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A review by alanh168
Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
3.0
How someone receives Dune Messiah will depend largely on what that individual enjoyed from Dune. If they enjoyed the political scheming among factions, world building with Eastern influences, and philosophical ponderations, then they'll probably think favorably of this sequel.
In my opinion, however, this sequel is inferior to its predecessor in some of these attributes and more. For example, while there is plenty of political scheming, Dune Messiah features a lot more talking about plots than the actions of the plots themselves. Only towards the end do we really get the unfolding of actions which the book spends half its length building up towards.
Those same societal and philosophical ponderations that lent his original novel an even greater "epicness," for lack of a better word, are also still here. However, I felt like they became even more abstract and unclear in this book. There were times where I truly had no idea what Herbert was alluding to and it felt like this is where Herbert really begins laying the groundwork for the multi-book series. Perhaps on a re-read, after one has read the subsequent books, Dune Messiah's prose will feel less cryptic.
Lastly, Dune Messiah lacks in terms of keeping a health balance of elements. The original Dune balanced plotting and philosophy with moments of levity, action, and emotional character stakes. Dune Messiah barely has levity, action, or the kinds of emotional ties to characters that I enjoyed about the original (with the exception of Paul and Chai's relationship). While I enjoy the plotting and interesting quotes about society, they seemed to bog me down as the story kept going because there weren't as much other elements to act as a palette cleanser. In addition, while some of the prose left me re-reading passages for the right reasons (multi-layered meanings) some of them left me re-reading for the wrong reasons (incoherence and muddy articulation).
In favor of this sequel, I will say that I enjoyed the ending greatly (even more than the ending of Dune). I think Frank Herbert had wonderful ideas even if I don't always enjoy the execution of those ideas. This is by far the shortest book in the Dune series. It's ironic given that, due to its lack of action but so much talking about impending actions, it felt like this book could have been cut down in its word length. The story feels like a long epilogue to the original Dune, and perhaps it should have been written as such.
In my opinion, however, this sequel is inferior to its predecessor in some of these attributes and more. For example, while there is plenty of political scheming, Dune Messiah features a lot more talking about plots than the actions of the plots themselves. Only towards the end do we really get the unfolding of actions which the book spends half its length building up towards.
Those same societal and philosophical ponderations that lent his original novel an even greater "epicness," for lack of a better word, are also still here. However, I felt like they became even more abstract and unclear in this book. There were times where I truly had no idea what Herbert was alluding to and it felt like this is where Herbert really begins laying the groundwork for the multi-book series. Perhaps on a re-read, after one has read the subsequent books, Dune Messiah's prose will feel less cryptic.
Lastly, Dune Messiah lacks in terms of keeping a health balance of elements. The original Dune balanced plotting and philosophy with moments of levity, action, and emotional character stakes. Dune Messiah barely has levity, action, or the kinds of emotional ties to characters that I enjoyed about the original (with the exception of Paul and Chai's relationship). While I enjoy the plotting and interesting quotes about society, they seemed to bog me down as the story kept going because there weren't as much other elements to act as a palette cleanser. In addition, while some of the prose left me re-reading passages for the right reasons (multi-layered meanings) some of them left me re-reading for the wrong reasons (incoherence and muddy articulation).
In favor of this sequel, I will say that I enjoyed the ending greatly (even more than the ending of Dune). I think Frank Herbert had wonderful ideas even if I don't always enjoy the execution of those ideas. This is by far the shortest book in the Dune series. It's ironic given that, due to its lack of action but so much talking about impending actions, it felt like this book could have been cut down in its word length. The story feels like a long epilogue to the original Dune, and perhaps it should have been written as such.