Children of Dune (Gollancz S.F.) - Dune Messiah

Dune Messiah--along with the rest of the Dune Chronicles--takes a noticeably different pace from Herbert's original Dune novel. The passage between Dune and the rest of the series forces the reader deeper into the subtleties of character-consciousness, and will be appreciated only by those who find themselves intrigued by the social, theological, and psychological tonalities of the Dune universe. In this novel, Herbert slows down the action and enters the psyche of a boy-turned-man-gone-god. He explores the emotional and psychological weight deification naturally incurs, and the profound strain it has upon one's ego and relationship with others. It is in Dune Messiah that we observe the cost of godhood and how mythology compounds due to mankind's instinctual desire for religious worship of an authority figure who stands removed by time, distance, and the mundane. Dune Messiah offers us a Paul Atreides perhaps less likable than in its previous installment: a man-child torn by cosmic necessities and his ultimate desire for synthesis and moral deliverance.

Dune Messiah (1969), the second book in Frank Herbert’s Dune series, is literally plot-driven. There almost isn’t a chapter here where somebody isn’t plotting or counter plotting for or against Paul Atreides, the god emperor of the known universe whose rise was chronicled in the first book. That’s okay but leaves a lot to be desired. For one thing, all that plotting really yields a fairly tame resolution given all the buildup. That was a problem in the first book too, by the way, but was mitigated by the sheer inventiveness of the entire enterprise.

In this second book, now that the world of Dune has been established, I would have liked to have seen a bit more character development, especially of the female characters like Alia, Chani, Irulan and Jessica, all of whom have the potential to be really interesting. Yet, they remain largely one-dimensional as Herbert concentrates on all the scheming between Paul and the forces that would like to bring him down.

I continue to marvel at Herbert’s imagination and creativity in developing his Dune universe, and all the machinations are interesting enough and keep enough drama sustained, but I wish this great plot and setting was peopled by characters with a little more flesh on them.

Dune Messiah, the second volume in Frank Herbert's most famous science fiction series, is the shortest of the six published books and therefore is a quick read. It has the most intricate plot of them all, which some deem impenetrable. Quite a few other fans, however, have reported it to be their favorite in the series. Even if you are numbered with the majority in the former camp, you must read Dune Messiah if for no other reason than to pave the way into the rest of the series. Either way, a devotee of or an antagonist against Dune Messiah, your efforts will be repaid.

Herbert pressed multiple agendas in Dune, one of the most important being to illustrate the psychology of the mythic hero. Paul Atreides was a charismatic character essentially marching in lockstep with the algorithmic formula for guaranteed superhero production delineated by Joseph Campbell in Hero With a Thousand Faces. We readers were virtual participants in the process, and so by the end of the book Paul's triumphs were our triumphs. We shared in his heroic victory and could readily dismiss his own misgivings about what he had done and what he foresaw would be done in his name in the future.

But Herbert was always interested much more in historic cycles than in the myth of steady linear progress, and nowhere is this more evident than in the Dune series, where history is better conceived as an ever-expanding spiral set against the background of infinite spacetime. Herbert assumed that the universe must always escape any structured attempt to understand it and cage it, and that the infinite reality awaiting beyond our collective ken must always recoil to bite us every time we conclude we've got the world figured out. The very setup for Paul's successes in Dune, then, must be viewed with suspicion. Indeed, Herbert conceived of the myth of the hero as a doomed trap lurking within the murky basements of human consciousness alongside the rusty machinery of our wish-fulfilling hopes and expectations. Reality has a way of obliterating all conservative definitions and assumptions; a simpler way of putting it: what goes up must come down. Thus everything we'd been led to assume to be true in Dune must find its antithesis in Dune Messiah in order for Herbert to teach us his lesson that the collective subconscious adulation for the hero is a toxic recipe for disaster. This is the whip that instructs in Dune Messiah, Frank Herbert's version of a Shakespearian tragedy.

I myself am less concerned with Herbert's upending the myth of his superhero in this novel than I am with the plot mechanics by which that upending is achieved.

It's helpful to understand that Herbert had already written some sections of Dune Messiah and Children of Dune before Dune itself was published. He knew where he was going, but not necessarily how to get there. Dune Messiah was a difficult novel for Herbert to write. Not only did it have to stand on its own merits as an independent novel, but more importantly to the greater myth-structure that Herbert was designing, it had to serve as a sort of switching station between the first and third books, which were more interesting to him. Herbert knew that by tearing down the character of Paul Atreides he would seriously disappoint many of the readers of Dune, who yearned for a hero who would continue to perform nobly and heroically, advancing steadily up a progressive linear history. But to accommodate the as-yet-unwritten third book, his readers' expectations must be subverted. Herbert envisioned Dune Messiah as a sort of necessary evil, an unpleasant medicine that must be quaffed before he could arrive at the next phase of the story cycle. Perhaps by understanding it in this light we can judge this novel to be more successful than we have any right to expect.

To accommodate all these complex, warring goals, in Dune Messiah Herbert creates not a single conspiracy to accomplish Paul's downfall, but a tangle of multiple, competing conspiracies whose players harbor conflicting goals and ambitions. Brilliantly, Herbert never openly reveals this to be the case: the reader alone is left to do the legwork in this detective story without a detective. This is another reason many never fully appreciate this novel: an endless diet of action-adventure stories tends to condition us to expect that the author of a novel will spoon-feed us all the appropriate whos and what-fors in precisely the way life never works at all. Herbert declines to pander to these banal expectations. The main competing factions are the Bene Gesserit, the Spacing Guild, the Bene Tleilaxu, and the Qizarate. I leave it to the reader to piece together how their competing motivations coalesce and harmonize into the drama of the book: I've given you the most important clue by pointing out that multiple simultaneous conspiracies exist, which is more than many readers ever successfully discern.

If you like it, 'nuff said. If Dune Messiah isn't your cup of spice coffee, press on through, because the next two novels (at least) will blow your socks off.

Bob R Bogle
Author of Frank Herbert: The Works

“The convoluted wording of legalisms grew up around the necessity to hide from ourselves the violence we intend toward each other. Between depriving a man of one hour from his life and depriving him of his life there exists only a difference of degree. You have done violence to him, consumed his energy. Elaborate euphemisms may conceal your intent to kill, but behind any use of power over another the ultimate assumption remains: ‘I feed on your energy.'”

-Addenda to Orders in Council .The Emperor Paul Muad’dib

Dune and Dune Messiah were lent to me by a friend recently, and as I turned the pages of Dune, I was increasingly aware of a feeling of familiarity. I did not feel like I had read it before as much as I felt like I should have read it before, although I have never read much science fiction. But this story, like its offspring Star Wars, is only barely science fiction. The differences between science fiction and fantasy are controversial, but my own private delineator is in subject matter; theme, if you will. Fantasy deals with the exploration of an author-created world via a central good/evil conflict, while science fiction concerns the relationship of humans with technology, and/or provides social commentary on political and economic systems. One reason I’ve always shied away from sci-fi is its tendency to get preachy with regard to extremist versions of present-day habits and ideas. By this definition, Star Wars is firmly in the fantasy camp. Dune straddles the line, featuring classical markings of fantasy epics like a messiah figure, a mystic cult, a sword-fighting hero, and questions about the meaning of fate that are reminiscent of classical myth or Arthurian romance. On the other hand, there is a strong sub-theme that examines our relationship with our ecological surroundings and explores why we need leaders and what kind of leaders they should be. Paul, the lead character, is a philosopher as much as he is a man of action, and his constant internal assessment of events alternately strengthens him and cripples him. That internal assessment, on the part of Paul and his mother Jessica in particular, is one of the most remarkable traits of these books. Mental processes are slowed down to minutiae, and nonverbal communication (a structural weak point of verbal narrative) is given intense attention. Sometimes an entire paragraph is devoted to speculation about the meaning of a character’s posture, and pages list the possible motivations behind one brief action. And yet the book is not without action. Like Ender’s Game, Dune features a boy genius who is forced to apply his gift for logic to the unpredictable alliances and hierarchies of humans, and he struggles with morality on a higher level because of his insight and power. And like Ender’s Game, Dune is nevertheless a page-turner. I read Dune Messiah in one sitting and Dune in two. The desert world of Dune is fascinating, and the characters are strong and interesting– I was especially impressed with the women, and the different ways they combat the heavily patriarchal societies of Dune. I don’t think I’ve ever read another novel where a young man and his mother are the two main characters. Although I recognize that working in pseudo-religion and pseudo-philosophy are a tactic to make genre fiction feel more intellectual (a la Da Vinci Code), I am still a sucker for mysterious orders and Zen mantras, and I very much enjoyed these two books. I plan to look for copies next time I’m at the used bookstore. I’ve heard the rest get worse and worse, and I definitely want to avoid another situation like the one where I read all of Stephen King’s Dark Tower books and regretted it (there is one good book in there if you combined all 4,250 pages of all eight novels in the series. Goodbye, 24th year of my life). So I won’t be reading any more unless someone talks me into it. If you want to just read the first two as well, I will tell you that I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to stop, but I had pretty good closure at the end of Messiah. While the first book is a pretty straightforward rendering of Joseph Campbell's hero's journey, the second is more nuanced, and deftly manages to make maturity and power as compelling as growth and discovery are in the first book.

Frank Herbert's DUNE series has to be the most remarkable creation within the sci-fi genre, for he literally takes this popular genre to new heights. The epic that began with the Hugo and Nebula award-winning novel DUNE continues in `DUNE Messiah', wherein this inspired creation continues to astonish and dazzle. There is a reason why the DUNE series has sold more than fifteen-million copies worldwide; simply because it is a fantastical creation of such imaginative vision that it literally takes your breath away, when you contemplate the scope of Herbert's world-building.

In DUNE Messiah Paul Atreides; ruler of a thousand planets, great victor of a holy war, prince turned revolutionary leader and Messiah of a fanatical religious sisterhood, is brought low by the very forces which created him. Yet, foreseeing the plans of his enemies allows him to drive on towards his own, shockingly different, vision of the future...

This battle of wills brought to mind the impassioned rift between Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker (aka. Who turned into Darth Vader), as the heated rivalry is quite intense. Frank Herbert is a modern master of science-fiction, with his lifetimes work on DUNE nothing short of a spectacular success which also his son Brian helped continue on. Reminiscent of JRR Tolkien's dedication to his creation, I am so impressed by a writer who is a true master of his craft and who puts such energy and vibrancy into his writing ~ his passion is evident. DUNE is such an intriguing world with every single planet, race, civilization and great battle among the stars something so bewitching as to make you gasp!

This small volume (only 221 pages) pocket-sized book took me an hour or so to read, for this is a sci-fi world in which you can easily loose yourself within very quickly. Greatly ambitious and magnificent, I would recommend the DUNE series to all who love science-fiction.

I can see why people don't like this - if you read the first book with Paul as the messiah-hero, reading about his powerlessness and fall from grace would be difficult. Although I liked Paul, my own morals meant that I disagreed with his actions to create his empire in the first book, so reading about attacks on that empire didn't bother me.

What WAS fascinating to read was this idea of him as an untouchable man - no poison or assassin could reach him, his power too sure to topple with revolution - how do you destroy such a man? You can't. You can only get him to destroy himself. And he will only do that if the alternative to his own distraction is worse.

Political and religious commentary, the movements of fate, the reality of the soul vs mere memories and of course plots within plots and plans within plans are what this book contains.

This was surprising in a couple of different ways. First, this is a lot more subtle than the first. Second, it moved quite a bit slower and was much more measured. Third, it dealt with the emotional inner life of Paul more than the first book.

I thought the analysis of religion and law was fascinating, especially now. I liked it. I need to read it again after I reread Dune

God characters ruin stories. Since Paul is the prototypical god character, he can ruin a good plot line. If someone is untouchable and perfect, where's the story?

This book solves the problem by limiting the scope of Paul's prescience. It also deals with the god character by reminding us of Paul's humanity in a way that I don't think I really like. Paul has a vision he does not like but is unable to avoid it. In the process of trying to avoid this future, he basically destroys himself physically, mentally, and emotionally.

