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god emperor.jpg

Publisher: Gollancz

Series: Dune Chronicles (#4)

Genre: Space Opera

Pages: 454

Publication Date: 1981

Verdict: 1/5

 

For three thousand years, Leto Atreides II has sat upon his throne on Arrakis. Less human with every passing year, Leto guides humanity along his vision of a Golden Path. Against a man who has become a god, what hope does any rebellion have . . ?

God Emperor of Dune is a book that divides readers. There are those who praise it as the epitome of the series. the pinnacle of Frank Herbert’s achievements. And then are people who think it’s all a bit rubbish. I fall squarely into the latter category. This is the book so many people say rewards rereading, but it’s also the one I wasn’t looking forward to experiencing a second time around. I’m actually not sure how to review this book, because for the overwhelming majority of it I was bored out of my mind.

This is not a novel. This is a philosophy thesis with characters. Remember in my Children of Dune review I commented that the epigraphs felt less like glimpses of a universe and more like Frank Herbert directly speaking to his readers? Welcome to a whole book of that. Full credit to Herbert, this is probably his best-written work, because his style fits the work of an essayist far better than that of a novelist. Unfortunately, I’m here to read a narrative, not be subjected to a lesson in morality. Yes, you can blend the two, and a lot of science fiction does just that. God Emperor of Dune just swings too far one way.

There is a story here, but it’s largely irrelevant. Only two characters are carried over from the previous books. Leto II (now transformed into a monstrous worm-person hybrid and ruling over the universe) and Duncan Idaho (the most recent in a long line of gholas). Everyone else is new, and everyone is utterly uninteresting to me. The characterisation is even thinner than usual, and a lot of them feel like copies of earlier characters. One noted change is that Herbert doesn’t directly tell us how this one end, which is a change of pace that I appreciated. Of course, I would be more appreciative if there was anything in this book that held my attention.

But let’s talk about the philosophy. That is, after all, what Herbert wants us to take away from this book. When I was doing my Master’s, I sat through a lot of philosophy, and I loathe it as much now as I did then. Even the points I agree with tend to be delivered in the most awfully pretentious way. God Emperor of Dune uses this pretentious delivery to bring not valid points, but a load of nonsense. It’s hard to be sure exactly what Herbert is trying to say, because he couches everything in the most convoluted language. Take for example, Leto II’s all-female army.

Why women? I hear you ask. A question echoed by Idaho. The answer of course is simple. Because male armies inevitably turn on their leader because males are driven by violent sexual desire. Still with me, because it gets weirder. An army of homosexuals would never work, because they can’t tell the difference between pleasure and pain. Maybe I’m wrong about what Herbert is saying, because even a reread of this section doesn’t illuminate the point he is trying to make. Homophobia from fictional characters doesn’t bother me, but this feels like Herbert speaking directly. It’s very nineteen-eighties, and in no way has aged well. And this is far from the end of it. In the opening pages, it’s stated that wolves will attack a woman because she’d just too sexy to leave alone. It’s just bizarre.

I’m going to leave this review at that, because negativity is not why I review books. But sometimes a book like this comes along, and negativity is all I have.


6 responses to “BOOK REVIEW: God Emperor of Dune, by Frank Herbert”

  1. Sara Avatar
    Sara

    What a biased book review. I hate philosophy so this book sucks. I didn’t like the characters so this book sucks. I’m not sure that this series is right for you to begin with If you’re not interested in the potentials that Herbert explores.

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    1. isthiswhatyouwanted Avatar

      Without trying to tell others what’s right and wrong for them, his review was quite bad. I do agree that he took the concept and decided to say it sucked because he didn’t like it, but couldn’t really explain why it sucked without being biased. It’s hard for some to dig deep. I mean, you can’t expect him to. He literally didn’t even understand God Emperor. 🤷

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  2. CN Avatar
    CN

    Imagine reading a Dune novel and not expecting philosophy.

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  3. Shark Avatar
    Shark

    Full disclosure I have not read the book, I’m up to children of Dune. But this is a farce of a review. You should be kind of ashamed. At the very least, don’t leave a tawdry, half finished thought and publish it. Finish the review. I say this less so because your opinion is invalid than being a critic willing to publish this sort of review is invalidating of any opinion you might be express.

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  4. Straight Male Avatar
    Straight Male

    This has to be the worst review I’ve ever read. This guy claims to have a masters degree. In what? VCR repair from the Sally Struthers Institute of Higher Learning? This so-called review was about as illuminating as the dark closet you inhabit with your Barbie Dolls watching Ru Paul’s Drag Race.

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  5. kc Avatar
    kc

    I just finished the book….I agree 100% with this review. God Emperor is, sadly, a poor continuation of the series. The characters and story are even thinner than usual, and the ideas presented are disappointingly pedestrian and dated. Most bizarrely, the author leans into and now celebrates the hoary “colonial Messiah” myth that he demolished in the earlier books. The book actually culminates in a cringey God sacrifice/crucifixion scene where the Messiah/worm “saves” humanity by sacrificing itself.

    The other big idea of the book is not very interesting and doesn’t have much to support it either in the book or in reality – the idea is put forward that primitive, constantly warring societies are somehow more human and sustainable than technologically advanced and peaceful societies. The minor philosophical ideas discussed are also cringey and are at best dated and at worst horrific – the author discusses at length and actually appears to approve of human eugenic breeding programs and highly reductive sexist ideas including homophobia.

    While one does not expect much action or competent characterization from a Dune book, this book is terrible at both. The characters are all cardboard stereotypes. There is more sex/love in this book than in the other books (which is hardly saying much), but the sex/love scenes are embarrassingly dispassionate and unrealistic.

    The worst character of all is the maudlin, egotistical, self-pitying Leto II who comes off exactly like an internet troll. Mysteriously superior and tormented by his own Very Deep Feelings, Leto taunts the other characters through tedious wordplay with the goal of revealing the shallowness and intellectual inferiority of all humanity compared to himself. Also like a troll, Leto’s favorite woman is literally designed to please him in every way and has no will or ideas of her own. And she willingly joins him in his destruction, for no reason at all. In the end, I guess the God Emperor is just a worm.

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