Children of Dune
Ratings542
Average rating3.9
Una historia que se tira más a la política y ese cambio le da bien, no deja el misticismo en ningún momento, lo que me dolió es quien era la antagonista. Le tenía mucho cariño.
El libro no fue por donde yo pensé lo que haría, honestamente cerca del final creí que ya solo se daba vueltas con Leto, Alia y Ghanima. Pero absolutamente me cerró la boca con las últimas páginas.
Hay algo horroroso y al mismo tiempo abstrayente en la certeza de todo lo que Leto dice y proyecta para el futuro. Que solo lo hace más atrayente como historia. Pensaba dejar la saga hasta aquí, pero el final me hace querer seguir con el 4° libro.
I did not understand what was going on or why anyone was doing what they were doing or what they were planning to do or what they were saying or anything at all.
Pretty good book.
this one is still as good as the first two, but i feel like the writing is a bit harder. for the story, it might even be better then the first two just because of the main plot that i think is really creative and crazy for me that the main charaters go through all the trouble in the world to become a king, that gonna have to basicly torture your people for thousands of year, just so the people will learn not to choose a king like him again. i dont even know if its evil or not hahaha
Pretty boring for the first two-thirds, but then it picks up towards the end as several of the series’ most famous elements are set up for God-Emperor. Alia’s character assassination is worth studying for how bad it is.
Contains spoilers
Another great advancement of the story of the Atreides and Arrakis. While Messiah had a different feel to it, this book was a return to form and matched the complexity, intrigue, and mystery of the first novel incredibly well. I think I liked this one even more than the first. Leto and Ghani’s story was super interesting and just as tragic as Paul’s, Alia made an amazing villain and Abomination was very well done.
TL;DR
This book is better than Dune Messiah, still not as good as Dune but far more interesing that the last. It's more action packed. There's no point reading this one if you haven't read the last two and if you did you already know if you want to keep reading the series or not. If you finished Dune Messiah and are on the fence about continuing I'd say give this one a go because you will enjoy it more.
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: A lot more happens here than in the previous entry so that's a nice change, more action with Alia and Paul's children. But it's not as interesting as the first book either.
✓ - Side Stories (if it applies): There are quite a lot of side stories, the main one with Leto II is probably the worse and most boring which is sad. The best one is Alia's by far. Every chapter with Alia was great.
✓ - Characters: Thankfully Jessica returns here, doesn't have a super important role but she is my favorite character so it's nice to see her again. The stars of the show are Paul's children, specially Ghanima. Sad she didn't get more time and her brother took up the majority of the book. The rest are great as always, Harrah, Stilgar...but of course the black sheep Duncan Idaho is still here...sigh.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: Arrakis is always a nice place to be in, the desert planet is just amazing.
✓ - Ending: Not a spectacular ending but I think this concludes Paul's story along with the rest of the characters in the Dune series quite nicely, for me this is where the story stops. I don't have any intention of going forward after reading God Emperor of Dune. To me Dune is about Paul, Jessica, Stilgar and the Fremen battling againsts the Harkonens to free Arrakis. What happens in the next books doesn't interest me.
Extensive Review
We're focused on the children of Paul and they're great, specially Ghanima. I don't like that Leto II gets so much of the story instead of her sister who is in my opinion more interesting than him. Jessica and Gourney make a return which was a great addition so just because of that this book is way more interesting than Dune Messiah.
Having read the fourth book is just so baffling to me how little importance every character and story up to this point will be going forth. This isn't a spoiler but the fourth book happens three-thousand and five hundred years in the future so everything up until now won't matter at all. In my opinion you should stop reading after this book because it gets a nice conclusion and it has a satisfying ending.
Tangent aside, I think this was a well written book and I enjoyed it. The story of Alia and her dark passenger let's call it was amazing, definitely the highlight of this book. I loved every chapter that had Alia in it. And as much as I love Jessica, the fact that she abandoned Alia during Dune Messiah is just horrible, stuff could have gotten so much better but I guess it wasn't meant to be.
Amazing. Arguably the best book in the series so far. The themes of politics and religion are stronger than ever, the political intrigue and mind games are fantastic, the scope even bigger. And the protagonist is just fascinating. I have never seen a story deal with future sight and visions in a smarter, more compelling way.
Don't listen to anyone saying Dune gets worse after the first book. You cannot fully understand Dune without its sequels and they're fantastic books in their own right.
Dune is one of those series that I feel I have to respect, if I'm gonna call myself a sci-fi fan, rather than one of those for which I have strong and personal feelings.
This isn't a bad read, there's plenty of plot twists, action, and some interesting characters. My medium to warm rating it may just be me.
