Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by kimdokjaa
Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
3.0
liked the plot (the rare times we got some) and political intrigue in this one, but i'm still not at all a fan of herbert's writing.
what I liked:
-paul actually having to deal with the costs of his actions. we see so many sci-fi stories where evil overlords are killed and the people are freed, but dune is the first i’ve read that really makes the characters examine the cost of the revolution and the countless lives that are lost in the midst of it. 61 billion deaths is absolutely crazy, and there was, understandably, a huge fallout because of that. I liked seeing the fall of paul, and love how reasonable it is considering the devastation he (somewhat inadvertently) caused. I liked seeing him & alia struggle with the god-hood they found themselves in. paul is a very well done failed hero, and I think a LOT of other protagonists who have found themselves in paul's shoes escaped his fate only by lazy writing
what I didn’t
-the prose and the pacing are still very, very rough. dune messiah's pacing makes it feel like a chore to read at times, which is such a pity considering how much I love the ideas behind it.
-there was so much repetition about prescience and possible futures and everything for paul to just be like ok we'll just die
-I HATED the addition of gholas. we can now grow clones with people's exact memories? I think dead characters coming back really lessens a piece of fiction for me, because now when other characters are in danger it's just like oh no problem grab a few of their cells we can basically resurrect them.
-duncan/hayt/whatever. see the above. also alia???? she's like 12? I truly do not care that she's preborn or whatever, it's gross she's a child.
-what happened to the words of power??
-did I mention how bad the pacing was
what I liked:
-paul actually having to deal with the costs of his actions. we see so many sci-fi stories where evil overlords are killed and the people are freed, but dune is the first i’ve read that really makes the characters examine the cost of the revolution and the countless lives that are lost in the midst of it. 61 billion deaths is absolutely crazy, and there was, understandably, a huge fallout because of that. I liked seeing the fall of paul, and love how reasonable it is considering the devastation he (somewhat inadvertently) caused. I liked seeing him & alia struggle with the god-hood they found themselves in. paul is a very well done failed hero, and I think a LOT of other protagonists who have found themselves in paul's shoes escaped his fate only by lazy writing
what I didn’t
-the prose and the pacing are still very, very rough. dune messiah's pacing makes it feel like a chore to read at times, which is such a pity considering how much I love the ideas behind it.
-there was so much repetition about prescience and possible futures and everything for paul to just be like ok we'll just die
-I HATED the addition of gholas. we can now grow clones with people's exact memories? I think dead characters coming back really lessens a piece of fiction for me, because now when other characters are in danger it's just like oh no problem grab a few of their cells we can basically resurrect them.
-duncan/hayt/whatever. see the above. also alia???? she's like 12? I truly do not care that she's preborn or whatever, it's gross she's a child.
-what happened to the words of power??
-did I mention how bad the pacing was