Customer Reviews

Heretics of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 5)

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In Heretics of Dune, Frank Herbert takes us fifteen hundred years after the previous book and well over four thousand years beyond the original trilogy. The God Emperor is gone, the Atreides clan has faded from its former prominence, and, as always, there are a number of groups struggling for dominance.

With so many specialized types of humans and prolonged lifespans, it is not overly surprising that civilization has not undergone any truly drastic changes since Leto II's transformation. This book focuses on the Bene Gesserit, the sisterhood who have grand designs for humanity. Among others jockeying for power are the Tleilaxu who have mastered biology in other fashions. More dangerous still are the Honored Matres, a powerful organization that is a dark doppleganger of the Bene Gesserit.

Of course, there is another Duncan Idaho who is a pawn in all this scheming, but the most interesting characters are Miles Teg - a master warrior called out of retirement to mentor Duncan - and Sheeanna, a young girl who can command the sand worms of Rakis (the former Arrakis). Sheanna is probably the most refreshing character this series has had in a while; she behaves like a real child, and isn't a grand schemer unlike every other character.

This is still good science fiction. Dune/Rakis/Arrakis is not as central as in previous books, and the role of sex is much more important, at times even overshadowing the spice. At first, the story is a bit disorienting - there are no familiar characters until Duncan appears - but things pick up quickly enough. All the Dune books conclude with a new order imposed on the galaxy and this book is no exception. What that new order is, however, is for the reader to find out.

The Dune series is not always easy to read, but it is a complex and worthwhile classic of science fiction. For those who have enjoyed the previous books, this book will continue the pleasure.

I bought this book along with Chapterhouse: Dune (which I have just started) mainly in order to finish the series. Dune itself had disappointed me initially - it is hard for a book to live up to a blurb like "Dune is the finest, most widely acclaimed science fiction novel of this century. Huge in scope, towering in concept, it is a work which will live in the reader's imagination for the rest of his life"! However, I enjoyed it more on later, more careful readings. I was somewhat depressed by Dune Messiah but thoroughly enjoyed Children of Dune, which made more sense (maybe I was just older and wiser when I came to read it). Then came God Emperor of Dune. Oh dear. The main problem with this book was that I couldn't understand why anyone did what they did. I couldn't fathom what this big universal plan for the future of humanity was and what had happened to it at the end - not knowing, of course, that much of what had happened was part of the plan, which was still going on! In Heretics of Dune, the Dune series acquires a new set of bad guys, or rather girls, in the form of the Honoured Matres. However, the familiar ingredients are all in place - everyone double and triple-crosses everyone else, surprises come thick and fast and the underlying scheme is unseen until the end. As in Children of Dune, a slow-burning beginning filled with much scheming, confusion and philosophising suddenly leads to a whirlwind, shocking ending which I doubt I could have expected without reading the back of Chapterhouse (tip: don't buy Chapterhouse until you finish Heretics!). I feel that it is the characters who make each Dune story work or otherwise. In God Emperor, for example, the characters' motivations are hard to see - they do things which make no sense with no explanation. In Heretics, on the other hand, the characters' backgrounds are fleshed out by their remembrances, which helps to make their actions seem more sensible. Chapterhouse awaits, and no doubt all will be revealed.......or, more probably, not.

This book is good to read. I enjoyed reading it, but now, looking back, I'm not sure why. Because, once you finish the second trilogy, you realise that Heretics Of Dune is actually just a long, long run up to the final book.

But even so, a lot happens here, and now, not having any Atreides from the initial Dune nuclear family to follow, we see the universe from the Bene Gesserit point of view. And something strange happens. We begin to like them.

Up until now the Bene Gesserit have been a hindrance or a nuisance. They even tried to have Paul Atreides killed off more than once in the first trilogy. But now, after the Tyrant Leto's lesson, they are a changing people. And they are a sisterhood fighting to stay in touch, for Leto's universal shake-up caused a mingling of humanity that has resulted in a band of fearsome women called Honoured Matres. And the Honoured Matres don't have anything but digust for the Bene Gesserit.

And so begins a plot to... do something. For all the way along we are kept as confused as the main characters. Only the Bene Gesserit's Mother Superior knows what the final objective is, and she's not telling anyone anything they don't need to know. Even the people executing her plan don't know what it is they're ultimately aiming for, and this does add to the intrigue.

This is a great book, despite it becoming so obvious that the real ending will be found within the next book: Chapterhouse Dune. Although Chapterhouse would make little sense without first reading Heretics Of Dune - so read it.

