God Emperor of Dune. The Leto Experience. The infamous. The impenetrable. It boggles the mind, this book. It is something that my 15 year old self was not ready for. I get something new out of these books each time I read them, and I was especially looking forward to reaching this one, as I have only read the back three books once each. Suffice it to say, reading this book was an entirely different experience this time around.
God Emperor is without a doubt the most divisive book in the series. You sometimes see it hailed as a fan's favorite book in the series, other times as utter drivel that should be the stopping point for all readers. It's interesting, really. I'm not quite ready to claim it as the high point of the series, but I will say that I loved it. And while there were plenty of pieces of this puzzle that still went over my head, so much more of it landed. I am a firm believer that when you read a book is as important as reading it in the first place. And I may not have the memories of my ancestors to call on or a prescient vision to guide me, but I found my right time.
I have been jokingly referring to this book (using Leto's own words) as 'The Leto Experience', rather than its actual title. The entire book is a trip. Truly, it felt like Frank Herbert found a storehouse of the spice melange before writing it and partook heavily during the process. The frame-story is noted by the discovery of the journals of the God Emperor Leto Atreides II, some 1,500 years after his death. The story we read then, is taken from the contents of these journals. This story is 3,500 years after the reign of Paul Muad'dib, and so right away a reader's expectations are blown apart. This is by far the biggest time gap in the series to date, but (once again) it is necessary for the story Frank wants to tell. I (do and) don't want to dive deeper into what the story is about because I think there is something to be said for the discovery by the reader of just how much has changed since the time of Paul. An enforced tranquility hangs over the universe, a suppression of freedom. Leto holds to his Golden Path for the good of mankind, but there are some who name him tyrant.
It must be said though, God Emperor is unlike anything that came before it. It is still unequivocally Dune but... more so. It is dense with knowledge and absolutely stuffed with information. 90% of the book is just dialogue. This did not bother me because among Herbert's many writing strengths I think that conversation is one of his greatest. If conversation bores you though that would be a deal-breaker for this book. I must admit though, it is hard for me to imagine being uninterested in the conversations within. Dialogue between Leto and the Duncans, Leto and Moneo, Leto and Hwi Noree, Leto and Siona, Leto and his ancestral memories, even Leto and his own imagination. I think one has to give it up to Frank Herbert for what he has created in the character Leto Atreides II. I mean, it's hard to imagine a being living for 3,500 years. What a being like that would be like. And yet... Leto feels so believable. One must remember that this isn't just a matter of age, either, but of ancient memory, and intimate knowledge of the future. What would it do to someone to have perfect knowledge of their ancestral memories, going back into time immemorial? What would it be like to be so closely associated with the future of one's universe? You'd grow bored. Emotion would fall away, replaced by an implacable intellectual resolve. You would crave novelty, treasuring every surprise. Herbert represents this state of being remarkably well in Leto. Now, if Dune and Dune Messiah were Herbert showing readers the dangers of a charismatic leader, then God Emperor is him showing us a universal tyrant in the long term. He does this in such a compelling way because he gives us an omniscient look at the why behind Leto. Because rest assured, from almost any other point of view the oppression he serves up to the universe is tyrannical indeed. But, as silly as it sounds, this is tyranny with a purpose. The terrible purpose that Paul brushed up against but could not fulfill. That awful purpose that requires Leto to give up his very humanity to achieve it, for the good of his kind. He is both hated and worshiped for it, and it is completely fascinating.
I can't really do justice to the complex and infinite nature of God Emperor of Dune with a simple Goodreads review, but I would urge potential readers to not be deterred from reading it because of external opinions. I think it is something to be read and judged for oneself. I think this book, more than any other in the series, has Frank himself shine through the pages the clearest. I understand that it bothers people (and frankly the book isn't without its faults, and Frank has a few unfortunate, outdated opinions) but it is an ambitious feat, if nothing else.
"You have faith in life. I know that the courage of love can reside only in this faith."

God Emperor of Dune
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The epic that began with the HUGO and NEBULA Award-winning classic DUNE continues ...More than three thousand years have passed since the first events recorded in DUNE. Only one link survives with those tumultuous times: the grotesque figure of Leto Atreides, son of the prophet Paul Muad'Dib, and now the virtually immortal God Emperor of Dune.He alone understands the future, and he knows with a terrible certainty that the evolution of his race is at an end unless he can breed new qualities into his species.But to achieve his final victory, Leto Atreides must also bring about his own downfall ...
