once again they were not written very well.
Herbert's ability to write women with the way he wrote the Honourned Matres was shocking to say the least, I'm not sure this man has written a decent female character in this entire series. If one does start to look they have slightly positive qualities it feels like this is instantly rectified in the next book and we're back to women as the bad guys again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
revolution666's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Took me long enough to continue reading these. I've been loving the series up to this point, including the more divisive God Emperor of Dune, and I finally decided to get to this next one recently, and I have to say...it's easily my least favorite so far.
Herbert's prose has always been very unique, sometimes being a bit detached and slightly difficult to follow, but it definitely hits that peak with Heretics. The flow of this novel is somehow simultaneously slogging and erratic, with individual scenes taking significantly longer to get through than ever before with constant interruptions of internal dialogues and reflective musings, as well as regular flashbacks to previously unvisited scenarios to give context in certain situations, which is an interesting storytelling choice that can admittedly work in some cases but doesn't really come off well in such a deeply detailed and elaborate work as this, making it rather messy and sometimes unfocused.
Another aspect that really annoyed me ALL throughout is the fact that, unlike the more naturally unfolding (yet still very complex) plots of the previous novels, every character seems to be able to read every person they interact with and divulge and demystify just about every aspect of every conflict and conversation they're in in just the right way to conveniently move the plot along in the way Herbert needs it to, or in some cases we have just the right kind of change happening or character showing up at just the right time for just the right purpose, all resulting in a very awkwardly forced story progression (this is all at its very worse in the final chunk of the story as well). I can't tell you how many times I sighed or rolled my eyes at a character coming to get another immense revelation that felt totally unnatural.
Despite these glaring issues, though, Herbert's prose in of itself is still very good, albeit at its most difficult to penetrate yet, the story in general is still decent enough despite its progression problems, and it has some otherwise interesting and unique characters, especially Miles Teg who I found myself liking very much. It's not a bad book, and I had no real issues getting through it, but its easily the most flawed of the Dune novels up to this point.
6/10
Herbert's prose has always been very unique, sometimes being a bit detached and slightly difficult to follow, but it definitely hits that peak with Heretics. The flow of this novel is somehow simultaneously slogging and erratic, with individual scenes taking significantly longer to get through than ever before with constant interruptions of internal dialogues and reflective musings, as well as regular flashbacks to previously unvisited scenarios to give context in certain situations, which is an interesting storytelling choice that can admittedly work in some cases but doesn't really come off well in such a deeply detailed and elaborate work as this, making it rather messy and sometimes unfocused.
Another aspect that really annoyed me ALL throughout is the fact that, unlike the more naturally unfolding (yet still very complex) plots of the previous novels, every character seems to be able to read every person they interact with and divulge and demystify just about every aspect of every conflict and conversation they're in in just the right way to conveniently move the plot along in the way Herbert needs it to, or in some cases we have just the right kind of change happening or character showing up at just the right time for just the right purpose, all resulting in a very awkwardly forced story progression (this is all at its very worse in the final chunk of the story as well). I can't tell you how many times I sighed or rolled my eyes at a character coming to get another immense revelation that felt totally unnatural.
Despite these glaring issues, though, Herbert's prose in of itself is still very good, albeit at its most difficult to penetrate yet, the story in general is still decent enough despite its progression problems, and it has some otherwise interesting and unique characters, especially Miles Teg who I found myself liking very much. It's not a bad book, and I had no real issues getting through it, but its easily the most flawed of the Dune novels up to this point.
6/10
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Violence
Minor: Confinement, Slavery, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, and Sexual content