Reviews with content warning for Death - Heretics of Dune

Po lėtos ir filosofiškos ketvirtosios dalies pirmiausia kas krenta į akis, tai visiškai pasikeitęs pasakojimo tempas. Viskas vyksta daug greičiau, beveik visą laiką vyksta kažkoks veiksmas, o ir pačių dialogų daugiau. Įdomu išvysti praeitos dalies gale pasėtų sėklų vaisius, o ir nauji personažai, bent jau keletas jų, neatsilieka anksčiau matytiems.

Obettačiau, kiek sunku neignoruoti visų keistenybių, kurių Kopos serijoje tikrai netrūko, bet dabar jau kartais gal net ir per keistai pateikta. Knygoje netrūksta perdėtai seksualizuotų momentų, su kuriais viskas kaip ir būtų ok, bet nu wow, kaip jų kartais nereikėjo. Keisti ir patys naujai pateikti konceptai, o kai kurie iš jų net neturi jokios atomazgos. Nepaisant to, labai smagiai susikaitė, Herbertas vis dar stebina savo itin gilia vaizduote, o aš nekantriai laukiu pamatyti kaip čia viskas pasibaigs.

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dauramirez's review against another edition

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reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.5

Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert follows Miles Teg, a military commander entangled in the politics of the Bene Gesserit and others vying for control over the spice melange. However, the book is weighed down by uncomfortable and graphic elements, including disturbing depictions of pubescent characters, women using intimacy as a means of power, and a particularly unsettling scene involving the torture of a man.
I didn't like it, but it was better than God Emperor of Dune.

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draven_deathcrush's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

4.0

I liked most of the new characters, and the writing was super easy to follow, but there was a lot of talk about

breeding,

and that was weird.

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peggy_racham's review against another edition

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4.0

By far my favorite in the series, so far. Loved Miles Tag and his view, enjoyed Duncan for the first time since the first book. Overall a good read, filled with existential questions answered in a true Frank Herbert fashion.

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sir_willyam's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

A return to some of the fundamental story telling in previous Dune books found in Messiah, and Children, Heretics is a lot more character-based than the philosophy-heavy slog that God Emperor sometimes felt like. Despite Arrakis being recognizable again, aspects of Frank Herbert’s story telling doesn’t. The inclusion of sex-driven plot was the single most disruptive part of the entire series, and is a big factor in why I DNF the last book in the series, Chapterhouse: Dune.

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revolution666's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Took me long enough to continue reading these. I've been loving the series up to this point, including the more divisive God Emperor of Dune, and I finally decided to get to this next one recently, and I have to say...it's easily my least favorite so far.

Herbert's prose has always been very unique, sometimes being a bit detached and slightly difficult to follow, but it definitely hits that peak with Heretics. The flow of this novel is somehow simultaneously slogging and erratic, with individual scenes taking significantly longer to get through than ever before with constant interruptions of internal dialogues and reflective musings, as well as regular flashbacks to previously unvisited scenarios to give context in certain situations, which is an interesting storytelling choice that can admittedly work in some cases but doesn't really come off well in such a deeply detailed and elaborate work as this, making it rather messy and sometimes unfocused.

Another aspect that really annoyed me ALL throughout is the fact that, unlike the more naturally unfolding (yet still very complex) plots of the previous novels, every character seems to be able to read every person they interact with and divulge and demystify just about every aspect of every conflict and conversation they're in in just the right way to conveniently move the plot along in the way Herbert needs it to, or in some cases we have just the right kind of change happening or character showing up at just the right time for just the right purpose, all resulting in a very awkwardly forced story progression (this is all at its very worse in the final chunk of the story as well). I can't tell you how many times I sighed or rolled my eyes at a character coming to get another immense revelation that felt totally unnatural.

Despite these glaring issues, though, Herbert's prose in of itself is still very good, albeit at its most difficult to penetrate yet, the story in general is still decent enough despite its progression problems, and it has some otherwise interesting and unique characters, especially Miles Teg who I found myself liking very much. It's not a bad book, and I had no real issues getting through it, but its easily the most flawed of the Dune novels up to this point.

6/10

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