The conventional wisdom seems to be that only the first Dune book is good and that the rest of them are awful, but I've found this to definitely not be the case. This 3rd book in the series was gripping and exciting...I literally couldn't put it down! Don't listen to what everyone else says, read these books for yourself and make your own decision...you won't be disappointed! This one focuses on the children of Muad'Dib, as well as his sister Alia, wife-in-name-only Irulan, and the return of his mother Jessica to the political goings-on of Arrakis and the struggles with the almost cult-like religion that has sprung up around his supposed death and his sister as its new figurehead. Behind the scenes there is all sorts of plotting and double-dealing between a whole host of characters and factions, and the shocking revelations from the middle of the book on make this book one of the best in the series, and it wraps-up the first trilogy of books and this time period with a bang!

Oh Paul Atreides, why? WHY??

The first novel was so great that I should have known no sequel would live up to it, but did they ALL have to fall so far from the mark?

My advice: Read Dune, acknowledge its perfection, and take a hard pass on the rest of the books.

Nie mogłam się doczekać by wrócić na Diunę. Seria nadal trzyma poziom, a moje zdanie o tych książkach nie uległo zmianie.
To o czym muszę napisać to to, jak Herbert potrafi pisać kilometry tekstu nie poświęcając ich na rozlazłe opisy. Nadal nie mogę się temu nadziwić. Bohaterowie ciągle gadają, jak tak obiektywnie spojrzeć to ciągle o tym samym, a w ogóle nie jest to nudne. Ba, nawet idzie się wczuć w niepowtarzalny klimat tej historii. Bez opisów. Bazując na dialogach. Jestem naprawdę w szoku, że tak można. To chyba źle świadczy o całej reszcie literatury jaką czytam.
W trzecim tomie serii jest odrobinę lepiej z emocjami, których mi tak brakowało. Możliwe, że to kwestia długości książki - "Mesjasz.." był za krótki, tutaj jest dużo bardziej mięsiście. Dużo się dzieje, mamy kilka punktów zwrotnych (nie wiem czy się cieszę, że tylu czołowych bohaterów pomarło), a wszystko pod koniec układa się w jedną, zgrabną całość. W finale mamy oczywiście wstęp do kolejnej części (oj, będzie się działo!).
Nie mam tej książce do zarzucenia nic negatywnego, ale przy końcu miałam dość śmieszne skojarzenie, o którym nie mogę nie wspomnieć. W związku z ilością zwrotów akcji, przetasowań i przygód każdego z bohaterów i ich wzajemnych relacji trzeci tom pachniał mi trochę pustynną "Modą na sukces" czy jakaś telenowelą argentyńską (wybacz Frank!). I wiecie co, miedzy innymi z tego powodu już się nie mogę doczekać lektury czwartego tomu!

"Children of Dune" starts agonisingly slow, but despite the fact that those first ~40% of the book is used just to set a plot and explain, what is going on and who is scheming against whom, when it finally starts, it really starts.

Again it is a great tale of treachery, manipulation, politics and mysticism. And though "Children of Dune" are not as good as "Dune"- barely -, it's quality, vision and grandeur can be matched by only just a few books.

Beware though - "Children of Dune", as well as Dune Messiah are books for core fans. Dune-nerds, you can call them. And a casual reader, who stumbled on this book by a chance, would probably not like this book on most occasions.

You have been warned.

I can’t say enough how awesome this series is! I loved it! I can see rereading the trilogy very soon! I love this world and I already want to go back.

To zdecydowanie moja ulubiona część z dotąd przeczytanych tomów Kronik Diuny.

Dobrym słowem określającym tę książkę w stosunku do innych jest najciekawsza. Kiedy odejmiemy od pierwszego tomu fakt, że wprowadza nas w świat Diuny i kupuję nas już samą nowością... Od Mesjasza nic nie trzeba odejmować, bo to książka epicka, ale na pewno nie tak interesująca pod względem przedstawionego świata jak Dzieci. Bez wchodzenia w spoilery czy zbyt dokładne szczegóły, powiem tylko, że Bene Gesserit nigdy jeszcze nie były tak ciekawe jak w tej książce.

Poza tym dostajemy pakiet tego co zwykle, czyli tonę klimatu, który ważniejszy jest od samej akcji, jednak i ta nie rozczarowuje (zważywszy na to co Leto II odwala w 2/3 książki). Nie obyło się bez profetyzmu, działań pokierowanych tylko bohaterom znanymi pobudkami, ale na tym etapie bycia obywatelem uniwersum Diuny głęboko wierzę, że to wszystko było spójną całością w głowie autora, a nie sztuczką w stylu deus ex machina, która ma popychać akcję dalej.

ho resistito per 2 volumi, ma ecco qui la 5° stella

ho infine preso posizione riguardo allo stile di Herbert: non mi piace!
troppo "giornalistico", manca di poesia e questo è incredibile perchè considero questi tre libri pura poesia;
la maggior parte delle recensioni positive sull'intero ciclo lo descrive come un opera che parla alla nostra mente, io invece (fino ad ora) penso che parli al cuore (una poesia quindi)

Ho anche deciso che nessun libro è il seguito dell'altro ma che ognuno è uno stand-alone

Ora vado perchè L'imperatore-dio di Dune mi sta chiamando

Enjoyed the political intrigue.
Didnt like the pacing.

