book data
4,019 ratings,
3.62
average rating, 98 reviews
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published
August 15th 1987
(first published 1984)
by Ace
binding
Paperback, 480 pages
isbn
0441328008
(isbn13: 9780441328000)
description
On Arrakis, now called Rakis, known to legend as Dune, ten times ten centuries have passed. The planet is becoming desert again. The Lost Ones are r...more
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avg 3.62
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in January, 1986
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, Fran...more
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, Fran...more
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Read in September, 2007
Finally! I haver been dreading reading this book for ever so long, and now the alarm bells seem to have been superfluous. Lulled into a false sense of doom and with jangling nerves fostered by the utter metaphysical crap that were the second, third and fourth books of the Dune series, and God Emperor of Dune was singularly mind-numbing, this gave my jangling nerves rest.
What's different? Well, there's still a lot of obscure talk, but some of it finally is relieved with some actual AC...more
What's different? Well, there's still a lot of obscure talk, but some of it finally is relieved with some actual AC...more
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Read in December, 2008
Heretics of Dune begins a new cycle in the Dune Series. Or, more accurately, an evolution -- consequence -- of the cycle identified in Dune. I enjoyed Heretics of Dune far more than God Emperor, although God Emperor was a necessary bridge between Dune, Dune Messiah, and Children of Dune, and Heretics, as well as Heretic's sister novel, Chapterhouse Dune.
Several of the characters are fantastic, in particular Miles Teg, who provides a necessary balance (oddly enough, given the typical...more
Several of the characters are fantastic, in particular Miles Teg, who provides a necessary balance (oddly enough, given the typical...more
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For me, this is the book in which Frank Herbert's Dune series begins to suffer from diminishing returns. While set in the same imaginary future, this book recycles too many ideas and themes from the first four Dune books. I have nothing against space adventures, but Herbert's writing style, which relies on suspense in place of surprise and reflection in place of action scenes, doesn't lend itself to the necessary plotting. While I did enjoy parts of this book, I found myself wishing for eithe...more
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So many MORE thousands of years into the future, and there's a little girl who can talk to worms, right, and so people who worship the worms take her under their wing. Then, ladies who don't like those people take her with them, a clone of a clone of a clon...remembers all of his past lives, and a space general becomes a jedi. Then he and the clone get killed by whores and the ladies who don't like the worm worshippers go a-worm-napping. That's pretty much it. Not nearly as good as the first...more
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Read in January, 1991
This is my absolute favorite Sci-Fi book that completely blew my mind when I first read it. It is much more then just a means of entertainment. It is perhaps one of the most revolutionary commentaries on the anthropological analysis of the usage of language, sexuality, ecology, economics, religion, and military power all tied together. I first read this book before any of the earlier books in the Dune series by Frank Herbert. Because it occurs thousands of years after the earlier books...more
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Read in May, 2008
This is a book that starts off with a lot of new characters and the familiar Duncan character. There are many people making plots and conducting secretive maneuvers and it makes you want to see what comes next. Who will win out? You get to learn a lot about the Bene Gesserit and the Bene Theilax. The book slowly builds up the suspense and intrigue but then in the last part of the book the author seems tired of writing it and rushes to a hasty and unsatisfying conclusion. Right at a point where t...more
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Read in September, 2007
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 grot...more
Organizations at varying degrees of the grot...more
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Read in February, 2002
wow, i thought this book was really great. i actually liked this even more than some of the earlier books (that may sound strange to some people). thousands of years in the future, this takes place on a world that has change a LOT since the first dune. many of the old landmarks are gone, the worms are strange and different, and the fremen are even more wild than they were before. what i loved the most about this book, though, was that it told a story from the bene gesserits' point of view. in th...more
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Read in February, 2009
This was a good edition to the Dune series. I actually liked it better than the first time I read the series. I wanted to reread the series to include the new editions to the series by Kevin Herbert. This book was better than Children of Dune and included much intrigue politics, and the affect that Leto II had on humanity after his reign.
