This was... not good. I had great difficulty getting into the story and while it improved in the second act, I never felt invested in the new characters and overall plot. This really feels like a saga continuing beyond its main potential. I want to finish Frank Herbert's part of the series and thus have one entry to go, but I hope it's more enjoyable than Heretics of Dune.

It speaks volumes of this book that up until the last six pages I had absolutely no idea what the endgame was; yet throughout, I was riveted to the page. Herbert's ability to introduce you to a pre-existing world with all of its complexities and idiosyncrasies without telling you a damned thing is at its best in Heretics of Dune, which delineates the decline of the God Emperor's vast domain over which he reigned as a Tyrant for 3500 years.

Organizations at varying degrees of the grotesque, clandestine and corrupt compete for supremacy against each other as well as those returning from "the Scattering," a vast exodus of mankind after the Tyrant's fall. A young girl named Sheeana, who can control the Sandworms, comes to notice, and then power on Rakis. Duncan Idaho is reincarnated yet again. And still, the march of the Atreides family through history continues on, and the mankind continues to advance along along Leto II's "Golden Path," the enigmatic course of action by which he has safeguarded mankind from ultimate catastrophe and, thus, extinction. An excellent and worthy episode in the series.

4,5 ⭐ Heretici Dine smješteni su negdje 1500 god nakon vladavine božanskog cara tiranina Leta II. Nakon njegove smrti, čovječanstvo se raspršilo izvan granica poznatog svemira te se sada neki vraćaju u područje Starog carstva s osvajačkim tendencijama. Prvenstveno Časne majke, frakcija sestrinstva Bene Gesserit koja se u dalekim prostranstvima razvila u posebno opasnu silu koja pomalo osvaja stare planete.
Dok se "stare" Bene Gesserit na Gammuu (bivši harkonnenski Giedi Prime) bave novim Duncan Idaho ghola projektom, s Rakkisa (bivši Arrakis) dolaze vijesti o Sheeani, djevojci koja može zapovijedati crvima. Da, crvi su se vratili, jer je nakon Letove smrti i njegovog "podijeljenja" Rakkis ponovno postao pustinjski planet. Njen intro u priču (skupa s onim bashara Milesa Tega) bio mi je jedan od najboljih u serijalu.
Miles Teg, vrhovni bashar, zapovjednik BG vojske, pozvan je iz mirovine ne bi li trenirao novog Duncana Idaha i, kada za to dođe vrijeme, probudio u gholi sva sjećanja na prošle živote. Dio u kojem se to dogodi je tako dobro opisan i težina koju obojica pritom osjećaju je gotovo opipljiva i nekako me preplavio nalet emocija. Općenito sve što se ticalo Duncana je meni van svake pameti, ali nitko ne tvrdi da je dobro to što rade. Štoviše, neki se tome čak i protive. Ali pijuni su pijuni. Dok odjednom nisu.
Miles Teg je meni jedan od naj likova, a tu su i najnoviji Duncan Idaho ghola, nepredvidljiva BG Darwi Odrade, zanimljivi Tleilaxu Waff, Lucilla i ostala paleta intrigantnih likova.
Zanimljivo mi je bilo otkrivati tajnu agendu Bene Tleilaxa, pa novu BG frakciju i old school BG koje se nalaze pred nedoumicom i prekretnicom - sačuvati sestrinstvo ili čovječanstvo.
Kao i u svakoj od knjiga iz serijala Dina, ni ovdje ne postoji jasna razlika između dobra i zla, postoje spletke za opstanak i protivljenje osvajanju, biranje između većeg i manjeg zla. Nema previše mjesta za osjećaje u tom svijetu iako svaki lik izaziva neku vrstu osjećaja, od divljenja pa sve do gađenja.
Moram reći iskreno da nisam mislila da će mi se nakon Dine svidjeti ikoja od ostalih knjiga, a na kraju je ispalo sve suprotno mojim očekivanjima. Nastavljam dalje na zadnji nastavak Frankovog serijala.

3.5⭐️

“Noble purpose” was, after all, an untranslatable experience. But when she looked down at the rough, heat-immune hide of that worm from the Rakian desert, Odrade knew what she saw: the visible evidence of noble purpose. Softly, she called down to him: “Hey! Old worm! Was this your design?”

