Heretics of Dune (Dune, #5) (2024)

The guards ushered Frank into the office. As usual, the Reverend Publisher was seated at her desk, writing.

So many lives touched by her decisions, he thought.

"Well?"

She looked up. He had promised himself that he would not flinch before the fire of her gaze, and once more he broke his promise.

"It is... almost finished."

"Almost." Her irony was palpable, a force. "Almost is not enough. You know that, Frank. When will it be done?"

"I think... a month. At most two. I am working as hard as I can, Reverend Publisher. I am... not well."

He hated himself for his servility.

"So, why then did you found a dynasty? Your son can assist you. He will continue when you are gone. There are many books left to write."

His throat was suddenly dry. But of course there was no pitcher of water. It would have been unthinkable.

"I am... preparing him. He will be ready in time."

She glanced at him again, and again he flinched.

"There is a transcriber on that desk. Write a page now. I want to see how you work."

He sat down, and fed a sheet of paper into the machine. His lips moved soundlessly. She knew what he was saying. By now, the Litany was stamped deep into his psyche, impossible to eradicate. She smiled secretly to herself. The training was brutal, but it was effective. She watched his mouth, as it formed the words it had spoken so many times before:

I have no taste.
Taste is the sales-killer, the hesitation that brings total profit meltdown.
I will conquer my taste.
When I have stamped it out, I will look at what I have written.
I will read through it from start to finish.
There will be nothing left of a great series.
Only crap will remain.

I know, you are like, wait, 5 stars? Really? And I am, like, I really enjoyed this book. I mean, I learned about much of the Dune universe that was never mentioned in the first four books (sex, Ix, the Tleilaxu, the Bene Geserit proscription of love...) and I really liked Teg and Odrade and even Lucillle and the new ghola. The action was great especially at the end (even if Teg’s capture of the Honored Matre’s no-ship was frustratingly fast-forwarded). Philosophically, there was a LOT to chew on and the tech was probably the most diverse and interesting of all the Dune series since the first one. On to Chapterhouse!

[UPDATE] I am looking forward to Denis Villeneuve's Dune in October 2021. The previews I have seen so far seem to be quite coherent with respect to the book. I was a fan of Lynch's Dune and am curious to see what Villeneuve does with this one. Feel free to comment below.

Fino's Dune Reviews
Dune
Dune Messiah
Children of Dune
God Emperor of Dune
Heretics of Dune
Chapterhouse: Dune

2,5/5
Moja silna potrzeba trzymania się czegoś starego, co jest mi już dobrze znane, nieco mnie zgubiła w tym tomie.
Skupiamy się tu na zgromadzeniach żeńskich, a wśród postaci pojawia się tylko jedna z poprzednich tomów. Miałam duży problem, żeby się w niej odnaleźć i stąd tak niska ocena.

Re-Read 8/3/21:

Returning to the world of Dune, or rather, what's become of what was once a vibrant, vital center of the universe, is always a treat. Even after Leto had seeded himself across the world.

But truly, the standouts are never whom you thought they should have been.

In this re-read, the fourth, if I'm not mistaken, I had almost all of my attention on a certain young BG who was meant to imprint our young Duncan Idaho in his latest of five thousand years of incarnations.

It's strange how our focus changes over time. I kept thinking over and over about her role in the BG beyond the whole intrigue and massive conflict going on with the HM.

Just what IS the Golden Path by this point? True genetic freedom, not just the unlocking of unimaginable powers, but the freedom to spread those to ALL of humanity's offspring? Or is this another genetic trap, a new kind of pressure to make us eventually jump once again?

Just what DID you see, Leto?

Fascinating. Always fascinating. Some of the best SF. Detailed, rich, and dense.

Original Review:

I have to admit that I put this one on the backburner for years and years and years, even though I attempted to re-read the series several times over the decades, I always got stuck right at the end of God Emperor of Dune and something in me just didn't want to pick up the two novels afterward.

This is strange to me! I thought the fifth and sixth books were rather awesome, frankly!

And that's why I'm skipping books 2, 3, and 4 altogether and jumping right back into the books that I have only read once. And then I'll be picking up the series carried on by Anderson and Frank's son following the events of Chapterhouse.

So how did I think this book held up after all these years?

Pretty good! There were a few slow parts, but the one thing that Heretics does very well is the worldbuilding. The Great God Leto II has been dead for 1.5k years after taking a dip in the aqueduct, turning into sandtrout that have now become full sandworms. That means that poor Paul's son has a trapped consciousness inside these gigantic monstrosities after having lived for 5k years. (Since birth+as a sandworm+trapped consciousness.) Freaky cool. And of course, religion has a bit part to play in these books as they always have.

What's most interesting is Miles Teg and the new Duncan Idaho. The similarities between Teg and the original Leto are pretty suggestive and the spice trance doubly so. His little transformation blew me away both times I read it. But Duncan Idaho? The obsessively resurrected clone of the original that has come back nearly countless times over 5k years? It staggers the imagination. Leto II really put him through the wringer, but even after the old god had died, the Bene Gesserit and the Bene Tlailax have turned him into the stage of their own conflict.

And it's these two that really own the stage in this side of the universe.... until the great spreading of humanity came back. :) Enter conflict. :) So good.

This is one of those series that take a lot of dedication and understanding to really enjoy. You really have to get deep into them. But these are very, very enjoyable. This one is very complex and deep in a very similar way to the original classic.

Tons of politics and machinations, and if you love that, you'll love this. :)

I often complain about series and deride their success but here I am reading a series and I think I understand the attraction: escapism, pure and simple. As the pages turned I smiled, recognizing Bene Gesserit (now with more fully described superhuman powers – like Jedi), Duncan Idaho, and yes even the great worms. I surrounded myself, wrapped up like a great cozy blanket, in the familiarity of the world building and closed the door to this reality. I think maybe that is why series are so popular, it is a chance to shut the door, close the windows and embrace another world.

As Heretics of Dune begins, the reign of “the Tyrant” Leto II, the God-Emperor has been over for 1,500 years and has replaced the Butlerian Jihad as a back-story myth and Paul Muab dib and the Lady Jessica have taken the roles of a far distant savior and holy mother. The void left by the death of God-Emperor and the collapse of his empire resulted in the Scattering, a universal diaspora of humanity that provides Herbert an opportunity to re-tool his already complex world building and now various groups vie for power: Bene Gesserit, Bene Thleilaxu, Ix, Guild, Rakis priests and the emergence of a new and ruthless power, the Honored Matres. Heretics also contains a reference to ancient Vincent van Gogh paintings and frequent references to Christian text and old Earth allusions. Heretics also introduces one of the more charismatic and interesting characters in the series: Miles Teg, a mentat military genius trained by the Bene Gesserit.

