This book is one of the worst things I've ever read. It might be THE worst thing I've ever read, and I've read plenty of bad things.
It is poorly written and exceptionally boring. The characters are made out of cardboard. The universe is interesting, but jokes on you, we are only going to talk about it for like two minutes. Your two minutes ran out? Get poorly-written-sex-scened, nerd.
What, you didn't like my poorly written sex scene between two pieces of cardboard? Get another one, nerd.
Last hundred pages were straight up torture. I thought that i wouldn't make it and would dnf it after three hundred pages.
This book is pure garbage, and i regret that i spent (miniscule amount of) money on it. I'm afraid of trying dune now. If that's how Herbert usually writes then he is just a terrible writer.

It was an okay book. It took a while to get into it; there were enough gems interspersed to keep me hoping it might get better. I was pleasantly surprised that it did.

One part I liked/thought was hilarious: that McKie was described as looking like the frog-god of one of the races, and that because of this they gave him more deference than they would any other human. The guy was described as being of Polynesian descent with a flat face and big lips. He had a stocky, muscular body. And he had a shock of red hair. What kind of god looks like that?

The ending [last few chapters] reminded me of Heinlein's I Will Fear No Evil, but only better than Heinlein's entire book.

Dosadi is a planet separated from the rest of the universe by a God Wall that keeps Dosadi in isolation. The alien race that set up this experiment seeks to find out what happens when the pressure of overpopulation finally causes the planet to 'pop' - what happens? Does war break out? Despite the God Wall's best efforts, the inhabitants of Dosadi are aware that they are the subject of an experiment to discover the consequences of forced overpopulation. What the Gowachin either do not realize or care about is that the inhabitants of Dosadi do not consider themselves willing participants in this experiment. The Gowachin take the position that the descendants of the original volunteers [Humans and Gowachin] for this experiment are automatically willing participants by the mere fact that they were born on the planet [be it human birth or hatching from eggs].

The 'legal system' was equally weird. Somehow based on Gowachin society/laws, the 'innocent' were killed either in the courtroom or after exiting the courtroom. The 'guilty' were allowed to live? The 'losing' attorney was also executed for their failure and loss. I did not quite 'get' the concept of how it all worked.

There were a lot of 'wheels within wheels' going on in the book; a lot of plots and sub-plots and twists and turns. Well, there was supposed to be a lot of twists and turns. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't. I think there was almost too much in this book. The author obviously knew the direction in which he wanted to go; the reader was just along for 'the ride' [at a glacial pace; I think I saw a snail moving faster than the book early on at one point]. The many plots strongly reminded me of Dune, but I thought Herbert did a much better job in Dune than he did with this book. Maybe if I had read the first book before this one, this book would make more sense.

The 'weirdest' part of the book: When a civil war finally breaks out on Dosadi, the story jumps from just before war breaks out to about six days into the war. It's kind of an odd break. You go from relative 'peace' immediately into 'war' [but there is not that much description of the fighting, which is fine].

Some smaller factions realize they have to choose right away which side they are going to support as they are too small to survive; one of these factions turns out to be controlled by a third alien species.

I did like how there were three strong female characters in the book [two of which were not human; one was a Wreave and one was a Pan Spechi that only looked human]. It was a nice touch, I felt. It was even crazier how Jedrik was so much stronger than McKie. I only say that because McKie had had all sorts of training and experience and was the most capable agent in his Bureau. Other alien races feared McKie and his capabilities, his talents, what he could do. When he reached Dosadi, it was all for naught. Jedrik may not have been physically stronger than McKie, per se, but in every other way that counts she was McKie's superior.

I really, really, really wanted to like this book. I truly did. Once it picked up [for me, it was well over halfway through the book; say, 150 pages] I did enjoy it. The problem was the length of time it took me to get to 'the "regular" good stuff'. It took a while. There were enough diamonds in the rough to keep me reading, though [such as elements of humor and the description of McKie resembling the Gowachin's deity]. Perhaps if I read it again, I'll have a better perspective about it.

At the same time, I am glad I read the book. It did have some interesting concepts in it, and some that were familiar as well [because of having read the first four books of his Dune series].