©1981 Frank Herbert (P)2008 Macmillan Audio
- Listening Length15 hours and 48 minutes
- Audible release dateDecember 30, 2007
- LanguageEnglish
- ASINB001CA5UPM
- VersionUnabridged
- Program TypeAudiobook
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Product details
Listening Length | 15 hours and 48 minutes |
---|---|
Author | Frank Herbert |
Narrator | Simon Vance |
Whispersync for Voice | Ready |
Audible.com Release Date | December 30, 2007 |
Publisher | Macmillan Audio |
Program Type | Audiobook |
Version | Unabridged |
Language | English |
ASIN | B001CA5UPM |
Best Sellers Rank | #1,278 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #43 in Space Opera Science Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) #71 in Space Operas #225 in Fantasy (Audible Books & Originals) |
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2.0 out of 5 stars
Physically so much smaller than the preceding book, Children of Dune
Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2022
Both pictures are with the bottom left corners and spine edge aligned. Was this really necessary?? Same series, same publisher, both purchased from Amazon, yet wildly different sizes. The cover material on Children of Dune is nice and textured as well. This book? Nope.I hope the story is better than the physical book design.
Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2022
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 3, 2020
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 8, 2022
This is a book which one should not not feel bad about requiring to read more than once. It is clear that Frank Herbert did not want to plainly state the goal of Leto II, of The Golden Path. This is not without good reason. It took Moneo and Siona’s consumption of the liquid spice essence to share Leto’s Golden Path, so why should the reader comprehend such a thing so easily?
I think the crux of it comes down to the survival of humanity. Leto states that humanity would’ve been extinct by the time of the book, had he not intervened. This can be easy to imagine, as with the dependence on spice, humanity cannot expand beyond the confines of the current empire. Before Paul Atreides ascended the Golden Throne, the Universe was trapped in a stasis revolving around the production, transaction, and consumption of the Spice Melange. It is the Spice which not only confined Paul to his fate, but humanity to their demise.
Thus, Leto II sacrificed his humanity to intervene and act as a predator to force humanity to evolve beyond this dependency. His use of Ixian computers, while covert, foreshadows his ambivalence towards such technologies. He does, however, explicitly condemn living in the likes of machines. Leto is the ultimate scholar of the soul and understands that humans must remain separate from their tools which, however useful, cannot come close to encompassing the essence of a human being.
Once aspect of the book which I have not explored is the significance of Siona and her offspring being hidden from the prescient. Does this mean that time was previously defined as infinite parallels is now ambiguous and constantly being rewritten by those with this new genotype, ultimately evolved by Leto II’s breeding program? I think I’ll have to reread and digest these novels more before being able to grasp these concepts as they always proved the most confusing to me.
Overall I enjoyed this novel. I loved the witty dialogue between Leto II and his subservients, and the layered side characters like Moneo and Duncan Idaho were very interesting to follow on their. Own journeys of self-discovery.
I think the crux of it comes down to the survival of humanity. Leto states that humanity would’ve been extinct by the time of the book, had he not intervened. This can be easy to imagine, as with the dependence on spice, humanity cannot expand beyond the confines of the current empire. Before Paul Atreides ascended the Golden Throne, the Universe was trapped in a stasis revolving around the production, transaction, and consumption of the Spice Melange. It is the Spice which not only confined Paul to his fate, but humanity to their demise.
Thus, Leto II sacrificed his humanity to intervene and act as a predator to force humanity to evolve beyond this dependency. His use of Ixian computers, while covert, foreshadows his ambivalence towards such technologies. He does, however, explicitly condemn living in the likes of machines. Leto is the ultimate scholar of the soul and understands that humans must remain separate from their tools which, however useful, cannot come close to encompassing the essence of a human being.
Once aspect of the book which I have not explored is the significance of Siona and her offspring being hidden from the prescient. Does this mean that time was previously defined as infinite parallels is now ambiguous and constantly being rewritten by those with this new genotype, ultimately evolved by Leto II’s breeding program? I think I’ll have to reread and digest these novels more before being able to grasp these concepts as they always proved the most confusing to me.
