/lit/ - Literature

>>18991535
Chapterhouse: Dune, Dune #6 - Frank Herbert (1985)
This isn't how I wanted my time reading Dune to end, but I knew that this would the most likely outcome. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to connect with this final book at all. There were bright spots in the darkness, but they were far and few between. Overall I just couldn't be interested, invested, or care. Fortunately, this doesn't detract from how I feel about the first four books. There's nothing else I have to say.
Rating: 2/5

>>18826123
Heretics of Dune, Dune #5 - Frank Herbert (1984)

This was the first book of an unfinished trilogy. Heretics rehashes Dune and adds new elements. The characters and power dynamics take on new names, though they are still the same roles. The original Dune was published in 1965, almost 20 years prior. From 1977 to 1983, the Star Wars trilogy was released, the last of which was released the year prior to the publication of Heretics. This made for a strange read as it's clear that this was meant to be a commercial work hoping to gain from the popularity of Star Wars, though at the same time it's a rejection as well. This can be seen in-text: "Here's a three P-O," they said meaning such a person surrounded himself with cheap copies made from declassee substances. Herbert later writes that "It is built of materials that will last much longer still" which is followed by "My objections don't matter." This must've been troublesome for everyone involved. It was also a troubling time for Herbert, as his wife died the year this was published and he'd die in two years.

Heretics is much more action and adventure oriented than prior books. The philosophy is still there, though it's a different sort. Heretics is by far the harshest on religion, making a mockery of any and every sort consistently and constantly. The adversaries the characters face are disappointing caricatures, especially the Tleilaxu. Heretics happens long after the fourth book, so I wonder how much it bothers people that the entire cast changes so much so often. I didn't care much, but I know a lot of people become very attached to characters and may not be able or willing to form an emotional connection with new ones. I'd say this is an ensemble rather than a single character dominating the narrative, as there are number of viewpoints presented and they all matter.

"Unabashed" sums up the book. There are many outright assertions and blunt statements of opinion that seem out of place. I wrote in my previous Dune review that "I believe how much we enjoy anything is often a matter of how willing we are to overlook its flaws." Unfortunately, the flaws exceeded how much I was able to overlook. There was far too much reliance on handwaving about everything in general. The result was suitable, but it made it feel too arbitrary. The sex scenes are meant to show how powerful eros is, but when there's a literal female sex cult that enslaves any man after a single time, only to have another a male character unlock his true sex potential and make one of them cry out they can't possibly lose to a penis, and because he's so virile, she's immediately impregnated makes it difficult to take any of it seriously. The treatment of women by the crypto-Islamic culture is far more horrific, though far less detailed, than anything shown by The Handmaid's Tale, which was published the following year.

My expectations may now be for suitable for Chapterhouse: Dune.
Rating: 3/5

>>18717395
God Emperor of Dune, Dune #4 -Frank Herbert (1981)

This book is different from the preceding three in terms of structure, though the same in terms of it being a deeply political and philosophical work. It also asks you to take a lot on faith, and it would seem many rejected that from the premise alone. That's reasonable. It can be very difficult to understand the beliefs of another without accepting or rejecting them.

Although it took a while for me to to feel it, I greatly enjoyed that it eventually felt like I was reading a mythos, which is exactly what it's intended to be given how the story is framed.

I found the diverse and divisive opinions on this book, as with the series overall, to be rather intriguing. I think a lot of it is misunderstanding, whether willful or not. Nothing else comes to mind that seems to have so many different combinations of engagement in significant proportion. Explaining that in detail is outside the scope of this writing though. Leto seems to be especially misunderstood, in negative sense that that may simply a matter of disagreeing on the value of intentions, and whether the ends justifies the means. He's also misunderstood in a positive sense, thinking that he's far more more than what he is, in that sense these readers have fallen for the presented propaganda as much as most any character in the book. I'm not exempt from not realizing I'm misunderstanding.

The strangest thing to me what how I didn't find any of what I read to be strange. I had been expecting the content to be more extreme and/or explicit, but that wasn't what I read at all. Admitting as such may be more self-incriminating than anything else. For example, as shown on the cover, one of the characters is decidedly non-humanoid. To which I say, yes, and? It doesn't really matter to me any more than other alien morphologies would. As for perversion? Overstated, which may be self-incriminating as well.

There are several choices and character motivations that may seem odd, especially near the end of the book, and I think that's because they become expressions of emotion. This reduced complexity certainly does harm them as believable characters as opposed to instruments of the author's will, though I was willing to overlook that. After all, Everyone except Siona is a puppet, even Leto, who is puppeting himself.

To me the overall theme was eventually releasing humanity from the bondage of determinism and allowing them to experience true freedom for the first time in existence. I didn't mind that how this was accomplished was never explained in the slightest, though usually I would. There was also much else The Golden Path was for, but that was what was seemed most important to me.

I believe how much we enjoy anything is a often a matter of how willing we are to overlook its flaws.

Rating: 4.5/5

>>18654708
Children of Dune, Dune #3 - Frank Herbert (1976)

In the edition I read there's a foreword by his son, Brian, which provided some interesting facts. This was the first ever science-fiction hardcover bestseller and was the top-selling work of science fiction ever up to that point. When measured by that standard, it certainly doesn't live up to the hype today, though I'm certainly glad for what it did to popularize SF sales.
The Dune series is absurd, though in an enjoyable way. There's just something about that it makes me reluctant to criticize it and to simply accept it for what it is. None it of it should really work for me, yet it does. The godlike preteen protagonists who have access to the genetic memories of their ancestors dating back millions of years are preposterous, yet so very interesting in their presentation. The treatment of its characters from the past and present often cross the line into the unbelievable, yet they resonated with me all the same. Considering how relatively sparse the worldbuilding is in some ways, I shouldn't feel so immersed in it yet, did I did. There's just something that eludes my understanding about this series and I prefer it to remain that way.
The epigraphs were especially enjoyable and I appreciated them all, though some much more than others. Their political content remains relevant today. Several of them warned against charismatic authoritarianism even when, or perhaps especially when, it comes from those we consider allies working for our own interest. However, my favorite was "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.” This illustrates the foolishness that is the thought that treating others fairly will result in them treating you fairly as well. Tolerance ought to have very specific and unyielding limits. So goes the paradox of tolerance.
Although I was concerned that after the relative disappointment that was the second book that continuing would be inadvisable this third book has mostly allayed those concerns. Even if that may yet be the case, I've decided to read all of the ones written by Frank.

Rating: 3.5/5