Archive for the ‘Dune’ Category
- In: Dune | Frank Herbert
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Heretics of Dune (Dune #5) by Frank Herbert
published in 1984
where I got it: have owned forever
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It’s been hundreds of years since the demise of the God Emperor, and his Golden Path saved humanity by forcing us out and beyond his enforced stagnation. Humanity survived the famine years, and the scattering to the winds of the galaxy, many of us went our separate ways with no knowledge that we stood on the abyss of our own extinction. Generations upon generations have passed, the Bene Gesserit are still angry, the Ixians are still manufacturing forbidden machines and the Bene Tleilaxu are still creating Duncan Idaho gholas in their axlotl tanks. The old powers of a dying empire are not ready to let go of their traditions and beliefs. A Golden Path of survival was given to them on a platter, and yet they hesitate to take the first step.
On the dark, dank planet of Gammu, a new Duncan Idaho is being raised and trained by military genius Miles Teg, who is a tool of Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. Teg’s mother was a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother, so without even realizing it he allows Duncan to gain dangerous knowledge. Teg doesn’t know the extent of Reverend Mother Superior Taraza’s plan for this newest ghola, but his mission is to train and protect the boy, so that is what he will do. It is known that the Tleilaxu who created the ghola intend to assassinate him, as they have the eleven Duncan Idahos before him.
And on Rakis, a girl named Sheeana can control the great sandworms. The local priests take Sheeana in, but other than nearly deifying her, no one quite knows what to do with her. The worms are not sentient, but each one carries a pearl of the God Emperor’s awareness, and they still seem to remember signs that humans can read. Upon Reverend Mother Odrade’s arrival, Sheeana comes to understand there is a force on this planet that even she can not control.
To complicate matters, descendants of those who left the empire during the famine times and the scattering have been returning. Honored Matres who control through sexual manipulation, members of old religions who have new beliefs and strange customs. Those of the scattering see the Old Empire as an easy conquest.
Children of Dune, by Frank Herbert
Posted on: May 31, 2014
- In: Dune | Frank Herbert
- 15 Comments
I’m working to get through all the Dune books this year. Since I know the first book by heart, I started with Dune Messiah.
Children of Dune, by Frank Herbert
published in 1976
where I got it: have owned forever. My paperback is falling apart. Heh heh, the cover art says “The Climax of the Dune Trilogy“.
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Children of Dune is the third book in Frank Herberts Dune saga. Throughout Dune and Dune Messiah, we saw a build up of court politics, religious fervor, ythology, and genetic manipulation. All of this and more comes to a boiling point in Children of Dune. This review has taken me about a week to write. I’ve some history with this series, I came to it at a very impressionable age and it was my biggest step towards my love of science fiction. So it is very hard for me to distill fifteen years of experiencing this particular novel into a thousand words.
It’s been less than ten years since a blinded Paul Muad-Dib walked into the desert without water or stillsuit. His sister Alia has sat as regent while the Empire waits for his nine year old twin children, Leto II and Ghanima to come of age. Arrakis has become the capitol of the Empire, and modernity has come to Arrakeen. Young Fremen no longer learn stillsuit discipline, they have no use for the desert traditions of their parents. Liet Kynes’ 50 generation plan is speedily coming to fruition – the desert is greening. Homes are built without strict water seals, grasses are planted to hold the shifting dunes in place, trees are planted anywhere and everywhere. The planet is changing an the traditional tribes are horrified.
Ecological changes aside, Alia is no normal regent, and her niece and nephew are not normal children. Their dying mother opted for a spice overdose to save the lives of her children, and Leto II and Ghanima came to consciousness while still in the womb. Steeped in the spice for their entire life, neither child is a singular being, but instead the multitude of all the memories, all the lives of their descendents who live in the background of their consciousness. Not multiple personalities per se, but if they let their guard down, they could be possessed by the powerful voices within. Alia, Leto, and Ghanima all yearn for the prescience that Paul experienced, but to do so they would have to risk the spice trance that would only empower their other memories. Alia, already teetering on the edge of possession can’t risk allowing the voices in the head to become any louder.
My heart breaks for Alia her every time I read this book. Demonized as a child, seen as an abomination for something she had no control over, Alia has no one to turn to, no one she can talk to. Everywhere she turns she is judged and looked down upon. Everywhere that is, but her inner voices. And one voice is so soothing, so seductive. One voice promises to quiet all the other warring voices, if only she takes his very helpful advice from time to time.
- In: Dune | Frank Herbert | read along | science fiction
- 10 Comments
walk without rhythym. . . .
Hi Everyone, and welcome to the final section of our Dune read along. Hope you enjoyed the ride! Our last group of questions was kindly supplied by Grace, and she came up with some great ones!
Here are the questions, and my answers are after the jump:
1. What is your reaction to finally learning the identity of Princess Irulan? Do you think that her convention added to the story?
2. Were you satisfied with the ending? For those reading for the first time, was it what you expected?
3. On both Arrakis and Salusa Secundus, ecology plays a major role in shaping both characters and the story itself. Was this convincing? Do you think that Paul would have gone through with his threat to destroy the spice, knowing what it would mean for Arrakis?
4. Both Leto and Paul made their decisions on marriage for political reasons. Do you agree with their choices?
5. What was your favorite part in this section of the book?
6. One of the things I noticed in the discussions last week was Herbert’s use of the word “jihad.” What do you think of Herbert’s message about religion and politics?