Just as "Dune" and "Dune Messiah" were two books which comprised one story, "Heretics of Dune" and "Chapterhouse Dune" make up a two book story.

It is 1500 years after the Tyrant, Leto II was killed. Arrakis, now called Rakis, which Leto had transformed into a lush paradise (and thus killed the worms that supplied Spice) is turning back to a desert, complete with sandworms. Following Leto's death, humankind went to the four corners of the universe, in something called "The Scattering". Now, some of them are returning, in the form of the Honored Matres, wild women who practice sexual enslavement of men, and seem intent on destroying, utterly, anyone who opposes them.

The only ones who have any hope of opposing them are the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood who are involved in a project, raising yet another ghola of Duncan Idaho on the planet of Gammu.

"Heretics" is an exciting story which focuses on the Bene Gesserits, giving a far more sympathetic portrayal of them than we have yet seen. Two of my favorite characters are introduced in this book: Miles Teg, the sisterhood's military advisor, and Darwi Odrade, a reverend mother who is somewhat of a heretic in the Sisterhood because of her refusal to fully abandon love and sentiment, which are strongly discouraged by the Bene Gesserits.

This book recaptures some of the adventure seen in "Dune" and "Children of Dune," and has many warm, interesting, and compelling characters. Herbert tries to portray more of what everyday life is like in the Dune universe, trying hard to depict several cities, and how "average" people go about their lives. Perhaps it is because I am not used to seeing such depictions in his books, but I don't think these worked entirely, and I had a hard time envisioning what he described.

The Honored Matres, on the other hand, I had no trouble visualizing. What great villains! They are sinister and genuinely menacing villains, the likes of which we have not seen since the House Harkkonen in the original "Dune."

The ending of the book was too rushed, for my tastes, Herbert glossed over most of the actual battles with the Honored Matres. There was something of a cliffhanger ending, at the end, which is sad, because the book's sequal, "Chapterhouse Dune" was very disappointing, capturing almost none of this book's appeal.

This is a thrilling novel, pitting the Bene Gesserit against a new enemy, the Honored Matres. Obviously there must be some relationship between an order of women devoted to politics and breeding stock (Bene Gesserit=Well Bred) and a group of fearsome fighting women who unlike the Bene Gesserit, seem not to be addicted to the Spice. The Spice is that drug that creates the ability to see past and future and all the lives encapsulated in one's genes. It's now even more valuable as Rakis (once Arrakis) no longer produces the quantities of Spice as before.

And what happened to the Fish Speakers, God Emperor Leto's army after the Diaspora, that time he had forseen when men would be scattered throughout the universe and once again re-invent humanity. Did they become the Honored Matres? Or are the Honored Matres something else?

We get a new character here in the style of Paul Atreides, maybe even more successful than Paul; Miles Teg. A descendant of Paul, he is a born general and vital to the Bene Gesserit in their desperate fight to hold onto their worlds against the Honored Matres onslaught. And Duncan Idaho is reborn yet again, this time to serve the Bene Gesserit as he served the Atreides in the past.

This book is almost as good as the original Dune, and its successor, Chapterhouse Dune is equally good. Together they make for an exciting set of science fiction novels.

The first Dune was great... then, it seemed, that the further the series went on, the action was replaced by philosophical rantings. Well, Heretics of Dune returns to the style of the original Dune... plenty of action, not too much philosophy. All of the characters from the first four books (except the constantly recurring Duncan Idaho) are dead, but Herbert brings in a host of cool new characters, such as bashar Miles Teg, the Bene Gesserit Sisters Odrade, Lucilla, and Taraza, and the Tleilaxu Master Waff. Even though I really didn't like the Bene Gesserit before reading this book, Herbert gets you to like them in this one. He also elaborates a LOT on the society of the Tleilaxu, who were only briefly mentioned for the Face Dancers and the Idaho gholas in the other books. If you liked the original Dune, you'll love this one.

The progression went like this. First we had the great Dune, then the lame Dune Messiah, then the slightly better Children of Dune.

And God Emperor of Dune was the worst of the series.

Some claim that from there, the series became just a bunch of philosophical rants. Well, this is true for God Emperor, but if ANYONE tries to say this about Heretics, I'll tell them to actually READ the book, THEN say that! There is about as much philosophy here as there was in the first Dune... theres some every once in awhile, but usually its used meaningfully in a discussion, and besides doesn't happen often anyway.

Heres another new one: the Characters' personality traits are ESTABLISHED, for once! No more random personality-changes! Herbert actually seemed to of planned this one! In fact, there was only one, ONLY ONE, event in the whole book that seemed like random conjecture... Near the end when Teg, by coincidence, meets alot of old military comrades who are extremely loyal to the point that they overlook that they retired and come under his command again.

