Leggero miglioramento rispetto al quarto volume della serie (L'imperatore-dio di Dune), ma molto lontano dal capolavoro iniziale. L'aspetto positivo è dato dalla maggiore presenza di azione ed avventura e molto meno pensieri filosofici. Tuttavia è molto lontano dal tempo di Dune (migliaia di anni dopo) ed è quasi interamente popolato di nuovi personaggi (lato positivo che movimenta la storia), che però non spiccano per caratteristiche (salvo il solo Miles Teg). Il ghola di Duncan Idaho funge da collante tra vecchio e nuovo mondo. La storia non ha picchi particolari, molti aspetti li ho trovati eccessivi e poco interessanti e la conclusione non ha nulla di travolgente.

The fifth novel of the Dune series takes place 1,500 years after the events of "God Emperor of Dune". Leto II has become the sandworms of Dune, each containing a tiny shard of his thoughts. The Golden Path has caused humanity to expand to the stars beyond the known space of Leto's universe. This is called the Scattering. In Heretics, they return.

The Bene Gesserit find their biggest threat in the form of Honored Matres, corrupted Reverend Mothers with different powers and skill sets. As the awesome character of Miles Teg, former Supreme Bashar tries to protect a young, and very special, ghola of Duncan Idaho. While on Dune (now called Rakis) a young girl, Sheena, has aamzing powers and is able to control the sandworms of Dune.

This book really gets into how humanity has changed and evolved since the time of Leto II. His Golden Path is still effective, even if humanity doesn't seem to realize it. But this is an excellent look into not only how the Bene Gesserit operate and fight, but also a great look into the Teliaxlu as well.

There is a great deal of action and some rather deep philosophical ideas. The sheer scope of time that has passed makes for fascinating reading and this is an excellent book. A classic of the sci-fi genre.

Well, I thought The God Emperor of Dune was bad, but in Heretics of Dune, it got worse. Somehow full of even more misogyny than the previous novel and now with a dusting of anti-progressive political vitriol, this book is a dumpster fire in my opinion. I am not looking forward to reading Chapterhouse: Dune, I will only do so because of my stubborn resolve to not leave a series unfinished, but after that, thankfully I will be done.

You seldom learn the names of the truly wealthy and powerful. You see only their spokesmen. The political arena makes a few exceptions to this but does not reveal the full power structure.

Each of these dune novels is different from the rest, this one takes place 1500 years after the last one and 4500 years after the events of the first book.
Heretics of dune delves deeper into the inner workings of the bene gesserit order, the tleilaxu and yet another Duncan Idaho gola. Through an endless series of political machinations the bene gesserit order attempts to come out on top of a power game against humans returning from deep space, looking to conquer the old empire.

This is probably the best written book of the series but it left me with more questions than answers. Is anyone totally clear on what the golden path is? To make humans immune to prescience? To shake things up and make humanity change? To make it stagnant so it won’t destroy itself? To make more people with super powers? What’s the deal with Duncan? What’s the deal with Miles Teg? What’s the deal with sheeana ? It seemed like this was all building up to something that didn’t happen or I missed some stuff. I’m wondering if the last book is a direct sequel to this but it’s probably another huge time jump. I may have to read this again sometime and I guess I’m locked in for chapterhouse: dune at this point.

Una vuelta al sabor clásico de la trilogía original. Después de Dios emperador de Dune tenía mis dudas con seguir o no con la saga, ya que aquel libro se sumergía demasiado en los pensamientos filosóficos de Leto y su senda de oro resultando de lo más abstracto.
En este quinto volumen de la saga se retoma la acción que caracterizaba la primera trilogía y eso se agradece. Los libros de Dune siguen adoleciendo de paginitis y Herbert nos cuenta en muchas páginas lo que podría hacer en pocas, dotandole de dinamismo a su saga. De echo juntando los tres volumenes de la segunda trilogía en un solo tomo de unas 700 páginas le habría quedado otra obra maestra.
En este libro en particular me ha agradado conocer más sobre los Tleilaxu y la Benne gesserit, dos facciones que en los otros libros pedían protagonismo a gritos. Los personajes femeninos: Taraza, Odrade y Sheanna demuestran ser muy poderosos e inteligentes y sobre ellos descansa buena parte de la trama. Por otra parte, tenemos otro ghola de Duncan Idaho, al que no dejan descansar en paz y a Myles Teg, uno de los mejores personajes de la saga, que me ha dejado alucinado con esas últimas escenas peleando por su vida en la fábrica Harkonnen. Por otra parte, las honoradas matres, el reverso tenebroso y sexual de la Benne Gesserit viene a ser un enemigo perfecto que puede deparar muchas sorpresas. Lo único que no me ha gustado del libro es que hay tantas traiciones que al final te preguntas por los objetivos reales de los personajes y tampoco me sirve utilizar lo de " Leto ya lo predijo" para ventilarse esta questión.
Con ganas de continuar aunque me daré un descansito porque estos libros exigen atención.

Was this better than God Emperor of Dune? Yes. Was it also kinda meh? Yes.

Three stars for Sheeana and Duncan, and Sheeana and Duncan ONLY.