One can argue that the universe does this to him, but whether he does it to himself or fate has him locked into personal destruction doesn't matter to me. Either way leads to the dimishing of the Dune franchise.

While I like the plot and I love the writing style, I felt like this book set the series in a course that became as inevitable as the vision Paul was trying to avoid. In the first book, philosophy was omnipresent but was beautifully intertwined with the adventure. In this book, we see the philosophical begin to control the story. In each subsequent book, the plot drives the book less and philosophy takes control.

I guess the golden path was unavoidable.

Since no one really cares what I think of one of the most acclaimed, classic sci-fi books/series ever written, i will keep my comments brief, yet, hopefully, helpful.
This is a difficult book to follow in some ways, especially the visions of Muad'dib and his sister, Alia, but well worth the effort.

Characters: well developed, interesting, and likable. Even the bad guys you sorta like, but certainly hate!
Plot: intricate compelling, and unpredictable. It sneaks up on you: "WHAT?!"
Ending: believable, unexpected, and great!

The final chapter will haunt me for days. I want to say more, but to do so would spoil the ending for others. It was totally unexpected, saddening, and uplifting at the same time
I could not rate the book as 5 stars because of my difficulty in understand all of the 'visions" and prophesies. Admittedly, this may be due to my own limitations. Still, a great book!

Set twelve years after the first novel, Paul "Muad'Dib" Atreides now rules as Emperor. Yet despite his absolute authority he is nevethless a victim to the religious revolution, the jihad, he has unleashed.

Not as impressive as the first book in the epic series this one stands out for its sheer existential brilliance as we see the protagnost (now with almost god like oracualr wisdom, not quite - this is reserved for Leto II in God Emperor of Dune) question himself and everything he has built and his fears for the future of mankind. The identity Paul forges for himself in the first novel now unravels and falls away. Herbert shows brilliantly the deconstruction of a living legend and ... well, to say any more would be to ruin a great read for those unfamiliar with the second novel in this incredible series.

All I will say is if you haven't ever read Dune, read it now. Then read Dune Messiah straight after.

First of all, let me say that it is not hard to thoroughly enjoy reading Dune Messiah. It is a very good book despite certain flaws which I will attempt to pinpoint in this review. If you read Dune and loved it, you will definitely want to read this, even if this book is undoubtedly weaker than its predecessor.
Dune Messiah is, as others have stated, much more personal than its predecessor. The book will introduce you to very few characters that have not already been introduced in Dune or at the beginning of this book. Indeed, Herbert goes to great lengths to provide us with thorough and insightful characterizations of the important characters, particularly Paul and Alia. Much of the novel is devoted to visions, as the visions he recieves dictates what course of action he takes (ironically, instead of trying to avoid the awful things in his visions, he continues to follow the path towards these awful things with the belief that anything else will be much worse). The long, drawn-out sections of the book devoted to Paul's visions and what he makes of them are both a strength and a weakness--these visions provide Herbert with a springboard with which he can launch into the profound philosophical themes (even more so than in Dune) that he explores, and yet also these passages are easily the slowest and most boring parts of the book. Especially in the latter half of the book, it is hard to comprehend these visions, but it is fascinating nevertheless because of the 'truths' that emerge from Paul's experiences. Thus, the personal nature of the story makes the story weaker in that it does not encompass the wide range of people and events (as in Dune), even while Herbert's characterizations are perhaps even better than in Dune. This also results in some confusion for the reader as to what the repercussions of this story is--vaguely we know that if anything goes really wrong, lots of people will die, but it is rather unclear beyond these guesses.
Another thing I noticed while reading this book is that there are long periods of it during which a certain character is not mentioned at all. People who have read the book will know that Gurney Halleck is not mentioned until about pg.250 and Princess Irulan is utterly forgotten between pages 125 and 225 (about). Thus I was left wondering what happened to these characters during these times.
At the end of the novel we find out what the nature of the conspiracy is. To me (and this might just be me), looking back on the basic plot, the conspiracy seems highly improbable. It is needlessly complicated, and I wonder how did they come up with something so complex. The bad guys planned for practically everything, yet what defeated them was, well, simple and easily avoided. (I'm being purposely vague for those of you who have not yet read it).
We have already seen how parts of the middle and end suffer from a seeming lack of energy due to the introdpective musings and philosophical prospects that inhabit these pages. That said, the very end is a logical conclusion and a surprisingly satisfying one. Herbert both begins and ends the novel on a very good note. And this leaves us with a good feeling after reading it, and that is perhaps the most important thing a book can have.
Dune Messiah pales in comparison to Dune, yet it is still a great science fiction novel. If you loved Dune, you will certainly like Dune Messiah. Cause even if it isn't Dune, it's still better than 90% of the science fiction crap they publish now a days.

I like the direction Frank Herbert took the Dune series in his first two sequels. This book has a bit more development than the original Dune. We get to learn more about the inner turmoil of Paul, Alia, and then meet the kids. Frank has a way of creating politically exciting twists and power struggles, without making any one character the villain. Paul and Alia in their own ways are both despots and victims. In terms of storyline, I think this brings the story to a satisfying conclusion (I'm not so big a fan of what happens after Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)).

Frank's writing style can be a bit dense. Sometimes the dialogue is filled with philosophical or nonsensical musings. Some of it is quite deep - but certainly not how people actually talk. It takes some getting used to. I'd recommend only continuing on to this book if you got through the original Dune and liked it.

If you liked the books, I highly recommend Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set) - it's a pretty good film adaptation of Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles) and Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3).

I like the direction Frank Herbert took the Dune series in his first two sequels. This book has a bit more development than the original Dune. We get to learn more about the inner turmoil of Paul, Alia, and then meet the kids. Frank has a way of creating politically exciting twists and power struggles, without making any one character the villain. Paul and Alia in their own ways are both despots and victims. In terms of storyline, I think this brings the story to a satisfying conclusion (I'm not so big a fan of what happens after Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)).

Frank's writing style can be a bit dense. Sometimes the dialogue is filled with philosophical or nonsensical musings. Some of it is quite deep - but certainly not how people actually talk. It takes some getting used to. I'd recommend only continuing on to this book if you got through the original Dune and liked it.

If you liked the books, I highly recommend Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set) - it's a pretty good film adaptation of Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles) and Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3).

The first novel ( Dune) was full of the contradictions surging from the meeting of several worlds, several philosophies and several ways of looking at the world. The Atreides are an old feudal people based on honor and self-inspired justice and righteousness. They have to free the planet of Dune of the fascistic, rotten, decaying, bloody and cruel dictatorship of the Harkonnen. They do it by sealing an alliance with the Fremen, the men of the desert. And doing that Paul, the heir of the family, creates a new religion, a new way of looking at the world, a new philosophy. In this second volume this philosophy finds its full realisation because Paul has to choose between two survivals. First he himself has to survive through death and he does it by willing to the world a pair of heirs who have all the prescient powers he had and all the rectitude the Fremen had given him. By doing that he manages to destroy the conspiration against his power and to provide his Empirium with a new generation of leaders. ...he is blind, he does not have any vision any more, so he has to give himself away to the sand worm in the desert and to become part of the whole planet, part of the whole universe. He steps into this track without any hesitation and becomes a roaming saint inspiring the whole Empirium with the philosophy of melding oneself into Nature, into natural ways, the ways of eternal Nature, this eternal Nature humans or other thinking beings can try to pervert but that always regains the upper hand. This is Fremen philosophy, and Herbert shows this choice in depth, with emotion and feeling, with passion and sensuality, with the force and strength of a new faith, the faith in the future that comes all by itself, provided there is a visionary mind that can deliver it to itself, deliver this future of Nature to Nature itself, that can deliver Mother Nature to Mother Nature herself. And this delivering becomes a crisscrossing crossroads of meanings between giving life and birth, bringing the goods of the promise, and freeing the real energy and potentiality of Nature. Herbert adds to that a marvelous sense of details that demultiplies the meaning and creates a phenomenal suspense, a fascinating interweaving of twists and surprises in the fabric of this tale. ...

I honestly hadn't heard many positive reviews of this one but I was interested to see what happened with Alia especially. The pace did drag quite a bit since 80% of the story consisted of each character pondering the nature of the universe, prescience, humanity, religion, government, etc. in turn... Philosophy 101 novelized. But I enjoyed what was left after the philosophizing and the ending struck me as very neatly wrapped up, especially for the second volume in a long series. I will likely read the next one but I'm not sure how far I'll make it after that.

Dune Messiah is set twelve years after the end of Dune, with Paul firmly ensconced as emperor of Arrakis. Never have I read a sequel that so closely followed the feel of the original. Had I not known better, I would have sworn this book was the second half of Dune as opposed to a separate sequel.

Being so well matched to the original was very good and kind of disappointing. The story continued in a comfortable fashion, written in a a tone I was already accustomed to. I easily reentered the world Frank Herbert created and found the new twists to the Atreides story meshed well with the characters I already knew.

Unfortunately, while Dune felt like an epic story that changed everything from beginning to end of the story, Dune Messiah felt like a small snippet in the life of the emperor. Things that seemed as though they should have been major didn't have the impact they should have. It all felt less important. This is a common problem with sequels to huge books like Dune. The next book never measures up to the original.

While I enjoyed the story, I don't feel compelled to continue the series. The book was good and it was fun to revisit the characters, but ultimately Dune was best left with its original ending. Dragging things out further promises to mar my opinion of the first book.

This is the second novel in the classic Dune Series by Frank Hebert. It might be noted that the Dune books were originally planned to be a trilogy. This would have been the second book and "Children of Dune" would have been the conclusion. Some would say that it should have remained that way. However, regardless of how you read the books, I'd advise you DO read the original trilogy: "Dune", "Dune Messiah", and "Children of Dune." The latter-written Frank Hebert books are optional: "God Emperor of Dune", "Heretics of Dune", and "Chapterhouse Dune". These latter three books almost seem to tell a different story, set in the same universe in a much later time frame.

OK, so "Dune Messiah" itself is a good book. However, it does seen to suffer slightly from "second book of a trilogy" syndrome. It picks up after the masterful conclusion of Dune, and it takes a while to get all the complex plots going again. Kind of a slow reboot if you are reading it right after Dune, but keep in mind it took that story a while to get going as well.

First of all, let me say that it is not hard to thoroughly enjoy reading Dune Messiah. It is a very good book despite certain flaws which I will attempt to pinpoint in this review. If you read Dune and loved it, you will definitely want to read this, even if this book is undoubtedly weaker than its predecessor.
Dune Messiah is, as others have stated, much more personal than its predecessor. The book will introduce you to very few characters that have not already been introduced in Dune or at the beginning of this book. Indeed, Herbert goes to great lengths to provide us with thorough and insightful characterizations of the important characters, particularly Paul and Alia. Much of the novel is devoted to visions, as the visions he recieves dictates what course of action he takes (ironically, instead of trying to avoid the awful things in his visions, he continues to follow the path towards these awful things with the belief that anything else will be much worse). The long, drawn-out sections of the book devoted to Paul's visions and what he makes of them are both a strength and a weakness--these visions provide Herbert with a springboard with which he can launch into the profound philosophical themes (even more so than in Dune) that he explores, and yet also these passages are easily the slowest and most boring parts of the book. Especially in the latter half of the book, it is hard to comprehend these visions, but it is fascinating nevertheless because of the 'truths' that emerge from Paul's experiences. Thus, the personal nature of the story makes the story weaker in that it does not encompass the wide range of people and events (as in Dune), even while Herbert's characterizations are perhaps even better than in Dune. This also results in some confusion for the reader as to what the repercussions of this story is--vaguely we know that if anything goes really wrong, lots of people will die, but it is rather unclear beyond these guesses.
Another thing I noticed while reading this book is that there are long periods of it during which a certain character is not mentioned at all. People who have read the book will know that Gurney Halleck is not mentioned until about pg.250 and Princess Irulan is utterly forgotten between pages 125 and 225 (about). Thus I was left wondering what happened to these characters during these times.
At the end of the novel we find out what the nature of the conspiracy is. To me (and this might just be me), looking back on the basic plot, the conspiracy seems highly improbable. It is needlessly complicated, and I wonder how did they come up with something so complex. The bad guys planned for practically everything, yet what defeated them was, well, simple and easily avoided. (I'm being purposely vague for those of you who have not yet read it).
We have already seen how parts of the middle and end suffer from a seeming lack of energy due to the introdpective musings and philosophical prospects that inhabit these pages. That said, the very end is a logical conclusion and a surprisingly satisfying one. Herbert both begins and ends the novel on a very good note. And this leaves us with a good feeling after reading it, and that is perhaps the most important thing a book can have.
Dune Messiah pales in comparison to Dune, yet it is still a great science fiction novel. If you loved Dune, you will certainly like Dune Messiah. Cause even if it isn't Dune, it's still better than 90% of the science fiction crap they publish now a days.

