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Loading... Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles, Book 2) (original 1969; edition 1987)by Frank Herbert
Work InformationDune Messiah by Frank Herbert (1969)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I really enjoy palace intrigue, and this is chock-full of it, so that's always great. I love that this book is written as a reaction to those who missed the fact that in Dune Paul is not really a hero, he's simply the least bad option, and that even his best intentions will lead to pain and suffering. I think it did a thorough job of that and rejecting the deification of Paul. I'll definitely finish "The Golden Path" arc, and depending on where I'm at and how I feel, may go ahead and do the full "I Love Frank Herbert" arc. I doubt I'll ever be at a point to dabble in the Brian Herbert books, but the completionist in me says "never say never." The hearts of all men dwell in the same wilderness. Dune Messiah takes place 12 years after the events at the end of Dune. In this book, we are introduced to the world transformed by the cruel jihad led in the name of Emperor Paul Atreides. The Fremen culture is affected and not for the better. There is a plot to get rid of Paul set in motion. The overall tone of the book is quite dark. There is not much hope in here. A lot of it is introspection. Paul feels trapped in his position, his despair exaggerated by seeing the horrible future he cannot change, but that he accepts for the greater good. Alia is coming of age, feeling she doesn't have many experiences she can call her own, separated from the other entities whose experiences she remembers. The children who are born don't bring hope either and the circumstances of their birth are quite depressing as well. This book is (again) a harsh criticism of the nature of political power and blind religion, which create "a mental epidemic". It is shorter and not as developed as Dune. The plot is lacking since it doesn't have the flow of a regular book. It feels quite flat. But philosophically speaking, it goes a little deeper. It is rare to find this level of character depth in contemporary science fiction. But, this is only accessible to people who have fallen in love with Herbert's way of weaving philosophy and fiction in the first part. If you're in it solely for the story, this will likely be a letdown. This is my second read of Dune Messiah and I enjoyed it more on this reread as an adult than I did in junior high school in the late 1970s. This was a good book but not of the same caliber as Dune itself. Dune is a heroic book of a young boy learning to become who he is destined to be and overpowering his adversaries. In contrast, Dune Messiah is the now young man coming to terms with the consequences of his actions and the question of what is destiny, what is belief, what is loyalty, what is the price of love, and what are the consequences of integrity. Dune Messiah is a worthy successor to Dune but because of the tragic nature of the story and Herbert’s intentional questioning of the nature and consequences of the heroic and messianic, it is not as satisfying as Dune on an emotional level but is certainly satisfying on an intellectual level. no reviews | add a review
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Dune Messiah continues the story of Paul Atreides, better known -- and feared -- as the man christened Muad'Dib. As Emperor of the known universe, he possesses more power than a single man was ever meant to wield. Worshipped as a religious icon by the fanatical Fremen, Paul faces the enmity of the political houses he displaced when he assumed the throne -- and a conspiracy conducted within his own sphere of influence. And even as House Atreides begins to crumble around him from the machinations of his enemies, the true threat to Paul comes to his lover Chani and the unborn heir to his family's dynasty .... No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Somewhere I got the idea Herbert had intended this as the ending of the prior novel and gave it new life as a sequel instead, but I can't find a source to back that up. I'm in accord with Villeneuve, that the first book's story is incomplete without this sequel's emphasizing the fallout and its surfacing of the central theme: beware who you deify. The Bene Gesserit and Bene Tleilaxu knew the danger of not being able to control the figurehead they wanted. The Fremen did not, and here we see how their civilization was transformed for the worse: religion as government, innocents of the desert become world destroyers, and internal division.
This second novel often disappoints those wishing for another large-scale epic adventure tale like the first. Herbert is introspective here, overtly challenging his own creation and all of our beliefs about the role of a mythic hero figure. The Dune series dates from a time when the creator's vision was paramount, long before there was focus on what will earn the most "likes". As literature, it is stronger for it. ( )