Grațian
TL;DR
Average in my opinion. It would be pretty hard to surpass Dune so this one is taking a step back and doesn't have that much action. Many people like to say buzzwords like "political intrigue" but what they really want to say it's that this one is boring. Political intrigue would be if we get to see the other houses plotting againts each other, creating traps or assasinations to weaken the rest and such. No, the story of this book resolves around four randoms (to avoid spoilers) trying to take down Paul. So if you come in with the hype of the first book you will be sorely dissapointed. The problem is that to keep reading the series you need to get though this one, the good thing is that it's not that long but it is boring.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
X - Main Story: Boring with little happening, stop saying this book is more focused on political intrigue when it's just four people trying to kill Paul. None of the other houses are involved in any political intrigue.
X - Side Stories (if it applies): There's no main story here, Paul's doing his thing while four people are trying to murder him. I cannot believe we didn't get to see this jihad that was so hyped in the previous book, no we get to a point where everything is conquered. Wow amazing...
✓ - Characters: My favorite character Jessica is gone, chilling in Caledan so that's nice. At least we get Alia who I really love but we get one of the worst ones too, I'm just gna call him the Ghola, you will see when you read this book but I really hate him.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: At least we're still on Arrakis, I really love the desert planet, nothing to say here.
✓ - Ending: If you want Paul's story could end here and it's a nice ending. I just kept reading because I saw that in the next book Jessica is back but if you want to stop here you can.
Extensive Review
Not much to add, Jessica my favorite character is out of the picture, same with Gourney, instead we focus on Alia, Paul's sister. I liked her, she is a good character and very capable. To avoid spoilers here is the start of a thing that will persist even to the fourth book which is where I stopped reading this series. A character returns and I do not like it at all.
Also remember that famous jihad that Paul was so afraid and trying to stop at all costs? Yeah well it happend and we never get to see it. Only hear that they've conquered everything. Instead we get to see how Paul and Chani are trying to conceive. Great, that's exactly what I wanted to read...
This book is pretty dissapointing comparing it to Dune, on it's own is average at best.
TL;DR
Average in my opinion. It would be pretty hard to surpass Dune so this one is taking a step back and doesn't have that much action. Many people like to say buzzwords like "political intrigue" but what they really want to say it's that this one is boring. Political intrigue would be if we get to see the other houses plotting againts each other, creating traps or assasinations to weaken the rest and such. No, the story of this book resolves around four randoms (to avoid spoilers) trying to take down Paul. So if you come in with the hype of the first book you will be sorely dissapointed. The problem is that to keep reading the series you need to get though this one, the good thing is that it's not that long but it is boring.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
X - Main Story: Boring with little happening, stop saying this book is more focused on political intrigue when it's just four people trying to kill Paul. None of the other houses are involved in any political intrigue.
X - Side Stories (if it applies): There's no main story here, Paul's doing his thing while four people are trying to murder him. I cannot believe we didn't get to see this jihad that was so hyped in the previous book, no we get to a point where everything is conquered. Wow amazing...
✓ - Characters: My favorite character Jessica is gone, chilling in Caledan so that's nice. At least we get Alia who I really love but we get one of the worst ones too, I'm just gna call him the Ghola, you will see when you read this book but I really hate him.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: At least we're still on Arrakis, I really love the desert planet, nothing to say here.
✓ - Ending: If you want Paul's story could end here and it's a nice ending. I just kept reading because I saw that in the next book Jessica is back but if you want to stop here you can.
Extensive Review
Not much to add, Jessica my favorite character is out of the picture, same with Gourney, instead we focus on Alia, Paul's sister. I liked her, she is a good character and very capable. To avoid spoilers here is the start of a thing that will persist even to the fourth book which is where I stopped reading this series. A character returns and I do not like it at all.
Also remember that famous jihad that Paul was so afraid and trying to stop at all costs? Yeah well it happend and we never get to see it. Only hear that they've conquered everything. Instead we get to see how Paul and Chani are trying to conceive. Great, that's exactly what I wanted to read...
This book is pretty dissapointing comparing it to Dune, on it's own is average at best.