High-Opp

3.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
In a society ruled by surveys of public opinion, Daniel Movius is High Opp - entitled to special privileges. Until one day he's suddenly low-opped, forced to return to the slum-like Warrens he fought so hard to escape.

Review
An unpublished Frank Herbert novel! It's a concept that filled me with both hope and concern. I'm a big fan of Herbert – a new book would be a treat. On the other hand, he was recognized and lauded well within his lifetime; if had had a book that went unpublished, is it because it was a stinker? Happily, neither is quite true, but it's closer to the former.

High Opp (for high level of public opinion) reads more as a mix of Asimov and Heinlein than Herbert. There's pyschosocial prediction and overbearing, manipulative tyranny rejected by a highly talented, intuitive genius. Overall, it works reasonably well for – let's say – an adventure story of the 1970s (the women are fairly shallow appendages to the men), though there's also some odd sequencing that make this feel distinctly draft-like.

This is the first of the recently released unpublished Herbert books I've read, and I came away not thrilled, but certainly not disappointed. It won't go down as classic Herbert, but it's a decent story that reads quickly.