Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Dune Messiah

Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2020

Messiah is a bit of a dividing book, but then again so are all the books that followed Frank Herbert's Dune. Dune is an all-time sci-fi classic, unimpeachable thanks to its vast influence over other a broad range of media. Messiah? Not as much.

What is Messiah about? Set 12 years after Dune, Messiah is about the world Paul-Muad'dib set in motion in the first book. You see the ramifications of his decisions, and you get quite a bit of pontificating about the nature of fate. Can the fortune-tellers of Dune really affect the future, or are they only catching glimpses of a destiny that already awaits them? That's what this book is really about.

What makes Messiah different? Messiah takes the political subtext that was a big part of Dune, and elevates that aspect of the story until it nearly excludes the other portions. You're not going to get the same big battles, the fascinating technology, the brand-new ecologies. A lot of fans of Dune were really into that book book because of those far-future technological aspects, so they find this book strangely lacking. In Messiah you get what is almost an alternate-universe political treatise with oblique only references to the technologies of the first book. It's one part philosophy, one part politics, and really only a splash of far-future science fiction for flavor.

Is Messiah good? I think it's so-so. At half the length of Dune, it's certainly not as epic in scope. Dune was not slow in pace, so that page count really does mean something. Messiah is by comparison just a short treatise. It's not bad, but it really doesn't expand on the Dune universe in a way that I was hoping for. I love the politics, but Herbet really skimped on the rest of the book getting there. If you padded out this book to Dune's length by inserting those action scenes back in, I might like it more. Repeatedly having characters wander from room to room pontificating while offhandedly mentioning the genocide of dozens of planets at a go does leave room for some exploration into that latter part of the story.

Is Messiah worth reading? I'm in the process of re-reading the Dune novels before the upcoming movie, so at the moment I'm solidly in the camp of saying it's fine to stop with Dune. I have vague memories of Messiah and Children and Chapterhouse, and I found the whole thing underwhelming. People often say God Emperor is worth the trip, but having been so long since I read it and obviously since that book didn't stick with me, I'm not sure I agree. Maybe my mood will change after going through the series again but from where I stand - either stop at Dune, or buckle in for the whole series. Messiah is definitely more along the lines of the rest of the series. There's a lot of politics and philosophy ahead, so maybe that will help you decide if you want to go on.

Overall: Messiah is okay. There's a reason people only talk about Dune, and not its sequel books. This is in stark contrast to something like Lord of the Rings, where people almost exclusively talk about the series (or at least the main trilogy) as a whole. Messiah isn't bad, but it also differs from its predecessor in fundamental ways. There's less action, less technology, and more philosophy. If that's your bag, maybe Messiah is for you.

177 people found this helpful

Helpful

Kim

The unsettling decline of Dune's "Messiah"

Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2019

Verified Purchase

First off, the cover art for this series is amazing. The colors and page-layout are perfect. The only thing that might be off-putting is that the sequels don't match the same size as the first book. Maybe its because I bought the first book at Barnes and Noble? But the smaller and more compact size is actually quite nice and feels like you're breezing through pages faster.

What to say about Dune Messiah that hasn't already been said? Well, it turns out Frank Herbert was making controversial decisions before George RR Martin. He takes the "messiah/heroic archetype" and flips it on top of its head. In a brilliant way, nothing happens the way you think it's going to happen, not even for our protagonist, Paul Atreides. But wait, how is that possible? Paul Atreides, Muad'Dib, a trained mentat, the male equivalent to a Reverand Mother, the Kwisatz Haderach who can see endless possibilities, doesn't have all the answers? This is why you should read Dune Messiah. It shows the internal struggle and isolation of a man (Paul) and his sister (Alia) being treated as god-like figures, but Frank Herbert does a great job reminding us that they're still human, which makes them relatable and easy to empathize with.

The conspiracy surrounding Paul's Imperium is most compelling, the thoughts and discoveries from our beloved characters are engaging, and the philosophy that Frank Herbert communicates through his story-telling is even more thought-provoking than the first book. Everything about this book just kept propelling me forward.

