Rating: 
Summary: Excellent! Takes you where Dune doesn't....
Review: The only thing detracting from this reading experience is the mystery as to why it is out of print! It's easy to understand why this work is hard to find - you'll never resell your copy once you find one.
Rating:
Summary: herbert's only work to match - and surpass - dune
Review: The sequel to the much less successful Whipping Star, this is probably Herbert's finest work overall. While it lacks Dune's majesty, it is a more thoroughly thought out work -- amazingly complex, internally consistent, revolving around intriguing characters and based on a fascinating premise. It also raises fascinating questions about the nature of law and intellectual evolution. An outstanding effort and a great pity it isn't more widely read - or in print!
Rating:
Summary: The ultimate distilation of the power politic
Review: There are books you go back to read because they grow foggy in your memory and you yearn to rebuild the experience you that you recall. Then there is a book like the Dosadi Experiment that you read once a year to re-learn the hard lessons and to expose life to but another facetted mirror. Nothing you can read, including the other works of Herbert, will prepare for you for this work. It will overwhelm and draw you away from this place to fully judge all the lies before you. Nothing is above questioning.Expect to read some pages twice or three times, to fully savor the twist in your mind. The last 6 chapters are as good as anything written in any genre, expect to re-read those to find the real meaning: That to be innocent is to be but a pawn. Scour used bookstores, cause it's out-of-print. My copy is at least 15 years old and I'm here shopping for a dozen to give away. Shame I have to do it now one store at a time.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Read
Review: This book is totally intriguing from the start. The only thing that keeps it from being 5 stars is that the plot can be a bit hard to grasp at times.
Rating:
Summary: Great Read
Review: This book is totally intriguing from the start. The only thing that keeps it from being 5 stars is that the plot can be a bit hard to grasp at times.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent fiction
Review: This book was a pleasant surprise, as it was my first Frank Herbert read outside of the Dune series. I really enjoyed the tale, and like many of his stories, the second half is the best. The Dosadi culture was very intriguing and still keeps me thinking; the Gowachin were also interesting. Herbert's recurring interest in human potential and societal pressures is again pushed to extremes, produces a provocative and entertaining book.
Rating:
Summary: Just one more thing
Review: This has gotta be the sci-fi novel that every lawyer should read.
Rating:
Summary: Dosadi - Wow!
Review: This is absolutely my favorite piece of science fiction writing! Everything I have read since (by Herbert, or other authors) has disappointed me on some level. Definately a page-turner! The plot is complex,creative and intriguiging, but more compelling than The Jesus Incident. The characters are well developed (I love the McKie character!), and he includes at least one very strong female character. The writing is tight and keeps you interested in the story line. Herbert does a good job of keeping "aliens" alien. I am very disappointed to see that it is out of print. It is a much better novel than Dune.
Rating:
Summary: One of Herbert's Best
Review: This novel is apparently out of print, which is a shame. This is one of his best books--easily the equal to Dune and God Emperor of Dune. Herbert explores one of the perennial themes of history: governmental power and its misuse. The misuse herein is on an exceptionally massive scale; only Stalin's horrors are comparable. A rogue elite within the Gowachin government sets up an experiment that creates a race of super barbarians trapped on a poisonous planet subjected to artificially engineered shortages that creates conditions of endemic warfare and extreme exploitation. (The historical parallels are the German and Arab barbarian eruptions into the Roman and Byzantine Empires.) As is usually the case with governments, it wasn't thought through at all. Even the most basic consequences seem to have eluded the decision-makers. Herbert skillfully explores many of the same themes that he did in the Dune books, but without the mystico-eco sub- and super-texts. The book is very talky, which I enjoy. If you're looking for a sci-fi actioner, this is not the book for you. If you like to spend hours contemplating the above-mentioned themes, pick this one up. I have no idea how this book originally sold, but, obviously, not well enough as it is out-of-print. This is probably due to lack of promotion on the publisher's part as well the public's shallow indifference to anything lacking a big "name" (that Sidney Sheldon makes millions is proof enough of my thesis!). The book is part of a larger series that began with a short story called "The Tactful Saboteur" (which can be found in a collection of Herbert's short fiction called "The Worlds of Frank Herbert" of which I happen to have an autographed copy) and a short novel called "Whipping Star." This universe was a multi-species one with fascinating aliens called the Gowachin, the Pan-Spechi, the Wreaves, the Palenki and others. The most interesting are the idea of the Calebans-think jumpgates as living beings and you begin to get the idea-and the Gowachin legal system. I entertain a hope-probably in vain-that his son has other novels and stories in his possession that some day, if only on the web!, might see the light of day. If anyone out there knows of other published stories in this universe, please email me. Apparently, commercial disinterest or his untimely death prevented Mr. Herbert from fully fleshing out this universe. Maybe. Someday, another author will be given a chance to more fully explore this vision of the future. Any sophisticated sf fan should really enjoy the textured nuances his best work so richly possessed.
Rating:
Summary: One of Herbert's Best
Review: This novel is apparently out of print, which is a shame. This is one of his best books--easily the equal to Dune and God Emperor of Dune. Herbert explores one of the perennial themes of history: governmental power and its misuse. The misuse herein is on an exceptionally massive scale; only Stalin's horrors are comparable. A rogue elite within the Gowachin government sets up an experiment that creates a race of super barbarians trapped on a poisonous planet subjected to artificially engineered shortages that creates conditions of endemic warfare and extreme exploitation. (The historical parallels are the German and Arab barbarian eruptions into the Roman and Byzantine Empires.) As is usually the case with governments, it wasn't thought through at all. Even the most basic consequences seem to have eluded the decision-makers. Herbert skillfully explores many of the same themes that he did in the Dune books, but without the mystico-eco sub- and super-texts. The book is very talky, which I enjoy. If you're looking for a sci-fi actioner, this is not the book for you. If you like to spend hours contemplating the above-mentioned themes, pick this one up. I have no idea how this book originally sold, but, obviously, not well enough as it is out-of-print. This is probably due to lack of promotion on the publisher's part as well the public's shallow indifference to anything lacking a big "name" (that Sidney Sheldon makes millions is proof enough of my thesis!). The book is part of a larger series that began with a short story called "The Tactful Saboteur" (which can be found in a collection of Herbert's short fiction called "The Worlds of Frank Herbert" of which I happen to have an autographed copy) and a short novel called "Whipping Star." This universe was a multi-species one with fascinating aliens called the Gowachin, the Pan-Spechi, the Wreaves, the Palenki and others. The most interesting are the idea of the Calebans-think jumpgates as living beings and you begin to get the idea-and the Gowachin legal system. I entertain a hope-probably in vain-that his son has other novels and stories in his possession that some day, if only on the web!, might see the light of day. If anyone out there knows of other published stories in this universe, please email me. Apparently, commercial disinterest or his untimely death prevented Mr. Herbert from fully fleshing out this universe. Maybe. Someday, another author will be given a chance to more fully explore this vision of the future. Any sophisticated sf fan should really enjoy the textured nuances his best work so richly possessed.
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