I like the direction Frank Herbert took the Dune series in his first two sequels. This book has a bit more development than the original Dune. We get to learn more about the inner turmoil of Paul, Alia, and then meet the kids. Frank has a way of creating politically exciting twists and power struggles, without making any one character the villain. Paul and Alia in their own ways are both despots and victims. In terms of storyline, I think this brings the story to a satisfying conclusion (I'm not so big a fan of what happens after Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)).

Frank's writing style can be a bit dense. Sometimes the dialogue is filled with philosophical or nonsensical musings. Some of it is quite deep - but certainly not how people actually talk. It takes some getting used to. I'd recommend only continuing on to this book if you got through the original Dune and liked it.

If you liked the books, I highly recommend Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set) - it's a pretty good film adaptation of Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles) and Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3).

I like the direction Frank Herbert took the Dune series in his first two sequels. This book has a bit more development than the original Dune. We get to learn more about the inner turmoil of Paul, Alia, and then meet the kids. Frank has a way of creating politically exciting twists and power struggles, without making any one character the villain. Paul and Alia in their own ways are both despots and victims. In terms of storyline, I think this brings the story to a satisfying conclusion (I'm not so big a fan of what happens after Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)).

Frank's writing style can be a bit dense. Sometimes the dialogue is filled with philosophical or nonsensical musings. Some of it is quite deep - but certainly not how people actually talk. It takes some getting used to. I'd recommend only continuing on to this book if you got through the original Dune and liked it.

If you liked the books, I highly recommend Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set) - it's a pretty good film adaptation of Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles) and Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3).

The first novel ( Dune) was full of the contradictions surging from the meeting of several worlds, several philosophies and several ways of looking at the world. The Atreides are an old feudal people based on honor and self-inspired justice and righteousness. They have to free the planet of Dune of the fascistic, rotten, decaying, bloody and cruel dictatorship of the Harkonnen. They do it by sealing an alliance with the Fremen, the men of the desert. And doing that Paul, the heir of the family, creates a new religion, a new way of looking at the world, a new philosophy. In this second volume this philosophy finds its full realisation because Paul has to choose between two survivals. First he himself has to survive through death and he does it by willing to the world a pair of heirs who have all the prescient powers he had and all the rectitude the Fremen had given him. By doing that he manages to destroy the conspiration against his power and to provide his Empirium with a new generation of leaders. ...he is blind, he does not have any vision any more, so he has to give himself away to the sand worm in the desert and to become part of the whole planet, part of the whole universe. He steps into this track without any hesitation and becomes a roaming saint inspiring the whole Empirium with the philosophy of melding oneself into Nature, into natural ways, the ways of eternal Nature, this eternal Nature humans or other thinking beings can try to pervert but that always regains the upper hand. This is Fremen philosophy, and Herbert shows this choice in depth, with emotion and feeling, with passion and sensuality, with the force and strength of a new faith, the faith in the future that comes all by itself, provided there is a visionary mind that can deliver it to itself, deliver this future of Nature to Nature itself, that can deliver Mother Nature to Mother Nature herself. And this delivering becomes a crisscrossing crossroads of meanings between giving life and birth, bringing the goods of the promise, and freeing the real energy and potentiality of Nature. Herbert adds to that a marvelous sense of details that demultiplies the meaning and creates a phenomenal suspense, a fascinating interweaving of twists and surprises in the fabric of this tale. ...

I honestly hadn't heard many positive reviews of this one but I was interested to see what happened with Alia especially. The pace did drag quite a bit since 80% of the story consisted of each character pondering the nature of the universe, prescience, humanity, religion, government, etc. in turn... Philosophy 101 novelized. But I enjoyed what was left after the philosophizing and the ending struck me as very neatly wrapped up, especially for the second volume in a long series. I will likely read the next one but I'm not sure how far I'll make it after that.

Dune Messiah is set twelve years after the end of Dune, with Paul firmly ensconced as emperor of Arrakis. Never have I read a sequel that so closely followed the feel of the original. Had I not known better, I would have sworn this book was the second half of Dune as opposed to a separate sequel.

Being so well matched to the original was very good and kind of disappointing. The story continued in a comfortable fashion, written in a a tone I was already accustomed to. I easily reentered the world Frank Herbert created and found the new twists to the Atreides story meshed well with the characters I already knew.

Unfortunately, while Dune felt like an epic story that changed everything from beginning to end of the story, Dune Messiah felt like a small snippet in the life of the emperor. Things that seemed as though they should have been major didn't have the impact they should have. It all felt less important. This is a common problem with sequels to huge books like Dune. The next book never measures up to the original.

While I enjoyed the story, I don't feel compelled to continue the series. The book was good and it was fun to revisit the characters, but ultimately Dune was best left with its original ending. Dragging things out further promises to mar my opinion of the first book.

This is the second novel in the classic Dune Series by Frank Hebert. It might be noted that the Dune books were originally planned to be a trilogy. This would have been the second book and "Children of Dune" would have been the conclusion. Some would say that it should have remained that way. However, regardless of how you read the books, I'd advise you DO read the original trilogy: "Dune", "Dune Messiah", and "Children of Dune." The latter-written Frank Hebert books are optional: "God Emperor of Dune", "Heretics of Dune", and "Chapterhouse Dune". These latter three books almost seem to tell a different story, set in the same universe in a much later time frame.

OK, so "Dune Messiah" itself is a good book. However, it does seen to suffer slightly from "second book of a trilogy" syndrome. It picks up after the masterful conclusion of Dune, and it takes a while to get all the complex plots going again. Kind of a slow reboot if you are reading it right after Dune, but keep in mind it took that story a while to get going as well.

It's hard to follow up a novel so superb, so flawless, so damn good as Frank Herbert's classic sci-fi epic DUNE. But in my opinion, Herbert succeeded in writing an excellent sequel - DUNE MESSIAH. DUNE MESSIAH is actually more of a continuation than a sequel, picking up 12 years after the original novel. Emperor Paul Atreides rules over Arrakis - and the universe, for that matter - with an iron fist. Known as Muad'dib to his many worshippers, Paul is disgusted with himself and his reign as emperor. Religious groups commit violence in his name, worshipping him without a concept of what he is (or isn't) capable of. Meanwhile, a secret group plots his downfall ... the first step of which involves the resurrection of one of Paul's most beloved friends - Duncan Idaho.

DUNE MESSIAH focuses a little more on the fantastic and a little less on the political, unlike its predecessor. This is hardly a bad thing - it makes the novel more interesting. DUNE MESSIAH is also darker, more dramatic, more romantic, and more sexual. It's filled with intriguing twists and is rarely - if ever - predictable. It's a far more complex novel than DUNE, and all the more fun for it. While reading it, I never once thought, "This is sure ain't DUNE." True, DUNE MESSIAH isn't DUNE - and, in a wise move by Frank Herbert, it never tries to be.

DUNE MESSIAH is an outstanding continuation of what I believe to be the greatest sci-fi series ever written. It's complexity is intriguing, while its differences from DUNE make it seem entirely fresh and new. Though many consider DUNE MESSIAH to be a lesser novel than DUNE, I found it to be very nearly as good as its predecessor. I commend Mr. Herbert on writing an excellent continuation of a magnificent epic.

I like the direction Frank Herbert took the Dune series in his first two sequels. This book has a bit more development than the original Dune. We get to learn more about the inner turmoil of Paul, Alia, and then meet the kids. Frank has a way of creating politically exciting twists and power struggles, without making any one character the villain. Paul and Alia in their own ways are both despots and victims. In terms of storyline, I think this brings the story to a satisfying conclusion (I'm not so big a fan of what happens after Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)).

Frank's writing style can be a bit dense. Sometimes the dialogue is filled with philosophical or nonsensical musings. Some of it is quite deep - but certainly not how people actually talk. It takes some getting used to. I'd recommend only continuing on to this book if you got through the original Dune and liked it.

If you liked the books, I highly recommend Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set) - it's a pretty good film adaptation of Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles) and Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3).

I like the direction Frank Herbert took the Dune series in his first two sequels. This book has a bit more development than the original Dune. We get to learn more about the inner turmoil of Paul, Alia, and then meet the kids. Frank has a way of creating politically exciting twists and power struggles, without making any one character the villain. Paul and Alia in their own ways are both despots and victims. In terms of storyline, I think this brings the story to a satisfying conclusion (I'm not so big a fan of what happens after Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)).

Frank's writing style can be a bit dense. Sometimes the dialogue is filled with philosophical or nonsensical musings. Some of it is quite deep - but certainly not how people actually talk. It takes some getting used to. I'd recommend only continuing on to this book if you got through the original Dune and liked it.

If you liked the books, I highly recommend Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set) - it's a pretty good film adaptation of Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles) and Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3).

I like the direction Frank Herbert took the Dune series in his first two sequels. This book has a bit more development than the original Dune. We get to learn more about the inner turmoil of Paul, Alia, and then meet the kids. Frank has a way of creating politically exciting twists and power struggles, without making any one character the villain. Paul and Alia in their own ways are both despots and victims. In terms of storyline, I think this brings the story to a satisfying conclusion (I'm not so big a fan of what happens after Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)).

Frank's writing style can be a bit dense. Sometimes the dialogue is filled with philosophical or nonsensical musings. Some of it is quite deep - but certainly not how people actually talk. It takes some getting used to. I'd recommend only continuing on to this book if you got through the original Dune and liked it.

If you liked the books, I highly recommend Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set) - it's a pretty good film adaptation of Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles) and Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3).

I like the direction Frank Herbert took the Dune series in his first two sequels. This book has a bit more development than the original Dune. We get to learn more about the inner turmoil of Paul, Alia, and then meet the kids. Frank has a way of creating politically exciting twists and power struggles, without making any one character the villain. Paul and Alia in their own ways are both despots and victims. In terms of storyline, I think this brings the story to a satisfying conclusion (I'm not so big a fan of what happens after Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)).

Frank's writing style can be a bit dense. Sometimes the dialogue is filled with philosophical or nonsensical musings. Some of it is quite deep - but certainly not how people actually talk. It takes some getting used to. I'd recommend only continuing on to this book if you got through the original Dune and liked it.

If you liked the books, I highly recommend Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set) - it's a pretty good film adaptation of Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles) and Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3).

I like the direction Frank Herbert took the Dune series in his first two sequels. This book has a bit more development than the original Dune. We get to learn more about the inner turmoil of Paul, Alia, and then meet the kids. Frank has a way of creating politically exciting twists and power struggles, without making any one character the villain. Paul and Alia in their own ways are both despots and victims. In terms of storyline, I think this brings the story to a satisfying conclusion (I'm not so big a fan of what happens after Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)).

Frank's writing style can be a bit dense. Sometimes the dialogue is filled with philosophical or nonsensical musings. Some of it is quite deep - but certainly not how people actually talk. It takes some getting used to. I'd recommend only continuing on to this book if you got through the original Dune and liked it.

If you liked the books, I highly recommend Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set) - it's a pretty good film adaptation of Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles) and Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3).

I like the direction Frank Herbert took the Dune series in his first two sequels. This book has a bit more development than the original Dune. We get to learn more about the inner turmoil of Paul, Alia, and then meet the kids. Frank has a way of creating politically exciting twists and power struggles, without making any one character the villain. Paul and Alia in their own ways are both despots and victims. In terms of storyline, I think this brings the story to a satisfying conclusion (I'm not so big a fan of what happens after Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)).

