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The Race for God
When God, who lives on the planet Tananius-Ofo in a distant galaxy, invites an odd assortment of heathens, pantheists, perverts, and true believers to visit him, they will stop at nothing, not even murder, to be the first to reach Him and learn His secrets. Reprint.
394 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
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224 people want to read
About the author
Brian Herbert
238 books2,152 followersBrian Patrick Herbert is an American author who lives in Washington state. He is the elder son of science fiction author Frank Patrick Herbert.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
July 23, 2008
The problem that I have with Brian Herbert is that his ideas have such potential that he is either unwilling or unable to explore fully. His concepts are strong and start off going in an interesting direction, but end up falling short. Though fun to read at times, "The Race For God" is full of plot points that only vaguelly connect to anything, when they do at, and has at least one rather significant loose-end that never gets tied. The characters are also less than fully developed, though I wouldn't call them two-dimensional. It was, however, fairly amusing and makes for good brain candy if you have nothing better to read.
January 4, 2009
Utterly disappointing and sexist and WTF and why did I even finish it?
December 11, 2010
Interesting ideas that seemed unfulfilling due to a lack of exploration into them, the main issue with this book was it was too short for such a large idea
February 22, 2021
Underrated and quirky gem.
January 25, 2020
A being who alleges to be God invites humanity to meet Him at last, although a select few are actually chosen to make the journey via special, living trans-dimensional spaceships.
While the concept is interesting, Herbert just can't quite make it work. My biggest criticism is how the book uses different names for actual religions, even going so far to use the name "D'Urth" as a pseudonym for Earth. I'm not sure if this was an act of supreme cowardice on Herbert's part or a hamfisted attempt at satire, but either way, it takes significant weight away from the story that the *actual* major religions of *Earth* aren't represented. I wonder if Herbert was afraid of backlash from some of the more volatile religions (such as what happened with Salmon Rushdie) or offending others, but when one sets out to write a story like this, I say go big or go home.
That aside, the book has many more problems than wasting the reader's time and mental energy decoding which pseudonym is a stand-in for what religion. For one, the plot is clunky and feels rushed. There are portions of the book where it jumps from character to character without a page break or a chapter break, which feels jarring. The characters are inconsistent and ultimately serve little to no purpose towards driving the narrative forward. The villain of the story, for all intents and purposes though is motive is unclear, seemingly plummets to his death at the end, only to reconfigure and climb back up the cliff he fell from... but that's the last we see of him. The book ends before his part in the story is resolved, which is just unbelievably sloppy for someone of Brian Herbert's caliber. I'm not sure if he intended for this to be a series of books, but either way, a professional writer ought to know better than to sacrifice story for the possibility of sequels.
There are long, clumsily handled data dumps where Herbert spills cosmic wisdom all over you, which would be fine (and expected in a story like this), but all action completely stops as the characters rattle off long paragraphs of this stuff. The ending is unsatisfying and kind of disappointing. If you're a fan Frank Herbert, and you're curious to explore his son's work, may I suggest sticking to his excellent Dune continuation and prequel series, which he co-wrote with Kevin J. Anderson.
While the concept is interesting, Herbert just can't quite make it work. My biggest criticism is how the book uses different names for actual religions, even going so far to use the name "D'Urth" as a pseudonym for Earth. I'm not sure if this was an act of supreme cowardice on Herbert's part or a hamfisted attempt at satire, but either way, it takes significant weight away from the story that the *actual* major religions of *Earth* aren't represented. I wonder if Herbert was afraid of backlash from some of the more volatile religions (such as what happened with Salmon Rushdie) or offending others, but when one sets out to write a story like this, I say go big or go home.
That aside, the book has many more problems than wasting the reader's time and mental energy decoding which pseudonym is a stand-in for what religion. For one, the plot is clunky and feels rushed. There are portions of the book where it jumps from character to character without a page break or a chapter break, which feels jarring. The characters are inconsistent and ultimately serve little to no purpose towards driving the narrative forward. The villain of the story, for all intents and purposes though is motive is unclear, seemingly plummets to his death at the end, only to reconfigure and climb back up the cliff he fell from... but that's the last we see of him. The book ends before his part in the story is resolved, which is just unbelievably sloppy for someone of Brian Herbert's caliber. I'm not sure if he intended for this to be a series of books, but either way, a professional writer ought to know better than to sacrifice story for the possibility of sequels.
There are long, clumsily handled data dumps where Herbert spills cosmic wisdom all over you, which would be fine (and expected in a story like this), but all action completely stops as the characters rattle off long paragraphs of this stuff. The ending is unsatisfying and kind of disappointing. If you're a fan Frank Herbert, and you're curious to explore his son's work, may I suggest sticking to his excellent Dune continuation and prequel series, which he co-wrote with Kevin J. Anderson.
