/lit/ - Literature

>>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