I found Dune Messiah to be a near-perfect sequel that greatly expounds on ideas that were introduced in the first book. But it also reveals many new ideas and teaches new things to the reader. One of the greatest joys I take from this series is how much I learn, and Frank Herbert has a lot to teach and expound upon through his characters. You'd be selling yourself short if you didn't continue reading the series.

85 people found this helpful

Helpful

fox

Difficult to read at times

Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2021

Verified Purchase

If Dune was 5 stars then even 2 stars is generous for this installment in the series. More than 2/3 of this book was just characters repetitively musing about the foreseen future (and I do mean repetitively, repetitively, repetitively, repetitively) and/or spewing political and religious views of the author. I felt like I wasn't so much reading a story as being held captive while the author shoved his ideology down my throat. There were some good parts, though. Any time Duncan Idaho was the main point of focus the story became interesting. I guess that's because these were the only times an actual story was being told. After slogging through the first 1/2 of the book I found myself scrolling through all the political and philosophical diatribe until Duncan popped up again and I assure I felt like I missed absolutely nothing in terms of plot development. Nice twist at the end and thankfully the book was quite short. I've read reviews for the next books in the series and it seems like the author commits even further to abandoning story telling in favor of preaching about politics and religion. So for me, I will be forever grateful for Dune and not totally upset about Messiah (I think it's worth reading, if only to get closure on characters from the first book and not feel like I'm missing out by not going further in the series) but this is where I'll stop. I buy Sci fi books for the interesting stories. These books would be better classified under politics and religion.

18 people found this helpful

Helpful

Jeff F

Difficult sequel.

Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2016

Verified Purchase

This first sequel to Dune is only about 330 pages long, but it's still a dense and complex read. Dune Messiah picks up the story of Paul Maud'Dib 12 years after Dune, now the Emperor of the Known Universe- and as powerless as he ever. While a challenging read, Dune Messiah lacks the narrative drive of its predecessor, since there is no longer compelling villains like the Harkonnens to help propel the story forward and keep things moving. Plot threads and characters from the original that were implied to be of great importance in the future only warrant a brief mention or are totally ignored; likewise, Dune Messiah continues Herbert's tendency from the original to not depict major events or plot twists, but leave them only to discussion after the fact The original Dune, for all its thematic complexity, was still a fairly straightforward "hero leads a rebellion against evil villains" tale; in the sequel, there is a conspiracy in place against Paul Maud'Dib, but the novel spends more time on philosophical discussion than it does on investigating and unmasking this conspiracy. There is, however, a lengthy section of the novel about 2/3 of the way through, which sees the main character going out in disguise among the people, deliberately walking into a trap, and fully aware of how events will proceed due to his unique prescient abilities - this section alone is some of the finest crafted storytelling I've ever read, and it alone resuscitated the novel. (Or awakened the Sleeper, if you're a hardcore Dune fan.) Dune Messiah is a quick read, despite the denseness of the work. It's still worth reading, but at times it feels more like an epilogue to a more compelling story that preceded it. (Think less Empire Strikes Back and more Scouring of the Shire from Lord of the Rings.)

103 people found this helpful

Helpful

Bryan DesmondTop Contributor: Dragon Ball Z (TV Show)

He will become one with the desert. The desert will fulfill him.

Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2019

Verified Purchase

Dune Messiah is an inevitability. It is the necessary byproduct of the swirling events of the original novel. It is the ruin bred of the marrying of religion and government under one mythic, all-seeing leader. Muad'dib's Jihad is a thing of recent memory; it raged under the Atreides black and green for twelve years. The Jihad is past, but its effects are not. When destiny meets terrible purpose. When myth meets man and all is swept away in the name of righteousness. When the future reveals itself to you.. can you change it? Can you do anything when the eddies of Time grip you, other than cling for dear life and hope the path you've chosen was the right one?

Twelve years after the Jihad began, it comes to an end. But rampant unrest throughout the universal Empire is just beginning to brew. Concealed conspiracies against the deified Muad'dib.. there are those who crave the old days, the old ways of the desert.

