Reviews

The Jesus Incident by Frank Herbert, Bill Ransom

aronr's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

natniss's review against another edition

3.0

I'd have liked a bit more character development and a few less references to shiptits.
I'm not going to bother with the others in this series. Back to Dune I go!

waywardskyril's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

"Is the lesson diminished because the history that moves you is fiction?"

Trigger Warnings for The Jesus Incident at the bottom of the review

For a story set on a spaceship and a fictional planet with alien entities, clones, and an AI that has decided it is god, this book embraces or spotlights many core values of humanity. If it weren't so long, I'd be inclined to call it a fable, because there is a moral to it, if you pay attention.

Unfortunately, it IS long. Longer than it seems like it should be for 430-ish pages, much of which could have been cut out without losing much or any real plot or character developments. For example, there was one 29-minute long chapter in which one of the characters stares at some art and has the same thought again and again in a circular pattern with only mild deviations. The point of this character being so troubled could have been made in half the time or less.
This is only one example of how dry this book could, at times, become.

The disjointed nature of it, with vague time slips and skips, changing character perspectives as well as setting every single chapter made it almost feel like less a story, more a philosophical character study with only ever TENDRILS of overarcing plot for about 70% of the book.

Around the 70% mark, those tendrils finally tethered into something substantial, and everything suddenly started moving very quickly after pages and pages and pages of thought exercises and religious allegory. The last 30% of this book I actually quite liked a lot. All of the characters had their moments, boiling points were reached, and the questions left unanswered thus far were satisfied.

I find myself one of the few who neither loved nor hated the experience of The Jesus Incident.
Overall, I'm glad I read this book. It makes you think. It fills you with something at the close of the final pages. But my gosh, was it a slog to get through at times.
I wouldn't say I recommend it unless you're ready for 70's sci-fi lingo and an incredibly slow build of painstaking development for a surprisingly decent ending.
I'm not immediately inclined to read the sequels (and it's not necessary to get a full story), but I'm not absolutely ruling it out either. Maybe someday.


The Jesus Incident Trigger Warnings:

~Discrimination/Racism/Classism (of clones)
~Body horror-ish (lots of past lab experiments involving growing clones)
~Implied torture
~Possibly implied rape
~Implied past torture or rape
~Non-con (or, at best, reluctant) sex that's on screen but vague and fade to black
~Tons of religious jargon, not only in the sci-fi sense, but also pulling from other religions, especially Christianity
~Predatory behavior
~Cheating, technically
~The use of the term "ship tits" that are feeding tubes of some sort from the Ship that people suck from *gags* (I realize this isn't a typical trigger, but my gosh, did it turn me off and almost make me quit the book)
~ This is all I can think of, but it may not be all possible triggers. Tread with care.

reasonpassion's review against another edition

5.0

For we have created god in our image and then forgotten that we were an essential part of that process. Here is the essence of this story, epic in scope, profound in thought and inspiring in its portrayal of the inherent spiritual focus in humanity. We act out our impulses without any knowledge of where they come from and then ascribe an external power due to our ignorance, all along it is the humanity behind the human, the force behind the form that we tap into in every creative genius. There are many ideas Herbert covers here that is also done, to a greater or lesser degree in Dune, but these are not themes that ever get old and they are most assuredly worthy of contemplation.

corymojojojo's review against another edition

3.0

The premise and tone of this book really hit well for me and I think that’s the main reason I liked it. Unfortunately it was just frankly hard to follow with all of the dense philosophical stuff (which works for Herbert sometimes but perhaps not all the time) and weird pacing of the plot. The characters’ motivations were a little hard to follow as well and I think the meaning of it all went a bit over my head. That being said, it seems like a fascinating exploration of God and religious violence and while the term “WorShip” is a bit corny, the spaceship-gaining-consciousness-to-the-point-of-becoming-god is a neat concept. Am curious enough to read the follow up eventually.

hovancik's review against another edition

4.0

I love how Frank plays with religion in here.

leeroyjenkins's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.5

ffeatherr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

4.75

wasted's review against another edition

2.0

I chose this book because I actively seek out Science Fiction that portrays believable extraterrestrials. Although described on the back cover as "a breakthrough work of speculative fiction that leaps to the end of evolution," this collaborative story by Frank Hebert (Dune) and Bill Ransom is intriguingly ambitious.

Located on a distant planet with organic life, the scene is set to explore and understand sentient underwater kelp. However, as soon as the book enters its Rising Action, a slew of unnecessary sexual innuendos and frustrations are introduced. From the predatory men in leadership positions to the biologist leading the plant research, the story falls apart.

I wanted to read about unique aliens; not lusty space travelers. Yes, Isaac Asimov's "The Gods Themselves" described the sexual reproduction of the Triads but it provided context to the story's dilemma. If it can't be interwoven well, don't.

The Jesus Incident lost me when exposure to the conscious plants caused the female biologist to feel "a sexual excitement very nearly impossible to control at times." Sorry, as a human male, I couldn't help but realize that what I was reading was a joint collaboration between two old male nerds.

I haven't read Dune yet and hope that it isn't like this.

yeagleyreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0