Herbert was a market adaptive best-selling author and a long-range visionary genius. Heretics is a throwback to the mysterious, espionage, court intrigue and machinations of the original Dune. While the series had lagged somewhat under the great worm God Emperor Leto II, Heretics revives the complexity that made Dune so attractive to readers. Herbert uses a very entertaining science fiction story as a vehicle to examine and explore politics, religion, economics, sociology, myth and military science.

There were three years between the time I put down God Emperor of Dune and when I finally came back around to finish the series. Heretics of Dune has revitalized my interest in Herbert’s fine work with Dune.

*** 2021 reread -

Somewhere I had opined that this book was almost as good as the brilliant first book and I again adopt that opinion.

While I revised my opinion of the fourth book, God Emperor of Dune, to better appreciate Herbert's great vision, my opinion of this fine work continues to be high.

Miles Teg is truly one of Herbert's great Dune characters and his interactions with the Honored Matres, particularly the final scenes where he displays superhuman abilities are some of the series best.

While the original six should be read in order, this is something of a reset and I'll want to revisit this one again.

I had no idea that ‘Sandworm’ is a nickname for Unit 74455, a notorious Russian cybermilitary outfit. Sounds just like the kind of thing that would have pounced on humanity from the darkness of the Scattering.

By the way, this idea of the Scattering – an edge of the known universe where criminality, smuggling, rebellion, deviance, illicit tech, ideas, and people flourish – is one that both Star Trek (DS9) and Star Wars (Han Solo) have capitalised heavily on. While a lot of attention has been paid to the influence of the original ‘Dune’ on the genre, it is clear that even with ‘Heretics’ in 1985, Herbert was still planting the seeds of ideas that would impact the next generation of SF writers and artists.

If you look at the ratings and review tally for the books on Goodreads, you will see a marked drop off from ‘Children of Dune’ onwards. Yes, the sequence does technically conclude with ‘Dune Messiah’, which is a perfect point at which to stop reading if you want closure on the Paul/Muad’Dib saga. While ‘Children’ was a bit of a hot mess, it did set up what is arguably the best half of the six books. And if you look at each book, they are all uniquely different.

However, it is highly unlikely that every reader of ‘Dune’ will persevere through to ‘Chapter House’. Which is a great pity, because in my view ‘Heretics’ is the best of the sequence up to this point, a tautly plotted sociopolitical thriller that, strangely, largely consists of extended verbal jousts between the wonderfully diverse cast in a range of exotic locations, from desert to snow, and even the beguiling world of Chapter House itself. But it makes for utterly compelling reading.

This makes me think that Herbert might well be the Henry James of SF, because ‘Heretics’ is such an inward-looking chamber piece of a novel, where the sporadic bursts of violent and bloody action are all precipitated by words, glances, gestures, and the hidden intentions behind unstated meanings.

With ‘God Emperor’, the question was how to write an entire book focused on a man-sandworm hybrid that rules over the Duniverse with a tyrannical flipper. And to transform it into both a love story and a tragedy. ‘Heretics’ poses an even more interesting question: How on Rakis do you top that premise?

The opening sentence of ‘Heretics’ is one of the most arresting in the entire sequence to date: “Taraza told you, did she not, that we have gone through eleven of these Duncan Idaho gholas? This one is the twelfth.” (In my Gollancz paperback, this is preceded by a three-page Prologue that I see is excluded in the e-version, and which contains the famous aphorism: ‘In the name of the Bene Gesserit Order and its Unbroken Sisterhood, this account has been judged reliable and worthy of entry into the Chronicles of the Chapter House.’)

Referencing the precise number of Duncan gholas to date (the character played by Jason Momoa in the 2021 adaptation of ‘Dune: Part One’ by Denis Villeneuve, for visual reference) is a neat trick of Herbert to indicate the considerable passage of time that has passed since the events of ‘God Emperor’. So much time that common names like Arrakis and Caladan have been shortened to ‘Rakis’ and ‘Dan’ respectively.

Also, the mysterious sandworms that roam the reconstituted desert of the former planet, said to each contain a pearl of the mind of Leto II, is now known as the Divided God. Sandworms, of course, are at the heart of the mythology of ‘Heretics’, which features some of Herbert’s most lyrical writing about these evocative beasts.

It also seems like we have waited five books for him to use the sentence: “Let sleeping worms lie”, which is particularly apt as a range of factions seek “to meddle with the worm-bound remnants of the Tyrant.” Chief among these is the hidebound priesthood that adopts the seer Sheeana, whose lineage can be traced back to Siona in ‘God Emperor’ (and even further back to the aristocratic Atreides themselves.)

Sheeana, it seems, is able to communicate with the sandworms of Rakis, in accordance with an ancient prophecy from the days of Leto II about the appearance of a mysterious ‘sandrider’. You would think that everyone in the Duniverse would have had their fill of ancient prophecies by now, but alarmingly this is not the case, and so the juggernaut of history rolls on.

But the Bene Gesserit, given their secretive and reclusive nature, know a good bit of religious propaganda when they see it, and set out to investigate the claims, which sets in motion a remarkable domino of events.

If it happens to be true, they will simply incorporate Sheeana’s genes into their breeding programme, referred to memorably as a Stud Book at one point. If she proves to be a fake, then it will be equally simple for the Bene Gesserit to dismiss her and trundle along their seemingly diminishing version of the Golden Path.

This would not be ‘Dune’ without it being creepy or over the top, or both. ‘Heretics’ begins with a rather queasy scene on Gammu, the former Giedi Prime, where the Reverend Mothers Schwangyu and Lucilla debate the potential sexual awakening of the latest Duncan ghola, who is on the cusp of manhood, as it were.

Another key character we are introduced to early on is Reverend Mother Superior Taraza, whom Herbert wastes no time to highlight has already borne 19 children for the Bene Gesserit, an ‘essential service’ we are pleased to learn has not ‘grossened’ Odrade’s flesh, whose full mouth “promised a passion which she was careful to bridle.”

Remember how Reverend Mother Mohiam was referred to as a ‘crone’ and a ‘witch’ in ‘Dune’? Well, now Herbert has gone full circle just like poor old Leto II, and gives us a supremely seductive Sisterhood that counts its sexual wiles as a key weapon in its feminine arsenal, as dangerous even as the Voice. And probably even more pointed than the Gom Jabbar.

We are informed that the Bene Gesserit ‘speciality’ is “the management of procreation and all of its attendant necessities.” There is a wonderful scene near the end where Sirafa gets Lucilla’s hackles up by trying to disguise her as “a fifth-stage adept in the Order of Hormu.”

