Rating: 
Summary: A book made to make you think
Review: Before I say anything, I would like to state my outright disgust of Mr. Chow's review. He is the classic example of a man who pretends to be a "intellectual" by snubbing a work which he is jealous of. The irony of his review is that he is not clearly stating his own motives in writing the review that criticized Herbert's supposed lack of "clarity." The other irony of his review is that he is tailoring it to the "unwashed masses" who distrust and hate anything intelligent or that might make itself more intelligent than they are. Mr. Chow is playing off the concept of ignorance in order to maintain ignorance. I will state this clearly for you, Mr. Chow : you are a hypocrite and I very much dislike your narrow sighted review of this excellent book. Mr. Chow is also unable to grasp the fact that what is said here essentially boils down to opinion.My Opinion: this book was designed to be heady and challenging science fiction, not an official work of hard philosophy. To read this as a hard philosophical work is to miss the point, Mr. Chow. You can run back to Nietzsche, thank you very much, while I enjoy this book. Mr. Chow is one of those men who frowns on ALL creativity because of his supposed "higher acedemic standards" (i.e. he wants to be "better" than all of us) which are really just a mask for his own childish motives of inner craving and jealousy. Creativity is the means by which things are created, both good and bad. To frown upon all creativity is to render one a nihilist. So please go back to reading Nietzsche, please, because it seems like that is all you will enjoy. Granted, I have my own motives at work here in my defense of creativity and intelligent science fiction. However, my motives support the arts and I am in favor of supporting and helping the "unwashed masses" as you call them instead of frowning upon them / taking advantage of their fear of anything intelligent to maintain their lack of intelligence all the time. You are a "closet aristocrat" as Leto II would say. Consider my review a revolt against your aristocracy. If you are in search of heady, engaging science fiction full of mystery and excitement, look no further. My one complaint with this book is the terrible cover art. I very much wish they had removed completely the old, phallic cover painting used with the old editions. It is rather disgusting, and is a terrible way to present this novel to the public. It is due to this artwork that I give this edition 4 out of 5 stars! Bravo, Frank Herbert!
Rating:
Summary: Great book. Great series. - a review by a long-winded guy
Review: Dune, the first book in the series, was not "Great" in my estimation. The 2nd & 3rd books in the series are more solidly written, and as a result, easier to get caught up in. This particular book is fairly "thick", in that it is more overtly philosophical & theological than the previous installments. This is not to be taken that it is a struggle to get through... that is, unless you want to be! I really believe that Herbert himself found his voice in the second in the series & had cemented, by the time he penned this book, his worldview & personal religious beliefs. As a result, there is a good deal less "self-excorcism through writing" going on in this book, but a more forceful, commanding tone to it than the previous. If a book is measured by how many perfect sentences are in it (the average book has one if you are lucky), this one is well above average. I have noted 4 or 5 truly magnificent sentences in this book (and I am only 3/4 of the way through). His commentaries on bureaucracies & bureacrats, for example, are brilliant. I would recommend giving this series a 600 page grace period... the payoff is huge. By the time you hit this book, you will be completely consumed.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Of all the Dune books so far, this one reads the slowest. You can easily skim past paragraphs and not miss much except for descriptions gone on too long and philosophical babble, especially the blurbs written as Leto's journals at the beginning of each chapter. There's nothing wrong with intelligent or detailed writing, but often it goes to unnecessary lengths and hinders the story instead of progressing the plot. It would have been better if Herbert just stayed devoted to writing a good story instead of slowing it down with all these extras. There are some good parts to the story, and the ending is interesting. The characters of Siona and Hwi seem a bit empty but had such potential, and I wish there had been more exploration into Moneo. Most of all, I was disappointed to find the pace of the first three books was missing in this one, along with a fascinating set of characters.
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