Children of Dune

Rating:
Summary: lacks focus
Review: I started reading this book with a lot of hope. I knew a little bit about the return of Paul as the Preacher and the amazing transformation Leto II would undergo. But this initial excitement dwindled and I found myself plodding ahead and looking forward to the end. I cannot really say that I 'enjoyed' reading Children of Dune, although it contains several neat, exciting scenes. Personally, Leto's quest, the Preacher's teachings, and the adventures in the deep desert were the high points of the book.

But all along, Ghanima and Leto feel like the core of the story, and so whenever they are offscreen, the action seems pointless and the story bogs down. You can just tell that whatever is going on with Leto is going to overwhelm the more minor manueverings of Alia, Jessica, Farad'n, etc... And that is exactly what happens. But Leto's journey is pretty amazing and sets the course for the future Dune books (which I have not read).

My major complaint is not with the plot or characters of Children of Dune. It is with Herbert's style. He presents each character and each scene as supremely important, even when they are not. This becomes very tiresome and robs the author of credibility. Hindsight is 20/20, and with hindsight one can see that much of what occurred in Children of Dune is peripheral. (Consider: how would the ending of the book change if Duncan had not goaded Stilgar into killing him, if Alia had arrested and killed the Preacher, if Farad'n hadn't even existed?) This would be all right if these events were treated as peripheral, but they are not. Herbert brings the same grave seriousness to every single scene, and I lost interest in this seriousness about halfway through Book 2.

Rating:
Summary: Get ready...
Review: 'cause this book is a 'slammer.' Small font on over 400 pages, with plenty of Herbert's amazing writing and philosophical wanderings. More over, it advances the story much further than Messiah did. Many people who've read this and have reviewed it claim that the end of this book is either confusing or too weird. But they fail to see Herbert's use of symbolism with t he Golden Path and the philosophical journey that path represents. Herbert is more of a prophet than a lunatic, in my opinion.

Yours,
R. R.

Rating:
Summary: No more Dune reading for me, please
Review: As other reviewers have mentioned, this book just gets weirder and weirder until the end. Oh how I wish Herbert had not written this book, for it gives me a lesser opinion of his work. Dune was such an amazingly great book, but the sequels, Dune Messiah (and to a greater extent) this book are very disatisfactory.
I have vowed to myself not to read any more Dune books because, after reading this book, I am convinced Herbert's universe will get more and more convoluted and bizarre until finally a stuffed donkey will possess Maud'Dib's dead body to set in motion a chain of events eventually leading to a three-way marriage between the Lady Jessica, Stilgar, and a 200-meter sandworm.

Rating:
Summary: A stunning display of writing.
Review: Like others I was hesitant to read "Children of Dune." "Dune Messiah" is my favorite, although it lacked the noteworthyness of "Dune", and I was worried "CoD" would repeat that mistake.
When entering into "Children of Dune" I was entering into a new generation, a new group of Atreides, and I did not know what to expect. However, I was met with unsurpassed gracefull writing, and a story that captures you from the start.
Immediatly we are thrust into the minds of the Atreides twins, Leto and Ghanima, as they discuss the complex problem of their aunt's abomination, in tongues not used for centuries. These children are exciting, complex, and breath takingly beautiful.
The sub plots of the story are just as intriguing.
The evil Winciscia has not given up her quest to regain the thrown for house Corrino, and Irulan is magnificent in even her smaller role.
Having lost two of the center characters in "Dune Messiah", Paul and Chani, I almost expected to be bored and lost. But I was met with wonderment at characters like Leto II and Ghanima, and the beautifly written return of Muad'dib as The Preacher.
"Children of Dune" takes you on an adventure as Alia falls into the depts of possession, Arrakis looses it's grip on the Spice, and Leto II finds his quest for the Golden Path.
"Children of Dune" is a deserving addition the the Dune Chronicles, and deserves a read from Dune fans.