Bilim kurgunun kutsal kitabını okudum resmen!

Serinin bir oryantalist havası zaten var ama bu tam bir kutsal kitap havasındaydı. Artık Dune evreninde neler olduğunu az çok anladık.
İkizler de ne çok biliyor yaaa, demekten kendimi alamadım kitap boyunca.
Müeddib dönecek mi? (dönsün mü?)
Vaiz neden geldi?
Hârik'ül-âde aslında kimdi?
İkizlerin planı neydi?
NE DEMEK ÇÖLDE YEŞİLLİK?

"Sorunları çok uzaklarda aramayın. Uzaktaki sorunlar hiç gelmeyebilir. Onun yerine çitlerinizin içindeki kurt ile ilgilenin. Dışarıda dolaşan kurt sürüleri yoktur belki."

❤

I've always held that it's impossible to compare the Dune sequels to the first book but it would be insane to say that they're anything less than excellent in their own right.

It doesn't even matter to me that this particular book was nommed for the Hugo in '77. The fact that we get much more of a look into the hearts and minds of the Fremen, watch the tragedy of Alia unfold with the help of her maternal grandfather, and uncover the secret of the wandering Preacher shouldn't make much of a difference, but it does.

Jessica's transformation is something else. I particularly liked when she became a teacher and when she toyed with her own Gom Jabbar.

But the true stars of this book have got to be the twins. Leto and Ghanima are something special. Almost abominations like their aunt, they both walk a knife's edge and Leto leads the way. She's his rock, but Leto's ultimate choice to follow the Golden Path is ultimately only his to walk.

Mirroring Leto with Paul was amazing in the story. The focus on timelines either forking or narrowing down as more and more choices are made really illustrated how prescience is the ultimate trap. Paul absolutely fell into it, but one could make the argument that Leto's choice is the true tragedy.

A TOTALLY awesome tragedy, mind you, with tons of benefits and an even more explosive benefit for the human race to come -- (this is COMPLETELY debatable) -- but it's still a mind experiment and worldbuilding masterpiece that has continued to haunt me since the first time I read it in the late '80s to this very day.

An excellent SF? Well, to me, it's something of a BENCHMARK.

3.5☆ | ‘children of dune’ is the third book in the dune series, and it builds upon the themes introduced in the previous two instalments in a way that i found to be absolutely incredible. where ‘dune’ and ‘dune messiah’ focus on the rise and fall of colonial imperialist paul atreides, in book 3, we refocus on the effects of colonisation on the ecology and landscape of dune.

arrakis begins transforming. the desert planet’s metamorphosis into a green world with water poses a risk to essential life like sandworms. we see dune developed: buildings, roads, and plants. what seems to be a symbol of evolution and progression quickly descends into an allegory of colonial rule and the erasure of indigenous lands and ways of life. it’s haunting to see this world become something it should've never been, and ‘children of dune’ primarily focuses on the consequences of this change. 

this series feels so current and urgent. it's messaging on the horrors of colonisation, religious fervour and politics, flawed and corrupt power systems, and the erasure of indigenous lifestyles, is something that we're witnessing right now in parts of our world. this series and it's ideas feel more relevant than ever.

i’ve seen a lot of people critique the character development in this book, and i completely disagree. i found the complexity of certain characters—alia, specifically—to be mind-blowing. the layers of these characters and the way they fit into the wider universe and into the environment have been so carefully considered. alia has to be one of the most compelling characters i’ve read in a LONG time. i could write an entire essay on her alone.

however, i did have some issues actually reading this book. i struggled with the first chunk; it took me roughly 200 pages to fall into the story. i think herbert is an incredible author, but this instalment did feel like a book of riddles at times. herbert writes in a way where everything feels excessively ambiguous. his vagueness has a tendency to get in the way of the plot. for those reasons, this was a 3.5/75☆ for the majority of the story. however, that last third was absolutely insane, and i couldn’t not give it a higher rating.

overall, ‘children of dune’ is the end of an era. the new slowly, reluctantly, erases the old. the direction this series is going in is completely unprecedented (but i'm very much a fan). each book gets weirder and weirder and i am beyond excited to see what happens next!!

Not gonna lie..... I didn't finish Dune expecting Paul's would-be son to morph into a tyrannical sandworm that will rule Dune for 4000 years but here we are.