My friend warned me: it goes down after the first book. But I couldnt help myself and ordered this trilogy the day after finishing Dune. I was not interested as much in the plot, which can dawdle on forever like so many once-great sci-fi series, but rather in how Frank Herbert continued exploring the big ideas of Dune: the Middle East/Dune parallels, Church-State, climate change, the competing myth creations of Paul vs the BG...

Book II (Dune Messiah) is the fall of Paul and Book III (Children of Dune) focuses on the Atreides who were born on Dune (Paul's sister Alia, and Paul's twins). From a reading of other reviews, many people apparently lost interest at book II; however, I was drawn in by the new characters and intrigued by the big arc of Paul's willing self-destruction. The plot was not as compelling as Dune, but it also was not leaning on the the archetypal outline of the child-turned-hero myth. So as I began book II, I thought that my friend's judgment was off: while the trilogy was not equal parts greatness, it was building upon the masterpiece into something more.

Book III got off to a promising start, with new characters (Farad'n, the grandson of the former Shaddah Emperor, and his entourage) and a more abstract focus on the dangers inherent in all of the "children of Dune" as a result of their having been born with a multiplicity of personalities and memories. Leto emerges as the protagonist, who is seeking a path that will correct the errors of his father.

At this point, I was still hooked. "What does he see that Paul did not?" "How will this insight shift my understanding of the big issues?" But then, slowly, Leto's thoughts and philosophy became harder for me to follow. Is the Golden Path Leto's rule or Farad'n (who is described with plenty of gold imagery)? Is Leto prescient or has he avoided that temptation? By destroying the qanats, isnt Leto turning the planet back to dessert and thereby saving the worms, but if so, why will the worms die in 100 years? Harum??

It was this muddying of the big issues that left me dissatisfied, because if those had stayed coherent in my head (which may be the fault of my reading and not the writing), then I might not have found some of the plot twists so absurd (Leto becoming a worm) or the personality changes unconvincing (Paul to Preacher; Alia to Abomination).

So I wont be reading any more Dune books, but I could see myself coming back to this series again and giving the third book another chance. I'd love to find that I had missed subtleties and that Herbert's grand vision was simply too all-encompassing for me to take in at first try.

A classic that had to be read

This book is the first 3 of the Dune trilogy, and encompasses the world Frank Herbert has created, and from this book many of our favourite authors have been inspired, and this reason alone gives it the fourth star. However I have only read the first book in this 3 in 1 book, so that will be the part of the book I will be reviewing. As revolutionary as this book was there are a few things I didn't enjoy or would have enjoyed more of! Like the battle scenes, I LOVE a good epic battle and all through the book its leading you to this supposedly massive showdown, what I got was the final preparations and then a cut scene to the emperor ( more on that a bit later) then bam battle is over, Paul has won and then we get a one on one battle with the nephew of the man that killed Paul's father and left him and his mother to die in the desert! I was a bit underwhelmed and disappointed, but it was a decent fight but not the epic end i was expecting.
I felt that the large majority of characters except Paul and his mother were really more 2D? The woman Paul falls for who births his first child you would think would be more of main character but really she feels more on the periphery of everything and only pulled out when needed to push the story along or to add to Paul's character, but wasn't enough to be a real individual in the story. The same with the Stilgar he is meant to fill a void in Paul world after he lost his father, Duncan and for a large part of the story Thufir and Gurney, but we have the start of their relationship then a jump into the future where they are close friends but we are there for none of the building of this relationship which again only adds to Paul's character but nothing to his own.
The villains of this adventure are the The Baron and The Emperor, you certainly see and hear more of The Baron throughout this story, he is the face of the forces facing Paul but behind that is The Emperor, who almost seems mythological at times and you never see or year from him until the very end of the book. This gave me this very anticlimactic feeling, along with the lack of epic battle made me feel that the ending was rushed and kinda thrown together, but did bring a close to the current story and closed off the loose ends.
The Baron is the only homosexual character in the book and given he is the bad guy shows the era in which this book was written, and is often used as an excuse about why he can't create heirs of his own, which is why his nephew is so important to him! Though I find it strange that in a world where they can travel the stars and have shown ability to manipulate  control DNA they can't figure out a way for him to create his own heir, but I think that also shows the limits and some taboo subjects at the time it was written. The way The Baron was killed was again not what I expected but I don't think it was a bad end, He died at the hands of the child whose father he killed, not Paul like I was hoping for, though was a very fitting end to such a man.
The women in this novel are difficult for me to describe they are full of contradictions! The woman of the sand tribes they are all meant to be strong, fierce, wild, warriors ( to an extent) but when Paul kills a member of the tribe in one on one combat he becomes the keeper of the fallen tribesmen wife and child, free to have her as a wife or as a serving woman, and there are a few scenes especially one spoken of at the end of the book although we don't get to see the battle itself that they are as fierce, loyal protectors but still subservient to the men of the tribe.
The Bene Gesserit are a key religious force in the book and from my understanding master manipulators that put plans in place hundreds of years before seeing the benefits but they also collect the genetic material of those they feel are useful or have useful genetic traits that they wish to keep and use, even The Emperor listens to their advice. They also have certain abilities that allow them to see current presents and futures( to a certain extent) and have an ability called The Voice and when they use it they can command anyone to do anything. So these woman have power but are manipulators.
These views of women in the 1960/70s are quite unusual, to have them shown with physical prowess of battle of the sand tribes or the supernatural abilities of The Bene Gesserit were not common.
I did like this book very much but as shown above there was a lot i would have liked more of, more character building more to the battles, not having such a huge time gap! I think despite it being a sci-fi book of the future it is also a book of its time. I'm glad I read it but won't be reading any more books of the series.

(3.5/5)

So. After nearly a month, I am DONE with the Great Dune Trilogy, at last!

One thing to make clear: I'm glad I read it. In terms of scale and cultural legacy, it wouldn't feel wrong to call this SciFi's Lord of the Rings. It's huge, not just in terms of page but when you look at the worldbuilding, the dynasties created, the plot that spans decades. It's also extremely interesting.

My main problem was one of taste: I'm not really into mysticism. As much as I loved the first part of the first book, a lot of the rest... I wouldn't say lost me, but just didn't thrill me as much. And even though I can see why this is amazing, it just didn't amaze me personally.

Also, even though I do like time skips in general, I found the discrepancies between the two points often jarring, especially between Dune and Dune Messiah. There's so much that happens, so much character development that we don't get to see and struggle to understand. How did Paul get from where he was, psychologically speaking, at the end of Dune, to the start of Dune Messiah? Reading the two back to back, I couldn't really reconcile it.

In fact, it may not be so much about time skip as about character development itself. But that would require a lot of spoilers to be discussed in depth, so I'll stop there now.

I'm not sure if I'll ever read more about this world. I'm not entirely closing the door on it. I just think it may not be exactly for me, or at least not at this point in time.

Great world building. Too much sand