Frank's writing style can be a bit dense. Sometimes the dialogue is filled with philosophical or nonsensical musings. Some of it is quite deep - but certainly not how people actually talk. It takes some getting used to. I'd recommend only continuing on to this book if you got through the original Dune and liked it.

If you liked the books, I highly recommend Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set) - it's a pretty good film adaptation of Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles) and Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3).

I like the direction Frank Herbert took the Dune series in his first two sequels. This book has a bit more development than the original Dune. We get to learn more about the inner turmoil of Paul, Alia, and then meet the kids. Frank has a way of creating politically exciting twists and power struggles, without making any one character the villain. Paul and Alia in their own ways are both despots and victims. In terms of storyline, I think this brings the story to a satisfying conclusion (I'm not so big a fan of what happens after Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)).

Frank's writing style can be a bit dense. Sometimes the dialogue is filled with philosophical or nonsensical musings. Some of it is quite deep - but certainly not how people actually talk. It takes some getting used to. I'd recommend only continuing on to this book if you got through the original Dune and liked it.

If you liked the books, I highly recommend Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set) - it's a pretty good film adaptation of Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles) and Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3).

I like the direction Frank Herbert took the Dune series in his first two sequels. This book has a bit more development than the original Dune. We get to learn more about the inner turmoil of Paul, Alia, and then meet the kids. Frank has a way of creating politically exciting twists and power struggles, without making any one character the villain. Paul and Alia in their own ways are both despots and victims. In terms of storyline, I think this brings the story to a satisfying conclusion (I'm not so big a fan of what happens after Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)).

Frank's writing style can be a bit dense. Sometimes the dialogue is filled with philosophical or nonsensical musings. Some of it is quite deep - but certainly not how people actually talk. It takes some getting used to. I'd recommend only continuing on to this book if you got through the original Dune and liked it.

If you liked the books, I highly recommend Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set) - it's a pretty good film adaptation of Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles) and Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3).

I like the direction Frank Herbert took the Dune series in his first two sequels. This book has a bit more development than the original Dune. We get to learn more about the inner turmoil of Paul, Alia, and then meet the kids. Frank has a way of creating politically exciting twists and power struggles, without making any one character the villain. Paul and Alia in their own ways are both despots and victims. In terms of storyline, I think this brings the story to a satisfying conclusion (I'm not so big a fan of what happens after Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)).

Frank's writing style can be a bit dense. Sometimes the dialogue is filled with philosophical or nonsensical musings. Some of it is quite deep - but certainly not how people actually talk. It takes some getting used to. I'd recommend only continuing on to this book if you got through the original Dune and liked it.

If you liked the books, I highly recommend Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set) - it's a pretty good film adaptation of Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles) and Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3).

I like the direction Frank Herbert took the Dune series in his first two sequels. This book has a bit more development than the original Dune. We get to learn more about the inner turmoil of Paul, Alia, and then meet the kids. Frank has a way of creating politically exciting twists and power struggles, without making any one character the villain. Paul and Alia in their own ways are both despots and victims. In terms of storyline, I think this brings the story to a satisfying conclusion (I'm not so big a fan of what happens after Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)).

Frank's writing style can be a bit dense. Sometimes the dialogue is filled with philosophical or nonsensical musings. Some of it is quite deep - but certainly not how people actually talk. It takes some getting used to. I'd recommend only continuing on to this book if you got through the original Dune and liked it.

If you liked the books, I highly recommend Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set) - it's a pretty good film adaptation of Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles) and Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3).

I like the direction Frank Herbert took the Dune series in his first two sequels. This book has a bit more development than the original Dune. We get to learn more about the inner turmoil of Paul, Alia, and then meet the kids. Frank has a way of creating politically exciting twists and power struggles, without making any one character the villain. Paul and Alia in their own ways are both despots and victims. In terms of storyline, I think this brings the story to a satisfying conclusion (I'm not so big a fan of what happens after Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)).

Frank's writing style can be a bit dense. Sometimes the dialogue is filled with philosophical or nonsensical musings. Some of it is quite deep - but certainly not how people actually talk. It takes some getting used to. I'd recommend only continuing on to this book if you got through the original Dune and liked it.

If you liked the books, I highly recommend Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set) - it's a pretty good film adaptation of Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles) and Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3).

I like the direction Frank Herbert took the Dune series in his first two sequels. This book has a bit more development than the original Dune. We get to learn more about the inner turmoil of Paul, Alia, and then meet the kids. Frank has a way of creating politically exciting twists and power struggles, without making any one character the villain. Paul and Alia in their own ways are both despots and victims. In terms of storyline, I think this brings the story to a satisfying conclusion (I'm not so big a fan of what happens after Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)).

Frank's writing style can be a bit dense. Sometimes the dialogue is filled with philosophical or nonsensical musings. Some of it is quite deep - but certainly not how people actually talk. It takes some getting used to. I'd recommend only continuing on to this book if you got through the original Dune and liked it.

If you liked the books, I highly recommend Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set) - it's a pretty good film adaptation of Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles) and Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3).

While Dune Messiah is the second part of the Dune trilogy, I think Frank Herbert really accomplished his goal of describing the failure of the future-seeing hero in this book. Unfortunately, you might have to read the first Dune book to get to this one.
The second book takes over twelve years after Paul Atreides' triumph over Emperor Shaddam IV. He is master of all he surveys, and yet he sees trouble on the horizon, trouble which none of his miraculous powers can stop. He can only bide his time until "the inevitable" comes to pass. Herbert is not fond of this vision for humanity (to know the future in advance), and he makes that very plain in this novel. In many ways, Dune Messiah is a much easier book to read than the first one, as everything is set out in much plainer language.
There is a conspiracy against Emperor Paul Muad'Dib (spelled with a lower-case "Muad'dib," just to confuse me) in this book, as well. We have the wicked old crone, Gaius Helen Mohiam, a Spacing Guild Navigator, the history-writing, conniving Princess Irulan, and something not mentioned in the first book: Scytale, a Tleilaxu "Face Dancer" (shape-shifter). Herbert manages to conjure all of these characters up believably, and also portrays what's going on in everyone's head. The motivations are clearer in this book, and the imagery (for me) much better.
We also find Paul's sister Alia has become a power in her own right, conducting ceremonies she does not believe and which give her no peace, but which somehow manage to calm the masses. Herbert is unflinching in his judgment of Paul and Alia as religious manipulators, and manages to question (as might a suitably inclined reader) how the average person could believe such hokum. Herbert seems to insinuate that religious conviction comes at the point of a sword, a belief which might hold a slight grain of truth, depending on which of the sword you're on.
The book also contains the first appearance of a "ghola," a body raised from the dead by the genetic technology of Bene Tleilax, but with no memory of its former self. The ghola, in this case, happens to be the loyal Atreides retainer, Duncan Idaho. Duncan, too, has a role to play. Even when he states bluntly that he was sent to destroy Paul, that does not prevent him from drawing close to the Emperor. This is all remarkable stuff, and richly told.
In the end, the universe outguesses Paul Atreides. That's the best way I can explain the ending without telling you the ending in specific detail. I really enjoyed this book, and find it a quick and quotable story.

Taking place about 12 years after the action in Dune, Paul Atreides is now Emperor of the galaxy, ruling from his palace on Arrakis. Legions of Fremen followers revere him as a deity and have led a bloody religious jihad across the universe to spread his philosophy to the "unbelievers". This has resulted in millions of deaths and the complete obliteration of several planets. Dune Messiah chronicles the attempts of the Bene Gesserit, the Spacing Guild and Emperor Shaddam's daughter (now wife of Paul Atreides) to bring about Paul's downfall.

Most of the novel is just silly philosophizing around a muddy plot. Herbert fails to make clear the reasons for the actions that the characters take. Most of the scenes with Paul revolve around him brooding about taking steps to avoid a future timeline that will supposedly bring about the downfall of the galaxy. Unfortunately, Herbert never clearly articulates this peril or makes it seem tangible enough for the reader to care about it. The book lacks the charm of the original as well as the action sequences and any decent political intrigue.

Unless you are a die-hard Dune fanatic, don't waste your time with this inferior novel.

Twelve years after the defeat of the emperor, the Fremen Jihad has reached the far extant of the galaxy. The imposition of religious rule throughout the galaxy has made a number of enemies who are plotting against Muad'Dib.

There are many themes running through this book. Among them is the lack of children and the rivalry between Chani and Princess Irulan. Another is the notion of the actual amount of control Paul Muad'Dib actually had over the jihad. Another is the sentimentalism among Fremen for the old ways. Herbert does an absolutely masterful job of weaving these and other themes together in a well written, beautiful conceived saga.

This diverges from the themes in the first novel in the saga, however, that in no way diminishes from this volume's contribution to the ongoing storyline. In fact, the changing themes actually is a testimony to the understanding of the author that as the sociopolitical environment changes, the issues change as well. Herbert handles that better than almost any other writer of any genre I have had the joy of reading.

The changes to society that Paul has brought about cause complex plots and factions to spring up, and he does fall victim to one of these. Part of this is resistance to his strange supersister, who is slowly being driven insane because of what she was exposed to at birth. The Bene Gesserit have lost control of their superman, the superman controls the most valuable substance in the galaxy, an so controls transport throughout the universe.

As part of the plot, the Tleilaxu send Paul a clone of one of his childhood mentors, Duncan Idaho, who is now dead. His sister falls for the clone, and the clone is also part of an assassination plot. His wife is also poisoning his mistress.

The problem for the prescient man is how to be sure he is doing the right thing, and choosing the right path.

A radiation weapon blinds Paul, and the Fremen have a strong taboo against the blind, even though Paul's powers clearly enable him to see.

Eventually, he removes himself from the equation, as his decision on what to do, after the death of Chani.

Paul Atreides, Muad'Dib, is effectively Emperor of the Universe, and he finds that his power is not a benign force. In order to keep control, he must be ruthless in the face of an alliance of treachery that extends into his own household. He tries desperately to find an answer to an impossible problem.

The Good and the Bad:

From Herbert, I've come to expect an almost fanatical obsession with language and culture that paints a detailed, but not always interesting, portrait. There's something so haughty about so many of the characters that eventually, the grand moments and dramatic speeches lose their power for their frequency. Some of the characters remain interesting, in particular the warrior-turned-mentat Duncan Idaho, who has been reanimated for the purpose of destroying Paul. But there's something limiting about a character who has prescience and has already learned that there is no favorable outcome to his solutions. Paul seems helpless in the face of the enormous forces that surround him, even though his will can be carried out. But the absolute power makes too much seem pointless-when there are tens of millions dying by your every word and command, the human stories lose their power, and the masses seem overwhelming.

However, Dune remains an engaging planet, and the "old guard vs. new bureaucrats" is always an interesting battle. As before, I found myself wading through a lot of boredom, but captivated by the occasional scene or image.

Dune Messiah is an epilogue to Dune. Those who found the original masterpiece enthralling will find this work just a little less engaging. The freshness of ideas, together with some plausibility is lost - as it is in any sequel. We are, perhaps, a little to well prepared by the time we have finished the first book, to appreciate this one. And some creations, spring out - not naturally, but almost in an ad hoc manner, making whatever surprise they were meant to offer, look incredulous instead.
Dune Messiah is not badly written. But because the light of its predecessor was so bright, it appears somewhat paler, by comparison. It is apparent, even to the casual reader that this book has far more subdued overtones. And perhaps, just barely, the hint of trying to stick to a formula.
However, the saga of Dune itself is far from over. And to appreciate the latter books in this series, of which Dune Messiah is an integral part, no serious fan should skip reading this. It will be evident, much further down the road, of how some seemingly random creations fit into the overall scheme of things.
No one has been able to lay down such controversial ideas - should I even call them Heretical? - into a more digestible form, than Frank Herbert. Unfortunately Dune Messiah makes is just a bit too easy in the digestion, and just a tad too close to orthodoxy!
Perhaps, my review is not entirely free from personal bias. In Dune, Frank Herbert created a hero that I grew to love. In this book, I am forced to watch his career and life ebb slowly away. (This book is aptly named! A messiah cannot escape his personal doom.)
All in all, it is still an astounding piece of fiction. Read it. But don't stop here. Go on to the next book. And the next! Profound ideas will arise yet again - when you meet The God Emperor!