There were numerous schemes at play here, and while the stakes were all life and death, I never got a sense of what anyone's endgame or drive actually was. The theme of characters overly influenced by their ancestors could be taken figuratively but is a literal concern for the title characters.
Thinking through the plot, it's all kind of batshit crazy, but not in a way I found fun. Drug trips, possession, big worms, big tigers, revenge, kidnappings, and so on. Sounds fun but since I wasn't feeling the character motivations/goals, it was just a lot of stuff. Could be a lack of careful reading on my part since I was less than fully engaged.
Of the original trilogy, I liked Dune Messiah the best, for subverting expectations after the triumph of the heroes in the original book. There's also a central point made there, about the danger of mixing up your religion and your political leaders.
Children of Dune picked up from there, with the children and others still standing left to pick up the pieces. I enjoy the ideas expressed on politics, religion, and society but I wish they were mixed with a story that entertained me more.
“Governments, if they endure, always tend increasingly toward aristocratic forms. No government in history has been known to evade this pattern. And as the aristocracy develops, government tends more and more to act exclusively in the interests of the ruling class - whether that class be hereditary royalty, oligarchs of financial empires, or entrenched bureaucracy.
- Politics as Repeat Phenomenon: Bene Gesserit Training Manual”
― Frank Herbert, Children of Dune
After reading the first part of the book I was ready to call it the best book from the Dune series. 5/5 for the plot, characters. But right after Leto left Ghanima in the desert his story became so boring to me. I couldn't stop checking how many pages were left in the chapter about his spice trips and attempts to escape Gurney Halleck...
Although the 3rd book still managed to impress me the way the 1st book did and made me love Dune series even more. So hyped for the 4th book!!!
Herbert's notoriously weak prose is really grating here because Children of Dune lacks the same propulsive action-adventure of the first two Dune books. The grand scale of the Dune universe is still here, but it is ultimately a slog to get through, in large part due to the uninteresting mystery surrounding the central characters
Finally finished the book that's been bogging me down for several, several months.
Another dense addition to the Dune saga, Children Of caps off the first trilogy excellently. Although it follows new protagonists, the supporting cast stays familiar, carrying on the story of the Atreides legacy and the planet Dune. Brilliant, mind-bending work. Loved every second of it even though it truly challenged me as a reader.
And I thought Dune Messiah was the best story-wise so far, but to my surprise, this proved that assumption incorrect, and God Emperor of Dune might as well do the same, but onto Children of Dune; I absolutely love the direction they took with this installment. I've heard plenty of people say they dislike this book, but I genuinely can't see why. The story was a ride from start to finish; it felt beautiful in some sense, with this novel really showing the consequences of Paul's actions in the previous installment. I won't say I was as attached to Leto II and Ghanima as I was for Paul, but Leto II specifically has an interesting storyline that bleeds into God Emperor of Dune. Well, that's another assumption. However, Frank took the emotions I held for Messiah and dialed it up to 100 with tons of shocking/hype and painful moments, such as Alia's role in the story. It was difficult not to feel sympathy for her as she was a great character in the past two books; her death was certainly memorable in ways that will keep me awake at night. On the topic of deaths, my only gripe with this part was the reintroduction of Paul into the story. I truly believe Paul's final moment in Messiah was one of the greatest scenes in the series, so to just go back on that, simply to kill him off a second time is a bit frustrating. I understand that it had to happen, and I liked how Frank went about it, but I found it to be a bit distasteful to kill him off so swiftly. Once again, I understand why, but I wish he had some more conversations with the original characters (Alia, Jessica, Gurney, Idaho) before his grand sacrifice. Nevertheless, the ending left me excited for whats to come next in this masterpiece.
And I thought Dune Messiah was the best story-wise so far, but to my surprise, this proved that assumption incorrect, and God Emperor of Dune might as well do the same, but onto Children of Dune; I absolutely love the direction they took with this installment. I've heard plenty of people say they dislike this book, but I genuinely can't see why. The story was a ride from start to finish; it felt beautiful in some sense, with this novel really showing the consequences of Paul's actions in the previous installment. I won't say I was as attached to Leto II and Ghanima as I was for Paul, but Leto II specifically has an interesting storyline that bleeds into God Emperor of Dune. Well, that's another assumption. However, Frank took the emotions I held for Messiah and dialed it up to 100 with tons of shocking/hype and painful moments, such as Alia's role in the story. It was difficult not to feel sympathy for her as she was a great character in the past two books; her death was certainly memorable in ways that will keep me awake at night. On the topic of deaths, my only gripe with this part was the reintroduction of Paul into the story. I truly believe Paul's final moment in Messiah was one of the greatest scenes in the series, so to just go back on that, simply to kill him off a second time is a bit frustrating. I understand that it had to happen, and I liked how Frank went about it, but I found it to be a bit distasteful to kill him off so swiftly. Once again, I understand why, but I wish he had some more conversations with the original characters (Alia, Jessica, Gurney, Idaho) before his grand sacrifice. Nevertheless, the ending left me excited for whats to come next in this masterpiece.