“Do I presume that you need no explanation of sexual variations?”
“A safe assumption,” Lucilla said.

Indeed, not only can Lucilla administer ‘vagin*l pulsing’, she can control genital temperature, and arouse the 51 excitation points (the sequencing plus the combinations number 2 008), in addition to the 205 sexual positions.

Sirafa was clearly startled. “Surely, you don’t mean – ”
“More, actually, if you count minor variations. I am an Imprinter, which means I have mastered the 300 steps of org*smic amplification!”

There you have it. If you are thinking that poor Duncan has no idea what is, er, coming for him in terms of his sexual awakening at the hands of the Bene Gesserit, you are partly right. The fact that the Bene Tleilax have produced so many gholas to date must mean that they are after an elusive something in their own breeding programme, just as the Sisterhood (accidentally, mind you) ended up with a Kwisatz Haderach …

The Bene Gesserit are so sanctimonious in the unquestioned presumption of their own moral authority that at first they do not even comprehend the existential threat posed by the Honoured Matres, who return from the darkness and chaos of the Scattering to, well, wreak havoc. And f*ck around a lot.

The fact that they might be seen as an unbridled force of creative and enabling passion leading to ultimate destruction is kind of undercut by Herbert’s dodgy sexual politics coming to the fore when he has the Sisterhood constantly deriding the Honoured Matres as “whor*s!” (Herbert even makes liberal use of the exclamation mark to emphasise this point.)

Apart from weaponising sex, the Scattering has also resulted in a lot of really weird tech filtering through into the Duniverse, much of it copies of, and yet infinitely superior to, Ixian manufacture. By now the monopolies on space travel by the Guild and on spice by Rakis have long been broken by technology itself, which has flowered to its full maturity in the secrecy of the Scattering, and in ways that the old Butlerian Jihad days could only have dreamed about.

And so the stage is set for a classic confrontation in the wild sands of Rakis, a confrontation that will (again) determine the fate of the known universe.

Softly, she called down to him: “Hey! Old worm! Was this your design?”
There was no answer but then she had not really expected an answer.

Buddy read with Athena!

“The surest way to keep a secret is to make someone think they already know the answer.”

The tyrant God Emperor has returned to the sands of Dune. The universe that was once ruled by Houses Corrino and Atreides have fallen into chaos and is controlled by dozens of bickering factions. The Bene Gesserit and the Tleilaxu struggle for power, but their ambitions are contested by billions of humans returning from the Scattering. But on the surface of Dune, a small girl might be able to break the balance when she finds that she is able to control the mighty sandworms themselves.

Heretics of Dune is a giant improvement from the last book in the series, God Emperor of Dune. There are more characters, more hidden motives and overall a more interesting storyline. Still, there is much separating even this book from the three brilliant masterpieces of the Great Dune Trilogy. The epic feel is still gone, old boring characters are recycled, and even Frank Herbert's impressive pieces of social criticism are fewer and far between than they once were.

While I enjoyed reading this book, I demand more from this series. What it needs is a breath of fresh air, and I don't know if Herbert was capable of providing that. But Dune is still one of my favourite series of all time, and my aim to read everything still stands.

Heretics of Dune
Book 5 of the Dune Chronicles

A Dune Retrospective by Eric Allen

Heretics of Dune is a bit of an odd book in my experience. The first time I read God Emperor of Dune I was so put off the series by it that I refused to pick Heretics up for almost an entire decade. When finally I did pick it up, reading through the entire series again with the hope that age had given me new perspective on life to keep God Emperor from sucking so hard, it was probably my second favorite book in the series. It had characters I liked, things actually happened in it, and the story was pretty enjoyable with a huge OMFG DID THAT REALLY HAPPEN moment at the end. In comparison to God Emperor, Heretics is a friggen masterpiece. Of course, just about anything is a friggen masterpiece next to that abomination.

I have read this book several times since, and I remember enjoying it each time. However, this time, I made a bit of a mistake. I read Fragments by Dan Wells immediately before picking up Heretics, and that was so much better written, with so much more interesting characters, in a much more interesting setting, with a better story that is told better in every way than Heretics of Dune. And so, this time around, all I could think of was how mediocre it was, how it wasn't as well written as Fragments, how the characters weren't as interesting as the creations of Dan Wells, how the story was so distractingly vague and didn't seem to be going anywhere.

And after this experience, I have come to the conclusion that Heretics of Dune can either be a very good book, or a soul-crushingly mediocre one depending on what you read immediately before picking it up.

We begin after another 1500 year jump into the future. After the fall of the God Emperor due to his own stupidity, arrogance, and lack of any enjoyment factor for anyone reading the books in which he appears, humanity scattered to the nine corners of the universe, multiplying and finding new planets to call home. Why this could only happen AFTER the death of the God Emperor is anyone's guess, but whatever, I'm sure it made sense to Herbert as he was writing the book and who am I to tell Herbert what is stupid in his own universe?

After the Scattering people are beginning to return to Arrakis, called Rakis now, and the surrounding part of the universe, bringing with them the Honored Matres. These women are a perversion of the Bene Gesserit, ruling their people through the power of sex. No, I'm not kidding. In fact, the book goes into extensive and graphic detail on this point, and let me tell you... Herbert ain't no sex writer, that much is for sure.

The Bene Gesserit see them as a threat because ... and some girl is born on Rakis with the ability to ride the worms and this is important because ... and the Bene Gesserit have cloned Duncan Idaho yet again to do ... and they make an alliance with the Tlelaxu where they are clearly the underdogs because ... Do you see what I keep saying about Herbert leaving WAY too much of what would make his books make more sense vague and up to the reader's own imagination instead of giving us clear character motivations and explanations on the import of certain people and events that bring us into the story?

The Good? In a story that literally spans across thousands of years, Herbert bridges these books together with a common character, Duncan Idaho. It's not the same Duncan in every book, but he's got the same memories and personality so it works to hold the series together. Though he's more of a minor character in the first three books, he becomes a more central figure as the series progresses and all other bridges to the earlier volumes are washed away. He works pretty well in this role and is probably one of the more entertaining characters in the series for his penchant for saying the exact thing that will most piss people off in any given conversation.

The scope of the story, spanning across thousands of years shows Herbert's true visionary powers. That he was able to concieve of a story spanning so great a time, and account for the passage of time, like the names of planets changing, and show the long term effects of decisions made in the distant past by long dead characters, speaks to his prouesse as a storyteller.