Dune Messiah is a worthy successor. From the very first chapter the feeling of the novel is instilled in the reader; plans within plans within plans. Right away we are witness to pieces of Herbert's universe that we have never seen, or were perhaps only mentioned in the first novel. Guild Navigators. Tleilaxu Face Dancers. Wallach IX. There is a heady sense that there is much more to discover here; that we can go deeper. And I think at least part of the reason I enjoyed this read so much was that I already knew and was accepting of the fact that do not witness Paul's Jihad. It's a skipped piece of story. Knowing this ahead of time, I was no longer so put off by its absence. I was able to enjoy the sequel for what it is, rather than what I though it should have been. It's a brilliant piece of writing. Frank's prowess is on full display in all sorts of conversational interplay, merciless statecraft, and deep, insightful characterization. Herbert's characters are phenomenal; be the new ones like Scytale, or old like Paul and Alia. Paul's development in Dune Messiah is every bit as interesting as in Dune, as he wrestles internally with all that his Empire, and his Oracle, has wrought.

15 people found this helpful

Helpful

KEVIN M. OCONNOR

A Dense Work that doesn't reveal all of its secrets in one Reading

Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2018

Verified Purchase

I read the first novel in 1984. Not sure why I didn't jump right into the second back then. Now I've read the second novel. I had a rough idea of where the plot would go from watching the Children of Dune miniseries on SyFy, but of course, the series couldn't touch the intellectual content of the original source material. In the forward, the author's son tells the reader that many people were disappointed by this first sequel when it was first published, and I can understand why. Paul seems to have achieved total victory at the end of the first novel. In the opening pages of the sequel we see that his reign is anything but benevolent, and by the end of the novel all we can really say is that things could have gone worse for the "hero" of the first book. We certainly didn't get any kind of repeat of the unqualified happy ending of the first installment.

Still, I really enjoyed it. My only complaint is that the author never made it really clear why Paul was powerless to stop the galactic jihad being waged in his name. If anyone can point me to any scholarship on this, I would be grateful.

24 people found this helpful

Helpful

Expands Upon the Original's Themes

Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2019

Verified Purchase

Frank Herbert’s “Dune Messiah” begins twelve years after the events of “Dune,” with Paul “Muad’Dib” Atreides ruling as Emperor and having accepted his role of messiah to the Fremen. As a result of this, he began his own jihad and has conquered most of the universe. The Bene Gesserit, the Spacing Guild, and the Tleilaxu begin a conspiracy to usurp Paul’s power, with Bene Gesserit Reverand Mother Gaius Helen Mohaim enlisting the aid of Princess Irulan, Paul’s consort through whom he legally claims the throne, although he refuses to unite their houses by having a child with her, nor does he treat her with any kind of warmth. Instead, Paul wants his offspring to be Fremen, born from his love for his concubine Chani. Irulan is secretly giving Chani contraceptives to prevent this, but Chani switches her diet, thereby eliminating Irulan’s ability to poison her food.

Paul finds his prescience muddled by the acts of a Guild Navigator, while his sister, whom the Fremen revere as a goddess, likewise finds her abilities limited due to the introduction and popularity of tarot, which creates too many variables in peoples’ decisions. Duncan Idaho, who died in the previous novel, returns in the form of a ghola duplicate manufactured by the Tleilaxu to gain access to Paul and further direct his acts. Learning that Fremen may be involved in the conspiracy, Paul goes to investigate, but is blinded by an atomic weapon the conspirators use to cover their tracks. From that point on, he walks in prophecy trying to navigate the variables to the best future.

Much of this story serves to set up future events, while continuing the themes of ecological science-fiction and Orientalism that characterized the previous book. The connections between “Dune Messiah” and its sequel, “Children of Dune,” led the Sci-Fi Channel to combine the two into a single miniseries in 2003 while the Science Fiction Book Club published the two books in one volume in 2002. Those who thoroughly enjoyed the tone and themes of Herbert’s first novel will enjoy this follow-up.

10 people found this helpful

Helpful

J. L. GribbleTop Contributor: Fantasy Books

Different from Dune, but continues a fascinating journey through this immersive galaxy

Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2018

Verified Purchase

Picking up a sequel 13 years after reading the first book should have made the book completely inaccessible. However, a quick trip through the Dune Wikipedia entry and I was ready to go. So ready, in fact, that I devoured this book in 2 days, whereas I remember Dune taking closer to 2 weeks.

