Customer Reviews

Dune Messiah

5 star:		(91)
4 star:		(63)
3 star:		(33)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Dune Messiah suffers in the general consensus from being plot-driven and extremely complex; for readers who take the time and effort to delve into its themes and characters, it is one of the greatest sci-fi books of all time. Messiah is not so much a sequel to Dune as it is a companion; it is impossible to fully understand the themes, motivations, and implications of the original Dune (or any of the others, even) without reading and comprehending Dune Messiah. Herbert takes his average hero from the first book and shapes him into a realistic, faulted human -- ironic considering Paul's decidedly abnormal powers. Finally, we see Muad'dib as he really is: torn by his position as emperor, cursed by his vision of the future, yet still capable of his duties to kingdom and family. His ultimate fate sums up a masterful, twisted analogy to the life of Christ. This is also the incredible origin of Duncan...the Duncan you will come to know throughout the other books. Messiah is not for the faint of heart though. If you can't handle a lot of philosophy, just keep walking. Some points in Dune Messiah are so profound that I had to quit reading and just spend a couple minutes thinking about what Herbert means. What a rare treat that is; I can honestly say that Dune Messiah changed the way I think about things, about life. If you give it a chance, it may just do the same for you.

The first time a read Dune: Messiah I was more than a little disappointed. By when I re-read Dune I also re-read Dune: Messiah. This was the first time I'd read them back-to-back, and I realized that Dune: Messiah was actually the conclusion to Dune and not a seperate book. As a stand alone book it's barely passable, as a sequal it's worth 3-stars, but as the fourth part of the first book it's a perfect conclusion. Dune was divided into 3 parts (called books) and the last ends with a nice Hollywood ending. Dune: Messiah shows the real conclusion to Paul's Life and the real consequences of his actions in the rest of the book. I think Herbert had to end the first book with Paul on top of the Universe because that is what reader's want, but Messsiah is a more somber look at what it means to have power. After I had re-read Dune and Dune: Messiah, I came across used cliff notes for Dune, and I noticed that it had an essay which treated to two books as one and compared them to a Greek epic pointing out that Greek epics didn't end when the hero was on top, but continued to the end of the hero's life. With the inclusion of Dune: Messiah, Dune now tells us the complete story of Paul's life, and what an incredible story it is. Do not read this book, rather read Dune and this book together.

One of the problems with a sequel is that it must contend with the preconceptions of readers, who have ideas about where the plot should go. Never mind what the author thinks, thank you very much. In this case, the handicap is what we think Should Happen to Paul after all he's gone through in Dune. Isn't this the time for them to ride off into the sunset? It would be really great to think that he is a wonderful guy, marries Chani and lives happily ever after. A lot of the reviews of this second volume in the encyclopedic Dune series seem to yearn for it. Sorry, we have to disappoint you.

Imagine for a moment that you are the son of a pretty influential guy, that you are pretty happy in your present home, and dad's boss sends him on a wild goose chase after a fortune, hoping, no Planning, that you fail, in order that he can secure a fortune, kill your whole family, and discredit your name forever. Now imagine that you narrowly escape, head off to exile where you are treated with suspicion, alternately an outsider and then as a god. In taking your revenge, you acquire the most important commodity in the universe, and you acquire the status of cult hero living god and emperor of the universe. Do you really think that you would be Mr. Nice Guy after all that?

If one looks at Dune in this light, what happens in this sequel, Dune Messiah seems right. Your relcuctant bride, Irulan, is sure to be bitter, and want only to be the bearer of the next emperor. If you are Bene Geserit, you would do anything to interfere with Paul. If you are from one of the conquered worlds, you very likely not be happy about this bitter guy being emperor. If you are of the spacing guild you won't be happy about him having control of the spice. If you are a Paul disciple, you are going to die for him and the heck with anyone else. Thus the fight card is set: Paul and his cult vs. all his detractors, virtually everyone in the universe. Mr. Herbert gives us the blow-by-blow in a relatively compact synopsis.

