Children of Dune

The Dune series is remarkable in that each sequel gets progressively worse until it's unreadable. The first book is truly excellent. It's mantra on fear alone makes it great. The second book a very good sci-fi novel. The third book is merely okay.The fourth book is sub-par, but still interesting.The fifth book is a pain in the ass to read.The sixth book will leave you concerned about the author's health, so terribad is the writing.But hey, the first book kicks ass!

One of Paul’s twins is supposed to become an Emperor of the mighty interplanetary Empire created by great Muad’dib. The only slight problem is that nobody at all – and I do mean absolutely nobody – wants this to happen. This includes the twins themselves. Plots within plot within plots are brewing and in the game with such high stakes all means of winning are fine, including slaughtering innocent bystanders wholesale. Another interesting problem is that it is not exactly clear whether th [...]

Buddy read with Athena!”This rocky shrine to the skull of a ruler grants no prayers. It has become the grave of lamentations. Only the wind hears the voice of this place. The cries of night creatures and the passing wonder of two moons, all say his day has ended. No more supplicants come. The visitors have gone from the feast. How bare the pathway down this mountain.Paul Muad’dib, god and emperor of a universe divided, is gone. The religiously pantocratic Imperium has been left with his two [...]

Might work better as a version of Monopoly. Here are some suggestions for the Chance and Community Chest cards:SOMEONE YOU THOUGHT WAS DEAD IS ACTUALLY ALIVE. ADVANCE 5 SPACESE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER IS SOMEONE YOU KNEW IN THE FIRST VOLUME. GO BACK 10 SPACES.EVERYONE ELSE IS INVOLVED IN A CONSPIRACY AGAINST YOU. MISS A THROWY A ONE TRILLION CREDIT FINE OR HAVE A MYSTICAL INSIGHT.TURN INTO A GIANT SANDWORM AND EAT ALL THE OTHER PLAYERSc etc

The third of the Dune and the slide away from the quality of the original masterpiece has begun in earnest.Better than Dune Messiah, but only in that it is more ambitious and with a more cohesive plot. Herbert takes a more introspective narrative to prepare the way for Leto II. The concepts of shared DNA, collective memories and possession run astride a vehicle of rapid autocratic decline.Some cool scenes, a few interesting new concepts, but ultimately Herbert's vision is starting to fray and th [...]

This may be heresy, but I think this is my favourite of the Dune books so far. I found Dune interesting, but oddly opaque. The second book was more accessible, but didn't really grab me.Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook

The conventional wisdom seems to be that only the first Dune book is good and that the rest of them are awful, but I've found this to definitely not be the case. This 3rd book in the series was gripping and excitingI literally couldn't put it down! Don't listen to what everyone else says, read these books for yourself and make your own decisionyou won't be disappointed! This one focuses on the children of Muad'Dib, as well as his sister Alia, wife-in-name-only Irulan, and the return of his mothe [...]

”I must not fear.Fear is the mind-killer.Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.I will face my fear.I will permit it to pass over me and through me.And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.Where the fear has gone there will be nothingOnly I will remain."If you have read at least Dune you must be familiar with the above “Litany Against Fear”. I don’t know about you but it gets old very fast for me. When it shows up in Children of Dune I read it [...]

This is when I officially gave up on the Herbertverse. This was awful!!! I really do not care for the children of Mu A'dib, they're both creepy and way too articulate (kind of like Dakota Fanning) I was actually rooting for the assassins the entire book. And when the kid smears worm larvae on himself and becomes a god!?!!?!!?! Sorry folks, I checked out. I don't even care how the rest of the saga works out. No God Emperor of Dune for me, no Heretics, stop this universe, I want to get off!

The anti-George Lucas. Frank Herbert, that is. His science fiction universe has come to embody everything that another seminal epic of our time, “Star Wars,” cannot: subtlety and mystery. “Children of Dune” is the third installment in the series and centers on the vicissitudes of a power struggle involving Paul Atreides’ sister and his children. This in a vacuum created by Muad’Dib since his disappearance into the desert at the end of the second novel, “Dune Messiah.” Arrakis wil [...]

“İyi bak, kuzenim Hâriku’l-Âde. Biz hep böyle olacağız. Evliyken de böyle duracağız. Her zamanki gibi sırt sırta duracak ve zıt yönlere bakarak varlığımızı koruyacağız.”

Children of DuneBook 3 of the Dune ChroniclesBy Frank HerbertA Dune Retrospective by Eric Allen.This book is a bit of a hard one for me to rate, because parts of it are so good, while others are so not. Everyone likes to say thatDune Messiah is a bridge between the events ofDune and Children of Dune. However, most people do not realize two things about this series. First was that Herbert meant to stop after Dune Messiah. And Second, when he finally decided he had more story to tell, seven years [...]

The classic biblical conundrum - are the sins of the father really inherited by the son? Yes, CoD went a lot further in analyzing religion and society than the previous book which I found interesting, but more interesting was the current day metaphor with society's "progress" without regard to the costs involved. Who is going to pay for our excesses today, and how will they go about fixing them?The Preacher seemed a powerful figure at the beginning of the story, but by the end I almost felt sorr [...]

"Children of Dune" starts agonisingly slow, but despite the fact that those first ~40% of the book is used just to set a plot and explain, what is going on and who is scheming against whom, when it finally starts, it really starts. Again it is a great tale of treachery, manipulation, politics and mysticism. And though "Children of Dune" are not as good as "Dune"- barely -, it's quality, vision and grandeur can be matched by only just a few books.Beware though - "Children of Dune", as well as Dun [...]

