Buddy Read with Markus

Actual Rating: 2.5 stars

n  n    I was born Leto Atreides II more than three thousand standard years ago, measuring from the moment when I cause these words to be printed. My father was Paul Muad’Dib. My mother was his Fremen consort, Chani. My maternal grandmother was Faroula, a noted herbalist among the Fremen. My paternal grandmother was Jessica, a product of the Bene Gesserit breeding scheme in their search for a male who could share the powers of the Sisterhood’s Reverend Mothers. My maternal grandfather was Liet-Kynes, the planetologist who organized the ecological transformation of Arrakis. My paternal grandfather was The Atreides, descendant of the House of Atreus and tracing his ancestry directly back to the Greek original.n  n

Blah, blah, blah. This whole book was about Leto and how amazing he is. And this book started off so strong...

n  n    The three people running northward through moon shadows in the Forbidden Forest were strung out along almost half a kilometer. The last runner in the line ran less than a hundred meters ahead of the pursuing D-wolves. The animals could be heard yelping and panting in their eagerness, the way they do when they have the prey in sight.n  n

Siona is on the run for her life. She stole the journals of the God Emperor of Dune in hopes to find important information. I was ready for rebel fighting and this story to be centered around Siona and the resistance. But it was all about Leto, the journals, and his justification of being a tyrant Emperor.

To be quite honest, I was annoyed with his scenes and looked forward to Siona and Duncan..which were rare.

n  

n    This planet of Arrakis from which I direct my multigalactic Empire is no longer what it was in the days when it was known as Dune. In those days, the entire planet was a desert. Now, there is just this little remnant, my Sareer. No longer does the giant sandworm roam free, producing the spice melange. The spice! Dune was noteworthy only as the source of melange, the only source. What an extraordinary substance. No laboratory has ever been able to duplicate it. And it is the most valuable substance humankind has ever found.n  

n



I want my DUNE BACK! I want the sand and the spice. I want the stillsuits and the REAL Fremen...this didn't feel like Dune at all. The wisdom wasn't there, the feel wasn't there and Dune wasn't what it once was. It would of been better if there was more resistance and fighting to bring Dune back to what it once was, but it was always second to Leto. I really hate Leto, much more than Paul...actually I love Paul. I wanted to love Siona, but I didn't get to see her often and Duncan...is the same Duncan.

I think the only thing that saved this book was the writing...beautiful writing and the narrator is awesome but that's about it.

I hope in the next book it gets back to what it once was...I can only hope.

It's a bit difficult to put my thoughts and feelings about the book into words.

What I liked:
- the characters feel more cared about, more alive. Even Nayla is not a prop (as I felt Irulan to be), her inner turmoils are better shown and explained. I really enjoyed observing them this time.
- the conversations felt real and it was mainly through characters talking to each other that the story was told. It usually isn't a good way to move on the story, but here it worked for me somehow.
- the world building was pretty strong, even though we never left Dune. Those remarks and arguments managed to create the feeling of the great intergalactic empire.
- the shebang joke.

What I liked much less:
- still too much vagueness. I get that I as a reader should trust that Leto knows what he does and he has a plan and so on. But still I needed some more 'splaining. Why did Leto need Hwi? What was Moneo's role in all that happened? What actually did Moneo realise? I did my best to pay attention, but still I feel that either I didn't understand some things or they were not evident enough.
- the Duncans and the way they were used over and over again. Also, Leto always claimed that he needed Duncan, that he had some deep attachment to him, but at the same time the way Leto treated Duncan felt so rude and off-handed. So in the end he needed Duncan just to fulfil his role in the premonition, climb the wall and place Nayla where she was supposed to be? Oh yeah, and to breed with Siona. I feel sad and angry for the way Duncan was objectified here.

Sižets jau kļūst pavisam nosacīts, bet autora pārdomas par lietu dabu joprojām izcilas. Nodaļu epigrāfu dēļ vien ir vērts lasīt.

God Emperor of Dune made me feel really weird while I was reading it, and this is after like a half-summer of feeling really fucking weird reading every one of these books, but seriously -- I am saying, weird. Like, the universe opens its eye and watches you watching it. That kind of weird.

One weird thing about this book, aside from the title being the most metal thing on earth, is that it is essentially one long scene. Herbert finds ways to break it up, of course, but really, it's somehow 400 pages of all the characters saying, "What's your deal, God Emperor of Dune?" and then Leto II, the God Emperor Sandworm-Man, speaking in riddles that drive you crazy. This book literally doesn't explain anything until the last 4 pages, which really shouldn't work, 400 pages of questions and 4 pages of answers, and it doesn't work, I guess, not totally, except while you are reading it, during which time it totally does.