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The focus of the remaining books of the series returns to the Bene Gesserit and a new menace is introduced - the Honored Matres - who are deadlier than the Bene Gesserit and able to destroy entire planets with an unknown weapon. However, the Honored Matres are themselves fleeing from some unknown and terrifying force. Another fantastic book
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HERETICS is by far my favorite of the DUNE Chronicles. As time jumps forward thousands of years again, we meet Miles Teg, a grizzled old soldier of the Bene Gesseritt. Teg has been charged with recovering a new ghola of Duncan Idaho, the first since the end of the last book. Through this ghola, the Bene Gesseritt hope to awaken some trace of memory to the time of the God Emperor in hopes of understanding his grand plan for the human race. A new threat has invaded the galaxy and put mankind on no...more
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Read in October, 2008
This is a much needed improvement from the previous book in the series. It felt like more of a return to what I consider the idea of Dune - that sweeping space opera of plans within plans and cool ideas about the nature of humans and universe abounding. But the ending spoils it. There is an abrupt flash forward in time in the narrative to a battle that is in media res and we know very little about where a major character meets their fate. It all ends incredibly suddenly and without answering man...more
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Read in June, 1984
recommends it for:
Anyone
This was the best book yet! Frank Herbert left the story hanging so badly and I eagerly anticipated the next book when I learned of Frank Herbert's death. I was devestated to realize we would never have a conclusion to the story.
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Read in May, 2009
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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The slide starting with God-Emperor really went down from here. I see how Herbert tries to compare this to the fall of Rome, or something, but it really loses track at this point.
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Read in January, 1999
This is when Dune started getting reeeally weird. Of course, I read this when I was 15 so I probably just didn't understand a lot/didn't have the attention span for this kind of story.
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I love how this series degenerated from thoughtful diatribes on environmentalism, history, religion, and politics into a tale of spandex wearing dominatrixes. Let's take a look into the mind of Frank Herbert as he was writing this:
SPACE HOOKERS FAP FAP I'M BRILLIANT NEED SOME MORE IDEAS BETTER GET SOME "SPICE MELANGE" IE DORITOS HEY HOW ABOUT A SCENE WHERE THE SPACE HOOKERS TALK ABOUT ALL THE HUNDREDS OF DIFFERENT WAYS THEY CAN ORGASM AND THE BENE GESSERIT ONE UP THEM BY SA...more
SPACE HOOKERS FAP FAP I'M BRILLIANT NEED SOME MORE IDEAS BETTER GET SOME "SPICE MELANGE" IE DORITOS HEY HOW ABOUT A SCENE WHERE THE SPACE HOOKERS TALK ABOUT ALL THE HUNDREDS OF DIFFERENT WAYS THEY CAN ORGASM AND THE BENE GESSERIT ONE UP THEM BY SA...more
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Read in August, 2008
That's right: now I remember why I stopped reading this series. I have memories of a younger version of myself thinking "ew, this one is all about sex". Now, older and much more cosmopolitan, my reaction is "what a cop out: He had the setup to really talk about religious tolerance and expand on an interesting mythology aaaaand, this one is all about sex. I wonder if Duncan Idaho is cute."
I suppose I ought to read Chapterhouse just to make certain that my projec...more
I suppose I ought to read Chapterhouse just to make certain that my projec...more
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Read in August, 2007
After the oppressive quality of God Emperor of Dune I found the fifth novel to be a welcome change of direction. The universe that exists thousands of years after the era of Muad'dib is as complex, layered and ultimately as fascinating as that which saw the rise of Paul Atreides. I especially liked that Herbert recast the Benegeserit as the heroes of the final novels, a big change from the self-interested manipulators that they were in the first few. In some ways the last two novels are only ma...more
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quotes from this book
" This is the awe-inspiring universe of magic: There are no atoms, only waves and motions all around. Here, you discard all belief in barriers to understanding. You put aside understanding itself. This universe cannot be seen, cannot be heard, cannot be detected in any way by fixed perceptions. It is the ultimate void where no preordained screens occur upon which forms may be projected. You have only one awareness here — the screen of the magi: Imagination! Here, you learn what it is to be human. You are a creator of order, of beautiful shapes and systems, an organizer of chaos."
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