Perhaps the above is a bit too obtuse. Suffice it to say that if you expect to find Mr. Wonderful hero in this, you should look elsewhere. Likewise if you need a warm and fuzzy romance or a shootemup space opera, you may not want to venture here. But if you want to explore the logical consequences of the price of power, and the bitterness it generates, this is just the ticket. I have read and reread this series at different times of my life, and each time am amazed at what I find new in each reading. Mr. Herbert holds up well beside so-called "legitimate" authors, and is head and shoulders above most of our current fantasy crop. Read this book and the rest of the series with an open mind and be amazed.

I read Dune over three years ago, and naturally I loved it. When I tried to read Dune Messiah I couldn't, I found it boring, and felt that the main character was now too old.
Recently, I reread Dune and continued on through to Dune Messiah, reading both in only two weeks.
Dune Messiah is really just a continuation of the first, and it delivers a 'triumphant tragedy' that is makes a fitting end to the life of a Messiah.
Paul is thirty now (not very old at all), and the Jihad he feared so much is serving the purpose it is supposed to, mingling the genes of humanity and ending the stagnation that existing under the old Imperial system. He has been made both an Emporer and a God, and Alia leads his religion. Pilgrims come in their thousands to Arrakis to experience his Holyness.
However, there are many who plot against him. The Bene Gesserit wish to destroy Paul before he has the chance to establish an Atreides dynasty and regain the precious genes they worked so hard to create. The Fremen long for the old ways when water was precious and Arrakis was theirs. The Bene Tleilax want to gain a kwisatz haderach they can control, and the priests of Maud'Dib's own religion wish to make a martyr of him.
And with his prescience, Paul sees disaster for all man kind unless he follows one set path of the future, but is he willing to pay the price that comes with that future?
The plots that surround Paul are intriguing in their own right, but more intriguing is the development of Paul himself. Or rather, Paul's realisation that what he has created leads to its own stagnation. His powers also develop somewhat, making him an even more realistic Messiah, and finally, it ends in what is in many ways a tragedy, I certainly left this book feeling sad, but it is also in many ways a triumph.
I do not feel that this revelation spoils the book, because it could be sumised because of the Messianic nature of Paul, and because from the very begining of this book, all paths lead to a tragedy in one form or another.
Once I got over the initial depression, I realised that this book perfected the Messiah story begun in Dune, and together they make one of the best works of literature ever. I feel that the two must be considered as one story.

The epic story of the Atreides line is continued with Frank Herbert's Dune Messiah. Although the origional Dune was far better, this book still stands out as one of the greatest science fiction works of all time. Herbert creates a world so far advanced in the future that it boggles the mind. Dune Messiah places a slightly larger emphasis on the vast abilities of the mind, especially with Paul's ability to see through oracular vision after he was blinded by the stone burner. Herbert appears to become estranged from the action adventure themes of Dune and more involved with philosophy. This makes it harder to read, as opposed to the effortless flow of Dune. However this book is nessecary for anyone who read Dune, to satisfy their craving for the rest of the story. This is where most of Herbert's acclaims origionated. I beleive he saw this as an immediate reacction to the work, and decided to leave the reader in just as much suspense as before at the end of the book. This ending makes up for any of the flaws contained in this book when compared to Dune, and I am now on the third book in the series, Children of Dune. It's looking about the same.

As many have noted, this second work veers into an entirely new direction than the first book. Whereas "Dune" reeked of war and heroism and epic events on a grand scale, this one is more intimate, almost inwardly perspective. It is not in any way a clone of the first novel but a continuation of the story.

The operative word is in the title, "Messiah". Both the first and the second novels are presentations of the hope of almost every ancient civilization: A mighty man of goodness will appear and smite the sinners while elevating the downtrodden. The way this prophecy coincides with the ancient breeding program of the Bene Geseret witches is the heart of the first novel. Although the author obviously favors Arabic/Islamic motifs, the personal story of Paul is more that of Jesus than Mohammed...the curious birth, the one who does not understand his own mission, the teacher and alas, the one who dies for the sins of the world.