Sometimes you finish a book at 3am and need to just sit and absorb the ending. With a trip overseas fast approaching I decided to knuckle down and just blitz my way through the second half of this book, which honestly became difficult due to the density of events portrayed. However, upon reflection I believe Children of Dune was a much stronger (and depressing) novel than its predecessor that is unfortunately weighed down by the rush of plot points in the story's middle-to-end.
Read the rest of my review at my personal website in the link below.
Originally posted at kirethwritesabout.com.
I would have liked to give this a 4.5 but it certainly isn't as strong as Dune and Dune Messiah. While it is an almost perfect third book to round off this trilogy, I struggled with the insane amount of internal monologue in this book. I'm not sure if it was just me, but I found myself struggling at times. Additionally, it was rough getting past the first 20 pages. I admittedly had to restart after a hiatus when I couldn't make it past page 20 or so.
As the book progressed, I found myself caught in Herbert's world. And by the time I made it to the end, I was excited to read God Emperor of Dune while ordering it online.
No sabes si estás leyendo una novela o un ensayo filosófico, si bien no me parece estar a la altura de Dune por un poco creo que es una obra muy sólida con la que el autor consigue transmitir todo lo que busca
The story just gets stranger and stranger. I think I'm done reading the Dune series now lol
The story just gets stranger and stranger. I think I'm done reading the Dune series now lol
Children of Dune is the thirth book on the Dune saga, Frank Herbert's masterpiece.
The story occurs 9 years after the events of Messiah. Paul Atreides went into the desert and left Alia, his sister, in charge of Arrakeen until, his two children, Leto and Ghanima grow up and be ready to take command.
With this as a base, Herbert takes us into a journey of self introspective, political manipulations, religion and understanding of the past to learn from it. All of this while, obviously, still takling the most present theme on all the saga, distrust of power figures.
This themes are all introduced in the very beginning and continue to be expanded through the conflict of our characters and the story. This leads to a very well manage set of characters that expand and develop in a very particular way throughthout the book while managing a very consistent pacing that doesn't feel rush or slow in any moment, but one that flows with what the story needs.
And, as we already seen with the previous two books, Frank Herbet always puts the story first, and what story he made.
Full of conspiracies, different cultures and religious groups, the story of Dune continues to impress and astonish with its ideas and concepts while at the same time, executing them in a perfect way. All of it feels like a chess match, with every move happening at the appropriate time while still surprising in the right way. The characters also fall into this structure, serving a specific purpose but with personal conflics involve that helps to develop every single one of them, making a very complex set of characters and with who we can sympathize.
There is almost nothing bad I could say about this book, it even “fix” some development problems the previous two had but if I'm push to say something it would be that this isn't for everyone. Children of Dune requieres of the reader to buy into some ideas and concepts that they can feel “to much” for some people, but they are also the strongest points of the books and Herbert uses them to developt its main themes.
So, to conclude, Children of Dune is a fantastic book, with a great planned story and very well-written and develop characters that always has in mind its themes and one that, if we buy into it, we will be astonish with the level of complexity and ideas it presents.
This books proves that Dune is a saga as no other and one that still, after three books, leaves us excited for the next one.
I can't wait to start God Emperor of Dune
Lu en VO.
Pas toujours facile à suivre. Cependant, j'ai bien plus aimé ce tome plutôt que le précédent. Les chapitres sont plus courts et plus dynamiques, ce qui rend le rythme de lecture plus fluide.
Je suis impatient de lire la suite.
——————
Read in VO.
Not always easy to follow. However, I liked this volume much more than the previous one. The chapters are shorter and more dynamic, which makes the pace of reading more fluid.
I can't wait to read more.
This book finishes my journey through Arrakis.
I was aware of the reviews describing the decreasing quality of the story. Still, after binge reading Dune and Dune Messiah, I couldn't have enough of this world.
It is well written and I did enjoy parts of the book, hence the 3 stars. I've specially enjoyed the further world-building and some of the characters development. However, some of it appear to serve no purpose at all and the ending felt a bit rushed.
It serves the purpose to show the corruption caused by power but I cannot conform myself with the ending.
I wish I've stopped in the second installment.
“And I stood upon the sand, and I saw a beast ride up out of the sand, and upon the head of that beast was the name of God”