Overall I enjoyed this novel. I loved the witty dialogue between Leto II and his subservients, and the layered side characters like Moneo and Duncan Idaho were very interesting to follow on their. Own journeys of self-discovery.
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C Franks
2.0 out of 5 stars
I wish he had left it at Dune
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 24, 2021
After many years I have revisited the Dune series and started to re-read them. Dune remains a classic, the following 2 are not as good but worth a read, but by the forth novel, it’s beginning to get boring. For me the principal problem is that the characters are devoid of any sense of humour; in the case of the Atreides family supremely arrogant, and I have got to the point that I do not like them or care what happens to them. Paul’s son Leto is the worst by far. Also, the action by now has practically ground to a halt, instead you get long drawn out conversations, which I think are supposed to be intricate, clever and revealing, but leave me cold. The thing about great art is that you should know when to stop. If Frank Herbert had stopped at Dune, that would have been great.
8 people found this helpful
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Ventura Angelo
2.0 out of 5 stars
Tedious and implausible
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 22, 2020
The first three Dune books were great, This wass all about a creepy human-worm chimera eternally brooding , organizing his own overthrow between a Duncan Idaho's ghola's unsuccessful killing attempt and the next. How could humanity let himself be oppressed by this tyrant for 3000 years? How could things all remain the same all those centuries? I advise stopping at Children of Dune. Afterwards, the series becomes boring and uninteresting.
6 people found this helpful
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Tahmim Miah
1.0 out of 5 stars
Misleading
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 13, 2022
I was lead to believe I was buying paperback and was excited to read. So much so, I had bought the whole series. After a few days I was worried why it still had not come since amazon's standards very high with delivery dates. I put those worries aside faulting it to premature excitement and anxiety. I decided I would read other material that is lying around in my room. After flicking through last pages of my unread list of books I needed to read something else.
All of a sudden I remembered I had ordered dune and has not still came through. Initially had thought it was delivered to one of the neighbors. So, I checked my account and it says I have already got the series and its in kindle edition. Now I got nothing against digital books but, for me I cannot get invested in story that is digital. I know I would not have made such a purchase.
My point and reason for one star is the misleading UI when it comes to purchasing books on amazon. I am unable to get a refund even though I have not downloaded any of the books. I usually purchase books from waterstone however, I wanted to read dune as quick as possible and amazon do very fast delivery. I should be able to refund a digital copy of something it is in the digital still sealed and untouched as I have not downloaded it.
All of a sudden I remembered I had ordered dune and has not still came through. Initially had thought it was delivered to one of the neighbors. So, I checked my account and it says I have already got the series and its in kindle edition. Now I got nothing against digital books but, for me I cannot get invested in story that is digital. I know I would not have made such a purchase.
My point and reason for one star is the misleading UI when it comes to purchasing books on amazon. I am unable to get a refund even though I have not downloaded any of the books. I usually purchase books from waterstone however, I wanted to read dune as quick as possible and amazon do very fast delivery. I should be able to refund a digital copy of something it is in the digital still sealed and untouched as I have not downloaded it.
2 people found this helpful
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bigredni
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another fascinating story
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 27, 2022
I will not lie. I find these hard to read. I love the story and the fascinating world building and deep characters.. but my eyes glaze over long passages as the characters ramble on about some deep reflection or holy jihad. I wish i had the brain to understand what in the hell half of it meant.. but i dont. Still i can appreciate the over all story and i absolutely loved the original Dune trilogy for its overall story and i cannot wait to continue reading this trilogy
2 people found this helpful
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Rajiv S.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another reminder of why the Dune series is highly regarded.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 12, 2021
I just admit it was difficult to appreciate at first as it’s set so long after the dune trilogy. The world and characters seem alien but the more you read the more you start to appreciate it as a stand-alone piece of work.
Leto is such an complex character and so far removed from the young boy in children of Dune. Tyrant, dictator, saviour, lover, monster and still yet still human.
Leto is such an complex character and so far removed from the young boy in children of Dune. Tyrant, dictator, saviour, lover, monster and still yet still human.
3 people found this helpful
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