The Dune series continues on. There are two well known facts about the dune series.
- Dune (the original) is a central classic of the scifi genre
- Each book becomes steadily less readable
With that being said - and with that being my expectation coming in - I have to say I was surprised by this book. I would certainly say I liked it. It might even be my favorite book in the series so far.;
audible gasp.
Now that may be going too far, but I do think that it is the first time in the series where I really felt grounded. One of the love/hate aspects of Dune is that the series is immersive. It really doesn't spend much time explaining itself to you, and when it does it often leaves you with more questions as to what is going on. But now at book three I feel like I am beginning to have a grasp on the Paul Muad'Dib's universe and that allowed me to enjoy a well paced story.
I do not have to be what my father was. I do not have to obey my father's rules or even believe everything he believed. It is my strength as a human that I can make my own choices of what to believe and what not to believe, of what to be and what not to be.
It has several story lines and competing tensions. There are the children Leto and Ghanima, and their path together and separate. There is the storyline of Alia and her descent into madness - and I think a tragic story since we know that Alia suffered a overbearing weight even before she was born. And there is the story of House Corrino and their goal to reascend to the Lion throne.
As in the others, Herbert always makes you feel that the story is headed in an inevitable direction. The prescience of the characters means they are acting out a plot that they know will come to fruition. But despite that, the storyline still surprised me at turns. And I think that quality - of the character's certainty, but the reader's guesses - that make the Dune series so interesting to read.
The purpose of argument is to change the nature of truth.
Now I have some complaints as well. In a lot of ways it feels like the whole universe is just being made up on the fly. What are the rules? Well I'm not sure really because, as I said earlier, nothing is ever really explained adequately. So when crazy things happen I'm not sure if it's inconsistent, or I just didn't understand an earlier point, or if it is a brilliant development.
Overall though, I'd say the first three books in this series have all been well worth the read. I've already purchased the next two, so we'll have to see if that holds up much longer!