Review: Direct Descent by Frank Herbert

Direct Descent by Frank Herbert

I am a highly plot driven reader, remembering the plot of just about every book I’ve ever read with very little difficulty. So it says a lot when I write: despite having read this book two times before (once in college and once a few years ago) I couldn’t remember the plot of the story. Perhaps the reason for that is that it feels so derivative. Direct Descent is two stories about a mammoth thousands-year-old library that really feels like it was written after Herbert read Isaac Asimov’s Foundation (written three years before this work was published in serial form). The whole thing really reads like an Asimov story instead of a Herbert one. Both stories in this collection have the same basic plot. The new galactic government has decided to shut down the library in their attempt to stop knowledge from being disseminated. In each case, the evil government operatives are outwitted by brilliant librarians. Asimov did it better.

 

Perhaps it is actually a good thing that this plot is so forgettable. Frank Herbert is one of my favorite authors of all time. His great books like The Godmakers and Whipping Star, and yes, of course, Dune, all deserve to be read a dozen or more times. But his “lesser” works like The Santaroga Barrier, The Heaven Makers, and The Green Brain (to name only three) both entertain me and make me think every time I reread them. I’d honestly rather forget a rare misfire like Direct Descent.