Heretics of Dune

I am happy to report that the fifth book in the Dune series has pulled me back into the Duneiverse after the slog of God Emperor of Dune left me less than excited to carry on. 1,500 years after the dramatic demise of the Leto/worm (the best part of the fourth book), the descendants of the people of The Scattering -- the great dispersal of people out into the universe as part of Leto's Golden Path to the survival of humanity, are returning with lots of money, lots of weird new inventions, and a bizarro version of the familiar social structures of the old civilization that continues with their old tricks. This book is heavy on the female characters, which is part of why I liked it. Who could resist the Bene Gesserit (the all-female order show more that has hacked their minds, bodies, and breeding system)! Lady Jessica is still one of my favorite characters of all time show less

This year I re-read the first four of Frank Herbert's Dune novels, which were the only ones extant when I originally read them as a teenager. Heretics of Dune is the fifth, and was thus new to me. It is set more than a millennium after the conclusion of the prior book God Emperor of Dune.

As I progressed through the early chapters, I was struck by a similarity of "feel" to the other odd-numbered Dune books, particularly Children of Dune. It occurred to me that the first two books charted the rise and fall of Paul Muad'Dib, and the next two did the same for Leto II Atreides. Imagining that the pattern might hold, I was nevertheless kept in suspense for the entire book about just whose ascension was being narrated in the course of events. show more There was a great deal of mystery about who would have the upper hand at the story's end, and various parties offered different possibilities of surpassing the prior run of God-Emperor-cultivated humanity.

Would a new force arise in the person of the mentat Bashar Teg with his Atreides bloodline and Bene Gesserit training? Would it be his precocious daughter Odrade, herself a member of the Sisterhood? Or the young girl Sheeana who talks to sandworms and rides them bareback? The latest Duncan Idaho ghola, whose composition is supposed to involve a Tleilaxu innovation? Waff, the Tleilaxu Master of Masters himself? Or would a novel power arrive from outside among those returning to the old Imperial core from the Scattering that spread humanity to other galaxies or even universes? These "recent" arrivals (they have been present for at least a century) include a new order of space witches: the Honored Matres, whose different drug makes their eyes orange instead of blue. Because this question of eventual supremacy is kept open until the last thirty pages or so of the book, the end telescopes a lot of action into a very quick recounting, and in this respect I thought it reflected the rhythm of the original Dune, even though that first book seemed to offer up Paul as an obvious protagonist and destined victor.

For most of Heretics of Dune, two main story strands develop in parallel on the worlds of Rakis (f.k.a. Arrakis) and Gammu (f.k.a. Giedi Prime). The Honored Matres are teased throughout, but there is little firsthand detail about them until very late in the novel. There is a lot of new information about the Bene Tleilax, and the intrigues between them and the Bene Gesserit are chief drivers of the plot. The Ixians, the Spacing Guild, CHOAM, and the Fish Speakers are all peripheral to the action, with little more than passing acknowledgment of their existence. But the fact that all of these contending powers still persist so long after the reign of the Tyrant Leto II demonstrates the terrible stability that he had been able to foster--a stability that seems to be finally coming to an end in the late pages of this book. show less

“Some people never observe anything. Life just happens to them. They get by on little more than a kind of dumb persistence, and they resist with anger and resentment anything that might lift them out of that false serenity.”
— Mother Superior Taraza

This quote could be applied to much of this installment in the Dune story. In it there are many forces, factions, individuals, and groups who are very very secure knowing that they and they alone are in the right, and as the action unfolds we witness the various ways they react when it turns out they’re not. A number of them are also revealed to have serious spiritual/religious undertones in their megalomania beyond the standard obsessions with wealth and power (i.e., not just “we show more want wealth and power,” but “it is Just and Right that we should have the wealth and power and not those other people”). Hence the “Heretics” moniker. This volume feels a bit more like the first book in that Shakespearian, Game of Thrones, great houses at war, sort of way. In the end, some learn to adjust accordingly, some die.

Like book 4, this one takes place after another massive time jump; fifteen hundred years have passed, so we get a new set of characters to get to know. By this point in the Dune-iverse, the majority of the power players are women or groups run by women, particularly the Bene Gesserit and a new faction known as the Honored Matres. I know it’s a popular culture-war pastime to imagine what a world ruled by women would be like, and would we be better off as a species or not, yadda yadda yadda…. all I can say is that it depends on the women in question, because those Honored Matres are some scary bishes.

One of the few men we meet in the story is Miles Teg, who after a slow burn turns out to be quite a heroic and admirable character. Unusually, he’s a bit on the older side too; he had been looking forward to retirement when the story starts. This is definitely not like one of those Netflix shows where every important character is under 30. So, novelty points there... show less

To be fair to this, I think it suffers more from being read after reading some of the Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson prequels than it does on its own merits (or lack thereof). Unfortunately I can't turn back the clock and unread those books, so what I imagine would have been fascinating reveals and fun POVs back when this was only the fifth novel in the series are kind of uninteresting, leaving the characters, worlds, and plots to stand on their own. And they do not stand well at all.

