A review by thevampiremars
Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

2.5

‘You offer us slavery?’
‘That is one of your options.’

I struggled with this book. The narrative meanders a lot as various factions try to assert their influence. I found their scheming too abstract; it was unclear what any of these factions wanted or planned to do. Mysterious machinations are fine if anchored by compelling characters, ideally a single compelling protagonist who propels the plot forwards in such a way that the factions are forced to respond. Maybe that’s the point? Humanity is on the Golden Path but has no Tyrant to guide them now. Maybe the lack of momentum is a deliberate contrast to the narrative thrust implemented by Paul and Leto; their stories are over and this is the aftermath.

Authoritarian structures are collapsing, or at least being complicated. Where the adult-child dynamic was used to exemplify authoritarianism in the previous book, here we have a child commanding priests (and worms) as well as a millennia-old adult mind in an adolescent body.

There’s a gear shift in the final quarter and it becomes overtly sexual, I think because the balance of power is shifting in favour of women (again, the complicated gender politics of the Dune franchise; a matriarchy informed by patriarchal ideas of what women are capable of). A new form of manipulation replaces the action and violence we’d seen previously. That said,

Rakis does get blown up at the end.

Heretics of Dune was supposed to be the start of a new trilogy, but only the first two books were written before Frank Herbert’s death. I will read Chapterhouse Dune but I doubt I’ll read Brian Herbert’s contributions to the franchise (I hear they’re not great). Like many readers, I feel obligated to finish the main series of six novels due to the sunk cost fallacy if nothing else. The fandom consensus that each subsequent Dune novel is weaker than the last is holding true.