While this book is far shorter than the first, it is far more complex plotwise. While the first Dune was a Hero's journey, Dune Messiah takes that premise (along with the Messiah) and deconstructs to the fiber of it's being and concept.

I felt in the first novel that the world established most of the philosophy and politics, while in Messiah the philosophy and politics come from the characters. Messiah is far more focused on the inter-personal relationships and conflicts of the characters than anything. Most science fiction would, but most of the focuse on wars and battles that are established to be happending in the universe.

Here we do not personally see them, but feel the effects that the characters go through because of them. We see some personal questions and the some tough ideas explored through Paul and nearly everyone else involved.

Dune Messiah is a character driven work that is greatly complex. I needed to take a break from the Dune series after reading it.

I would not recommend this book...it just isn't the quality of the first book in the series. While not awful, it just doesn't live up to the fantastic quality of the first book. It's a disappointment because of contrast--Dune is a masterpiece...this is a so-so follow-up that might be considered decent if it wasn't trying to live up to the first book.

This is the second book of the Dune series by Frank Herbert. This book picks up soon after the end of the first book. Paul Maud'Dib Atreides, main character in the first book and now emperor of the galaxy, has to deal with the results of the jihad he reluctantly released on the galaxy as well as the threats to his power from within his own palace. This book is more introspective than the first book, lacking most of the action and focusing instead on the foibles of the various characters and Herbert's musings on religion and politics.
This book makes even more clear than the first book that Paul is not actually a hero, but a flawed man trying to cope with the enormity of his own power and the terrible bloodshed that is being committed in his name. The book is an essay on the dangers of absolute power and of the combination of religious and political power.
Dune Messiah is also a story of the danger of a ruler becoming disaffected from those closest to him. The greatest danger to Paul comes from his disaffected wife. Paul also cuts off his beloved concubine from his decision-making and instead chooses a course which leads him towards personal destruction to save the galaxy. Perhaps Herbert's real message here is that domestic bliss is the key to happiness even for the all-powerful.
Although this book is interesting, it is mainly filler between the masterpiece of Dune and the very good Children of Dune.

The second book in the great Dune series. The first was pure classic. The second continues the tradition of great story telling and cliffhangers that you cannot stand to read (or should I say not read). Dune Messiah has a vivid string of plots going on that force you to think for once, unlike many other books. Dune Messiah sends the characters from the original into more deep adventures, all of which will surprise you and maybe even make you emotional. There is the dark temper and the colorful areas of the book, though this universe can be described as dark. Muad'Dib leads the long book which introduces many new things (such as the Ghola, which you all will learn about later).
The ending is just so good that I cannot give you the slightest hint of what will happen, but I can tell you it will compell most readers that like this genre to go on to the next book. Dune Messiah is more like a new chapter of the story than a sequel. The excellent late writer Frank Herbert includes conspiracy, action, suspense, and a small level of romance into this epic tale which can never be finished. If you are one of those people who like to see the movie versions instead of read the book, don't. Dune cannot be filmed, you NEED the book for the full experience.

I have read all the books in the Dune series, and I have to say that I feel "Dune Messiah" is the worst of the lot. After the initial novel, "Dune", the other books in the series took a turn for the philosophical. "Dune Messiah," perhaps more than any of the other books, concentrates on the philosophical, and leaves action and plot development by the wayside.
The story focuses on Paul Atreides after he has become, essentially, emperor of the universe. His legions of religious zealots spread the word of Muad'Dib to all the worlds in the universe, in a religious jihad. Paul, blessed or cursed with prescience, becomes more and more inhuman, he begins to question the Golden Path which he has created.
The book covers a very short period in Paul's life, during which he wrestles with his self-doubts, as well as contending with a plot which has arisen against him. Look for the first "rebirth" of Duncan Idaho, a pivotal character throughout the whole series.
I found it hard to read because, I was rooting for Paul, in "Dune," he was, in every way, the hero, and you wanted him to win. In "Dune Messiah," though, now that he has won, its sad to see how his initial dream has been has been corrupted by circumstances. I wanted Paul to be as heroic as he was in the first novel, but he is not. This may be more realistic, but its sad, and you really don't know who you should be rooting for, if, indeed, you should be rooting for anybody.
All in all, Herbert took a very long time to say very little. However, he says it well, and as in all his books, Herbert's characters are quite compelling, even if they are more tragic, so it still reads very well, even if it isn't as interesting as the first novel.

Probably the most distinct moment of reading Dune Messiah came when my eyes lit upon the wonderful phrase: "Bijaz the catalyst dwarf." Only in the prose of Frank Herbert could such a coupling be possible.

As to Bijaz, himself, I'm not really sure why he needed to be in the book. He didn't seem to be an essential character, just a peculiar garnish on the storyline. The Station Agent this ain't.

I'm a bit on the fence about this book. I see the point that some reviewers here are making, that it's the tragedy of Paul, but I have a hard time finding his tragedy paramount or even compelling. As he, himself, says, 35 billion people have died in the holy war he unleashed. Next to that incredible cataclysm, his own sense of self-pity seems rather piddling, and his own relative inaction inexcusable.

The action in Dune Messiah seems more obscure than in its predecessor. I think a bit too much is left offstage. Developments seem to conjure themselves out of thin air. That said, it still leaves the overall storyline on an interesting path and doesn't disincline me from reading Children of Dune.

Some books should never beget sequels. They are so perfect that any attempt to serialise them will only succeed in making the sequels look bad. Dune is such a book, and the sequels all meet their destinies by indeed looking bad. Some critics have even suggested that Herbert wrote the sequels only to cash in on the popularity of the original. This is uncharitable. Herbert wrote the sequels because he believed that he had important things to say. The problem is that he throws out most of what made the progenitor so good in order to say his Important Things.
Nor does it help that those Important Things don't turn out to be too important. Crusade as a cleansing social/moral force; the psychoanalysis of prophesy; the pitfalls of omniscience; all are themes that have been explored more deeply and more cohesively by other writers.
Moreover, such themes are out of place in the world of Dune. Dune was effective because it was simple. The Fremen commanded our interest because their outlook on life was as stark as their environment. Jessica commanded our sympathy because she chose her loyalty as consort and mother over her instilled training as social engineer. Paul commanded our respect because he continually overcame adversity, displayed courageous resourcefulness and showed himself in every way his father's son. These are all characteristics with which we can identify because they satisfy our yearning for love, honour and justice. And in Dune, Herbert successfully elevated them from the commonplace to the heroic by keeping them free of unnecessary artifice.
In Messiah, Herbert forgets this principle and overindulges in cleverness. Every character has inscrutable agendas, unfathomable layers, infinite subtlety. Such properties must be used sparingly. When they are slathered on with a trowel, as they are here, they only succeed in turning the characters into caricatures of themselves. I was nauseous after the umpteenth description of such and such a verbal blade unerringly penetrating to such and such a depth because it was precisely engineered with such and such a sub-harmonic and delivered with exactly such and such a sneer. Ohh Puhlease!
This is an unattractive work and the sequels that follow only get worse. But when a writer composes a masterpiece as fine as Dune, I suppose he can be forgiven his later excesses.

Frank Herbert is the Aristotle of science fiction. This novel proves it. Taking place on the barren desert planet, Arrakis, otherwise known as simply Dune to the native Fremen, Paul Maud'dib Atreides has ruled his galactic throne with a religious jihad, ordaining himself as the God Emperor of the Galaxy. But how can a man of flesh, though thought to be messiah of the Fremen, claim to be God? This ruler who's body is not strong enough to repel the radiation of an atomic blast succumbs to physical blindness. Planets across his domain beg for a constitution against the emperor's despotic reign. And all Paul Maud'dib really wants is to secure the safety of his concubine Chani and their twin heirs. But the emperors prophetic visions will not allow for the survival of both.

What is phenomenal about this tragedy is the inner struggle of an icon of worship. Even messiahs are only humans. Paul Maud'dib will have to unravel a conspiracy between the shipping guild, the face dancers, the school of witches, and his own wife princess. Marriage being political to secure the imperial throne from the last emperor. Paul Maud'dib will have to do all this and sacrifice one love over another before he too gives up his life for the desert as a true Fremen. The blind are a waist of water. His Prophetic visions will only give him so much sight until the Emperor God himself is rendered a waist of water. This is a powerful read that left me spellbound.

For many readers the transition from Dune to Dune Messiah is not an easy one.

That's because in Dune so much of the action takes place externally to the characters.

In the case of Dune Messiah however pretty much all the action is internal and philosophical in nature. In fact it's hard to go too many pages where Frank Herbert isn't trying to introduce some new thought provoking idea.

For me, I'll admit that while I thought the book took itself a little too seriously it still was interesting to see just where Frank Herbert saw his story going after the end of Dune.

Frank Herbert's 1969 novel, "Dune Messiah," like its predecessor novel, "Dune," is really much less about action and adventure than it is about the personal effects of power. Actually, "Dune Messiah" has no real action, no real excitement - unless you find mental trauma, philosophical quandaries, and musings on the relationships between government and religion exciting; fortunately, I do. Even the novel's title is a mental excerise in irony - one of the questions that permeates this book, as it did toward the end of "Dune" is can one young man balance the unbelievable burdens of being a man of the people, an emperor, and a god while trying to be an individual and a husband? Can Paul Muad'dib, reputed savior, save even himself?
From its beginnings, "Dune Messiah" really concerns a plot between the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, the Spacing Guild, and the Bene Tleilax, to find a way to compromise the theocracy of Muad'dib, whose Jihad and its adherents have been sweeping the universe during the 12 years since the overthrow of House Corrino's Emperor Shaddam IV depicted at the end of "Dune." The Bene Gesserit want to regain control of Paul Muad'dib's bloodline for their breeding program, the Spacing Guild want easier access to Spice, produced only on Arrakis, and the Bene Tleilax want a piece of Muad'dib - literally - to clone and control their own Kwisatz Haderach. As in the first novel, there are plots within plots, and the conspiracy is only ever a loose confederacy, each party with their own competing interests. Further, these parties seek to manipulate an increasing sense of dissent amongst the native Fremen on Arrakis, many of whom feel left out or disenchanted by the changes in their lives since the beginning of the Jihad, particularly with their unsatisfying movement from the margins of the empire they helped depose, to the margins of an empire they helped to create. The Bene Tleilax initiate the action of the novel, goading the dissident Fremen and presenting Muad'dib with a clone, or ghola, of his slain teacher, Duncan Idaho, who at the appropriate moment, is to murder Muad'dib.
Muad'dib, meanwhile, has his own problems - he remains, for good and ill, the melancholy, self-absorbed, confused young man that he was at the end of "Dune." He is prepossessed, throughout the novel, with the feeling that his knowledge of the future utterly controls him. While he longs for a normal, secluded life with his concubine, Chani, and the chance to have and raise children, his daily involvement with the myth that has sprung up around him gives him an ever-increasing sense of isolation and alienation from his humanity. He has become almost unbearably fatalistic as he is forced to embrace as he shrinks from his role as deified Messiah and from his visions of the future. Indeed, the problem and potential of vision is a preoccupation of the novel - from the metal eyes of the ghola to Muad'dib's eventual physical blindness.
As the novel progresses, it becomes clear that Muad'dib's journey is out of his own hands, and wisely, rather than subject the reader to hundreds of pages of Muad'dib lamenting his fate, Herbert turns his focus to other characters - specifically the ghola Duncan Idaho and Muad'dib's pre-born sister Alia - and their struggles. Indeed, the ghola is the most intriguing character in "Dune Messiah" as he attempts to discover the latent memories of his former life and to fight against his own Tleilaxu programming. The Tleilaxu contingent overall form the most consistently interesting figures in the novel. From the conspirator Scytale, a Tleilaxu Face Dancer (shape-shifter) to the gholas - Hayt/Duncan Idaho, and the dwarf Bijaz - the Tleilaxu, with their use of technology to change themselves and to effect change in others is a sinister contrast to Muad'dib's Fremen efforts to alter the ecology of Arrakis and the structures of power in the universe.
What "Dune Messiah" lacks is a sense of scope and urgency. "Dune" gave us a new universe, one which hinted at compelling connections to our own, but which "Messiah" does not take any pains to develop. The personal, internal struggles of Herbert's characters in "Messiah" are almost too self-involved - we lose touch to a great extent, with larger issues, with the epic feel of the original novel. Finally, Alia's degeneration into Abomination is not really chronicled in any satisfactory detail. These criticisms aside, "Dune Messiah" is a good, but not a really fitting sequel to "Dune" - worth reading certainly, but no match for the power, originality, and depth of its predecessor.