Dune read along, part two
Posted on: July 16, 2011
- In: Dune | Frank Herbert | read along
- 16 Comments
Hi everyone, welcome to part two of our Dune read along. Part one is here, and checkout Stainless Steel Droppings for links to everyone else’s discussion.
This week, it was my turn to provide questions, and I came up with a whole bunch, but suggested that people choose whichever ones they felt like discussing. This way, everyone’s posts will be a little different.
If you have never read Frank Herbert’s classic epic scifi novel DUNE, or you haven’t finished reading the middle portion of the book, be warned, here be spoilers!
our story so far:
The Harkonnens have retaken Arrakis with the help of the Emperor’s Sardaukar shock-troops. the few surviving members of the Atreides household have gone to ground, and after being rescued by the imperial planetologist Kynes, Jessica and Paul escape in an ornithopter. Believed dead by the Harkonnens, Paul and Jessica take advantage of the mythos planted on Arrakis by earlier Bene Gesserit sisters. But maybe Paul is the child of the prophecy? His Mentat and Bene Gesserit trainings combined with intense quantities of Spice awaken his prescience ability. The futures that Paul sees are either brutal and bloody, or steeped in stagnation. Is there no middle ground?
Meanwhile, Baron Harkonnen is grooming one awful nephew after another to inherit control of Arrakis.
Taken in by a Fremen tribe, Paul and Jessica are tested, and then accepted into the tribe so quickly they can barely think about it before it happens. Plans within plans, and circles within circles, this is only the beginning for those destined to live our their days on the desert planet Arrakis, known as Dune.
Of the handful of questions I put forth, here are the ones I’ll be discussing after the jump:
Was Liet’s identity a surprise? who do you think he really works for?
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What do you think of Count Fenring’s unusual verbal mannerisms?
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The center portion of the book is still pretty dialog heavy, but what I’ve noticed is the subtlety of the dialog. Things left unsaid are often more important than things that are said. What do you think of that as a stylistic choice? does it make the dialog more interesting? less interesting?
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Dune was written in the 60’s. Does it feel dated to you? How does it compare, writing style-wise, to more contemporary science fiction you’ve read?
- In: Dune | Frank Herbert | read along
- 16 Comments
Hi Everyone, and welcome to the Dune Read-along! If you are posting your thoughts in your blog as well, please visit Stainless Steel Droppings and add your link so others can find you. If you aren’t posting related threads on your blog, no worries, you can post your thoughts in this thread, or anywhere else you’d like. This past week, we read the first “book” within Dune, called “Dune” (wow, that was redundant!), and Carl from Stainless Steel has provided some excellent discussion questions.
If you haven’t read this book, or haven’t finished this section, be warned, spoiler ridden postings ahead. Behind in reading? no worries, come back and visit whenever you’re ready.
here are Carl’s questions, and I’ll provide my detailed answers after the jump.
walk without rhythym. . . .
1. What, if any, preconceived ideas did you have before you started reading Dune and how has the first section measured up to those preconceptions?
alternate Question 1 for those who’ve read the book before:
Did you see anything in this first section of the book that either you hadn’t seen before or that you had forgotten about, anything that stood out to you?
2. What did you think about the plot device of the early revelation that Yueh was to be the traitor?
3. What was your favorite part of this first section? Which character(s) do you find most interesting and why?
4. Did the revelation about the Harkonnen surprise you? Why or why not? Thoughts.
5. Finally, please share some overall thoughts on this first section of the book. Are you finding it difficult to follow? Easy to understand? Engaging? Boring? Just share what you are thinking thus far.
And my answers:
Dune read along starting July 1st!
Posted on: June 28, 2011
- In: Dune | Frank Herbert
- 18 Comments
It’s a classic! You know you want to! Or you are least curious to see what spawned a weird Lynch movie, two scifi channel miniseries, and at least one board game (and yes, I’ve seen and played them).
Check out the post that started it all over at Stainless Steel Droppings. Carl of Stainless Steel, Kailana of The Written World and myself will be each be hosting discussions for a different part of the novel. I’ll be hosting the 2nd portion, which will be the 2nd week of July, and of course I’ll be posting links to their discussions as well.
so mark your calendar for this friday, July 1st, brush off your copy of Dune, be it original cover art, your movie tie-in edition, your 40th anniversary special edition, be it well loved or barely cracked open. . . and remember to walk without rhythm!
walk without rhythm. . . .
full disclosure: Dune is a long time favorite of mine. I read it for the first time when I was about 15, and it was a game changer for me. by the time I was 19, I’d read the entire series of six, and even sort of understood the last 2 books! if it has something to do with this series, i’ve probably read it, seen it, listened to it, or played it. I iz a dune-head. Even more geekiness: when my other half and I got our first apartment and blended our book collections, we found we had 3-4 copies of each book in the series.
additional full disclosure: I’ve read the first Herbert/Anderson “prequel” – it struck me as an okay book, but not very Dune-ish. I do not consider the “prequels” to be Canon.
Interested in joining us? leave a comment here, or comment over at Stainless Steel Droppings, so we can make sure you get the discussion questions over e-mail. or just join in anyways. 🙂
the Little Red Reviewer 
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