At last, after three books of nothing but plots, within plots, within plots, wrapped in layers upon layers of intrigues, Herbert brings some much needed action back to the series. It's not that I don't like the political intrigues. Herbert is excellent at writing them. It's just that when that was ALL that there was to the story, it started to get a little stale. When characters do nothing but plot, and plot, and plot, and NEVER DO ANYTHING ELSE, it gets boring. People stop caring if anything is going to happen next, because they've seen that it isn't going to. When I first read this book, I loved the ending, because the last 25% of it is basically just non-stop action, which was something I was craving from this series since the first book ended, being a teenaged boy at the time and all.

The Bad? Although Herbert's sexism is not as pronounced in this book as it was in the previous one, it still comes out. Nearly every female character in this book is described by the size of her breasts, or by the attractiveness of her figure. The whole women perfecting the art of sex to enslave their followers thing is just a little too far over the top for my taste, and shows, once again, that Herbert thinks women are the scum of the universe. His mommy must never have held him as a child or something... There's thinking you're better than women because you happen to have been born with a dick, and then there's the complete and utter hatred that Herbert seems to have. He's in a class all of his own.

This book is not very well written. In fact, it's almost downright terribly written. Herbert used to be able to tell a coherant story, but as his career meandered on, he became less and less able to do so. The plot of this book, frankly makes no sense, it goes through several reversals, keeps the readers completely in the dark on the motivation and reasons behind generally everything going on, and skips over serveral key scenes without even referencing them or what went on during them. This book needed a lot more editorial influence than it got. Herbert really needed to sit down with a good and experienced editor and work through the plot for a few months before setting to work on the final drafts. These are things that could easily have been fixed, and I'm completely baffled that they weren't.

Characters do things that make no sense, because their motivations are never made clear to the reader. As such, their actions have no context. When we don't know what drives a character to do what they do, anything that they DO end up doing is confusing and pointless. Emphasis and importance are prescribed to certain people or places for no apparent reason because the author never saw the need to explain his own story to us or elaborate on all of the vagueness. Being vague is not bad in and of itself, you can build up mysteries in your stories to ratchet up the suspense and keep the readers interested. That's NOT the problem here. It's that NOTHING--N O T H I N G--is explained. Not who characters are, why they are important, why they do the things they do, why those things are important, what is going on, why any of that is important, why I should care about any of it, and so on. There's building up mysteries and plot twists, and then there's leaving the readers in the dark to the point that they begin to wonder if even YOU know what you're talking about. Characters start doing wildly irrational things and I can't even tell if it's in their character to do so or not, because they're not developed well enough as people for me to know anything about their personalities.

Nothing that happens in this book feels as though it was part of a flowing narrative where events move seamlessly and flawlessly along until it all comes crashing down at the end. Instead it feels like a whole lot of different scenes that have nothing to do with each other being tied together by the fact that they just happen to occur around the same characters. This book is a monumental failure to tell a story right from the foundation on up, and the worst thing about it is that it could have been fixed with just a little editorial influence. It didn't HAVE to be this bad. But Herbert had to come down with that whole George Lucas Syndrome thing and well, here we are, with a book that desperately needed an editor in the worst way, and never got one.

During almost every single scene in this book I was constantly asking one of the following questions. Why is this important? What does this have to do with anything? Why is this scene even in the book at all? What is going on, and how does it relate to anything else? These are questions that I should never find myself asking during a story. A narrative should be cohesive, with every single scene serving a purpose to the whole, flowing seamlessly from one event to the next and culminating in an epic climax. The entire story of this book is so disjointed and nonsensical that I was constantly trying to figure out how any given scene was supposed to relate to any of the others. And on top of that, several key scenes seem to have been cut near the end. On one page, Teg is plotting a bloody revolution to escape whatever planet he was on. And on the VERY NEXT PAGE, he's on Rakis waiting for a sandworm to arrive with some little girl whose importance STILL has not been touched upon by ANYONE at the very end of the book. I can make GUESSES at her importance to the plot, but Herbert holds her up as a golden child to be worshiped by all, but never tells us WHY. There was CLEARLY a deleted sequence here and the lack of it had me flipping back to see if my book was missing pages. Do you see what I mean when I say this book is disjointed and none of the scenes lead into any of the others? A good 30 pages seems to be completely missing from the published draft of the book.

The Ugly? Duncan Idaho: Teenaged Sex God... Need I say more? Okay, people, I've likely said it before, and I'll say it again, as many times as I need to for the point to sink in. Pedophilia of ANY sort is NOT COOL. Now, imagine if you will, that Duncan Idaho is not a fourteen year old boy, but a fourteen year old girl, and the sex temptress forcing herself on him is a man rather than a woman. Does this scene start to feel a little more uncomfortable to you? It should. It should have been just as uncomfortable to anyone as it is. Pedophila is pedophila, whether the victim is male or female. It is just as wrong either way, SO WHY IN THE HELL IS AN UNDERAGE BOY BEING RAPED BY AN OLDER WOMAN SO ACCEPTED IN FICTION IN OUR SOCIETY!?!?! It is just as bad when it happens to a boy as it is when it happens to a girl, and nothing that you can say will justify it. Pedophila is pedophila. It's the same damn thing, and I shouldn't have to explain why it is to anyone. This is a double standard that has both baffled and angered me for just about as long as I can remember. A young girl has an older man force himself on her and it's horrible and unthinkable, the same thing happens to a boy with an older woman and everyone is like, "good for him." NO!!! NOT GOOD FOR HIM!!! That's called pedophila, AND IT IS WRONG!!! Just because a woman is far less likely to sexually assault a teenaged boy than a man might be to assault a teenaged girl doesn't mean that it doesn't happen, and that it's not just as wrong when it does. Sexual abuse toward ANY child, male or female, is still sexual abuse, and guess what, having sex with a fourteen year old, no matter how many lifetimes of memory he might have, qualifies as sexual abuse.

This book has no protagonist. A Protagonist is the hero of the story, the one around whom the events of the story unfold. A Protagonist is a surrogate for the reader, a character that we can project ourselves onto and imagine having all those fantastical adventures as. They will be faced with some sort of conflict, and be tried and tested, coming to the very brink of ruin before finally learning and growing as a person and overcoming all opposition. Not every story is the same, I will grant you that, and not every story has to follow that exact pattern, but typically, there's at least a central figure in the story around whom events are woven. There's a main character that is vital to the plot, and without whom there is no story. Not so with Heretics of Dune. There are characters in this book. Some of them do things, though the vast majority of them only take up space, but the book isn't really ABOUT any of them. Without a strong central figure to identify with, we're left with the fragmented plot and the terrible writing to draw us into the book, and as they were both awful, what are we left with? Is it so much to ask that a fictional story I'm reading actually BE ABOUT SOMEONE? This is a concept as old as stories themselves, so why do so many authors these days have trouble identifying to the readers who their book is about and why we should care about them? Say what you will about Stephenie Meyer, but she at least knows who her books are about, and how to tell a cohesive story surrounding them. I mean... they SUCK, but at least they're put together better than this crap.