For instance, I imagine a reincarnated Duke Leto POV would be more interesting if there wasn't at least one prequel already from the ACTUAL Duke Leto's POV, before and after he became the duke. That's not to say Miles Teg is boring... but he kind of show more is. And a reincarnated Lady Jessica would be more interesting if, well... same reasons. Duncan is honestly just a barebones Paul - he even admits it to himself - crossed with "God Emperor of Dune" Duncan. But he's not Paul, fighting a revolution and preparing for jihad. He's just a whiny baby who's typically trapped in a room practicing things or trying to sneak past his guards. And that's hardly interesting.

The rest of the cast are boring plotters who simultaneously don't care but also do care greatly about things that mostly happen off-page. This leaves you in a general disinterested state, wondering why you're meant to care about literally anyone or anything happening. And then there's Sheanna. Who is... there. And another whiny kid. But good on her for tearing down the patriarchal establishment, I suppose.

The big reveals were also ruined if you've read any stories about how the Tleilaxu came about, because you know that reveal before it happens. It was honestly just as gross as in the prequel, and here it's like... well. Other reveals are characters being like "and now we shall enact the secret plan to change the universe that we never discussed until now because secret" and then screen wipe. It's... it's not great.

This book also contains some of the creepiest and most unimaginative descriptions of sex that I've seen, even from Herbert. I honestly wish the man could come back from the dead to read a good erotica story. Seriously. Get some imagination in there. We're meant to believe we're seeing something impressive, but it's never described, and the most we get is vague references to characters experiencing an orgasm and losing control of their bodies, which is... basically just how sex works.

All in all, it was better than "God Emperor of Dune", mostly because things actually happened and the cast was at least slightly more compelling, and its aping of both "Dune" and "Children of Dune" in terms of plot and writing style gets you through more of it, but that's a low bar. It was largely a joyless slog of a book with a meh cast of characters, uninteresting politics, a weird obsession with joyless orgasms and the power of the orgasm (which, in the hands of a better writer, I wouldn't be averse to, but Herbert can't write erotica, so), societal sexism, and people calling women whores. Unless you're really invested in the story universe, skip this. show less

There is always a point somewhere about a quarter through any one of the books in this series (yes, including the first) when I think, "Why am I reading this? I feel more than a little lost...and am I really interested?" And yet, I am always glad I persist, even though I can't define exactly what engages me and what the "payoff" is. Something about capturing the intersection of politics, religion, economics, social systems, human nature, and trying to capture a long view of life. And there are always quotable pieces from the chapter introductions that take me by surprise with their disturbing relevance to our present political climate:
Law always chooses sides on the basis of enforcement power. Morality and legal niceties have little to show more do with it when the real question is: Who has the clout? show less

Wow. Dune is one of my favorite novels and I love the greater world-building of the series in general. Despite that, I've never been able to sustain an interest in reading past God Emperor of Dune. Maybe because of the dramatic shifts in narrative and time-scales that happen between most of the books. Having said that, I finally picked up Heretics of Dune and am so glad I did. Probably my second favorite of the series, HoD picks up many thousands of years following the death of the ancient God Emperor Leto II, a hybrid man/sandworm tyrant who enslaved humanity in order to fulfill his Golden Path, a path intended to shepherd humanity safely through the dangers of prescience. Now we find previously scattered remnants of humanity returning show more to the Galactic Core, and they are powerful, relentless, and planning to take what they believe is theirs. Are the Bene Gesserit sisterhood capable of standing up to this seemingly unstoppable power? Readers of Dune will know that Frank Herbert is anything but predictable. show less

The 5th installment to the Dune Universe, Heretics Of Dune begins almost 2,000 years after Leto II, The God Emperor’s reign. One character who was in the background since the beginning of the series is now the center of attention, and that character is a teenage Duncan Idaho. This Duncan Idaho is a clone and many have been made over thousands of years but this Duncan has something different. Something the Bene Gesserit are looking for. We are also introduced to a female character who speaks to the sandworms, Sheeana. The future of everything lay with them.

I enjoyed being with Duncan again and just having a younger character who doesn’t know what's to come. Where Leto II was the tyrant and leader there is definitely a lack of show more leadership. The different races are breaking. There is much chaos and all the different groups think they have the right path to follow.

I did not like that this one ended on a cliffhanger. I wanted to see when Sheeana and Duncan meet. I wanted to know more about everyone. I wanted to stay immersed in the world.

I am itching to read the next book, Chapterhouse Dune. I haven’t read ahead review or descriptions of the next book. I can understand why this series is beloved by many. show less