“A creature who has spent his life creating one particular representation of his selfdom will die rather than become the antithesis of that representation.”

Alright so I'm just going to say it... this one is a far cry from the first. I don't hate it and I know why it was necessary... I totally get it. However, it was just not it. I spent so much of this one confused about what was happening and nothing felt like it made any sense or went together in any way. We have a 12 year time jump from the last book and a Paul who is very different from the one we remember. Somehow all things that Paul didn't want to unfold have and now he's literally viewed as a god by a sect of Fremen and then another set seem very anti all things Maud'Dib and wish to return to the ancient ways of life.

This book is full of a lot of scheming from some familiar characters but also some new ones. They are all determined to destroy Paul in some way or another. They want to discredit him to his people, they want to make him destroy himself, they want to kill the person he loves, or they want to end his monopoly on spice. However, it takes about 200 pages for all of this to become even remotely understandable. And each layer of the conspiracy just becomes more and more confusing and then seems to fizzle out. Paul is already at war with himself and the future that he has seen with no different outcome has virtually destroyed his will to do anything.

The ending of this one tries to make sense of the previous 300 pages and it clears up a little. I know this one was a necessary transition book for what is to come in the series but I just felt kind of disappointed with this one after how amazing the first was. Here is holding out hope that book 3 redeems us. ( )

Nah, didn't really like it.
Shorter than the original Dune, but I just found myself wanting the book to end. ( )

After Villeneuve's second Dune movie, I'm probably not alone in blowing the dust off my decades-old copy of this series and reminding myself of what happened next. Paul Atreides requires only twelve years to conquer the galaxy with his Fremen and control of the spice. Rebellious elements take the form of conspirators among the Bene Gessserit, Spacing Guild, Bene Tleilaxu and recruit his wife Irulan. But Paul's worst enemy is his own guilt and fear about what he has become, or may yet become. It's a book filled with smart people talking, aided by the fact that several of them are experts in reading one another's emotions to the point where dissembling is practically impossible - and yet dissemble they do.

Somewhere I got the idea Herbert had intended this as the ending of the prior novel and gave it new life as a sequel instead, but I can't find a source to back that up. I'm in accord with Villeneuve, that the first book's story is incomplete without this sequel's emphasizing the fallout and its surfacing of the central theme: beware who you deify. The Bene Gesserit and Bene Tleilaxu knew the danger of not being able to control the figurehead they wanted. The Fremen did not, and here we see how their civilization was transformed for the worse: religion as government, innocents of the desert become world destroyers, and internal division.

This second novel often disappoints those wishing for another large-scale epic adventure tale like the first. Herbert is introspective here, overtly challenging his own creation and all of our beliefs about the role of a mythic hero figure. The Dune series dates from a time when the creator's vision was paramount, long before there was focus on what will earn the most "likes". As literature, it is stronger for it. ( )

Tragic. Mind-bending. ( )

I really enjoy palace intrigue, and this is chock-full of it, so that's always great. I love that this book is written as a reaction to those who missed the fact that in Dune Paul is not really a hero, he's simply the least bad option, and that even his best intentions will lead to pain and suffering. I think it did a thorough job of that and rejecting the deification of Paul. I'll definitely finish "The Golden Path" arc, and depending on where I'm at and how I feel, may go ahead and do the full "I Love Frank Herbert" arc. I doubt I'll ever be at a point to dabble in the Brian Herbert books, but the completionist in me says "never say never." ( )