Anyway, despite liking this book in my younger years, I found it terribly written, convoluted, and far too vague for comfort. None of the narrative seems to flow along, and it feels something like a shattered stainglass window rather than a clear picture of a story. None of the character motivations are clear, and far too many plot points are left entirely to the reader's imagination. There is far too much pedophila going on for comfort here, and the fact that I never see anyone bring that point up about this book has me feeling a little nervous over where society is going. Despite bringing some much needed action back to the series, this book fails to entertain because it is written so poorly, and the plot reads like a map for a roadtrip planned out by a crack addict. Compared to God Emperor of Dune, it was a masterpiece. Compared to anything else, it's pretty much crap.

Check out my other reviews.

Heretics of Dune (Dune #5), Frank Herbert

Much has changed in the millennium and a half since the death of the God Emperor. Sandworms have reappeared on Arrakis (now called Rakis), each containing a fragment of the God Emperor's consciousness, and have renewed the flow of the all-important spice melange to the galaxy. With Leto's death, a very complex economic system built on spice collapsed, resulting in trillions of people leaving known space in a great Scattering. A new civilization has risen, with three dominant powers: the Ixians, whose no-ships (The technology in the Dune universe) are capable of piloting between the stars and are invisible to outside detection; the Bene Tleilax, who have learned to manufacture spice in their axlotl tanks (The technology in the Dune universe) and have created a new breed of Face Dancers; and the Bene Gesserit, a matriarchal order of subtle political manipulators who possess superhuman abilities. However, people from the Scattering are returning with their own peculiar powers. The most powerful of these forces are the Honored Matres, a violent society of women bred and trained for combat and the sexual control of men.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش روز بیست و یکم ماه فوریه سال 2019 میلادی
عنوان: بدعتگذار تلماسه؛ نویسنده: فرانک هربرت؛
ا. شربیانی

I’m one of those weirdos that actually likes the entirety of Frank Herbert’s Dune series even after you get past the first three volumes and the direct history of Muad’Dib and his family and start wading into some seriously weird stuff (and saying that the later volumes of the series are weird when you compare them to the earlier ones is saying something). Don’t worry though, I’m not crazy enough to have anything but contempt for that cash grab series of prequels and sequels floated by Herbert’s son and his ghost writer pal…blech! Part of the interest for me in the later volumes is seeing how the prescience of Muad’Dib (and even more so of his son the god-emperor Leto II) affected the human race and noting how humanity responded in an attempt to free themselves from the ‘Golden Path’ that it brought about. The other reason, I must admit, is that I find the character of Duncan Idaho, or more precisely the Duncan Idaho gholas which populate these books, fascinating. Be warned: there are some spoilerific details for previous volumes of the original Dune series below.

In the previous volume God Emperor of Dune we got a close-up view of the tyranny of the man-worm himself, the god-emperor Leto II (all done for humanity’s own good of course) and also saw his fascination with bringing back his family’s old retainer, the inimitable sword master Duncan Idaho again and again in ghola form over a period of centuries. Why Duncan Idaho? What’s so special about him? And why did Leto keep bringing him back (and ultimately killing him) over and over again? Was he expecting some result other than companionship and ultimately betrayal? It appears to have been a question the sisters of the Bene Gesserit started asking themselves as well and once they were free from the direct yoke of the god-emperor (though not of his pre-destined plan for humanity), they decided to keep up the tradition for themselves and see what the result might be.

And so we begin this volume of the series at a Bene Gesserit fortress located on the planet Gammu (formerly Geidi Prime, home of both the Harkonnens and the original Duncan Idaho) watching as a young ghola is being trained for purposes that even his teachers and protectors aren’t fully aware of. Of course this ghola is merely the last in a long line of Duncan Idahos, not yet aware of his previous existence, and just as uncertain of his purpose as those who watch over him. Despite the fact that this book takes place thousands of years after the time of Muad’Dib some familiar features survive: as noted the Bene Gesserit are still controlling bloodlines (though with the express purpose to perfect human breeding while at the same time to explicitly avoid the appearance of another Kwitsatz Haderach) and holding a precarious, though powerful, position in the political hegemony of human culture in the former precincts of the Padishah Empire; the Bene Tleilax still tinker with the genetic code of humanity in a much more direct way (including supplying the Bene Gesserit with their desired Duncan Idaho gholas) and hope to supersede all political rivals through plans and machinations of their own; and the Spacing Guild and industrialists of Ix still survive albeit in much weakened forms. Two of the most drastic changes are that the Bene Tleilax have finally discovered a way to artificially produce the spice melange and thus break the stranglehold previously held by those who controlled the Worms of Arrakis (or Rakis as it is now called); not to mention the fact that a multitude of peoples who had left the Empire after the fall of the god-emperor in an event called the Scattering to populate the vast reaches of space are now returning and want to conquer all of the supposed secrets of the humans they left behind in the regions of the old empire.

The overarching tale is one of political intrigue as the Bene Gesserit face off against the mysterious Bene Tleilax and each hopes to outplay the other in a bid to control the former empire; of course in addition to this they both face the threat of the nearly overwhelming forces of the Scattering and their mysterious and deadly leaders, the Honored Matres. At a much more human level it is the personal story of several key players against this wider backdrop: the Duncan Idaho ghola as he comes into his own and must decide how to live in this new world separated from all he knew by thousands of years; his teacher and mentor Miles Teg, an Atreides scion and mentat-warrior of great ability who has served the Bene Gesserit all of his life; Sheanna, a young native of Rakis apparently born with the power to control the sand worms into which the god-emperor transformed himself; and Darwe Odrade a sister of the Bene Gesserit who must navigate difficult waters and test her loyalty to the sisterhood that made her and the many plans within plans that have formed the basis of her society.

I enjoyed this volume, though I think on this re-read I didn’t find it quite as captivating as I remember my first reading to have been. This also is very much the first half of one story as it ends nearly in mid-crisis and leaves much to be resolved in the next volume (which I remember being the weirdest of the bunch and which itself unfortunately left many unanswered questions). If you want to keep following Frank Herbert on the ride through his crazy Dune universe and see the impact of the Atreides on the human race then this is a required volume; on the other hand if you were happy to leave things where they were at the end of Children of Dune, or found the politics and world of God Emperor of Dune confounding then perhaps you should leave this one on the shelf.

Premise: 1000-plus years after the regime of Leto II, human races had spread across the known galaxies and beyond, with the godlike tyrant (Leto II) out of the picture, different races and power groups/religious groups now ruled different parts and corners of the different civilizations, and the power struggle and scheme continued.