Според моето скромно и крайно тенденциозно мнение това е най-добрата книга на Хърбърт. Тук той взема есенцията на най-добрите си идеи от Дюн, изчетква ги от алюзиите със земната история и ги хвърля в турбомесомелачката на научната фантастика от "новата вълна."
Връзката с предишния роман от историята - Фани Мае - е сравнително слаба, крепи се на главния герой, но той израства толкова бързо, че още към средата на книгата вече е друг човек. По-интересно е как Хърбърт завършва цялостната си концепсия за междувидова комуникация от Фани Мае и я изхвърля на боклука с едно изречение... но... избързвам.
Да спомена само, че отново имаме нулева приемственост на преведената терминология между двете книги от поредицата, нещо с което в България сякаш смме свикнали, но тук ми се стори оправдано, защото наистина звучи по-добре.
Така известният н�� супер-саботьор Йори Маккай отново е захвърлен в центъра на събитията. Обучаван от гоакините за нещо като адвокат в тяхната правна/антиправна система (пред която въжделенията на Хайнлайн от "Странник в странна страна" звучат наивно като четиристишия от 14 годишна девственица) му се предлага разследване пряко свързано с работата му в Бюсаб. Гоакините този път са се осрали и могат да изпаднат от Съюза на галактическия разум като приложат планетарен холкост или да застрашат същия като изпуснат отрочетата на експеримента си сред затъпяло-оялите се съюзници. Планетата е Досейди и никой не казва на Маккай защо е заселена и какво става там. ТОй се впуска безотговорно, както винаги и се оказва на място където теорията на Дарвин е турбоускорена и той - най-острото шило на Бюсаб - е като пеленаче пред резултатите.
Досейди е изкуствено затворена от един Кейблан планета, където слабо направляван цари един брутален анархо-капитализъм. Поколениятяа са отсяли индивиди, които са намалили комуникацията до минимум за сметка на моментни действия, а всяка дума, движение, решение може да им коства живота. Досейди е люпилня за базкомпромисни политици, корави войни и оцеляващи на всяка цена.
Самата идея за еволюция (в същността си за приспособимост), която възниква при поставени изкуствено зверски тежки условия, без (забележете) суспендиращ политико-социален апарат, на мен ми влезе страшно вдъхновяващо....
Както и да е... Маккай все пак успява да изненада досейдийците, гоакините и дори рийвовете и кейбланите и ако не да овладее ситуацията, поне да яхне вълната. А, и оспява да се влюби, което е направо постижение след двуцифреното число бракове по изгода, които е сключвал през годините.
Много още мога да кажа и няма да е достатъчно. Не съм на нивото на Хърбърт пък и това не е книга за две (колкото са до тук) прочитания. Тепърва ще я преоткривам през годините.

The true gem of Herbert’s trove.

The genius of Frank Herbert shines like a Caleban’s body in this tale of tales. Having read the book several times in my youth... it took a rereading in my seniority to finally understand what Herbert was telling us, even all those years ago.
Frank Herbert wrote sweeping tales of societies and governments and how they move and manipulate the lives of the ruled.
And he wrote those stories with and from an insight that seems preternatural. He extrapolates human nature onto various alien species with the simple reasoning that power is universally addictive and corruptive. But his insight into human nature and machinations is deep, accurate and terrifying. And in this book, he distilled all of his genius for it.

The rating is in part because of the effect this had when I first read The Dosadi Experiment as a teenager: it seemed clever, allusive and bold. Today, a more sophisticated me can see the literary tricks played to make a fairly threadbare story have resonance; this is a poor relation of Dune, with the same sort of ideas about human potential, set in a science fictional universe with advanced technology living alongside ancient relics of the past, with tired sociological epigrams placed at the head of each chapter.

It's not so much that this book was bad, as that it was incredibly boring.

I have read this book many, many times but this time came to it after a break of maybe 20 years. In my opinion this is by far and away the best of Frank Herbert's non-Dune books. The plot is complex and clever and the writing extraordinary.

Another book I read a long time ago so I don't remember too much of it. The one thing that has stuck with me is the concept of the Bureau of Sabotage, a government agency whose role is to sabotage the work of the others. Why is it needed you ask? Because at some point the government realized that the constant improvement in the efficiency of its work was actually harming its purpose. The organization became so well ordered it was hampering its own purposes.

I find a strong echo of this in today's modern corporation, with its emphasis on putting a number on everything and trying to optimize it. After years of working in this environment I realized that this tendency frequently creates more harm than benefit, mostly by stifling everything that doesn't appear measurable and graphable. We could use a Bureau of Sabotage ourselves.

This is a very good book that suffers from the pretty usual Herbert disease of a wild ending, a relatively mild case, so it is still fine.

