Whipping Star is one of Frank Herbert’s non-Dune books that Tor has been reprinting in recent years. This 1970 novel is the first full novel in the ConSentiency universe, which up to this point consisted of only two short stories. Both of them are contained in the collection Eye and may very well be included in other short fiction collections. Like these short stories, Whipping Star features the unusually observant BuSab agent Jorj X. McKie as a main character. This universe is also the setting of what I consider to be Herbert’s best non-Dune book: Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...

Taken at face value the plot of this book/short story is absurd - a higher dimension race of aliens has granted humans and many other sentient species access to instantaneous travel anywhere in the universe, through the use of special doors. The catch is that these aliens are disappearing/returning to a higher plane of existence, and when the last one dies or leaves, everyone who has ever used these doors will also cease to exist. Which is pretty much everyone. So far, not too weird. However, the plot is driven by the fact that the last of these aliens is under contract to an insane, wealthy woman who is into sadomasochism, and she continuously flogs this alien which is resulting in its quickening death. She doesn't really care that the rest of the universe will die as long as she can get her rocks off by whipping the 4th dimensional alien. To complete the absurdity, the people who are called in to save the day are members of the Bureau of Sabotage, an organization whose sole purpose is to sabotage and slow the process the government. Also, there are chairdogs, which are exactly what you think they would be. Herbert had some freaky ideas that apparently he liked so much he also decided to put into the dune universe (or vice versa??)

As ridiculous as the plot is, I really enjoyed the ideas that were explored - mostly, communication with an alien species with whom you have very few points of common reference. There was a surprising amount of mathematics and calculus and abstraction in this which went a little over my head, and I still did not fully understand some of the topics of discussion (ie. connectives), but I still feel like I could see most of the edges of the idea, even if not the entire thing. The Caleban aliens were also a neat concept, and I liked their execution and final realization.

I also enjoyed the glimpse into Herbert's mind outside of the Dune universe. There was a surprising amount of humour in this, and the characters felt more like real, genuine people. Knowing that all the writing quirks in Dune were more of a deliberate choice instead of just how he writes actually makes me appreciate them more instead of just finding them off-putting.

Overall, I liked this book and have been thinking/talking about it for a few days now, but I don't feel the urge to read the sequels in this series. I liked it as a contained story.

I read this book because it seemed like The Dosadi Experiment, which I had in paperback, was a sequel. Which is true, but I resent reading this book.

McKie is a Saboteur Extraordinary of the Bureau of Sabotage, a strange governmental body which has grown like a cross between a parasite and a vital hormonal gland in the galactic government, throwing sand in the works of a machinery of government that is too perfect. His vital mission this time is to sabotage the whipping to death of a Caleban at the hands of an evil and supremely rich woman. The Calebans gave everyone else the portals vital to interstellar civilization, and if this one dies, everyone who used a portal will die.

The Whipping Star focuses around communication with the Caleban, who clearly does not perceive space-time in the same way we do, with all the grace of a sophomore physics major in the depths of a DMT trip (trust me on this one). It's not a great premise, and someone with a more absurdist touch, like Harry Harrison, might have been able to pull it off. Frank Herbert misses any joy and wonder in the premise entirely, replacing it with a stale space opera zoo of aliens and a weirdly misogynistic antagonist.

I picked this from the shelves on impulse. I wanted to reread it for pleasure, to confirm my memories of the book. Also, I continue my leisurely effort to remember and/or explore Frank Herbert's non-Dune books.

And what a fun novel!

It's a bit hard to describe. The story takes place in a future where humans and aliens coexist across the galaxy. The plot begins as a villain attempts to kill a Calebian, an alien with the power to teleport anyone across star systems. Our protagonist, Jorg McKie, is an agent of the delightfully conceived Bureau of Sabotage, whose purpose is to slow down the workings of government, and whose agents are a mixture of spies and diplomats.

The story is thus a kind of hybrid police procedural and space opera, which means tons of action (multiple transdimensional beheadings), scheming, investigation, alien worlds, aliens, and high technology. Since Frank Herbert wrote it, the novel is also focused on major philosophical issues: language and perception, sincerity and love, and how to deal with death.

So what's so good about it, then?

To begin with, Whipping Star might be the most entertaining Frank Herbert I've ever read. The BuSab agents are cards, sarcastic and wise-cracking, always complaining about life and frantically trying to out-do each other (you get to be boss of the agency by successfully sabotaging the current chief). The dialog nicely and refreshingly counterpoints the more traditional Herbert-style cryptic wisdom we see with his chapter-heading epigrams. Those are good as ever, too.

Whipping Star is also a fine example of world-building. Herbert offers very few infodumps. Instead he has characters name new things (aliens, technologies), then the action shows what they do. The names are often clear or cute: jumpdoor, sniggertrance. Herbert also drops some names and doesn't bother explaining what they represent, which is nice and realistic, as we normally discuss things people from other times wouldn't know. "Look at my internal-combustion car, friends!" - no.

I mentioned police procedural, and this really is one. The cops are the BuSab agents, and their setup has all of the subgenre's characteristics: bureaucracy to wade through, legal wrangling, forensics labs, media to use or evade, officers to deploy, canny adversaries exploiting structural weaknesses, intercultural conflicts, and, of course, a good mystery. Since this is a police-sf hybrid, the mystery naturally involves the nature of the universe. It's also a surprise in one way: BuSab "sabotages" the crime by helping the victim become healthy.

Whipping Star is also very compact and focused. The plot kicks off on the second page, and is only resolved in the final paragraph. It races along with few digressions. This might be a weakness, as we get little information about characters - how can McKie marry that many times? what is Mliss Abnethe's story? - but that fits smoothly in the genres, and characters get good detail for all that.

There's also a nice level of surrealism and even fantasy. The crux of the plot - well, I can't say much without spoilers, but it's almost comic. The Calebian's room is hot because, well, it's a star!  It's also a striking (sorry) image, this surreal scene of a spherical room, where a semi-invisible being is regularly flogged by a disembodied hand from elsewhere in the universe, while characters peep in through windows carved in the air. There's a kind of gleeful invention, almost a lightheartedness, I don't recall from any other Herbert novel.

Now I'm off to reread Dosadi Experiment, the next book in this universe, and in good time. Let's see how it fares.