Doug's Sounding Board

Gerald will think I’m crazy, but I think this is possibly the best Dune novel thus far. It doesn’t stand on its own like Dune does but it’s just about great in every way. It’s about humanity, what it means to be human, and where they should go in the future, and where we have been in the past. The previous books have been about that to some degree but this one is all about that. I feel like I can read it again right now but I need a rest first. Heck, I think I’ll have to read it a few more times to get everything, or one more time really slowly.

You find that Leto, true to his word has become a 3500 year old sandworm and ruling the universe to keep people constrained. The point? To bring about a restlessness in people so they will expand far beyond the boundaries they have reached until that point. Also to make them think twice about what government they will let be in place in the future.

It’s interesting that Leto can see pretty much anything in the future but because he he he cherishes anything that surprises him. Part of that is that he refuses to see how he will die, though he does seem to know when it will happen.

The results of the breeding program poses interesting possibilities for the future books. I’m thinking that Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson didn’t read this too closely before writing their Butlerian JJihad series. One small part in this book contradicts what they wrote in there about the origins of the guild ships and that, along with the end of this book makes be have a dread of the conclusion to the series that they are writing. Maybe I can read it and just remember the basic story elements that are from Frank Herbert’s notes.