I enjoy the first four books of the Dune series, but by the fifth book, I must admit something in the story is getting old. I mean, you can only reuse the idea of weird breeding program, court intrigue, characters hiding and giving chase in the desert etc etc that many times.

Plus, hardly any character stand out in the book. The main characters are a reasonable enough bunch but they just aren't very remarkable, as to the 'villains'.........they are even more unmemorable. For example, in book 4 I can always see Leto II clearly but in this book, I can't picture any of the characters as a lively being and the ideal they stand for, in my mind. *sighs*

Furthermore, what I really don't like about this volume is, the slu*t shaming is getting really much, I mean, the Bene Geserit had been using sex as weapon for god know how long, but when there is a bunch of newcomers coming along, also using sex to control men (okay, as usual hom*osexuality is not mentioned), said newcomers were labeled as slu*ts nonstop, I mean, come on.

PS: I also don't think this volume brings much insight for its readers, but I will read the next book anyway.

3.5⭐️😬

Heretics of Dune
(Dune #5)
by Frank Herbert
New characters but very interesting! Duncan has been in every book! Over 5,000 years and Duncan is still there, cloned but still there! His clone is different this time! Dune is renamed. A new character that has extraordinary abilities! A child.

„Налага се да установим определена степен на искреност помежду ни, рядко допустима в дипломацията. Твърде много зависи от нас, за да си позволим повърхностни извъртания.“

„Еретиците на Дюн“ е отличен роман, в който са описани продължителните и сложни процеси, развиващи се след края на тиранията на Лито II. Около 1500 г. бившата империя се намира в състояние на мрачен посттоталитарен преход, така да се каже. Развихрили са се жестоки конфликти между могъщи организации и религията е използвана (както винаги) за налагане на власт...

В тази част от поредицата разбираме до голяма степен същността и мотивите на тайнствения Бин Джезърит, който след управлението на Бог-императора постепенно възстановява своето могъщество и отново разгръща мащабните си планове. Важна позиция в сестринството заема потомката на Атреидите Дар Одрейди. Възходът на Бин Джезърит обаче не им осигурява спокойствие, тъй като огромна заплаха за тях представляват богатите и влиятелни Почитаеми мами... Отново се заплитат вълнуващи политически интриги, чрез които читателите получаваме ценни теми за задълбочен размисъл, както във всяка книга от този страхотен фантастичен епос!

„Животът не намира основания сам да отстоява себе си, не може да бъде и източник на поносимо взаимно зачитане, освен ако всеки от нас не реши да вдъхне в него подобни качества.“

„— Грешката на погледа в бъдното… — каза тлейлаксианският Майстор. — Нали така е споменато в документа? Не се ли говори там, че умът на вярващия е в застой?
— Съвършено вярно! — възкликна Туек, благодарен за намесата, чрез която бе предадена същността на опасната ерес.“

„Бюрокрацията унищожава инициативата. Почти няма друго, което бюрократите да мразят повече от нововъведенията, особено от онези, даващи по-добри резултати в сравнение със старите практики и шаблони...“

„Манифестът на Атреидите изглежда представляваше ловка маневра. Одрейди — безспорно личността, която бе в състояние да го изготви — успя да вникне малко по-дълбоко в същинското състояние на нещата при написването на документа, но думите сами по себе си се бяха превърнали в преграда пред окончателното откровение.“

„Одрейди вече бе забелязала, че мнозина от жреците изпитват удоволствие от объркването на нечии планове, но не бе подозирала, че може да им е забавно собственото им сгромолясване. Докъде стигаше въпросната склонност към забавление? Дали за хора като тях съществуваше разлика между краха на отделната личност и смъртта на цяла цивилизация?“

„Башарът на мига забеляза колебанието и гласът му прогърмя:
— Слушай бойната заповед! Аз съм твой командир! Изреченото беше възможно най-близкото до Гласа изпълнение, което Лусила бе чувала от устата на мъж. Неволно погледна към него с искрено възхищение.
А Дънкан виждаше само лицето на стария дук, нареждащ му да се подчини. Оказа се предостатъчно...“

„Зад затворените врати на Храма вече имаше дебати за прехода в институцията на Върховния жрец. Новите ракианци говореха за нуждата „да се върви в крак с времето“. Всъщност настояваха: „Дайте ни повече власт!“

„— Може да се окаже прекалено късно! Дар, проклето да е съглашението ви! Дала си възможност да имат влияние над нас, както и ние над тях… И нито една от страните да не дръзва да задвижи нещата.
— Не е ли това идеалният съюз?“

„Паметта не е в състояние да върне реално станалото някога. Тя възстановява само спомена за него. Но всеки подобен акт променя оригинала и се превръща във външни отправни рамки, които неизбежно се оказват неточни.“

„Въпреки че свръхбогатите нерядко биваха поразени от пълна безнравственост. Причиняваше я вярването, че парите (или пък властта) могат да купят всичко и всички. А защо да не го вярват? Ставаше всеки ден пред очите им. Най-лесно се вярва в абсолютни истини.
Надеждата във вечен е цъфтеж…
Беше също като с която и да е вяра. С пари може да се купи даже невъзможното.
Тогава идва и пълната поквара.“

After the long philosophical rambling disguised as a novel that was the last book, I hadn't much interest in continuing the series. Yet, the trailer came out for the new Dune movie, and I had a choice, reread the first Dune novel or continue the series. With only two books left written by the father, it seemed a shame to leave it unfinished. I chose to continue the series, and feel like this, as well as the series after the first, were both mistakes.

There is little doubt in my mind the first Dune book(which was meant to be a trilogy in of itself) was meant to be the only book. Messiah was still good, if unnecessary. I remember not disliking Children of Dune, except for the ending. God Emperor was just barely above a one star review, and this book, while better, made me sad. The grand vision that was Dune seems like little more than a money grab to me now. In my heart, the series isn't a series at all but a single novel that ended with Paul as emperor and the knowledge of the Jihad to come.

Well, I guess I could talk a bit about this book specifically now that my morose ramblings are at an end. The characters were pretty decent, the most memorable ones since the first book. Other than that though, I was bored and slightly appalled throughout. It's quite obvious things are made up as he goes along, and ideas conflict with earlier ideas in the previous books.

The whole sex addiction making slaves of an empire comes across as little more than silly fetishism to me and doesn't work in my mind. Humanity is and has never been, an entirely sexual nor heterosexual species. The idea that sex can be so damn good with these women, that any man that has it is a slave for life made me grimace.

There were plot conveniences throughout. Seemingly insurmountable enemies were suddenly given a glaring weakness, or the good guys were just as suddenly given an unexpected power or ally. The ending in particular was rife with convenient escapes.

