Reviews with content warning for Genocide - Dune Messiah

Dune Messiah is the second novel in the Dune series by Frank Herbert. It continues the story of Paul Atreides, who we know as Muad'Dib as well as Emperor of the universe. Paul is worshipped by the Fremen and continues to face hostility from the Great Houses whom he displaced from the throne. Amidst this unrest we learn of multiple conspiracies brewing among factions to kill Paul.

"Watching the mundane activities of everyday life filled him with profound envy."

Dune Messiah is a commentary on how power changes you as well as the lengths we are willing to go for this power and our loved ones. Paul is a complex character. His prescience and ability to see glimpses of the future is a blessing but also a curse. He cannot just be a regular person, nor can his sister Alia who was also given prescience through her birth. This is an important theme throughout the book especially towards the end when we see Paul make decisions that will impact the future of his Jihad and empire.

The beginning of this book was very slow and confusing for me with multiple new characters brought in in a very short time span. My favorite part of the book was probably the last 80 pages where everything comes to a head and we gain clarity into Paul's thought processes and actions. Without giving too much away Chani plays a large role in the path that Paul chooses to take to evade his conspirators and the ending of the novel is due in part to his fastidiousness in Fremen culture as well as his love for Chani.

"'We're here now!' she protested, fighting a dry sob. 'And...I feel we have so little...time.' 'We have eternity, beloved.' 'You may have eternity. I have only now.''But this is eternity.' He stroked her forehead."

Content Warnings

trvs49's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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

This is a more philosophical, character-driven entry in the Dune series. The elements of adventure, new worlds, and sci-fi take a back seat to the intense character interactions, politics, and schemes. Paul's struggle for control over the universe and the events of the world is the main focus and is highly engaging throughout. Suspicions, schemes, plots within plots, and the reality of a universe ruled by Paul with his Sister at his side as pseudo-gods all culminate in a fantastic narrative with a satisfying end.

Paul's character development is impressive and genuinely satisfying, and it stays true to the character. However, where this book lacks is in the writing of the female characters, which is considerably weaker, although Alia does present as a really cool, complex character. The incest stuff and the age gap between her and some of the characters, as well as the stuff about her dad being her lover, are not necessary, in my opinion.

Also, Irulan just being super in love with Paul, although it is alluded to early in the book. I feel it doesn't get enough build-up and attention to make it understandable and believable, especially since she is supposed to be Bene Gesserit but throws away all her loyalties after he dies.

Content Warnings

dakizu's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.25

Interesting and though-provoking companion to the first novel. Writing this review after having finished the next novel in the series (Children of Dune), I am surprised by how well this novel acts as both: An epilogue to the original Dune; and a bridge from the original into Children. The scope is lowered considerably from the first novel and the scheming and plotting becomes much more focused. One issue that I found unique to this entry in the series is the prose: The first half of the novel contains many awkward phrasings and strange sentence structures; I found myself having to reread some sentences multiple times to understand them. This issue, thankfully, seems to go away past a certain point just before the middle of the novel. It seems to me that this novel had a less intensive editing pass than the proceeding and succeeding entries, but, much like the other entries, the depth of meaning behind the words makes up for the sometimes clunky delivery. Unlike the first novel, I found the ending of this one to be fantastic.

Content Warnings

sarah_tani's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

aileron's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging reflective 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? Yes

2.5

Content Warnings

More...