Rating:
Summary: Laza Tigers
Review: After reading this book, I have come to a startling conclusion...this book could have been saved had Leto II and Ghanima been eaten by the Laza Tigers. What a couple of brats! At least let Tyekanik kick them in the head a few times with his shiny new Sardaukar boots! In all seriousness though, I have never been so disappointed since reading the last 1/4th of Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. The characters simply EVAPORATE! The characters who don't evaporate obviously have Multiple Personality Disorder. It is so obvious that Frank Herbert did not know where he was taking this story, and did an about-face to the extreme detriment of the story. The only characters I found interesting at all were Duncan and Farad'n. Seeing Leto II hack a gob of snot upon all the faces of my favorite characters without getting a crysknife stuck up his jaw was also not very enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Bafflegab Posing as Deep Thought
Review: Its adherents have hawked this series as the most philosophical among all the science fiction greats. This is not true. This series may earn the crown for pretension, but it does not qualify as philosophical.

As a long-time student and admirer of philosophy, I have rarely come across so little pretending to be so much. Aside from the first Dune book, which earns its reputation justly, the rest of the series is nothing more than bafflegab posing as Deep Thought.

By and large, philosophy strives to clarify. It takes complicated subjects and renders them intelligible by steaming out their wrinkles. Herbert does just the opposite: he takes simple concepts and smothers them in muddle. We are invited to conclude that the Zen-like gobbledygook emanating from his characters is wisdom. But it is really nothing more than Zen-like gobbledygook. What wisdom there is could have been expressed clearly and honestly, and the result would have been a good book that rings true. What we get instead is an obvious contrivance.

One of my favourite professors was fond of saying, "Opacity is the refuge of a lazy mind". Never was this truer than of the various Dune sequels. "Opaque" doesn't even begin to describe them. They could reflect X-rays. Characters speak in elliptical flourishes. Sentences are terminated in mid thought. Everyone is in a constant state of confounded distress. Thoughts run in vigorous circles earnestly trying to invoke hidden profundity, but go nowhere. When a conniving underling dispenses yet another perplexing bon mot, the other characters soak it up in slack-jawed acceptance and waste ridiculous amounts of effort and time trying to puzzle it out. Why? Any self-respecting hero would simply order ...to make himself clear. And any self-respecting villain would have the discipline to keep his mouth shut without leaving hints about his deeper motivation lying all over the place ... The fact that such silliness is allowed to populate this book speaks either to the characters' vapidity, or to the writer's laziness of mind. Neither is acceptable to the integrity of the story.

It is time that writers stop trying to pass off obscurity as sophistication. The use of such tricks insults our intelligence and demeans the reader. It's a con, and should be recognised and condemned as such: not passed off as the product of genius.

Rating:
Summary: End of the Original Trilogy
Review: Children of Dune ends the original Dune trilogy. It takes place a few years after Dune Messiah. Paul's children Leto and Ghanima are pawns in the Struggle for power between Alia, Jessica and the nephew of the deposed emperor. However the twins have plans of their own and Leto intends to follow the path that Paul would not folow, while the mysterious preacher lurks in the background.

Compared to Dune Messiah, it is a little lighter on intrigue, and a little lighter on philosophy but there is still plenty of both. A major theme from the first book, ecology, is returned to. Arrakis is slowly being changed from the complete desert it once was. An ecosystem is a very complicated system and change may produce unforssen consequences. Children of Dune is more coherent than the Dune Messiah, but isn't as memorable.

Rating:
Summary: A misstep on the Golden Path.
Review: Continuing the saga begun in DUNE and carried on in DUNE MESSIAH, Frank Herbert attempts once more to draw the entirety of the universe into the telling of a single story in CHILDREN OF DUNE. In many ways, DUNE MESSIAH was a less ambitious undertaking than the original masterpiece that was DUNE, choosing to address some of Herbert's pet issues of consciousness, history, religion and philosophy in a tangential fashion, while telling of the end of Emperor Paul-Muad'Dib's far future reign in a fairly straightforward, intimate fashion. By contrast, CHILDREN OF DUNE fails to achieve true greatness because it fails first as a story. It explodes outward, grasping significance on every page, and does not always succeed.