Now, there are flashes of that original Dune brilliance, some neat quotes and ideas here and there. Plus, as I said, the characters were well done for the most part. Everything else though, made it hard to finish this book. Will I read the final Frank Herbert Dune book? Probably, it seems almost silly to stop here, but I really wish he had stopped with Dune. Some prequel novels might have been fun, but that's really all I can see being necessary. Everything after Dune takes away from Paul's prescience and design for the universe.

Heretics of Dune, the book fifth in the Dune series, is a sequel to God Emperor of Dune but it takes place a long time after the rule of God Emperor Leto II. When I say a long time, I mean one thousand five hundred years after the rule of Leto II Atreides (that also lasted for a rather long time). In that sense, the universe it describes is quite different. As a reader, you need to be aware of that books five and six in the series are somewhat different from the rest.

The previous novel covered a long period of time (3, 500 years long reign of Leto II) , but it was a time dominated by a single man/god/tyrant so it was pretty monotonous (even if very interesting from some points of view). In contrast, the world of Heretics of Dune is full of unknown. You could even say that this book requires some imagination and patience from its reader. It demands of its reader to understand the Golden Path and its implications. Still, there are many familiar players. You could say that the known world is reverting to its old Dune ways, for example with the spice remaining as important as ever). The Bene Gesserit are stepping on the stage again. The sisterhood is perhaps the only force that is fully aware of the golden path. However, they might struggle with deciding on their role. The sisterhood must evolve or perish.

Heretics of Dune witnesses humanity in a new light, no longer imprisoned by Leto II's rule but rather walking on the Golden Path. Even if nobody is really sure what the future will bring, it seems that emperor Leto's plan to save humanity from destruction has worked out- at least to an extent. By imprisoning the human race under his rule for more than three thousand years, Leto II caused humans to 'go boldly forward where no man has gone before' i.e. the Scattering- his plan all along. The human kind has scattered into space we are made to see- but we are not shown what it really means, but rather as readers we are invited to ask some questions ourselves. Moreover, as this novel opens some of the scattered are coming back- and they do not hold much love for the Old Empire. The Honored Matres, a violent female organization that enslaves males sexually so it could control them, seek to destroy the sisterhood and just about anyone who opposes them. The Honored Matres are extremely dangerous and violent, so drunk on power that they are willing to turn entire planets into dust on any provocation.

Heretics of Dune is closely tied to its sequel Chapterhouse: Dune. Don't expect a clean ending in this one. Many of the subplots will be develop in the following novel. This novel introduces us to a new Dune universe that will be expanded (but possibly not fully explained) in the final novel. There are many interesting characters in this novel. Like its sequel, the emphasis is on female characters, with the exception of Miles Teg and Duncan Idaho.

The leather of Bene Gesserit in this novel is Taraza, a strong Mother Superior who seems to always be one step ahead of others. A Fremen girl Sheena who learns that she can control the worms will became an important figure once Bene Gesserit gets hold of her as well. As always, there are Atreides characters. Miles Tag, the genius military strategist working for the sisterhood and his unorthodox daughter Odrade. Taraza and Odrade become closely associated, known under nicknames Tar and Dar, despite doubts that sisterhood places in Odrade who remains something of a romantic.

..“Taraza cleared her throat. “No need. Lucilla is one of our finest Imprinters. Each of you, of course, received the identical liberal conditioning to prepare you for this.” There was something almost insulting in Taraza’s casual tone and only the habits of long association put down Odrade’s immediate resentment. It was partly that word “liberal,” she realized. Atreides ancestors rose up in rebellion at the word. It was as though her accumulated female memories lashed out at the unconscious assumptions and unexamined prejudices behind the concept. “Only liberals really think. Only liberals are intellectual. Only liberals understand the needs of their fellows.” How much viciousness lay concealed in that word! Odrade thought. How much secret ego demanding to feel superior.”.

I found this novel a fascinating and a quick read. The events take place quite quickly and the plot makes sense. Miles Teg, in particular, was a very dynamic and interesting character. However, perhaps I enjoyed the sequel to Heretics of Dune a bit more than this book, just because it was a bit more philosophical. Moreover, in the final book, there is a more detailed analysis of power, government and Bene Gesserit. Still, I would recommend this one just as much. These two novels would be really hard to understand one without the other. It is always best to read the Dune books (I mean the original Frank Herbert series) in the chronological order, that is, the way they were published- and especially so with these two. In some sense, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune feel like the same novel to me, perhaps because they feature almost the same set of characters. Apart from those characters that are killed or perish, all the main characters repeat in the sequel Chapterhouse: Dune, so these two novels are definitely closely connected. I recommend taking on the sequel right after you finish Heretics of Dune, or you could forget some important details. To conclude, this is another novel in the Dune series that I enjoyed immensely.

Well, I thought The God Emperor of Dune was bad, but in Heretics of Dune, it got worse. Somehow full of even more misogyny than the previous novel and now with a dusting of anti-progressive political vitriol, this book is a dumpster fire in my opinion. I am not looking forward to reading Chapterhouse: Dune, I will only do so because of my stubborn resolve to not leave a series unfinished, but after that, thankfully I will be done.

Próbowałem sobie streścić fabułę w tym wpisie, ale brzmiało to bardziej jak wstęp do filmu dla dorosłych, niż jak epicka historia sci-fi. Jest jak jest.

Linkerson for filmson:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0sPw...

Was this better than God Emperor of Dune? Yes. Was it also kinda meh? Yes.

Three stars for Sheeana and Duncan, and Sheeana and Duncan ONLY.

Dune Sapkınları 5. Kitap
Dune Sapkınları kitabını çok beğendiğimi söyleyemeyeceğim. İlk dört kitaba nazaran biraz zayıf buldum. Seride sadece üçüncü kitabı sevmemiştim beş de biraz onun kıvamında ilerledi. Konu karakter geçişleri çok hızlıydı ve belirli noktalarda kesilince olaylar, okumaya ket vurdu. Bu eserde kadınlar çok ön plana çıkarılmıştı ama dördüncü kitaptaki bütünlükten sonra beşi okuyunca biraz sıkıldım. Yine de her şeye rağmen yazarın yarattığı evren ve karakterler çok üst düzey. Şimdi son kitap kaldı fakat onu birkaç ay sonra okumayı planlıyorum.

Dune dizisinin beşinci kitabı yeni bir başlangıç sayılabilir ve bu haliyle dizinin ilk kitabının yarattığı etkiyi yaratabilir.

It speaks volumes of this book that up until the last six pages I had absolutely no idea what the endgame was; yet throughout, I was riveted to the page. Herbert's ability to introduce you to a pre-existing world with all of its complexities and idiosyncrasies without telling you a damned thing is at its best in Heretics of Dune, which delineates the decline of the God Emperor's vast domain over which he reigned as a Tyrant for 3500 years.

