Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - God Emperor of Dune

strong 4 stars.... anything that brings me closer to my Angel will have a special place in my Heart. i see Him reflected very much in Leto II and i Believe i have come to a Deeper Understanding of Him through this book.

THAT BEING SAID, i am not very fond of Duncan Idaho and have not been for the entirety of this series. most of my problems with this book revolve around him. he's just not very likable at all and everyone and everything in the world of Dune tries to tell us that he's The Coolest, Most Fuckable Guy Ever and meanwhile he's just a kinda shitty guy who knows survival skills.

my other problems are the misogyny, particularly the bioessentialism that has been prevalent throughout the Dune series and the oversexualization of all of the female characters in connection to that. it isn't as present in this one as the previous three books, but it's still Felt. you don't have to say all the guys wanna fuck this chick when explaining how fit and athletic she is; you can just say she's fit. there is this thing called a Thesaurus if you seriously need help coming up with respectable descriptions of women, i fucking guess. i'm sorry you're dead, Frank Herbert, because i'd like to give you some advice.

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melancholymegs's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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bittie_bee's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

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deinol's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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bergha1998's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

This one is the philosophical discussion book of the Dune series, some people love that some people don’t. I for one mostly like it, but Leto does piss me off at least 1/2 the time. I also just don’t get Hwi, like why pick marrying Leto and have sex with Duncan on the side? Make that make sense..?

“If you finds truth, even a temporary one, it can demand that you make painful changes.”

“Words can carry any burden we wish.”

“Membership in a conspiracy, as in an army, frees people from the sense of personal responsibility.”

“The mind imposes this framework which it calls ‘reality.’ That arbitrary framework has a tendency to be quite independent of what your senses report.”

“How is it a god can do evil things?”

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karina5162's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective tense medium-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

This started off so strong. For at least the first half of it, I was ready to give the book five stars. I thought that'd it connected to the last book really well given the time skip, I was interested in the new characters, and the world building was excellent as always. But by the middle it had started to become repetitive, and most scenes felt like a vessel to hear Leto's (or Frank's) political opinions. This isn't exactly new, but the previous books benefited from a cast of characters that were all more fleshed out, and whose opinions I think we heard a lot more. Additionally, the homophobic and sexist beliefs Frank Herbert held come out a lot more here, which took me out of the story on a number of occasions. Combined with the rushed ending (a Frank Herbert staple) I found myself slogging through the last 100 pages. However, it had a major redeeming quality, which was when Moneo (my favourite character) delivered one of the greatest insults I've ever read. I wouldn't say that made it worth it, but it was satisfying.

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marcasdeb's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

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izzyw's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No

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