Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="mattcolville" data-source="post: 5050563" data-attributes="member: 1300">Dune Messiah is a kind of Coda to Dune. It was written to show the consequences of a charismatic leader like Paul, and Herbert was really not that Heinlien-sque political storyteller. He thought the arrival of Paul on the scene was a huge catastrophe for the Fremen specifically and the Imperium in general.So Dune Messiah feels a little weird. The scope is a lot smaller, the plot is more pedestrian, concerning primarily a conspiracy to kill Paul. Herbert talks about the Jihad and the billions and billions killed by Paul's followers, but those things all happen on planets we never visit and to people we don't know so the point is remote. Children of Dune picks things up a bit, then God Emperor goes completely off the deep end. Herbert had a huge hit with Dune and rather than write other novels, he decided to work and rework the themes of the first book like a rondo. And God Emperor is the logical conclusion of that. It's long and esoteric and if you're into that, it's awesome.But obviously not everyone was into that, and so Heretics was a deliberate return to form. Heretics and its sequel, Chapterhouse, contain a lot of action, political intrigue and are a lot lighter on the predestination philosophy.For my money, most of the best characters in the series are in those last two books.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="mattcolville, post: 5050563, member: 1300"] Dune Messiah is a kind of Coda to Dune. It was written to show the consequences of a charismatic leader like Paul, and Herbert was really not that Heinlien-sque political storyteller. He thought the arrival of Paul on the scene was a huge catastrophe for the Fremen specifically and the Imperium in general. So Dune Messiah feels a little weird. The scope is a lot smaller, the plot is more pedestrian, concerning primarily a conspiracy to kill Paul. Herbert talks about the Jihad and the billions and billions killed by Paul's followers, but those things all happen on planets we never visit and to people we don't know so the point is remote. Children of Dune picks things up a bit, then God Emperor goes completely off the deep end. Herbert had a huge hit with Dune and rather than write other novels, he decided to work and rework the themes of the first book like a rondo. And God Emperor is the logical conclusion of that. It's long and esoteric and if you're into that, it's awesome. But obviously not everyone was into that, and so Heretics was a deliberate return to form. Heretics and its sequel, Chapterhouse, contain a lot of action, political intrigue and are a lot lighter on the predestination philosophy. For my money, most of the best characters in the series are in those last two books. [/QUOTE]

Verification