Herbert uses this book, essentially, to discuss the nature of societal power structures, and what about them works and doesn't work, and why he believes this is so. And because Herbert's not actually a sociologist and Leto II is not actually a trustworthy or sympathetic character, the layers of interpretation you need to go through just to make sense of the book's ideas are hard to even pinpoint. Reading this book is like herding cats, if cats were made of light.

God Emperor of Dune is not only really fun to say, it is also a pretty cool book to read. I don't know if it's actually good, but I do know that I got a lot -- a lot -- out of going through it. Check in with me in four years or so, and we'll see if I was able to read it again and actually make sense of it.

God Emperor of Dune (Dune, #4) - Frank Herbert


هذا الجزء هو آخر جزء نشر قبل وفاة فرانك هيربرت، جزء آخر مدهش من هذه السلسلة العظيمة، رحلة أخرى لربوع آراكيس كوكب كثيب، قفزة زمنية تقدر بآلاف السنوات، مؤامرات وتغييرات تغلي في الخفاء وبهدوء شديد، والإمبراطور الإله لكثيب يعرف كل شيء غبر المسار الذهبي الذي يرعاه. حوارات مدهشة وعميقة في رؤيتها الاستشرافية لعالم اليوم وشخصيات قديمة جديدة وأفكار تناقش مرارا وتكرارا؛ ربما للتأكيد على أنه لا شيء يتغير، جزء آخر عظيم .

Il quarto libro della saga è sicuramente più difficile dei primi tre e soprattutto molto molto diverso. È un libro incentrato tutto su i dialoghi. Come Herbert aveva già fatto nei precedenti romanzi anche qui non è lasciato assolutamente nulla al caso. Bisogna prestare molta attenzione ai dialoghi tra i personaggi ricordando le faccende avvenute in precedenza.
La bravura di Herbert è ancora una volta confermata. Come avevo detto nelle recensioni precedenti Herbert è un maestro nel creare dialoghi in contesti e situazioni non semplici. In questo volume ne ho avuto la conferma.
La bravura è ovviamente anche quella di creare una continua sfida con il lettore mettendolo alla prova. Siamo noi che dobbiamo fare delle ipotesi su quello che sta accadendo perché volutamente le faccende non vengono spiegate subito.
Ovviamente a fine libro non tutto viene chiarito e resta quella finestra aperta che non sappiamo dove conduca...
Fino ad ora credo sia il volume più impegnativo della saga. Sicuramente non è una lettura semplice ma ne è valsa veramente la pena.

Review to come

“Quasi tutta la civiltà è basata sulla vigliaccheria. È così facile civilizzare insegnando la vigliaccheria. Si annacquano i criteri che porterebbero al coraggio. Si mette un freno alla volontà. Si regolano gli appetiti. Si delimitano gli orizzonti. Si fa una legge per ogni movimento. Si nega l'esistenza del caos. S'insegna perfino ai bambini a respirare lentamente. Si addomestica tutto."
― Frank Herbert, Imperatore Dio di Dune

Quarto romanzo del ciclo di Dune di Frank Herbert, a mio giudizio il più ermetico ma anche il più affascinante. Mi piace ricordare sempre che Dune non è solo il primo romanzo, e senza aver letto i successivi si perde il suo vero scopo.

Sicuramente è un romanzo il cui messaggio non è immediato e merita più letture per apprezzarlo appieno e poter decifrare tutte le scelte compiute dai personaggi nell'ottica della saga intera.
I primi tre libri possono considerarsi il preambolo per arrivare a questo. I successivi ne contestualizzano le scelte.

La figura dell'Imperatore-Dio è poesia e speranza, un concentrato di filosofia e sociologia, l'unico essere capace di avere una visione d'insieme della razza umana e guidarla nel suo futuro incerto pur se ad un costo altissimo.

Leto ha accettato il Sentiero Dorato e ne subisce le drammatiche conseguenze. Figura tragica e unica, completamente da capire.
Il messaggio del ciclo di Dune è sottinteso nelle sue parole. Tappa fondamentale per capire il vero significato dell'opera.

Romanzo che meraviglia ancora e ancora ad ogni lettura successiva e riesce ad incantare con i sui dialoghi.

