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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I had such high hopes for this book. I was excited to see where things went on the planet and for the twins, but this DRAGGED. There was SO MUCH long and meandering internal dialogues/monologues about literally nothing. There were multiple paragraphs about Leto looking at something. Wonder about it. Looking away. Looking back. Thinking more about it. And then cycling through that again. It was draining to read anything with Leto in particular.
There were some parts that had potential like the mental horror of the Baron, but that was introduced and used as a semi plot point but we didn’t get much more detail about it really. I also thought the twins trying to evade the preordained “breeding needs” felt hopeful.
All that was thrown out of the window for what felt like no clear reason? Leto ends up wanting to follow along at the end which does not make sense to me, but I guess it’s to save the human race in the end? Also Paul coming back as the Preacher was fine, but his death for real the second time was like such a minor blip that it felt like a missed opportunity for tension and drama. Similar with Alia too, and also with Leto going through his transformation that would have been such great tension and grotesqueries but instead all we got was some description of it and a lot of too much philosophical thinking. I have heard the next books keep getting worse as well, so I’d imagine there is even more long meandering notions about all kinds of wayyyy too obscure thoughts and histories and whatnot.
There were some parts that had potential like the mental horror of the Baron, but that was introduced and used as a semi plot point but we didn’t get much more detail about it really. I also thought the twins trying to evade the preordained “breeding needs” felt hopeful.
All that was thrown out of the window for what felt like no clear reason? Leto ends up wanting to follow along at the end which does not make sense to me, but I guess it’s to save the human race in the end? Also Paul coming back as the Preacher was fine, but his death for real the second time was like such a minor blip that it felt like a missed opportunity for tension and drama. Similar with Alia too, and also with Leto going through his transformation that would have been such great tension and grotesqueries but instead all we got was some description of it and a lot of too much philosophical thinking. I have heard the next books keep getting worse as well, so I’d imagine there is even more long meandering notions about all kinds of wayyyy too obscure thoughts and histories and whatnot.
Much more interesting than 2. Looking forward to freak Leto.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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:
No
adventurous
dark
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There's nothing like the first Dune, but Children is definitely better than The Saviour because it offers the same amount of philosophy but doesn't lack a richer storyline. It doesn't quite live up to the first installment, which managed to pack great ideas and a captivating mythology into a riveting adventure story, because it sometimes overstays its welcome. Still, the plot is very interesting and I enjoyed it, the new characters are equal to the old ones and the original ones are not just there for nostalgia's sake, but still have a rich role to play. Paul's cycle ended in a terrifying and spectacular way, so what more could you ask for, really? Maybe a slightly faster pace on the way to that goal.
Review of Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune is a profound meditation on power, memory, and transformation. Where the first two volumes in the series—Dune and Dune Messiah—chart the rise and entanglement of empire and messiah, Children of Dune interrogates what comes after: the inheritance of vision, the cost of foresight, and the moral impossibility of maintaining purity within systems of control.
Philosophically, this is a novel preoccupied with the problem of opposites—tradition and innovation, spirit and flesh, freedom and necessity. Herbert destabilizes dualisms, showing them to be not absolute, but relational and context-dependent. Much of the book is concerned with escape—not from danger, but from the self-reinforcing logic of historical momentum. Identity itself becomes a battleground.
Stylistically, Herbert maintains his elliptical, epigrammatic form—moving through internal dialogues, prophetic fragments, and ecological treatises with unapologetic complexity. The reader is not guided but tested, invited into the mental discipline the characters themselves must endure.
This is not a book of easy resolution or narrative comfort. It is a theological novel disguised as science fiction, and a work of political theory masquerading as myth. Its questions linger: What does it mean to become more than human? Can a species evolve without tyranny? And what is the role of memory—cultural, ancestral, prophetic—in shaping the possibilities of the future?
Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune is a profound meditation on power, memory, and transformation. Where the first two volumes in the series—Dune and Dune Messiah—chart the rise and entanglement of empire and messiah, Children of Dune interrogates what comes after: the inheritance of vision, the cost of foresight, and the moral impossibility of maintaining purity within systems of control.
Philosophically, this is a novel preoccupied with the problem of opposites—tradition and innovation, spirit and flesh, freedom and necessity. Herbert destabilizes dualisms, showing them to be not absolute, but relational and context-dependent. Much of the book is concerned with escape—not from danger, but from the self-reinforcing logic of historical momentum. Identity itself becomes a battleground.
Stylistically, Herbert maintains his elliptical, epigrammatic form—moving through internal dialogues, prophetic fragments, and ecological treatises with unapologetic complexity. The reader is not guided but tested, invited into the mental discipline the characters themselves must endure.
This is not a book of easy resolution or narrative comfort. It is a theological novel disguised as science fiction, and a work of political theory masquerading as myth. Its questions linger: What does it mean to become more than human? Can a species evolve without tyranny? And what is the role of memory—cultural, ancestral, prophetic—in shaping the possibilities of the future?