There is still a great deal to recommend in CHILDREN OF DUNE's pages: the metamorphosis of Paul Atreides's sister Alia into a hiss-worthy villain comes to its conclusion, Dune's inhabitants struggle with the aftermath of their interstellar jihad and the profound changes its religious basis has wrought on their planet and their culture, and intrigue still surrounds rule of the Imperium. But Herbert has more, much more, to say about other topics, and it's these that hobble what could have been another powerhouse narrative. His obsession with unnatural perspicacity among children makes for a pair of somewhat unbelievable protagonists in the Atreides children of Leto II and Ghanima, and Herbert's insistence on returning time and again to the topic of genetic memory grows tiresome long before the novel ends.

As with DUNE MESSIAH, a complete reading of the previous Dune volume(s) is required. There's no attempt to ease a new reader into the narrative, making CHILDREN OF DUNE a true sequel. The disappointment comes from the way Herbert has chosen to pursue certain plot threads at the expense of others. He all but abandons the story of the revived Duncan Idaho, and relegates Gurney Halleck to little more than a cameo appearance. Given that CHILDREN OF DUNE is a volume that rivals the size of the original DUNE, there seems to be little reason for Herbert to neglect any character.

CHILDREN OF DUNE's story comes to a rather abrupt end, as well. Herbert developed a tendency in the first two installments of the Dune saga of avoiding outright declarations on the part of the characters. Dialogue is cryptic, and only hints are given to the reader regarding the motivations of those in the story. This circumlocutory bent becomes almost maddening in CHILDREN OF DUNE, where nothing is explained until the last fifty or so pages, and then not completely. There are still many unanswered questions as the final period falls.

Of the initial three chapters in Herbert's six-part Dune chronicle, CHILDREN OF DUNE is the most disappointing. That it continues to fascinate even as it frustrates is a testimony to Herbert's assurance as an author. And though a reader may grow bothered by the narrative's refusal to give up its secrets, it's certain that the very next book for which one will reach is the next volume in the ongoing story of Arrakis.

Rating:
Summary: Endings and Beginnings
Review: Think of this book as the first act of a new play. It sets the stage. The Children of Dune share much of the same flaws as Dune Messiah. And you will find yourself wondering - half way through - if there really IS a grand plan behind all the jargon, and prophetic technicalities.

Rest assured - there IS!

But it does not lie in this book. Perhaps, I should have said that this book is a conjunction of two different plays. The last act of the first play comes to a very certain end. The old players are all but removed from the stage by the time the curtain closes. But not before new characters are introduced. These new players are to take center stage only in the NEXT book. So, just be patient - and you will be well rewarded.

What is to follow is a Grand Opus - a work so profound that, at times, it even rivals the original Dune itself.

So, go on to the next book, God Emperor of Dune, as soon as you are done with this one - and you will see for yourself what I mean.

Rating:
Summary: A break in the excitement
Review: The reader is now safely ensconced in the post-Paul world. That world, filled with excitement, war, discovery and adventure has vanished. The spirit of the Messiah permeates the Universe but something has happened. With the utmost predictability, Mau'dib's words have become codified into holy script and his personhood elevated to divine status. Despite the thinly-veiled "Preacher's" crying in the wilderness, the organized clergy tighten their grip on a theocratic society.

Of course, this is not the vision of Paul. In perhaps the most philosophical novel of the series, the Preacher asks questions and reflects on the times and circumstances. We are introduced to the twins, endowed with Paul's powers. One of my gripes is that the kids spoke and acted like miniature adults. They seemed mature beyond their years in more way than one.

The palace intrigues were captivating as is the suggestion of what was to come from Leto. The element of primitive violence reamains rears its ugly head repeatedly. Especially satisfying was the manner in which the author combined the story lines.

M