*Slight spoiler alert*

This is not a normal review. Due to the fact this book is decades old, and is far from new. This version is just the kindle version. This is more of a format review. In this edition, there is a wonderful intro by Frank Herbert's son Brian. It is truly written by a son that is proud of his father. If your a Dad, be prepared to cry.

I was a little disappointed with the book formatting though. Every once in awhile there are are sentences split in half, leaving some awkward spaces. Other than that, it's good. The story hasn't changed, so if you were among the many that hated this book back in the day, you'll still hate it.

Overall

I give this ebook 4 out of 5 stars.

I would normally give a writer such as Frank Herbert higher marks, but "Messiah" is not the worthy successor to the ground-breaking "Dune" that one would expect or hope for. The text is overwrought with an unlimited omniscient narrative that leaves little for readers to discover or imagine for themselves. The story's flow drags due to excessive "telling" and not enough "showing." Dialog is minimalized, and character interactions are infrequent and -- when finally given voice -- are overly philosophizing and ponderous. Add to this a so-so plot line and you have a sequel to a Megawork that just doesn't cut it. "Messiah" is Frank Herbert's thinly veiled views on world (or "off-world" in this case) religion, politics, governments, corruption, conspiracy, etc. The reframing of Paul Atredies as a galactic despot whose absolute power has absolutely corrupted him, and sister Alia who becomes a spiritual icon to the simple Freman, are clearly editorial statements on things much closer to this planet than to some far-away visionscape. Viewed in this light, "Messiah" is a philosophical "soap box" that I suppose is the right of every visionary writer at some point in their career. (C.S. Lewis comes to mind!) BUT, if you're looking for an action-packed sci-fi thriller, with all the impact and imagination of the original novel, don't expect to find it in this sequel. I came away from this read with the impression that Herbert threw "Messiah" together to pontificate a bit, to honor some publishing agreement, or perhaps both. Buy "Messiah" if just to keep Herbert's Dune Legacy alive and breathing, but be forewarned: this sequel has scarcely a "worm" in it, honestly.

For me, "Dune Messiah" is clearly the weakest book in Frank Herbert's "Dune" series. The problem from my perspective is a significant and radical shift in the character of Paul Muad'Dib. One of the things that particularly struck me in "Dune" was the sense in which Paul was similar to the Messiah awaited by the Jews: King David reincarnated to use the sword to sweep away the oppressors of his people. However, in "Dune Messiah," Paul becomes more of a traditional Christ figure, down to the symbolic crucifixion that makes up the climax of the book. For me that was too much of a shift to accept, because I felt it undid one of the principle strengths of the original novel and all you have to do is put the two volumes side by side to see that this is not another epic novel.
However, this does not mean that you should skip "Dune Messiah" as you work your way through the series, because it does set up several new elements that are ultimately more important than much of which was originally established (i.e, Duncan Idaho as a ghola, the twins, etc.). My strong recommendation has always been that you need to let time pass between each of Herbert's novels, because each one goes off in a new direction. I think that if you read them one after the other you simply cannot appreciate the strong points of each shift. So if you let time pass and then have a hankering to go back to Arrakis, I really believe you will be more open to the changes. Maybe the shock of the first change of direction has stayed with me, or the fact that the epic heights of the original "Dune" can never be equaled, but others have struggled through this second novel as well. However, everyone who has worked their way through the entire series has found it well worthwhile and we all would trade all the prequels for just one more volume from Frank Herbert.

Some books should never beget sequels. They are so perfect that any attempt to serialise them will only succeed in making the sequels look bad. Dune is such a book, and the sequels all meet their destinies by indeed looking bad. Some critics have even suggested that Herbert wrote the sequels only to cash in on the popularity of the original. This is uncharitable. Herbert wrote the sequels because he believed that he had important things to say. The problem is that he throws out most of what made the progenitor so good in order to say his Important Things.
Nor does it help that those Important Things don't turn out to be too important. Crusade as a cleansing social/moral force; the psychoanalysis of prophesy; the pitfalls of omniscience; all are themes that have been explored more deeply and more cohesively by other writers.
Moreover, such themes are out of place in the world of Dune. Dune was effective because it was simple. The Fremen commanded our interest because their outlook on life was as stark as their environment. Jessica commanded our sympathy because she chose her loyalty as consort and mother over her instilled training as social engineer. Paul commanded our respect because he continually overcame adversity, displayed courageous resourcefulness and showed himself in every way his father's son. These are all characteristics with which we can identify because they satisfy our yearning for love, honour and justice. And in Dune, Herbert successfully elevated them from the commonplace to the heroic by keeping them free of unnecessary artifice.
In Messiah, Herbert forgets this principle and overindulges in cleverness. Every character has inscrutable agendas, unfathomable layers, infinite subtlety. Such properties must be used sparingly. When they are slathered on with a trowel, as they are here, they only succeed in turning the characters into caricatures of themselves. I was nauseous after the umpteenth description of such and such a verbal blade unerringly penetrating to such and such a depth because it was precisely engineered with such and such a sub-harmonic and delivered with exactly such and such a sneer. Ohh Puhlease!
This is an unattractive work and the sequels that follow only get worse. But when a writer composes a masterpiece as fine as Dune, I suppose he can be forgiven his later excesses.

Frank Herbert is the Aristotle of science fiction. This novel proves it. Taking place on the barren desert planet, Arrakis, otherwise known as simply Dune to the native Fremen, Paul Maud'dib Atreides has ruled his galactic throne with a religious jihad, ordaining himself as the God Emperor of the Galaxy. But how can a man of flesh, though thought to be messiah of the Fremen, claim to be God? This ruler who's body is not strong enough to repel the radiation of an atomic blast succumbs to physical blindness. Planets across his domain beg for a constitution against the emperor's despotic reign. And all Paul Maud'dib really wants is to secure the safety of his concubine Chani and their twin heirs. But the emperors prophetic visions will not allow for the survival of both.

What is phenomenal about this tragedy is the inner struggle of an icon of worship. Even messiahs are only humans. Paul Maud'dib will have to unravel a conspiracy between the shipping guild, the face dancers, the school of witches, and his own wife princess. Marriage being political to secure the imperial throne from the last emperor. Paul Maud'dib will have to do all this and sacrifice one love over another before he too gives up his life for the desert as a true Fremen. The blind are a waist of water. His Prophetic visions will only give him so much sight until the Emperor God himself is rendered a waist of water. This is a powerful read that left me spellbound.

For many readers the transition from Dune to Dune Messiah is not an easy one.

That's because in Dune so much of the action takes place externally to the characters.

In the case of Dune Messiah however pretty much all the action is internal and philosophical in nature. In fact it's hard to go too many pages where Frank Herbert isn't trying to introduce some new thought provoking idea.

For me, I'll admit that while I thought the book took itself a little too seriously it still was interesting to see just where Frank Herbert saw his story going after the end of Dune.

Frank Herbert's 1969 novel, "Dune Messiah," like its predecessor novel, "Dune," is really much less about action and adventure than it is about the personal effects of power. Actually, "Dune Messiah" has no real action, no real excitement - unless you find mental trauma, philosophical quandaries, and musings on the relationships between government and religion exciting; fortunately, I do. Even the novel's title is a mental excerise in irony - one of the questions that permeates this book, as it did toward the end of "Dune" is can one young man balance the unbelievable burdens of being a man of the people, an emperor, and a god while trying to be an individual and a husband? Can Paul Muad'dib, reputed savior, save even himself?
From its beginnings, "Dune Messiah" really concerns a plot between the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, the Spacing Guild, and the Bene Tleilax, to find a way to compromise the theocracy of Muad'dib, whose Jihad and its adherents have been sweeping the universe during the 12 years since the overthrow of House Corrino's Emperor Shaddam IV depicted at the end of "Dune." The Bene Gesserit want to regain control of Paul Muad'dib's bloodline for their breeding program, the Spacing Guild want easier access to Spice, produced only on Arrakis, and the Bene Tleilax want a piece of Muad'dib - literally - to clone and control their own Kwisatz Haderach. As in the first novel, there are plots within plots, and the conspiracy is only ever a loose confederacy, each party with their own competing interests. Further, these parties seek to manipulate an increasing sense of dissent amongst the native Fremen on Arrakis, many of whom feel left out or disenchanted by the changes in their lives since the beginning of the Jihad, particularly with their unsatisfying movement from the margins of the empire they helped depose, to the margins of an empire they helped to create. The Bene Tleilax initiate the action of the novel, goading the dissident Fremen and presenting Muad'dib with a clone, or ghola, of his slain teacher, Duncan Idaho, who at the appropriate moment, is to murder Muad'dib.
Muad'dib, meanwhile, has his own problems - he remains, for good and ill, the melancholy, self-absorbed, confused young man that he was at the end of "Dune." He is prepossessed, throughout the novel, with the feeling that his knowledge of the future utterly controls him. While he longs for a normal, secluded life with his concubine, Chani, and the chance to have and raise children, his daily involvement with the myth that has sprung up around him gives him an ever-increasing sense of isolation and alienation from his humanity. He has become almost unbearably fatalistic as he is forced to embrace as he shrinks from his role as deified Messiah and from his visions of the future. Indeed, the problem and potential of vision is a preoccupation of the novel - from the metal eyes of the ghola to Muad'dib's eventual physical blindness.
As the novel progresses, it becomes clear that Muad'dib's journey is out of his own hands, and wisely, rather than subject the reader to hundreds of pages of Muad'dib lamenting his fate, Herbert turns his focus to other characters - specifically the ghola Duncan Idaho and Muad'dib's pre-born sister Alia - and their struggles. Indeed, the ghola is the most intriguing character in "Dune Messiah" as he attempts to discover the latent memories of his former life and to fight against his own Tleilaxu programming. The Tleilaxu contingent overall form the most consistently interesting figures in the novel. From the conspirator Scytale, a Tleilaxu Face Dancer (shape-shifter) to the gholas - Hayt/Duncan Idaho, and the dwarf Bijaz - the Tleilaxu, with their use of technology to change themselves and to effect change in others is a sinister contrast to Muad'dib's Fremen efforts to alter the ecology of Arrakis and the structures of power in the universe.
What "Dune Messiah" lacks is a sense of scope and urgency. "Dune" gave us a new universe, one which hinted at compelling connections to our own, but which "Messiah" does not take any pains to develop. The personal, internal struggles of Herbert's characters in "Messiah" are almost too self-involved - we lose touch to a great extent, with larger issues, with the epic feel of the original novel. Finally, Alia's degeneration into Abomination is not really chronicled in any satisfactory detail. These criticisms aside, "Dune Messiah" is a good, but not a really fitting sequel to "Dune" - worth reading certainly, but no match for the power, originality, and depth of its predecessor.

*Slight spoiler alert*

This is not a normal review. Due to the fact this book is decades old, and is far from new. This version is just the kindle version. This is more of a format review. In this edition, there is a wonderful intro by Frank Herbert's son Brian. It is truly written by a son that is proud of his father. If your a Dad, be prepared to cry.

I was a little disappointed with the book formatting though. Every once in awhile there are are sentences split in half, leaving some awkward spaces. Other than that, it's good. The story hasn't changed, so if you were among the many that hated this book back in the day, you'll still hate it.

Overall

I give this ebook 4 out of 5 stars.

