This is the third book of the Dune series! It very much focuses on the next generation of the Atreides dynasty and the challenges of dynastic rule. How to revive your government and simultaneously build loyalty amongst your followers? Are revolutions inevitable? Does an establishment religion corrupt itself? What happens when power is too absolute?
I enjoyed the new dynastic politics and some of the new characters, but at the same time, you do constantly get drawn in by the charisma of the original characters. (Some are still hanging on…).
I think the further you go into the series, there’s a growing tension between the original setup of Dune and how the Fremen society develops. Funnily enough, that’s also a question the characters themselves grapple with.
What I really enjoyed in this book is the more in-depth understanding of the planet ecology and some of the mythology becoming clearer. It’s nice to go on that journey. The usual spiritual interludes also persist – something else I quite enjoy. I’ve always been a big fan of metatexts and intertextuality, so I like the inserts of Arrakeen and other scripture.
Herbert definitely doesn’t explain things in a front loaded way: there’s a lot of finding things out as you go along, adding an interesting element of mystery to the series.
I think some of my emotional relationships to the characters haven’t developed in the same way as before, but there’s still a lot of great tension and a lot of great plot and character driven moments.
One word: dynastic.
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