Dune is one of those series I love with all my heart but also honestly don’t follow 60% of the time. I supplement this gap with podcasts and Youtube videos that break some events down and go into detail about various aspects of the Duneverse (and I’m already aching to reread the series and get a better grasp with the help of this further understanding). Bit of a strange studying for fun method of reading but it’s so rewarding and is part of my falling more and more in love with these books.

Further thoughts I’m too lazy to expand upon

• I will always say Shai-Hulud because I am sandworm OBSESSED
• I want to be a Fremen
• Sheeana can control the worms and is who I want to be
• The same things are said about Bene Gesserit as Aes Sedai in Wheel of Time except its untrue in the case of Aes Sedai and painfully true of the Bene Gesserit.

Yürüme erki kimin elindeyse kanunlar daima onun yanındadır. Bu işin ahlakla ya da hukuki ayrıntılarla pek ilgisi yoktur. Tüm mesele şudur: Güç kimde?
.
Dune serisine devam ediyorum. Aslında 2022'nin son kitabı olacakken 2023'ün ilk kitabı oldu. Dune serisine çok severek başladım ve her kitabında beğenim biraz daha azaldı. 5. kitapta kendimi çok zorlayarak ilerledim. Konuya adapte olmakta ciddi anlamda zorluk yaşadım, Sheeana dışındaki karakterleri umursamadım bile. 4. kitabın 1500 yıl sonrasında geçiyor yani büyük bir zaman aralığı mevcut ki bu aslında bir sıkıntı olmasa da sevdiğim karakterlerin geçmişte kalmış olması üzücü. Açıkçası bir yerden sonra neler olup bittiği bile benim için önemsiz hale geldi. Bunun tek sebebi benim kitapla anlaşamamış olmam değil aynı zamanda yazarın farklı bir ruh halinde olması. Frank Herbert derin ve düşünülmüş bir evren oluşturmak istemiş ve bence bunu başarabilmiş de. Her kitapta farklı detayları öğreniyoruz. Bu kitapta Lucilla ilginçti doğrusu. Herbert bu kitabı yazarken hasta eşiyle tam zamanlı olarak ilgileniyormuş. Hem hastabakıcı hem eş hem de yazar olarak oldukça yorucu bir dönemden geçmiş. Dune Sapkınları'da bunun bir sonucunu oluşturmuş. Yine de ilk serinin son kitabını okuyacağım neler olacağını öğrenmek istiyorum ve bu kadar ilerlemişken seriyi bırakmayı istemiyorum.

what the fuck, frank...

After the long philosophical rambling disguised as a novel that was the last book, I hadn't much interest in continuing the series. Yet, the trailer came out for the new Dune movie, and I had a choice, reread the first Dune novel or continue the series. With only two books left written by the father, it seemed a shame to leave it unfinished. I chose to continue the series, and feel like this, as well as the series after the first, were both mistakes.

There is little doubt in my mind the first Dune book(which was meant to be a trilogy in of itself) was meant to be the only book. Messiah was still good, if unnecessary. I remember not disliking Children of Dune, except for the ending. God Emperor was just barely above a one star review, and this book, while better, made me sad. The grand vision that was Dune seems like little more than a money grab to me now. In my heart, the series isn't a series at all but a single novel that ended with Paul as emperor and the knowledge of the Jihad to come.

Well, I guess I could talk a bit about this book specifically now that my morose ramblings are at an end. The characters were pretty decent, the most memorable ones since the first book. Other than that though, I was bored and slightly appalled throughout. It's quite obvious things are made up as he goes along, and ideas conflict with earlier ideas in the previous books.

The whole sex addiction making slaves of an empire comes across as little more than silly fetishism to me and doesn't work in my mind. Humanity is and has never been, an entirely sexual nor heterosexual species. The idea that sex can be so damn good with these women, that any man that has it is a slave for life made me grimace.

There were plot conveniences throughout. Seemingly insurmountable enemies were suddenly given a glaring weakness, or the good guys were just as suddenly given an unexpected power or ally. The ending in particular was rife with convenient escapes.

Now, there are flashes of that original Dune brilliance, some neat quotes and ideas here and there. Plus, as I said, the characters were well done for the most part. Everything else though, made it hard to finish this book. Will I read the final Frank Herbert Dune book? Probably, it seems almost silly to stop here, but I really wish he had stopped with Dune. Some prequel novels might have been fun, but that's really all I can see being necessary. Everything after Dune takes away from Paul's prescience and design for the universe.