I would normally give a writer such as Frank Herbert higher marks, but "Messiah" is not the worthy successor to the ground-breaking "Dune" that one would expect or hope for. The text is overwrought with an unlimited omniscient narrative that leaves little for readers to discover or imagine for themselves. The story's flow drags due to excessive "telling" and not enough "showing." Dialog is minimalized, and character interactions are infrequent and -- when finally given voice -- are overly philosophizing and ponderous. Add to this a so-so plot line and you have a sequel to a Megawork that just doesn't cut it. "Messiah" is Frank Herbert's thinly veiled views on world (or "off-world" in this case) religion, politics, governments, corruption, conspiracy, etc. The reframing of Paul Atredies as a galactic despot whose absolute power has absolutely corrupted him, and sister Alia who becomes a spiritual icon to the simple Freman, are clearly editorial statements on things much closer to this planet than to some far-away visionscape. Viewed in this light, "Messiah" is a philosophical "soap box" that I suppose is the right of every visionary writer at some point in their career. (C.S. Lewis comes to mind!) BUT, if you're looking for an action-packed sci-fi thriller, with all the impact and imagination of the original novel, don't expect to find it in this sequel. I came away from this read with the impression that Herbert threw "Messiah" together to pontificate a bit, to honor some publishing agreement, or perhaps both. Buy "Messiah" if just to keep Herbert's Dune Legacy alive and breathing, but be forewarned: this sequel has scarcely a "worm" in it, honestly.

For me, "Dune Messiah" is clearly the weakest book in Frank Herbert's "Dune" series. The problem from my perspective is a significant and radical shift in the character of Paul Muad'Dib. One of the things that particularly struck me in "Dune" was the sense in which Paul was similar to the Messiah awaited by the Jews: King David reincarnated to use the sword to sweep away the oppressors of his people. However, in "Dune Messiah," Paul becomes more of a traditional Christ figure, down to the symbolic crucifixion that makes up the climax of the book. For me that was too much of a shift to accept, because I felt it undid one of the principle strengths of the original novel and all you have to do is put the two volumes side by side to see that this is not another epic novel.
However, this does not mean that you should skip "Dune Messiah" as you work your way through the series, because it does set up several new elements that are ultimately more important than much of which was originally established (i.e, Duncan Idaho as a ghola, the twins, etc.). My strong recommendation has always been that you need to let time pass between each of Herbert's novels, because each one goes off in a new direction. I think that if you read them one after the other you simply cannot appreciate the strong points of each shift. So if you let time pass and then have a hankering to go back to Arrakis, I really believe you will be more open to the changes. Maybe the shock of the first change of direction has stayed with me, or the fact that the epic heights of the original "Dune" can never be equaled, but others have struggled through this second novel as well. However, everyone who has worked their way through the entire series has found it well worthwhile and we all would trade all the prequels for just one more volume from Frank Herbert.

Is Dune Messiah as good as the original? No, it is not, but it's still a great book.

**Spoilers**

Dune Messiah takes places a little time after Dune, when Paul's Jihad is sweeping the known universe, and Paul is now the Emperor of the Theocracy build around his own mythology. Paul in this book is happily married to Chani, who is having trouble conceiving a child. He haas to deal with the many people who don't like how Paul has brought water to Dune, thiking it has made the culture weak. Many who have lost loved ones in the Jihad wonder why they followed who seems to be now just another megalomaniacal tyrant.

The tragedy is that Paul does not want to be where he is, and really wants only to escape, leaving the future path to his heirs. The ghola Duncan, a blast from the past, only worsens his psyche but he can't destroy him, even as he knows the ghola is programmed to kill him. He's not completely helpless in the novel, as there are many plans up his sleeve as well.

The ending is a satisfying conclusion, and it's recommended that you don't bother with the rest, as they become practically unreadable after this Messiah.

Dune Messiah, the follow-up to Dune takes place 12 years after the end of the first book. Paul is now emperor and is finding that the real challenge is not gaining an empire, but ruling it. He has become cynical and disillusioned, as plots against him abound and the jihad continues.
Although Dune Messiah is an enjoyable sequel it lacks the sweep and grandeur of Dune, while keeping its complexity. In Dune Messiah the complexity is the result of Herbert just not fleshing out the story enough. I've read the novel twice and I still don't understand exactly the nature of the conspiracy against Paul. Why the stoneburner if Duncan Idaho was programmed to kill Paul. Why did Paul feel that Chani's death was necessary? What was the point of the dwarf? It seemed as if Herbert had more in mind than he put on paper, and the reader is left to fill in the blanks.

This was a very good book. Too many people compare it to the first book and say it wasn't as good. Although it is a sequel to Dune, I considered on its own as a very strong story. Its a dark story, but still compelling. It has many of the same interesting characters as the original dune, along with a few new ones. The plot is interesting, albeit a bit complex. The conspiracy chapter at the beginning of the book sets things up and is a bit heavy to take in at once. I had to review it a couple of times later in the book to fully understand what was occurring. That was okay though. I really only wish there were references (glossary and history notes) in the back of this book like the first book in the series had. Great nonetheless.

Let me start off saying that this was a great book but it was very different from the first one. It was good in a different way. The plots twist gave a lot of depth and suspense. There was a lot less action in this book which is why it only gets 4 stars. I also wish that Stilgar was involved more, he was one of the most interesting characters in the first book and i think that he should come back for this one. If you read this book you will be going back to read over things A LOT. Its really complex but thats what makes it great. In this book Paul has to deal with being a god and a man and an emporer all at the same time which prooves difficult for him. The plots against him go really deep. (REALLY REALLLY DEAP) They all just seem to weave together trough a bunch of twist and turns and interweavings of character. (yeah, i don't know what i'm saying) But for real, this is a must read book! If you want an action book, then don't read this one. But if your looking for anything else in a book, this one has it.

It's said fairly often that Dune was the greatest science fiction novel ever written, and rightfully so if you ask me. Many of these same people go on to say that Dune Messiah is not very good, and the series gets worse as it goes on. Too many people.
Dune Messiah finishes (almost) what Dune started to describe: the life of a man who becomes a living god, and the effect he then has on the world surrounding him. In Messiah the forces of the universe (the Imperial family, the Fremen, the Space Guild, etc) react to Paul Atreides, the Muad'Dib, and the results are fascinating to read. I must confess that while I enjoyed Dune, I wasn't sure it was enough to keep me going through six books, much less consider the new prequels which are now popping up. Dune Messiah made up my mind for me, and I bought the next four books that week. This is where the series really starts to take off and flesh out a future that is sometimes dark, sometimes hopeful, and never boring.

This isn't a rehash of of the first book, Dune. Instead this is somewhat a prologue to Children Of Dune, the third book in the series. Even though this doesn't contain some of the key characters from the first book, such as Lady Jessica and Gurny Halleck, I'm not to sure why people really don't like this book. My cousin doesn't like it because he said that the aurthur took away Paul's power. Of course he didn't though. Also, if you thought that the first book was steeped in political intrigue, this one takes it to the next level. I'm not going to give the story away so you will have to read for yourself. Really a good read that leads up to the even better Children of Dune. If you're looking to continue with the series, ignore the negative reviews and get this today.

After reading Dune I was hesitant to get myself caught in a commitment to read the whole series. I know.... I'm just another male who has trouble with commitment. But after reading Dune Messiah I have to admit, i'm hooked. Although many might disagree with me i actually feel that this one was better. This book involved deeper philosophy while incorporating character history that was pre established in the first novel. It's hard to describe the differences without giving anything away. Before reading this book a decided to read some of the reviews to get a better feel for what i was in for. .... and allow me to forewarn you, some of these reviews give away the ending. thoughout the book i thought i'd be disappointed knowing what was going to happen. But as it turns out there are more twists then i thought and the ending was truly appropriate. I look foreward to reading the rest of Herbert's books, now that i'm stuck in the lives of the Atrieds.

Horrible follow up to one of the greatest science fiction masterpieces of all time. Herbert had the opportunity to create a master franchise. Instead he went off on a political rant about power and made me too disillusioned to read any more Dune books.

I have just finished reading the second installment of the Dune series and I have to say I liked it. In a way it was short and sweet. However, the downfall of Messiah, despite the fact that it is more confusing, is that it provides maximum satisfaction only at the end. The whole story seemed like a long set up for the final few pages. It is as if the prophecy was unfolded in few seconds before our eyes after years of waiting for it. In short, the ending is what make Messiah worth reading, Shai-Hulud can shallow the rest.
Messiah, doesn't have the same epic feel to it as Dune but is not a disappointing book in any way. It seems that Messiah serves as the next step for the progression to something greater. I'm going to start reading the next book right away.

Dune is the SF "everything including the kitchen sink" classic. It is the rise of the hero. In "Messiah" we get the Greek tragic hero's fall.

Once again, Herbert dealt with complex themes with far-reaching implications. Will a man detroy himself rather than become something which he is not? Will a hero allow himself to become a focal point for great evil? Great concept.

Many who have read this book are disappointed--they wanted another sprawling space melodrama. Instead, we get a morality play. But every time I've read this novel, my opinion of it has gone up. Read it. Think about it. Herbert said he had this book in his head when he wrote Dune. Ask yourself what he's saying. Your opinion of it will improve too.

Though Herbert wrote this book with a little too much flair for the dramatic, I really enjoyed it. Though not much happens in it, I still read through it pretty quickly and didn't want to stop. The characters seemed so dramatic, though, and I felt like I was watching a cheesy soap opera. That was part of the fun, though. I like the simplicity in the action scenes; some books (the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, for instance) have such overly written action scenes that I tune out after a while. Herbert did it right, telling us just enough. It's a fluidly written book that was a joy to read.

The first sequel to the collosal masterpiece of Science Fiction, Dune Messiah takes up where Dune left off. Both in tone and in astute observations of the runnings of both government and religion.
We follow the story of Paul Muad'Dib, the slightly reluctant messiah and emperor of a universe of opposites living in constant struggle.
He is cursed by the prescience which shows him the ambiguous future, affording him glimpses at events so painful he can scarce look at them, and a way of avoiding those events even more painful yet.
Herbert was one of the great masters, and every single book he wrote is worth our attention, but none more so than this stunning series called Dune.
Whether or not you enjoy Science Fiction, you would be doing yourself a disservice by ignoring a social treatise of such skill and precision as these books.

Read Dune originally in 1972 or so, was mesmerized by it's concept, depth, and also the action. Read Dune Messiah sometime later..and was bored: none of the sweeping action, and was mostly talk. Was too young to appreciate it. Reread Dune again recently, what a classic. Am now halfway through Dune Messiah. As a older somewhat mature individual I can now understand the personal complexities explored in depth by this book. It is to be slowly savored and a source of much consideration. Herbert was an intelligent and wise person, who could craft an exceptional story to explore themes and also delight our yearning for a good yarn. Dune's complexity elevates itself to a myth-like status. Enjoy.

After reading Dune, I was anxious to get my hands on the rest of the series. Unfortunately, Dune Messiah lacks much of what made the original novel great. I appreciated the philosophical elements of the book and the political intrigue, but the book was devoid of the action and even most of the characters we grew to love in Dune. Some have said that this book is necessary evil in that the third book wouldn't be possible without it. While there is some truth to this, it certainly could have done that AND given us more of the desert world and the Atreides we loved.

Mr. Herbert's novel Dune Messiah is an excellently written book about an emperor named Paul Atreides. Ruling from Arrakis, he spots trouble from a mile away with his melange induced powers of prescience.

Of course if you have not yet read the prequal, Dune, then by now you are obscenely lost and would strongly encourage you to run to the nearest book store, pick up a copy of both books, and read them in chronological order.

This book, although difficult to understand is awesome to read and is very easy to get into. Some of the qualities are bewildering plot twists, bizarre characters, and an entertaining and action packed story line.

This book is so awesome it has often been compared to The Lord of the Rings books, however like LOTR it is extremely difficult to read. Don't read this book unless you are both patient and have a lot of time on your hands because if you want to get all you can out of this book you will read some particularly hard sections over again.

This particular author, who has also written Dune, Children Of Dune, House Harkonnen, House Atreides, and many more. He has never ceased to amaze Science fiction fans and this is one of his best books yet. This book has reserved it's well deserved place among the ranks of Science Fiction Classics, so if you haven't read it ... Read It!