Like all Messiahs, the teachings are sublimated as the focus of the cult becomes the person. Despite protests, the object of worship becomes the man himself. Casual sayings are codified into a creed that followers misinterpret or translate to support an existing structure. This path may be inevitable since it is far easier to worship someone that follow their advice. Paul, like Mohammed, excels in bloodshed and his adopted Fremen have conquered the Universe in a Holy War to end all wars. The old adage, "An evil act is justified by its ultimate goal, " plays out repeatedly in this novel. The Fremen have their Messiah yet nothing really changes, people are still the same inside - only the externals have varied.

The palace intrigues are more subtle, the dialogue elevated to a new plane, the philosophical arena larger. Like Islam, the cult becomes a hereditary institution whose power remains in the family. Once again, the story of the witches captivates and enthralls and ones attitude toward Paul's siter becomes one of pity at her helplessness.

This is not an easy book to start out with but a necessary one for the series itself.

You might think this book is awful after just reading it... This may be because it's a very sudden change from adventure / action to political intrigue and complex storyline. I don't know, personally I loved it, and I thought it was excellent, if not the best, until I read God Emperor of Dune. My advice to you is: you might not fully understand some of Paul's actions until you've read , Children of Dune & God Emperor of Dune. You have yet to discover what that terrible fate consists of, and how small Paul can be compared to his son Leto II.

What I don't aprove at ALL are those people saying "I didn't like this book, don't read it and don't read any book after the first/second/and so on". Besides, even when you might not like Dune Messiah's complexity or Children of Dune's super-human theory, it doesn't mean you won't like the rest of the series. This is different for every reader. I personally love Dune Messiah and God Emperor of Dune, because of their complexity. Others may prefer Dune or Children of Dune because of having adventure/action. It's up to you: Dune is a very balanced series and it's impossible to love every single book, or to determine which one is the best.

Anyway, we have to admit Frank Herbert had a prodigal brain... how did he do to imagine an entire planet's ecology, an entirely different human society, such a distant future? Dune universe is practically perfect!

The sequel to the brilliant "Dune", "Dune Messiah" continues the story of Paul Atreides Muad'Dib, leader of the Fremen and Emperor of the Universe. This time, though, the story is less epic: The Harkonens have been defeated and a corrupt Emperor has been cast away from his throne, the precious spice is now being distributed by necessary quantities and the Bene Gesserit have gained Paul's entire mistrust.

This time we are told about a spiritually hurt Paul Atreides, a man who still cannot come to fully grasp the devastating power his god-like nature has on the psyche of those who worship him as a Messiah. Paul's attempts to stop the bloody jihad set in motion by his messianic reign are futile and his minions seem to enjoy the bloody massacre just for the sake of killing, using Paul's image solely as a shield, an excuse for mindless slaughter. Worst yet, his prescient powers have shown him the terrible future that awaits humanity, and the horrible alternative, a sacrifice so monstrous not even the Kwizats Haderach dares face. Meanwhile, a conspiracy against Paul's life is being cooked among a wide number of people, ranging from government agents to retired fedaykin warriors.

Many judge this to be the worst among the Dune books, but personally I find it a very good read because we have a more direct chance to take a deeper look at Paul's disturbed mind. A worthy little book filled with surprises.

Frank Herbert's DUNE was an incredible peice of work, and it left me begging for more...however, after finishing the second installment of the DUNE series, Dune Messiah, I was was left rather dissapointed, and felt as though this peticular book could really have been much better than what it was. It seemed a little rushed, as if Frank Herbert didn't put in as much time into this one as he did with the first, but don't lose hope -- this book is still good reading, and thought provoking. If you loved Dune, you'll want to read this book too.

I would NOT recommend this UNLESS you've read the the first book in the series. In my mind this book is not as great as the original "Dune," but is extremely well-written, imaginative, inventive, and does a good job expanding the Dune universe and its mythology. If you're into great sci-fi that intelligently deals with politics, religion, philosophy, ecology (and other -ologies too numerous to mention), you can't go wrong with the Dune books...