Wow. I loved Frank Herbert in middle school, and I hadn't realized just how poor a writer he was. It's especially apparent in this and Whipping Star. Herbert was skilled at creating fascinatingly foreign and complex cultures, and then demonstrating through them the tedious ideas of 1950s-era business gurus which he seemed to hold in high regard. He reminds me of Hubbard in that respect. Of course, he's still a much better writer than that!

An interesting premise, but I was a little lost since this is the second book in the series and I read it without reading it's predecessor. Still captivating enough to keep me reading through the last chapter.

I’m somewhat glad that I read this after “Whipping Star,” because to some degree it has restored my faith in Herbert as being a decent author, that “Dune” was not just a fluke. Oddly, though, while it slightly raises my opinion of Herbert, I find that I still find myself thinking of him as a bit more human, a bit less perfect, and thus as “Dune” itself as a bit less impressive. I’ll see if I can make any sense of that as I discuss this book.

The book follows Jorj McKie, the same hero as in “Whipping Star,” a brilliant agent of the “Bureau of Sabotage,” a department in a vast multi-species galactic government. The Bureau exists to prevent the rest of the government from becoming so efficient that it interferes with individual rights. In this story, McKie is sent to the homeworld of the froglike Gowachin to investigate a possible violation that involves isolating a planet from interstellar travel and forcing its population to live under brutal conditions. This, it develops, causes the development of superior races of people (both human and gowachin) who might unleash a war against the universe if set free. McKie must try to find a solution to this situation other than simply destroying the whole planet, which is what the gowachin are now inclined to do.

This is, if nothing else, a quite original plot and set of circumstances, and Herbert shows his ability to handle multiple competing motivations in each of his characters and their respective societies. The story is far from predictable, and resolves each of the questions it raises neatly, without becoming contrived. But there are some flags or dog-whistles that show up. One is the more or less objectivist-libertarian perspective that gives rise to BuSab in the first case, which also influences the gowachin legal system, in which wisdom is largely based on denial of equality and fairness. Dosadi itself seems to be a confirmation of social Darwinism, which again confirms a certain set of assumptions in Herbert’s world-building.

Which brings me back to “Dune,” which I am now inclined to see also as an argument about social Darwinism and the primacy of individuals over governing bodies or social groups. That book is still very well written (better than “Dosadi,” in fact), but it somehow seems less penetratingly brilliant as I see the set of beliefs that inform it. This may shift yet again as I become familiar with a broader range of Herbert’s work, however. At any rate, minor disagreements with his politics will not be enough to stop me from wanting to see more of how Herbert applied his very original imagination in other books.

I'm writing a review because I kinda promised myself I'd review every book I read, otherwise I'd just forget this surprisingly bland sci fi book. I was pretty disappointed, seeing as it is Frank Herbert. Actually the ideas that make up the foundation of the book are quite imaginative and might have been the base for a grand and epic novel. Instead you get a very ordinary story from the point of view of a man building a flimsy legal case. I mean really, you could've had another Dune, but the whole thing is underwhelming. Like Lawrence of Arabia being shot on a tiny 8 mm camera, this book just gives you a taste of a much more interesting universe that you really just don't get to immerse yourself in.

But I mean, it's still readable and passably entertaining, just had high expectations I guess.

I didn't encounter this volume as part of the ConSentiency Universe but rather as a stand-alone book. This is not Dune. It is something else altogether. Millions of humans and aliens crammed together in on inhospitable planet's small relative "Goldilock's region" and left to violence, hunger, and dystopian control, locked behind a planetary wall. They know they're part of an experiment: what will happen when the planet finally "pops"? This is more a legal and political story, with elements of espionage and exploration as a protagonist finds a chink in the wall surrounding the planet and determines its purpose. It can get bogged down in the legalities, introspection, and psychoanalysis which can detract for some readers, but is necessary for the story. There are plentiful sub-plots, and wheels-within-wheels here. Some bits clicked for me, but others didn't.

Споделям мнение, като човек който все още не е чел серията Дюн.

Книгата започва доста мудно и на моменти си е тегава за четене, първите 70-80 страници минават супер бавно.

Като цяло идеята за Досейди, целият правен закон е нещото, което ме държеше до краят на книгата.


Системата на закона е очарователна, но сюжетът зависи твърде много от тази непозната система; въпреки цялата си логика, ние никога не усещаме интуитивните обрати на драмата в съдебната зала, най-вече защото всеки виртуозен правен манипулатор трябва старателно да ни се обяснява, докато се случва.

Има и добри парчета от книгата, но според мен не е най-доброто на Хърбърт, както доста твърдят ( Извън Дюн).

Took me more than twenty years after reading Dune to read another Herbert. I'm conflicted about what I've just read. I suspect in time I'll lower this rating.

The Experiment is not what I expected, not what reviews let me believe it is. It's not dark, not grim, but rather boisterous detective-in-space prose. It's a lot of tell and insinuate and not show. Pretentious, maybe. Hard to read, for sure.

The central character in the story, a detective working for some governmental agency, sets out to investigate... the experiment. In a matter of days (literally), he gains supernatural powers (by his own reckoning) once he steps in the realm of the experiment. He bonds with a certain experiment dweller, in a manner that is equally brusque and unexplained. No attraction is noted between the two, it's just that they f***, and then they are one.

Then the finale follows, which is meant to be entertaining and more, but connects very poorly with the story to that point. The said dweller dies (killed), but because of the bond, they continue to live (disembodied? as a memory in the mind of the detective?)

Herbert makes some non orthodox observations on power and illusion of democracy. I'll quote this one out of several that deserve attention:

"Every government is run by liars and nothing they say should be believed."

Complex, nuanced SF, in which Herbert once again explores a subject that's a big part of his Dune series - namely What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger and Consequently a Threat to the Rest of the Universe (though here in a much more condensed fashion). Think the Fremen of Arrakis, the Sardaukar of Salusa Secundus, or the inspiration for all of these things, The Lion of Dagestan as depicted in Lesley Blanch's superb The Sabres of Paradise.

The planet Dosadi, anathema to any non-indigionous life, has been ostracised from the galactic community, contained behind an impassible energy barrier... and has been for generations. Why? What's going on there? And why is one particular race so terrified of the place that they would rather it was obliterated than returned to reality? The Bureau of Sabotage's top agent is sent to investigate...

Set in the same universe as the the earlier -and much sillier- The Whipping Star, this is a very different novel, full of intrigue and high-stakes incidents hidden behind seemingly simple words and actions, where tension is ramped up to riveting levels and matters rarely go quite as you might expect. Indeed, sometimes Herbert could be said to go too far, with his characters displaying improbable degrees of insight and understanding (to Bene Gesserit levels, without their thousands of years of experience), and with such intricate word-play that you can't help but suspect he's trying to pull wool over your eyes so you won't look to closely at what's going on and spot holes... but you nevertheless find yourself enjoying it all so much you don't care and just go along with it.

Like his Dune sequence, for all it's age, TDE remains an enlightened read and has dated hardly at all. Recommended.

A very fulfilling work by Frank Herbert, sequel to The Whipping Star. Even for only a two-book series, Herbert crafts a rich universe populated with at least some characters who show up for both. While Whipping Star centered on communication/cultural divides, Dosadi Experiment is a work on subtlety and nuance; if not enough was effectively communicated between characters in the former, sometimes too much is in this one. There is a plot within the plot and Herbert invites the reader to peel the onion with him.
There are some passing references in this book to the previous, but they effectively stand alone and can be read in any order or with or without one another. For those considering picking up Herbert but intimidated by the richness of the Dune series, these two books make a very digestible and agreeable start.
An excellent read and worth your attention.

McKie again saves the world, while at the same time getting some intense nookie. He is Frank Herbert's James Bond, the guy who can outthink everybody, adapt to any situation and still look cool and positive while doing it. To be fair, I enjoyed The Dosadi Experiment quite a lot, perhaps because and not despite the air of interplanetary secret agent idea. I liked it more than Whipping Star, the first book in this universe, which had the handicap of having to establish it first. Also, because most of that was a human trying to understand a Caleban, which was not terribly exciting. This book explores a planet used as a (unlawful) social experiment and what the result of that experiment was.

There is something I both like and despise in Herbert's writing. He weaves different captivating stories and worlds from the same pieces. So you get the stagnating civilization, malignant government and various explorations of solutions to solve the problem, you get the very rational yet emotionally immature male heroes and the amazing and terrifying women that they stumble upon, the idea of terrible pressure shaping civilizations and individuals alike into extraordinary form, the people reaching higher levels of awareness and saying or understanding the precise best things that could have been said or understood. There is even a Gom Jabbar in this.

In fact, some of his books remind me of chess games. And one might enjoy chess games immensely, but after a certain level you just don't get if they are brilliant or complete shit. It's the same with The Dosadi Experiment, where everybody begins seeing the world in the Dosadi way, speak in the Dosadi way, think in the Dosadi way, but you never understand what that is, other than a form of psychopathic focus on power games.

I believe that, given more time, Herbert could have shaped the ConSentiency Universe into something really unique, not as dry (pardon the pun) as Dune, not as depressing as Pandora, something that would combine the mind games and social analysis that he loved with good fun and great creative ideas. Alas, other than a couple of short stories, that's all we get for this intriguing world building.

Bottom line: a little more lighthearted than most Herbert books, featuring more action, but still having the distinctive attributes one would expect from the author. I liked it, but it wasn't as memorable as the books I really like from him.

Herbert is the master of what I call whafuck?! in genre fiction. With masterly aplomb, he crafts devious and often hilarious worlds with nary an explanation and then forces it down your throat with nary a warning.
It's obvious that if you haven't read the first book "Whipping Star" you will be largely lost reading "Dosadi". But that doesn't mean that you didn't leave "Whipping Star" without a whafuck?! in your frontbrain, because I bet you did, and that's why Herbert is so fun to read.
"Dosadi" carries on the story of the Bureau of Sabotage's ugly duckling ninja-saboteur McKie who gets wrangled, through an infinitely fascinating and barely explained legal conundrum into investigating a planet some conspiracy between aliens set up to do some sinister shenanigans. Since BuSab's job is to keep the chaos roiling, McKie is sent in to investigate. Turns out there are shenanigans within shenanigans involving body swapping, ego-sex limbos, and cruel love. Don't worry if you don't understand it, because you likely won't and it is a testament to Herbert's genius that he makes you not mind so much that as you're squawking whafuck?! at the utter weirdness, the alienness of his words and worlds, others are lining up to see the latest Star Wars dumbness. (C'mon, people--I draw the line at Star Wars stickers on the goddamn bananas at the supermarket--could we be made to care any more for something any less?)

ES en general un buen libro, pero se empequeñece junto a la saga DUNE, el terminarlo es mas un ejercicio de respeto a F Herbert que a los méritos propios de la historia, y el final es francamente decepcionante, Trata de crear unos fremen.... y termina con auto narcisismo enfermizo.