In some ways, Heretics of Dune marks a significant departure from the previous installments in the Dune series. The plot is no longer focused on the Atreides family, but instead on the Bene Gesserit and its struggle for survival. Yet at the same time, it is a clear return to the original storytelling style of the first book. Rather than the pages and pages of philosophy present in God Emperor, Herbert has written a much more action-driven novel that further explores political powers and characters in the Duniverse.

Perhaps this is why at first, the reader may find themselves quickly tearing through the novel. I personally was eager to read more in depth about the Bene Gesserit, Bene Tleilaxu, and other inhabitants of Herbert's world, and interested to see what had become of Dune 1500 years after the reign of Leto II. Herbert's talent for imagining and creating a fascinating vision of the future of humankind cannot be questioned. On Dune, now known as Rakis, we are also introduced to Sheeana, an intriguing character who can command the sandworms, and thus soon commands the attention of the Rakian priests and the Sisterhood.

Sheeana's life seems destined to become intertwined with Duncan Idaho's, the ghola once again revived by the Sisterhood for the apparent sole purpose of "breeding" with Sheeana. For the majority of the book, we are led to believe that their timelines are connected and important.

But the book really isn't about them at all, and in fact it's hard to tell exactly who the book is supposed to be about. At first, it seems to be the Bene Gesserit institution as a whole, but the focus switches several times throughout, leaving the reader without a clear reason to follow any of the characters. The subplots are all evidently meant to tie in together, but instead become convoluted and confusing. Too much is left unclear to form a coherent plot. For instance, Sheeana's significance is never revealed. Was her only purpose as a character to herd a worm to be captured and transplanted off-planet? A rather anticlimactic ending for a character deemed by all other characters as practically a goddess. The reader is too often left asking, "Why?"

Along with the Duncan-Sheeana connection, the biggest mystery of the novel is the hypersexuality. Everything all the characters (with the exception of Teg) do revolves around sexual relations or plans for sexual relations between others. While this theme has been present throughout all of the series, it has mainly remained in the background, with Herbert simply informing the reader that the Bene Gesserit has a breeding plan. Some may have noticed the increased sexuality in God Emperor; in Heretics, it is ramped up to an off-putting and distracting level. Herbert, however, seems too timid or uncomfortable with actually writing about sex. The language skirts around anything explicit until one underwhelming and awkward scene near the end of the book. The effect is one that is just weird, which I'm sure is not what Herbert was going for.

In the end, rather than keeping up the exciting pace found in the beginning, the novel seems to drag on for just a bit too long, as all of the books in the series do. This, in addition to the vague motivations of the plot(s), weakens the book significantly. While I read the first three-fourths of the book in three weeks, I spent the next three slogging through the final fourth. Rather than being eager to begin Chapterhouse: Dune, I instead felt relieved to finally be done with Heretics. Not a feeling a book should leave you with.

By this one, the story is getting a little top heavy. Herbert's writing is as elegant as ever and he is taking his Dune story to wherever he wants to take it, however, the memorable scenes are fewer and farther apart in this rather large, yet epic, volume.

This was the first novel of a new trilogy with apperently the Bene Geserit sisterhood as leading characters who are still involved or lead by the vision of Leto II. There are indeed strong links to the previous Dune books and characters and history.

As always Frank Herbert does seems to really instill a sense of beauty and at the same time mystery in his writing. Something that seems to be lacking in the writing of the continuation writers. And of all the actors in the Dune books I have always had a very strong liking for the Sisterhood since they like Paul & Leto have a larger agenda than most other characters. Herbert does create once again a universe that is interesting and challenging to his readers. He once again creates an exciting new world but yet recognisable from his earlier Duneworlds.

The one thing that I have against the last two Dune novels in this trilogy is that having read them quite a few times he left us on a beautiful cliffhanger and then died. The unfinished novel has been written by his son and Kevin Anderson and those 2(!) books are so unlike the previous 6 Dune novels by Herbert that I do feel that it was not thought out by Frank Herbert at all as is claimed. But still this one and his sister-novel are well worth the read even if they tell in essence only part of a larger tale. For Dune readers essential reading.

2,5/5
Moja silna potrzeba trzymania się czegoś starego, co jest mi już dobrze znane, nieco mnie zgubiła w tym tomie.
Skupiamy się tu na zgromadzeniach żeńskich, a wśród postaci pojawia się tylko jedna z poprzednich tomów. Miałam duży problem, żeby się w niej odnaleźć i stąd tak niska ocena.