March 10, 2025
Reading the brief introduction about Brian talking comparative religion with Frank, I figured he must have been a college student in the 80s. Reading this by book I thought he might be even younger than that because it was about all these things i was thinking about when i was in college. Felt like something I might have written in my twenties. But no, turns out Brian Herbert was in his forties when he published this book. Not a bad book, had good ideas, quite entertaining. but still a bit amateurish
November 7, 2022
He couldn’t decide if he wanted the book to be a comedy, character study or adventure. So it doesn’t really do any of them well. In particular some of the character arcs really don’t scan at all. I finished it, but I’m not sure I’ll read another of his books.
September 12, 2019
good book, you get lost, so many odd names, and places, The ending is well, God is different that what you would think...
December 7, 2020
The premises is decent. The carrying out of said premises, not.
Worth reading once, although it will leave you realing in the wake of disappointment that such an original plot was wasted.
Worth reading once, although it will leave you realing in the wake of disappointment that such an original plot was wasted.
May 26, 2022
3 1/2 stars
December 12, 2011
I have not read anything by Brian Herbert before - so, I have no benchmark for comparison. I checked out a few of the other reviews and I was sort of amazed at the diversity of feedback. It seemed to vary a lot more than many other books.
I found this book to be good from a sci-fi perspective, but I really enjoyed it as I felt that it provoked a lot of thought. People have said the end was predictable, I did not think so. I rather enjoyed the depth of thought that this book provoked. It was, however, an easy and enjoyable read. I appreciate that the author does not go into a lot of intricate detail, in which I get lost. However, I did find that I was easily about to imagine the story as I was reading it.
I think this is just one of those books that 'speaks to people'. Depending on who and where you are in your life.
I found this book to be good from a sci-fi perspective, but I really enjoyed it as I felt that it provoked a lot of thought. People have said the end was predictable, I did not think so. I rather enjoyed the depth of thought that this book provoked. It was, however, an easy and enjoyable read. I appreciate that the author does not go into a lot of intricate detail, in which I get lost. However, I did find that I was easily about to imagine the story as I was reading it.
I think this is just one of those books that 'speaks to people'. Depending on who and where you are in your life.
January 24, 2024
Brian Herbert brings up quite a few questions about God and religion as people from various religions race to meet God on a distant planet. Some of his ideas were very interesting and compelling where others were the ideas or questions that sound very persuasive but always come from someone who really doesn't want to learn more about spiritual things. Overall I enjoyed it. The beginning was a little slow, but it got going and things got interesting as the discussions started.
February 8, 2015
Despite my initial thought that this would be a quick and wacky read, I was rather impressed with some of the ideas and concepts. Hidden within the rather absurd plot is some really great thoughts on religion and God. But overall some things seem to get lost, characters are rather flat and the plot is seem disjointed - I'm still wondering if big unresolved plot points was done intentionally. Not a bad read, but in my opinion there was potential here that ended in missed opportunities.
February 18, 2011
Being the son of Frank Herbert has gotta be difficult. Particularly if one then decides to be a writer. Of _science fiction_.
Nonetheless, I actually really enjoyed this. In writing a sci-fi comedy, Herbert the younger doesn't stray onto dad's turf, and I found there more than enough giggles (and an amusing plot) to stay entertained.
Nonetheless, I actually really enjoyed this. In writing a sci-fi comedy, Herbert the younger doesn't stray onto dad's turf, and I found there more than enough giggles (and an amusing plot) to stay entertained.
August 29, 2009
Nothing terribly groundbreaking (in terms of sci-fi or religious satire), but worked well as a vacation book.
June 23, 2009
I learned that no matter what name One gives a Religion it is the same. Necrophilia! Really????
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 1, 2009
Not sure why I finished it (compulsiveness, I guess.) I didn't find it enjoyable at all.
February 9, 2011
really made me think. i loved the character of TO.
February 25, 2011
Very weird! I didn't get all of the connections of each character. It had a disappointing/ predictable end.
December 28, 2012
God sends out a message to all intelligent life, stating his location and inviting them over for a visit.
I found the premise fun to contemplate, and the story a quick, easy read.
I found the premise fun to contemplate, and the story a quick, easy read.
August 7, 2011
God sends out a message to all intelligent life, stating his location and inviting them over for a visit.
I found the premise fun to contemplate, and the story a quick, easy read.
I found the premise fun to contemplate, and the story a quick, easy read.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews