Not a terrible book but kinda bad. The action is not too complex, and it just feels unnecessary convoluted. If you would make all the species the same you would not lose anything from the story so it just feels it's description for "diversity", but a diversity that does not impact the plot at all.

Short summary :
A highly amusing read. A mix of very dry and often, but not always, sarcastic humor with several interesting ideas. However, this book is not without heart. Another thing to note, is a lot of the humor is language based.

Some more about the book:
The book rests on and deals with the limits of communication and language, both between humans and even more so, between alien species. It is the main theme and it suffuses everything, which is not a problem, because it is a good subject.

This means a lot of the book is about an alien being stretching or misusing the English language, because it is so different some assumption that are built into the language are not met by the creature. This makes for some very weird conversations, I found quite delightful. Another section is about creative abuse and counter abuse of the language of the law and contract, which was also a lot of fun.

My thoughts after reading :

I have enjoyed the unexpected touches about love, spread here and there.

I think this book doesn't get enough attention, it has non obvious ideas in it. For example, when using the Taprisiot for real time communication, you need to provide them with your own "Date, time and place" hinting that the Taprisiot itself is either unaware of spacetime or is in several places or both, otherwise it would not need to be told those details.

Notes to myself before a reread :

A rich woman, Mliss Abnethe feels compulsion to flog things. She is punished so that she can't bare to see sentient beings suffer. She works around this limitation by finding a being, a Caleban, that doesn't understand the concept of pain or suffering. This simple contract has surprising side effects, because it seems flogging actually causes damages the the Caleban, and if the Calebans dies, most living things in the universe die as well. The rich woman gathers friends on an Ark and continues plan to destroy most living things, because of misunderstanding letting her think she and her companions will survive by going to the past.

Calebans are entities whose physical form in our "dimension", or at least part of it, is a star/sun. They try to communicate via another form enclosed in a special vessel nicknamed a Beachball, because Calebans like to leave these by the sea. This might actually be another joke in a way, the sun goes to sleep at at home in the sea.

The Caleban in the story, Fanny Mae, describes itself as a female, because it can create more of its kind. This is a bit different from the suns we know.

Idk how Herbert thinks of this stuff man

3.5/5

Ehh.

Whipping Star is something of a mystery. Not so much a whodunit as a whatisit. What does it portend that a member of a powerful, enigmatic alien race--whose (extremely few) other members have been vanishing of late--has parked itself on a random world?

The problem is that communication between the protagonist and this alien (known as Fanny Mae) is extremely difficult because her concepts of language and, indeed, the way time and space operate are drastically different than those of limited beings like ourselves. So the book consists largely of McKie trying to parse Fanny Mae's strangely-worded statements and vice versa. It's tedious.

The universe Herbert has created in this book is secondary to the main conflict. Just as well, I suppose, because it's not nearly as rich or compelling as other universes written by this author. Disappointing.

The libertarian politics underpinning the setting are a bit unusual but not fleshed out well enough to be convincing or satirical, so it's almost a blessing in disguise that the setup-a rich woman's S&M fetish is about to kill the entire universe-is hard to take seriously. The bits about language are interesting, and I was a bit surprised to find that Herbert's prose is considerably less dry here than it is in the Dune books. Not every part of the book works, but the parts that do make for a fun and relatively quick read.

Interesting ideas, I like the logical way the Calebans talk, Fanny Mae is an awesome character. Lots of dialog and little action, though, which made a lot of the book boring.

Didn't even know it was part of a series, don't have an interest in reading the rest anyway.

The lack of an ending and the overabundance of science fiction concepts being needlessly explained bog this book down a lot. Maybe it was revolutionary for the time, doubt it, but the concept of a creature that lives in our time but not of it, isn't exactly a new concept to me.

Ok book, some interesting parts and ideas

Can summarise really simply.
Mysterious alien which allows humans to use new technology is about to be killed, incidentally killing all the humans with it.
The main character talks to the alien to figure out wtf is happening, massive language/communication barrier.
Basically the solution was the alien could be kept alive by pure emotional love.

More like a short story drawn out a bit more

A fantastic glimpse of a complex and confusing future seen through the eyes of a stubborn Bureau of Sabotage investigator whose official remit is to curb the exponentially increasing efficiency of the galaxy wide governmental legislative apparatus designed to implement new laws!

Our charismatic protagonist enthusiastically befriends an enigmatic alien, (who has been contractually obligated to work for a deranged female sadist, to further her egomaniacal plans to wipe out everyone except a few hapless minions). Communication problems with the very alien alien are however quite severe, and even our hero’s utter lack of any normal sense of self preservation seems to be unable to resolve the desperate situation, or even the harpy’s current location.

An intriguing story, occasionally humourous, with several weird alien species and a phenomenal amount of detailed SF vocabulary plus hints of quantum mumbo jumbo to set the stage. I’m glad I read it and rate it almost as highly as I did “The Green Brain” by the same author. (Personally I got bored with the politics of Herbert’s Dune sequels and found this to be a far better example of his genius.)

Incredibly engaging story with a clever twist. A bit hard to get into at the outset, however. Although, I recognize it's a steep undertaking to build the world Herbert built in such a short amount of time.

The ultimate SF wordsmith, Frank Herbert takes on an ambitious project with the classic book Whipping Star.

In a universe made smaller by instantaneous travel, a mystery unfolds as the creatures who make such travel possible are disappearing. In fact, many have transferred their "connectives" such that there is just one, the Caleban named Fannie Mae. Jorj X. McGie of the Bureau of Sabotage (BuSab), an agency responsible for slowing down a hyper-efficient universal government, is specifically called to investigate. McGie uncovers a plot to kill the last Caleban which would trigger the "discontinuity" of all thinking beings (sentients) who have used the services of the Calebans. The means for Fannie Mae's "dissolution" is via a ritual flogging (the "whipping" part of the book title) whose nature McKie must understand in time to prevent the end of sentient life. If this sounds like a big pill of disbelief, it is, and needs much of the unguent of Herbert's story-telling ability for readers to swallow.

Although the overall framework of the book is that of a mystery, the bulk of the narrative focuses on the development of communications between McGie and Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae can perceive McGie only as the smallest component, an accelerated molecule. McGie must recognize the true nature of Fannie Mae despite the strange use of jargon by the alien (leaving readers with new appreciation for the use of "connectives", "discontinuity" and "dissolution"). Herbert shows great skill in depicting the growing understanding between the two. The topic of alien communication is seldom tackled well in SF. I would put forth as examples of good effort Sagan's Contact (using math as language) and Miéville's Embassytown (using action as language).

The preceding is perhaps the only part of the book which succeeds. The mystery, presented with Herbert's flair for the dramatic, is not as compelling as the villains are stock characters. The resolution seems abrupt and telegraphed. However, I say bravo for bravado. Herbert goes for yard and just misses. A high 3.5 stars. This book heightens the expectation for its sequel, The Dosadi Experiment, which I look forward to re-reading next.

Whipping Star is a book of a lighter mood than what Frank Herbert usually writes, even comedic at times, although it is as creative as he can write. A universe of sentients of very different cultures and shapes and mentality, working and living together, is at risk. Only the lead agent of the Bureau of Sabotage, an organization created to slow down the efficiency of government, can save everything.

It is funny that in a book about a huge universe in peril the thing that stayed with me the most is the very idea of the Bureau. Apparently, a lack of foresight caused a particular species of sentient to take over the bureaucracy in the entire universe, bringing it to total efficiency. Hard to imagine efficient governments, but once you do you realize you may not really want them! The solution was to create a special branch that has the role to fix that original error. I found that hilarious, especially guessing the view the author had about governments.

However, the book is not about that. It's about a very rational exploration of the interaction between very weird species, trying to communicate a solution before it is too late. It reads like a detective story, really, where the main character is trying to solve the case, but filled with some very interesting and mind broadening ideas. So Herbert! It is short and fast paced.

Only after I've read the book I realized it is part of a series. I don't really care, since I am on the journey of reading the complete list of novels by the author, but even so, this is a stand alone story. I recommend it because it is both intriguing and fun. As far as I am concerned this is not Frank Herbert's best book, but still deserves top marks.