Also, the Tleilaxu, which were simply plot devices in the earlier books, actually have some IMPORTANCE, and their Axlotl tanks are part of a sub-plot.

This book ain't quite perfect though. One, The Bene Gesserit have a new enemy to worry about... the Honored Matres, who conquer by being seductive. What's the problem? Teg, Lucille, and some other chaarcters alone manage to defeat a good amount of them... and rather easily. The Matres don't seem like much of an enemy to me.

Also, all the chaarcters except Duncan Idaho are all-new. However some of them seem more like resurrections of older characters than anything else (Miles Teg=Paul Atreides). I personally thought this book would have been alot better if, instead of taking place a millenia later, We were still on ARrakis follwing Paul, not the after-effects of the faceless drone known as Leto II.

Another thing I hate is the renaming of all the planets and cities. Arrakis is now Rakis, Caladan is now Dan. Giedi Prime is now Gammu, Arrakeen is now Keen. What the hell is up with this? This is explained in a one-liner: "Time tends to shorten titles" oh please. Colorado is Colorado, you don't see it shortened to "Rado" do you?

But anyway, none of these flaws are big enough to really lower it down to Dune Messiah level (Two Stars) or God Emperor level (One star). They do, however, keep it from being perfect.

Read the first one, get a Dune fan to sum up Messiah, Children, and God Emperor for you (Actually I could do all three right now) and skip to Heretics.

Now, I really must get through with Chapterhouse....

I've been following the Dune Saga for some years now. The first book, "Dune", was by far the best of them all. Frank Herbert introduced us to the intrigueing world of great families fighting on a small but crucial planet called Dune, home of the spice.

When I finished "Dune" I couldn't wait to see what would happen to Paul Atreides "Muad'Dib", Chani, etc. Unfortunately, "Dune Messiah" was so disappointing. It seemed as if the author, run out of ideas, wished to "kill" Paul as quickly as possible. And so he did. "The Children of Dune" was enjoyable and "God Emperor of Dune" was by far the worst of the Saga.

However, despite the fourth one, I decided to read "Heretics of Dune". Now that I finished it, I must say that this book is almost as good as the first one. Thousands of years have passed since the death of Leto II and the humanity must cope with the consequences of the "Big Dispersion". All the characters in this book are new, which is a good point. This time, the author chose to focus on the Bene Gesserit Order. The description of the order is much more interesting and deeper than in the previous books. Soon we, the readers, discover that the Bene Gesserit are facing a new enemy, the Honoured Matres, who are in fact a branch of the BG that came back from the "Big Dispersion". The conflicts between the two of them and the plot are highly intrigueing, thus contributing to make this book a real page turner. It is a real fun to read about Rakis, where each corner is carring the memory of the Baron, Jessica, Paul and his children. Another good point is the arrival of a new character, Miles Teg, the Bashar of the Bene Gesserit. Herbert largely describes the old Teg: his thoughts, feelings, victories and loyalty to the order of the BG. While reading about Teg, I had the feeling that the author wanted to compensate his failure with "Dune Messiah". Teg is the image of Paul: a warrior, a lover and a father, who grew old and now has to face many inner conflicts, that each one of us has to face when our life is about to end.

As a matter of conclusion, I would say this book is very good. It has got all the usual stuff: action,love, friendship, philosophy, interesting characters and so on. Pity that it does not come right after "Dune". I can assure you that you can start with "Dune" and skip right to "Heretics of Dune". Trust me. The three previous ones are not as good and you won't miss a thing!

HERBERT thought deeply and had the talent to incorporate it into a remarkable series.

This book is very good in its own right, with more in depth characterisations. It "humanises" the Bene Gesserit sisters, allowing readers to care abou their fate.

Great read.

This was a disappointment. The first fifty pages are sequences of endless flaskbacks. Herbert's idea of improving his characterizations is apparently going over their cliche-ridden childhoods and describing them directly in the process. The "philosophy" was artificial and thrown into the book to make readers feel intelligent. And what was the philosophy? Never limit yourself or your own power will destroy you by inviting opposition? Never allow "dependency infrastructure" to exist, while yourself becoming a "key log?" Always channel energies, which are easily tapped by religions? None of it has to do with the story, which is a ridiculous and implausible mix of futuristic technology indistinguishable from magic, bizarre mind-body lessons, and religions opposing the Bene Gesserit on the grounds of heresy. (And apparently, Jessica must have been an acolyte. I had always assumed she was some intermediate stage when they referred to her as a sister.)