Even though this is another book with Mckei, it is different in nature to Whipping Star. I would pick up Whipping Star first, simply because I think it is a better book, but it isn't necessary. It helps a bit and some characters are more fleshed out.

There is humor here and there, but this is not a light hearted book. There is very little funny going on, especially as things pick up after the first third. The Dosadi live in hell, and while this book doesn't revel in it, it also doesn't shy away from it.

The topic explored most thoroughly by this book is the rule of law and the limits of law. Other things are picked up, mentioned, maybe even commented on, but this is the main one. My biggest problem with this book is that is actually too short. There is too much packed in too few pages. Even on the subject of law, I think there wasn't enough.

Anyway, it is a good sci-fi read. Much better than most books I get to read.

Issues I have with the book :


a. That ending is completely bizarre. Out of nowhere, we discover that when people switch bodies and both parties remain alive some being beyond comprehension is awakened and passess judgement or something, potentially granting super powers ? It is just weird. Maybe this was laying the ground for a third novel, in which case, I'm very sad it didn't happen, but it is just a weird turn.

It is also absolutely critical to the plot, but it was compeltely unexepcted, which doesn't fit what one would expect from Jedrik. It really doesn't make sense Jedrik and her progenitors weren't aware of this effect. Unlike the Pan-Something, they would have no ethical reasons not to experiment.

I'm not saying Jedrik had to warn McKei beforehand, she might not do that, but it would have been enough for the readers to know she knew something might happen.

b. The court drama was much too rushed. There was much build up, and I think we deserved a longer trial. Also the relationship between McKei and the weaver being as brothers in the was a bit thin, especially because the trial was so short. I can see why they would feel close in theory, but it didn't feel justified in story.

c. Obviously it bugs me Jedrik decided her dying was the only way forward. The situation didn't seem that desparate. This isn't what I expected from someone of her intellect. It also displayed a serious distrust of McKei. It was unclear he even felt truly cornered during the trial.

d. Oh, there also wasn't enough explained on Dosadi itself. What was the nature of the ruling AI and under what principles did it work ? There were hints thrown about automated farms, but that is very little.

e. I actually don't think the result of the Dosadi experiment on the people was taken seriously enough. Put into hell, what perecent of them were made into demons now released onto the unsuspecting masses ? I find it extremely unlikely all of the 90 million of Dosadi are as well adjusted as Jedrik.

Arguably, releasing the Dosadi population with complete freedom to mix with the naive and unprepared population outside is an experiment as serious as the Dosadi experiment itself, but on a much larger scale.

The only reason this gets 4 stars instead of 5 is because it was so hard to follow sometimes, especially at the beginning. The last section of the book is also mystifying, full of complex legal maneuverings in a courtroom based on alien laws and traditions that I just can't keep up with. But overall this was fucking amazing!

The basic plot is this cabal of evil, old beings set up a poisonous prison planet used for social experimenting and other stuff that I can't talk about without spoiling it. Low on action and high on ideas and politics, it may or may not be for you, but if you like the later Dune books, this is great!

I am perhaps too lenient on this book, else this review will serve as a confession that I am too stupid to grok the Dosadi mindset. But I think that the weakness of characterization that is a standard scifi caveat hinders this novel, one of Herbert's most ambitious(I say skiffy instead of scifi usually, cause I don't give a fuck. Yeah that's right). As in Dune, Herbert attempts a merciless dissection of society. Dune, rightly regarded as a classic, began as an exploration of the effect of trade on the balance of power. This set an appropriately macro scale for the Byzantine plotting that followed, and suited the skill set of a science fiction author, a breed used to painting in broad strokes. Here Herbert attempts to paint in subtler strokes, and he doesn't succeed. The system of Gowachin law is fascinating, but the plot hinges too much on this unfamiliar system; for all its logic, we never feel the visceral twists and turns of the courtroom drama, mostly because each virtuoso legal manuever must be painstakingly explained to us as it happens. Similarly, it was rare for the calculating motives of the Dosadi characters to stand out with real clarity.

Definitely better than Whipping Star, and set in the same ConSentiency universe that Herbert created. Again, the world-building is the best part of the book; it's such a strength with Herbert that it becomes the thing that carries the book. The plot is confusing, and some of the assumptions don't seem sensical. The characters are fairly unlovable. But the reader wants to keep going just to learn more about the universe Herbert has created. There isn't the universe depth of the Dune series; that's not possible in two short books and a novella. But it's still quite impressive, and it covers a multitude of plot-related sins.