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“Almost all civilization is based on cowardice. It is so easy to civilize by teaching cowardice. The criteria that would lead to courage are being watered down. The will is curbed. Appetites are regulated. Horizons are delimited. A law is made for every movement. The existence of chaos is denied. Even children are taught to breathe slowly. Everything is domesticated."
― Frank Herbert, God Emperor of Dune

Fourth novel of Frank Herbert's Dune series, in my opinion the most hermetic but also the most fascinating. I always like to remember that Dune is not just the first novel, and without having read the subsequent ones you lose its true purpose.

It is certainly a novel whose message is not immediate and deserves multiple readings to fully appreciate it and be able to decipher all the choices made by the characters from the perspective of the entire saga.
The first three books can be considered the preamble to get to this. The following ones contextualize the choices.

The figure of the Emperor-God is poetry and hope, a concentration of philosophy and sociology, the only being capable of having an overall vision of the human race and guiding it into its uncertain future even if at a very high cost.

Leto has accepted the Golden Path and suffers its dramatic consequences. Tragic and unique figure, completely to be understood.
The message of the Dune series is implied in his words. Fundamental stage to understand the true meaning of the work.

A novel that amazes again and again with each subsequent reading and manages to enchant with its dialogues.

“Most civilisation is based on cowardice. It's so easy to civilize by teaching cowardice. You water down the standards which would lead to bravery. You restrain the will. You regulate the appetites. You fence in the horizons. You make a law for every movement. You deny the existence of chaos. You teach even the children to breathe slowly. You tame.”

3500 years after children of dune, God Emperor, Leto the deuce has given up his humanity (and his dick) to become a worm with a guys head that looks like one.
All this is intended to keep humanity on “the golden path” so that we can survive our own stagnation and vague external threats. To accomplish this he becomes a tyrant, holds humanity back, abolishes male soldiers because male armies are adolescent and gay, he fixes that by replacing them with an army of lesbian amazons (not complaining)
This book is a crazy fever dream that consists of conversations in various rooms and long excerpts from Leto 2’s journal.
It sounds like it would be boring but it’s actually really compelling. Herbert has a lot to say about governments and bureaucracy leading to corruption and stagnation.
Don’t think I’m going to read further into the series but I’m glad I read this, it’s nicely done.

I finished this after 3 months, everyone cheer!!! I was so excited when I started because the beginning was really fun, and I thought this would be a good book.

Instead, all I got was Leto II and the 47858485th (exaggerated, but could be true, you never know) version of Duncan Idaho talking endlessly throughout the book. Everyone else was just talking too, and it wasn't very interesting.

But Siona and Hwi saved this from being a total trainwreck. And the ending wasn't bad either, it was almost on par with the first couple of chapters, so I'm hoping book five continues like that. This is the worst Dune book (for now), main series wise.

I hated this book the first time I read it. Hated every person in it, did not understand why anyone acted the way they did. Now it's one of my top-ten comfort reads, and I see so much in Leto I want for myself.

Dune was the perfect hero book, and then Herbert turned the trope of “boy becomes Messiah and saves the noble people” on its head with Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. In those two volumes, everything assumed and trusted became so much sand, and a son had to destroy his Messiah father’s legacy to save the universe from religious genocide and tyranny. We closed on the boy becoming yet another saviour and had only a vague, hopeful idea of what he intended to do next.

Herbert could have left us there, many thought he would when he finished his Dune Trilogy. Instead, he published his most difficult and daring book yet. In Emperor, we discover that the boy’s plan to save humanity from tyranny is... to become the ultimate Tyrant, and Predator of humankind. Yeah, I’m with you. Just say “huh?” and get it over with. I can’t explain without giving plot away. Emperor is a masterpiece of philosophy, and the best book in the series, but I wouldn’t blame you if you stopped somewhere in the middle and stuffed it to the back of your shelf for ten years before you gave it another chance. Who am I to argue? I did.

Il ciclo di Dune non è mai stato caratterizzato da azioni travolgenti e anche dove c'erano erano raccontate senza "parossismo". Ma questo libro è di una lentezza esasperante, introspettivo oltre ogni limite ed esageratamente filosofico. Pochissimi i personaggi e poco interessanti, che riempiono pagine su pagine di riflessioni che annoiano. La preveggenza di Leto poteva essere un buon aspetto da sviluppare, ma - anche con il notevole salto temporale rispetto al volume precedente - non porta a molto, anzi porta inevitabilmente all'unica fine possibile, facilmente intuibile, anche se restava sempre la speranza di un vero colpo di scena.