Dievas kurdamas savo maketą turėjo galvoj mažiau info nei ponas Herbert. Ir dievo vizija, duotam pirminiam gamybiniam etape, dar kitaip Version 1.0, įtraukė mažiau savaiminio vystymosi matricų ir komplikuotus santykius turinčių organizacinių gardelių, nei rašytojo sukūrusio šią milijardus pasaulių, milijardų milijardus gyvybių ir begalybes idėjų vienijančią visumą. Man labai patinka ši futuristinė filosofinė pasaka, kuri duokdieve kadanors bus mūsų ateitis. #LEBooks #Recom #HereticOfDune #Dune #FrankHerbert

Intre Children of Dune si God Emperor of Dune, time gap.
Intre God Emperor of Dune si Heretics of Dune, timp gap.
Prima data m-a deranjat deoarece in fiecare carte apar personaje noi pe care le vedem doar in acea carte, dar ca sa dezvolti universul acesta, iti trebuie acesti ani lipsa. Herbert nu a dezamagit nici aici, iar la cum se termina cartea... phew, abia astept sa incep Chapterhouse: Dune.

To be honest, I finished reading this part, overpowering my “I don’t want”, I put the squeeze on just for show, tormented yourself, so to speak. Perhaps, if I had not had only one book left before the end of the cycle, then with a probability of 99% I would have abandoned the series.

If the fourth part still somehow liked me, but disappointed because of the high expectations I had too high, then the fifth is just some kind of unreasonably long book that pours everything from empty to empty, and is focused on the study of sexual acts, but at the same time, "Heretics of Dune" often tries to convince the reader that this is a serious matter, because the characters with pathos already familiar from previous books talk about how important it is to own an empire through bed.

While reading, I rolled my eyes so often that I lost count. Everything described is kind of surreal, and only the parts with Duncan and Sheeana gave me a tiny incentive to finish this book.

The worst part of Dune Chronicles has been found, and I can only cross my fists and hope that the sixth volume will at least slightly improve the whole situation, without leaving me bitter disappointment in the end, because I love the first trilogy immensely, and sincerely do not want to say goodbye to this world on such a false note.

Reading is at your own risk. There is little interesting here, and if we are really serious, then purely out of curiosity, you can only read the epigraphs to the chapters and the chapters themselves where Duncan appears. The grandfather drags the corpse of this unhappily, but on the example of this miracle it is not in vain - he is the only one here who develops curious problems.

Had trouble paying attention all throughout.

I often complain about series and deride their success but here I am reading a series and I think I understand the attraction: escapism, pure and simple. As the pages turned I smiled, recognizing Bene Gesserit (now with more fully described superhuman powers – like Jedi), Duncan Idaho, and yes even the great worms. I surrounded myself, wrapped up like a great cozy blanket, in the familiarity of the world building and closed the door to this reality. I think maybe that is why series are so popular, it is a chance to shut the door, close the windows and embrace another world.

As Heretics of Dune begins, the reign of “the Tyrant” Leto II, the God-Emperor has been over for 1,500 years and has replaced the Butlerian Jihad as a back-story myth and Paul Muab dib and the Lady Jessica have taken the roles of a far distant savior and holy mother. The void left by the death of God-Emperor and the collapse of his empire resulted in the Scattering, a universal diaspora of humanity that provides Herbert an opportunity to re-tool his already complex world building and now various groups vie for power: Bene Gesserit, Bene Thleilaxu, Ix, Guild, Rakis priests and the emergence of a new and ruthless power, the Honored Matres. Heretics also contains a reference to ancient Vincent van Gogh paintings and frequent references to Christian text and old Earth allusions. Heretics also introduces one of the more charismatic and interesting characters in the series: Miles Teg, a mentat military genius trained by the Bene Gesserit.

Herbert was a market adaptive best-selling author and a long-range visionary genius. Heretics is a throwback to the mysterious, espionage, court intrigue and machinations of the original Dune. While the series had lagged somewhat under the great worm God Emperor Leto II, Heretics revives the complexity that made Dune so attractive to readers. Herbert uses a very entertaining science fiction story as a vehicle to examine and explore politics, religion, economics, sociology, myth and military science.

There were three years between the time I put down God Emperor of Dune and when I finally came back around to finish the series. Heretics of Dune has revitalized my interest in Herbert’s fine work with Dune.

*** 2021 reread -

Somewhere I had opined that this book was almost as good as the brilliant first book and I again adopt that opinion.

While I revised my opinion of the fourth book, God Emperor of Dune, to better appreciate Herbert's great vision, my opinion of this fine work continues to be high.

Miles Teg is truly one of Herbert's great Dune characters and his interactions with the Honored Matres, particularly the final scenes where he displays superhuman abilities are some of the series best.

While the original six should be read in order, this is something of a reset and I'll want to revisit this one again.

Five books in and I'm still worrying every time I pick the next one up that THIS will be the one that ruins the Dune Chronicles for me. So far that has not happened thankfully. Every Dune book has been unique but also very engaging. Herbet always seems to find a way to awe me and keep me guessing until the very end, that is what I love about this series and I'm actually quite sad that I only have one left.

"One of the most dangerous things in the universe is an ignorant people with real grievances. That is nowhere near as dangerous, however, as an informed and intelligent society with grievances."

This installment read VERY differently from God Emperor of Dune. This one had the same mass volume of intrigue that Herbet always serves up so well but there was also a butt ton of action in this installment as well. Often times in a Dune book the main focus is the political scheming and the action happens off page. It was a unique choice but it works. In Heretics of Dune we got equal parts action and intrigue which added a level of adrenaline fueled reading that I love but I'm not used to in these books. If you are unsure about continuing on with the series after all the navel gazing that was God Emperor of Dune I am here to say definitely give it a shot there is a good chance you won't be disappointed.

"For the in-between universe where we find our daily lives, that which you believe is a dominant force. Your beliefs order the unfolding of daily events. If enough of us believe, a new thing can be made to exist. Belief structure creates a filter through which chaos is sifted into order."