I also remember, while reading the first installment in this series, needing to have a glass of water with me the entire time I read -- and feeling incredibly guilty for every sip I took. The sequel created less of an immersive feel, but the world-building is still insanely detailed. A touch inaccessible a times, but showing how well Herbert knows his world(s) and doling out information only as the reader needs it.

For an epic science-fantasy, there was a lot of sitting around and talking in this book. But when the talking is about managing a world-spanning galactic invasion and a conspiracy to destroy that invasion from within, the lack of "traditional" action is never felt. Things still end with a bang (literally), as the tensions mount and mount.

I definitely understand why this book was combined with its sequel when SyFy made its second miniseries. However, as much as I love that miniseries, I also found that I thoroughly enjoyed the philosophical meanderings in this book about what it means to be a man -- and a god. I'm very glad that I read this, even over a decade after my introduction to Herbert's amazing universe.

12 people found this helpful

Helpful

Joe G.

While reading this book my mind is drawn and quartered a thousand times.

Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2020

Verified Purchase

Frank Herbert is something else. While reading this book my mind is drawn and quartered a thousand times. It is pushed and pulled this way and that. I am like a child grasping for meaning, knowing it is there but just out of reach. On the edge of understanding, I sit, in awe of what might be on the other side. Comprehension, just out of reach and yet in the back of my mind, it has been there the whole time. The words are new but they make sense, like some dream that tries to incorporate elements that seem, at first, to be disconnected, only to discover later, maybe after a day or two of contemplation, that the meaning was there amidst the confusion. Then, he brings you back. Frank Herbert, the man that sent you down the rabbit hole is there holding your hand and makes everything clear.

Dune Messiah is the second in the Dune series and it is a wonderful rollercoaster. One minute I'm trying to follow the story and figure out what is happening, what might happen, and then the next minute I'm lost in the jargon and intrigue of a world I barely know. The internal ruminations of the characters, the dialogue, and the world that Frank Herbert created is so thoroughly it's own that it is like turning on a documentary from an alien world at an alien time. As much as it is unfamiliar it is just familiar enough to cause a fury of excitement and suspense. The intrigue is palpable and enticing. It keeps you going and gives you hope.

In this, the second story about the desert planet known as Dune, we take up the story of Paul Atreides, AKA Muad 'Dib AKA Usul, AKA the ruler of the known universe. The book starts about twelve years after the end of the first Dune book. We find that with the help of violence, religious ideology, his prescient sister Alia, his Fremen soldiers, and his monopoly over the invaluable resource known as melange, Paul has brought his form of justice and leadership to all. He is known by some as a god and by others as a devil. He is not unaware of this duality and is plagued by his own doubt about the legacy that he is creating.

Paul tackles internal and external threats to his dynasty but with his powers of foresight, he seems to be one step ahead of his enemies. While he attempts to root out the spies in his midst he is also dealing with the matter of his succession plan. Chani, his concubine and true love, is pregnant and there are many who want to take advantage of her vulnerability and Paul's potential weakness toward her. He knows who to trust but he doesn't always know if he can trust himself and by the end, the true plot is revealed. Will Paul fall to the wiles of his enemies or will he continue his violent conquest? Read to find out!

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Melynda Wangsness

"The hearts of all men dwell in the same wilderness."

Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2021

Verified Purchase

A much quicker read than Dune at about half the length. Not quite as satisfying of a read but does scratch the itch for more of the Dune universe and does it in a wonderfully bite sized portion.

Way less action, replaced with deep and interesting political and religious challenges. This book does a wonderful job of staying true to Paul while also bringing to light the dark side of government, religion, and the mixing of the two.

Definitely kept my interest in the Dune universe and I'm excited to jump into the next book!

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

5 star		63%
4 star		24%
3 star		10%
2 star		2%
1 star		1%

Dune Messiah

›

Customer reviews

Customer reviews

Dune Messiah

Top positive review

Top critical review

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From the United States

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

Dune Messiah › Customer reviews

Customer reviews

Dune Messiah

Top positive review

Top critical review

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From the United States

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

Dune Messiah

›

Customer reviews