Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

34 reviews

eurypterus's review against another edition

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Paul has to come to terms with fate and a plot to control him. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, War, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Infertility, Grief, Blood, Body horror, Torture, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Incest and Child death

hollowpointe's review against another edition

challenging sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Xenophobia, Suicide, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Addiction, Violence, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Confinement, Slavery, Incest, Grief, Trafficking, War, Religious bigotry, Death, Blood, Body horror, Infertility, Medical trauma, Medical content, Stalking, Child death, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts

bettysbookishworld's review against another edition

mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.0

I really enjoy the writing style where the villains' intention is presented and then we follow the story from that point until the final resolution. I think this narrative style is what keeps me so engaged and invested in the story itself. 

I like the ending and how the whole story from Dune until the ending of Dune Messiah turned out on the whole philosophical and religious level.  

However, the only negative thing to say about the second book is how female characters were written and unfortunately, it affected my reading enjoyment. In Dune, Herbert wrote female characters as strong, independent with their own minds. Even though they had the more traditional roles in the story, they were still written well. However, I didn't like how the women were handled in Dune Messiah. Mainly Alia. I felt uncomfortable how sexualized her character was when you think about her age. Also, all of the female characters lacked their personalities from the first book and here they were just submissive and shallow, really. 

I'll probably read the next book but will read it with caution and much lower expectations. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Gun violence, Death, and Genocide

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Pregnancy, Sexism, Incest, and Infertility

bergha1998's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The main theme of this book is how power corrupts. It takes the whole Dune series in a completely different trajectory. We watch Paul in Dune and believe him to be the “savior,” but in this one we see that even he falls when given absolute power. 

“They’re trained to believe? Not to know. Belief can be manipulated. Only knowledge is dangerous.”

“There is nothing firm, nothing balanced, nothing durable in all the universe—that nothing remains in its state, that each day, sometimes each hour, brings change.”

“If you need something to worship, then worship life—all life, every last crawling bit of it! We’re all in this beauty together!”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Infertility, Murder, Genocide, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Colonisation, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Death, War, and Addiction

camelliagwerm's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-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

Frank Herbert giveth (giving me two girlbosses) and Frank Herbert taketh (pulls out some absolutely fucking insane plot points that I wish to repress forever)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility and Incest

giulianalb99's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.0

Even though this book is the shortest one of all “Dune” books, I found it so freaking dense and slow full with politic matters (that I don’t enjoy because they are boring to me) that sometimes made it difficult to read. I really liked the characters and overall it was a good book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Infertility and Incest

potatodel's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.5

Here, have strong women characters, except they are all controlled by that one dude and they appear to be unable to control their emotions.
Here, have a ton of world building in book one, except that most of it doesn't continue in the next book.
Here, have a godlike main character, except he is annoying, and we don't really know why you should even like him.
Here, have a sexualized 16 years old character, because she's a girl and it's the 70s ... I guess ?!
I'm so glad to be done with this book. Hopefully, like I was told, Dune #3 is a bit better...
I was going to give 1 star, but the last few chapters weren't that bad.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship

Minor: War, Colonisation, Incest, Infertility, and Adult/minor relationship

kellyofcali's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

Definitely did not like this as much as the first one - it sort of started very confusingly political and I had a hard time following. It did improve as it went on and settled into the plot, but while there were some cool moments and interesting lines, it just didn't have the same narrative interest - or interest in the world especially - I felt with the first one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Infertility

linw21's review against another edition

challenging inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, and Infertility

Minor: Blood, War, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, and Incest

izzymmcfarland's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, and Pregnancy

Minor: Incest, Infertility, and Ableism