Organizations at varying degrees of the grotesque, clandestine and corrupt compete for supremacy against each other as well as those returning from "the Scattering," a vast exodus of mankind after the Tyrant's fall. A young girl named Sheeana, who can control the Sandworms, comes to notice, and then power on Rakis. Duncan Idaho is reincarnated yet again. And still, the march of the Atreides family through history continues on, and the mankind continues to advance along along Leto II's "Golden Path," the enigmatic course of action by which he has safeguarded mankind from ultimate catastrophe and, thus, extinction. An excellent and worthy episode in the series.

Ew. just ew. This whole book was about grooming. How many times does Herbert have to talk about pulsating vagin*s? How does he make sex sound gross? Duncan Idaho was 15! That was a grown ass woman trying to seduce him. Just no. I hated this one the most out of them so far.

I enjoyed this one. The world-building is exceptional as ever and it managed to bring me back into the Dune Universe after the previous God Emperor of Dune

Completing each subsequent Dune book is always exhausting. On this, my finally-got-through-it complete reading of Heretics, I realized that last time I tried to read it, I stalled out 70 pages from the end -- that's how much of a grind these books can be.

But unlike the first four volumes, I don't really have the same sense of reward or accomplishment at finishing this one. Like most of the other books, Herbert doesn't really reveal what the book is about until the last fifteen pages or so. Most of the book follows two groups of characters on the run, each protecting a Chosen One from the evil powers that wish to destroy them. Throughout the book, each group repeatedly escapes some offscreen threat and then argues amongst themselves about the next course of action before a new threat emerges, at which point Herbert cuts away to the other group just as the action starts. And, as with most of the other Dune books, Herbert is far more interested in these in-between moments of discussion, usually between characters with various levels of prescience that are each trying to outwit the other. However, Herbert is uninterested -- almost to a fault -- in describing action. Most of the time this just means he's playing to his strengths, but in Heretics (especially in its final pages, where most of the plot takes place), so much happens in the space between chapters, paragraphs, and even sentences that the reader is often playing a frustrating amount of catch up. It's also just a drag to spend 200-300 pages setting up a story that unfolds most of its most important ideas in the last three chapters.

So structurally, there's much to be desired. Herbert likes a slow burn, but the psychological tension, use of language, or simply the espousal of philosophy is typically the real draw anyway. Unfortunately, Heretics is also just sort of criminally stupid in terms of what it actually focuses on. For example, the plots and themes of the first four Dune novels are about the nature of political power, of the limitations of human will and its relation to time and society.

However, Heretics of Dune is about two competing sects of sex nuns. The Good sex nuns are trying to protect one of the Chosen Ones from the bad sex nuns, who are a threat because they are better at full body org*sms. The twist is that this Chosen One is even better at full body org*sms, and therefore the Good sex nuns have to come up with a new plan for how to harness his uncontrollable sex powers.

There's also some culturally insensitive stuff about Islam that completely undoes everything about religion that Herbert handled more thoughtfully in the previous books, but it doesn't really matter because in the end everyone in that part of the book is either dead or having sex with the sex nuns.

This is, really-I-am-not-kidding, the whole plot of this book for the first 445 pages. In the last 25 pages, it changes into an entirely different book that is actually interesting and not something you are embarrassed to type in a Goodreads review, but most of THAT happens offscreen and is described in a serious of rhetorical questions in the last 4 pages.

Also Herbert manages to throw in some digs at Star Wars (deserved) and fancy restaurants (like, he is very angry with restaurants for some reason).

Anyway, I don't even f*cking know with this book. There is a giant penis on the front cover that is even more of a giant penis than the giant penises on the other books. That's probably all you need to know.

Also happy new year.

The fifth novel of the Dune series takes place 1,500 years after the events of "God Emperor of Dune". Leto II has become the sandworms of Dune, each containing a tiny shard of his thoughts. The Golden Path has caused humanity to expand to the stars beyond the known space of Leto's universe. This is called the Scattering. In Heretics, they return.

The Bene Gesserit find their biggest threat in the form of Honored Matres, corrupted Reverend Mothers with different powers and skill sets. As the awesome character of Miles Teg, former Supreme Bashar tries to protect a young, and very special, ghola of Duncan Idaho. While on Dune (now called Rakis) a young girl, Sheena, has aamzing powers and is able to control the sandworms of Dune.

This book really gets into how humanity has changed and evolved since the time of Leto II. His Golden Path is still effective, even if humanity doesn't seem to realize it. But this is an excellent look into not only how the Bene Gesserit operate and fight, but also a great look into the Teliaxlu as well.

There is a great deal of action and some rather deep philosophical ideas. The sheer scope of time that has passed makes for fascinating reading and this is an excellent book. A classic of the sci-fi genre.

After three tries, I finally managed to finish this book lol. Definitely not as good to the first four by any means, but it was still enjoyable. I think the ending was truly the hardest part to finish. Gonna wait awhile before I go on to Chapterhouse. I did really like Darwi and Taraza in this book, they were the most interesting characters.

I'm going to be another one of those people who is going to read the last book simply from the time invested thus far. Oof.

I loved the Dune Chronicles 1-4. Especially the God Emperor of Dune was fantastic. I was shocked that Heretics of Dune was so boring I almost gave up on it. I read on because I wanted to see whether it would get any better, but no, it didn't.

I'm just really confused. Who is the main character? There's lots of characters, but most of them felt like bland supporting characters to me. The few interesting ones didn't get enough screen time to become central in the plot. Teg came the closest to becoming the main character, but he lacked the charisma. Everybody kept saying how awesome he is, but he didn't actually do anything awesome. He's a Mentat, and yet he got out of the one hairy situation not by using his wits, but by suddenly developing inexplicable superpowers. Majorly disappointing.

And what is this book even about? I kept waiting for the plotline to kick in, but I just didn't see it. It seems that the whole point was just to (SPOILER ALERT) get one sandworm off Rakis (a feat that turned out to be laughably easy, apparently). But if that was the climax, why the heck did it happen off screen? The moment something interesting was about to happen it was skipped over. Instead we got loads of descriptions of characters sitting around, feeling awfully distressed about the danger they were supposedly in. Descriptions of childhoods. Descriptions of the rooms they were sitting in. Conversations about plans that don't really go anywhere.

Lots of background information, but nothing substantial happening. If this book was a movie, it would be two and a half hours of establishing shots.

I am sorry to say that but it is a bummer. I don’t connect with Dune world at all at this point of the series. Elites vs Elites plotting, using jargon all the time, no senses, mysteries non interesting at all....Pufff