5.5 stars. I am absolutely blown away by how good this series is. While I rated Dune slightly higher than Dune Messiah and this book (simply based on it beign the first of the series and therefore getting the nod for originality and the groundbraking nature of the narrative), I actually ENJOYED Messiah and this book even more than book 1. Definitely don't stop after Book 1. A must read for all science fiction fans. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!!Nominee: Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction Nov [...]

Deca Dine 5*Božanski car Dine 3,5*

Dune serisi hakkındaki duygularım biraz karışık.İlk kitap çok güzeldi, ikinci kitap güzeldi, üçüncü kitap içinse ortalama üstü diyebilirim. Ama bilim kurgudan gittikçe uzaklaşıyormuşuz gibi hissediyorum. Kitaptaki din/politika/entrika kısmı o kadar ön planda ki; bilimsel her şeyi kaldırıp büyüyle değiştirseniz, olay uzayda değil de fantastik bir dünyada geçse işlenen senaryo aynı şekilde, anlamından hiçbir şey kaybetmeden var olabilir. Gezegendeki iklim de� [...]

Man, I keep reading these things cause I hear number four is pretty f'd up in an entertaining way, but after this one I'm beginning to wonder if it's possible for Herbert to write an entertaining book. Well, won't that be egg on my faceAlso: You know how when you read any given fiction, no matter the quality, you manage to find one character who you like/can emphasize with/who you're sort of rooting for to not get totally screwed over by whatever's happening. Man, not the Dune books. I came to r [...]

This series as a whole is mind bending. It is a tough read, with lots of complexity, an unprecedented amount of world/universe building and a tedious new vocabulary but it’s well worth it. I just finished Children of Dune and my brain feels like it’s cooling down from a hefty workout. In a good and satisfying way. If you read the series, stick with it and prepare to be amazed.

There are two schools of thought on the Dune series. One is that they are epic, revelatory scifi all the way through, one is that after the glorious first book you traverse a lonely, winding path of diminishing returns in the sequels. I'm going to throw in with the latter group. Herbert created a fascinating, fully realized universe with Dune, and it was a joy to dive back into it: the Fremen, the litany against fear, the melange, the Atreides Battle Language. The point of Herbert's whole series [...]

This one is officially my favorite of the series. Herbert's narrative style has been honed and refined in this sequel. The result is a novel with a lot more showing and a lot less telling. The telling that remains now is there mostly to help the reader bridge the nine year gap between novels. What can I say about the plot without giving anything away? It was far-reaching, character-filled, and cerebral. There is a short slump in the middle where I felt like Herbert could have cut this into two n [...]

This needs no review, but I will share two quotes from it. The depth of this writing is why I consider Dune to be the ultimate SF. When I am weaker than you, I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles. And the second:You aren't thinking or really existing unless you're willing to risk even your own sanity in the judgement of your existence. That's all, folks.

This is an unpopular opinion, but Children of Dune is my favorite of the Dune Chronicles so far. The politics, religion, and intrigue work together to create a thrilling and enjoyable read. I was absolutely engrossed from start to finish, and I could hardly put it down (as you can see from the "date started" and "date finished" numbers). I am excited to read book 4!

Dune is like a Disney franchise: Everyone praises the first one as a masterpiece, while each sequel is presumptuously loathed, regardless of whether there is actually any substance. When I first picked up the original, I had a surplus of elders praise my refined taste in classic fiction. When they learned of my intentions of finishing the entire series, however, I received a lot of discouragement. Too many times I was told that the series progressively "lost the plot" and prepared myself for dis [...]

I was totally obsessed with Dune. I think it is an incredibly classic piece of literature, which is in fact getting better with time like a fine wine, and also just happens to be science-fiction. It’s really this amazing political thriller that it turns out is on another planet, and that is part of its charm. It accepts its setting as is, and it doesn't focus on it, instead expecting the reader to "keep up". Herbert's world creation is so thorough that you are quite aware you are holding an en [...]

Imagine Count Chocula raising his voice for the female parts and reading Dune aloud. "ONE, yes One Atreides, is nevah enough!" That's close to this 17 hour audioslogfest. However, I was ready to abandon the series after the searing ear dehydration that was book two, and now I'm back on the team, looking forward to the second most hyped book: God Emperor of Dune.

Children of DuneThird novel of Frank Herbert's masterpiece DuneChildren of Dune is a 5 out of 5 book for me, if you have read the first and second book you'l realize after reading Children of Dune, that the third book is as high as you can get to the first books marvelousness; compared to the second book Dune Messiah.As always with Frank Herbert this book was a greasy peace of meat with philosophic discussions, and religion concepts and political clashes. You will be reading pages over pages of [...]

With a third of the book to go, I lost interest. The mystical (and often contradictory) mumbo-jumbo, the increasing sense that I was simply reading a recasting of Dune, the endless pregnant speeches that suggest more than they deliver, just drove me into the ground like a tent post. All of that said, I really enjoyed the first half of the book. Herbert's endless wheels-within-wheels plots, revenge, the weird cultures, etc are pretty cool. However, by the end (among various outrages) I thought th [...]

audiobook version

The Greatest Disappointment in the History of Literature(described by me in an English assignment that I did at 5 AM while pulling an all-nighter)Warning: Contains bad prose by a tired, annoying 11th grader from before he knew how to write well.10/18/11 (22) Children of Dune was a book that I wanted to read. Dune is among my most cherished novels, but I by and large disliked its first sequel (Dune Messiah) due to reasons that can be briefly summarized here for the sake of explaining why I looked [...]