A Dune Messiah review by,

Daniel Marchioni

It is the one time Frank Herbert let himself (or his editors let him) become truly literary in the series of books about Dune. It must be in the nicest sense of that term.

I remember being young, near to thirty, and reading the first time, comparing impressions with friends in the quiet, hands-on moments at our r&d work.

Perhaps we didn't feel the sweep of the original Dune, though in another way it is actually there -- behind, and in the spaces opened by many observations in the text. And it didn't seem to compare with the adventures of Leto and Ghanima and the D-wolves, though today for all that the Children of Dune book is important, it is lesser.

In Dune Messiah, the depth of individual story is drawn almost as with Asian brushes: swift, naturally spreading strokes, that you take a moment with to let the understanding come to you, how evocative. There is not summary, yet also there are summaries of whole thoughts, as in the sad ending not of Paul, but of Bijaz, whose power as a person and character just give glimpses of Frank Herbert's breadth of achievement.

I have never been able to understand the later books after Herbert died, though there can be a certain fascination in some of them, and now think that they are simply very different works, as if a very different historian had been read to us. Then there is credit where due.

Of Frank Herbert's deep and long creation, it's apparent also how he took different avenues himself, perhaps guided by editors, by 'results' for this Dune Messiah particularly. He had a life to support, and could no doubt find fun and satisfaction in putting forward what people most seemed to want to hear, all the way to Miles Teg, who was a great creation also.

Would that he could have pursued the tracks of Dune Messiah further in some places and ways, and perhaps he did -- the rest of the series I also have before me to read over. What he did here shows the soul there was behind it all, and it is a thanking matter indeed to meet him so.

Highly recommended, and as you see, for reading 'again'.

The introduction I had to 'Dune Messiah' was from a friend of mine, "It's atrocious...don't read it...there's no mindless blood and guts(if you want that, read Lord of the Rings)...it's nothing like the rest of the series." Well, I would completely dissagree with the blatantly shallow comment that Dune Messiah is atrocious. But, I would not dissagree with the notion that it is completely different from the rest of the series...and that is a good thing. Often times, I grow weary of series' that drone on with the same stylistic format, especially in sci-fi/fantasy. Take for instance, Lord of the Rings. I love the story, the plot, etc. But because of the style and the fact that the three books are actually one single book, it causes one of the sections to lag. That particular section is 'The Two Towers.' Sure, it has plenty of action and blood, but there is absolutely no thought or depth in it. It, literally, is just a bridge from one good book to the last, nothing more. This is where 'Dune Messiah' succeeds. It's not simply a continuation of 'Dune.' The book is a thought-provoking analysis of Paul and his religious Jihad. As 'Dune' concludes that Paul is a Jesus figure, 'Dune Messiah' concludes that one should decide objectively whether Paul is Jesus or Adolf Hilter.
The book has an extremely thorough explanation of the inner-struggle of Paul's character that is only hinted at in 'Dune.' But, this book also gives the objective look at the opinions of priests, family members, heretics, newly-reiterated characters, and historians on Paul and his Imperial Jihad. Is what Paul is doing morally just? Or is it tyranny? The book leaves the reader with his/her own thoughts, but not without making the reader fully understand Paul.
I never thought that a Science Fiction book could have such enthrawling character developement. But Frank Herbert truly has revealed that he can do it as well as any literary figure in history....and the plot's not too shabby either!! The only thing it lacks is Lady Jessica. Well, luckily, we haven't seen the end of her...

Dune Messiah is a much less ambitious book that its predecessor, but that doesn't mean it comes short as one of the greatest sci-fi books ever. Much shorter than "Dune", this sequel focuses on just a couple of storylines at a time, and basically serves its purpose: present the outcome of Paul Muadib as ruler of the universe and prepare us for the coming of his children, whose actions, narrated on the forecoming novels, are the real juice of the saga. Anyway, Dune Messiah has a simple, entertaining story, but you certainly can't stop there. In order to find out what's the destiny of the universe, you need to read the ones that follow this sequel.

this is the 2nd book in the Dune series written by Frank Herbert. and this book too i love. In this book Paul is now the ruler of Arakis and the freeman have set up a powerful and mighty kingdom in his honor after the jihad. Paul struggles with the consequences of the jihad and with what his people have become. and also paul begins to find the problems of possesion from the spice. all around a great addition to the dune series, and is definently worth buying. if you have read the first book you MUST READ this book, it is the continuing of what happened in Dune and begins to show the kind of changes physically it is taking and the peoples changes too.

Frank Herbert had a lot to live up to when it came to writing a sequel to the greatest science-fiction epic of all time. In parts, he succeeded admirably. Sadly, pacing is not one of them. When I first read Dune: Messiah I had an idea of what was to come, Messianic Prophecy has a way of telegraphing the knockout punch, and I found myself longing for the end of this book and the resolution of Maud'Dib's journey. This is not to say that I did not enjoy the second chapter of this masterwork, but it does not live up to Dune, or the sequels for that matter. Still recommended reading if only to get to the next chapter of the Dune saga.

Forgive the bad pun. But this book is a bit dark compared to the original. Dune was a sweeping epic. Dune Messiah is a singular story focusing on the darkness implied in Dune. Although Dune ended in a very triumphant fasion...there were unresolved tensions about the coming Jihad and what would happed when Paul Atreides became Emperor/Messiah. Those tensions are explored here. Yes...the writing style is different...and no this is nothing like the original...however I still enjoyed reading this book and had a hard time putting it down.

I love the way the book kicks off giving you the details of the conspiracy. Similar to how Dune laid out the Harkonnen plot within the first few chapters. I also really enjoyed the introduction to the Bene Tleilax. Scytale and Hayt were great characters. I wish Scytale had been fleshed out a bit more. While all the talk about prescience and Religion/Government went on a little too much, I still find it to be intriguing. I think Frank Herbert could have been a philosopher. Other than the ending I thought the coolest aspect was how when Paul loses his eyesight he can still see everything around him because it was part of his vision. The ending of course was the best part of all. Especially when little Leto makes contact with Paul and Paul has a true 'Kwisatz Haderach' moment when he sees all of the male perspectives in his line. Frank Herbert was an incredible writer and did not intend for this book to stack up to the first. I see it more as an exploration of 'The Other Side of the Coin' when it comes to seeing the future and well...being a Messiah.

This is the shortest book in the series, but at the same time it is the most complex. What a fascinating insight into the mind is offered in this story! Paul is torn between what is right for himself, and what is right for humanity. Saving humanity requires his own demise at the hands of others...saving himself requires the suffering of others. How does one make such a choice? There are times while you are reading that it may seem a bit much to absorb, but stick with it until the end. This work can be only judged as a whole. It is difficult reading because it makes you think, but then, what's wrong with that?

Although Dune Messiah undoubtedly did not turn out as good as Dune, it was a good read. Granted, it had less action, but I am certain that anyone who is vaguely interested in SF, philosophy, or realistic atmospheres and characters could pull through this book, which is less than 300 pages long anyway. Some people closed the book feeling unsatisfied, but I didn't; the ending was, I thought, very fitting. It was also, as mentioned in one of the previous reviews, better than a "happy" ending. I thought I fully expected to be disappointed and to feel very gloomy after reading this book, but I loved it, and it deserves more credit than it has gotten. It you have read this whole blurb, you have been a brave person. ; )

I liked Dune in spite of its ending, but in Dune Messiah Herbert really completes the story with one of the best endings and most heart-wrenching stories of epic science fiction. 'Seeing' Paul through the eyes of others really enhanced this book for me, though I initially found it a little hard to get used to that. Overall though, this book is poetic and beautiful with some of Herbert's best writerly writing.

If you liked Dune, you owe it yourself to read Dune Messiah.

This book lacked the vision of the first story. Paul has grown into emperor and must set things into action for the future. The Bene Gesserit, the Tleilaxu, the Guild, and even some Fremen plot to wrestle control away from Paul. This story is really about politics and Frank Herbert's personal philosophy's on ruling. There is a good story there, but it drags and lacks the sense of discovery that you get from the first installment. It was a worthwhile read, and I do plan to read the third book in the series. I personally think that Herbert may have had the third book in mind first and wrote the second as only a segue to the third book. Happy reading!

Dune Messiah is overall a decent book. It concludes the story of Paul Atreides and the implications of becoming a God/Emperor. However, I felt like some of the philosophical aspects of the book were overdone. Although I appreciate an intellectual book, it felt like Herbert kept trying to drive the same point over and over at times, and it was not necessary. Also, I felt like the tragedy of some of the moments of the book were lost on me because of all the moments spent on philosophical musings and not on the "real" events. However, Herbert's writing is still moving and he has a great talent for creating an amazing world and a good plot.

Dune is a colossal work. Dune Messiah is a disappointing work. I don't understand how the same man could have written both books. Dune has strong characterization and a strong plot; Dune Messiah has neither. Dune Messiah substitutes characterization with psycho-babble. Half the dialogue in this book doesn't make any sense and doesn't further the plot. The ending is strong, but it doesn't make up for all the nonsense that Herbert subjected me to. (Don't let anyone try to tell you that this book is "deeper" than Dune because of all the confusing things the characters say. "Deep" only equals "confusing" for people who can't read.) All that said, Dune Messiah made me feel like I was reading Fanfic. It was mildly entertaining, but please don't confuse it with the real thing.

I like the direction Frank Herbert took the Dune series in his first two sequels. This book has a bit more development than the original Dune. We get to learn more about the inner turmoil of Paul, Alia, and then meet the kids. Frank has a way of creating politically exciting twists and power struggles, without making any one character the villain. Paul and Alia in their own ways are both despots and victims. In terms of storyline, I think this brings the story to a satisfying conclusion (I'm not so big a fan of what happens after Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)).

Frank's writing style can be a bit dense. Sometimes the dialogue is filled with philosophical or nonsensical musings. Some of it is quite deep - but certainly not how people actually talk. It takes some getting used to. I'd recommend only continuing on to this book if you got through the original Dune and liked it.

If you liked the books, I highly recommend Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set) - it's a pretty good film adaptation of Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles) and Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3).

Dune Messiah is an excellent sequel to Dune. It is just as wonderful and intense as the first book. Frank Herbert is one of the best writers I have ever read. I love the way his writing makes you think about what is being said, and it also makes you derive your own meanings from statements, and you decide weather or not a character is good or bad. If you enjoyed Dune (which you should have) then you must read Dune Messiah. It is everything Dune was and maybe a little more. You will not regret reading this wonderful book.

Frank Herbert's amazing Dune Chronicles continue here in the second book of the epic series, Dune Messiah. Dune was one of the best, if the not greatest, science-fiction book I have ever read, and for good reasons. Dune had an incredible sense of scope, tasteful dialogue, engrossing action sequences, and a powerful plot of leadership under strain. After reading such a powerful novel, I had extremely high expectations for Dune Messiah. Although most parts of this book are as good, if not better than that in the original (espescially character development), some parts fell a bit short of what I had hoped for. For example, most of this book concentrates on a scheme to overthrow Emperor Maud'dib and the Emperor's dark vision that he has resigned himself into believing. With the impressive amount of detail given to character development, one could only agree that some other parts of what made Dune so great, particularly Dune Messiah's lack of scope in comparison to its predecessor. Also, this book spent a bit too much time focusing on Maud'dib's religion. The people worshiping Alia (Paul's sister) sometimes got downright nauseating. Also, Lady Jessica barely gets much more than a brief cameo in this novel.
All in all, Dune Messiah is a worthy successor to Dune, but falls just short of Science Fiction's Supreme Masterpiece's overall excellence.

I liked Dune in spite of its ending, but in Dune Messiah Herbert really completes the story with one of the best endings and most heart-wrenching stories of epic science fiction. 'Seeing' Paul through the eyes of others really enhanced this book for me, though I initially found it a little hard to get used to that. Overall though, this book is poetic and beautiful with some of Herbert's best writerly writing.

If you liked Dune, you owe it yourself to read Dune Messiah.

This book lacked the vision of the first story. Paul has grown into emperor and must set things into action for the future. The Bene Gesserit, the Tleilaxu, the Guild, and even some Fremen plot to wrestle control away from Paul. This story is really about politics and Frank Herbert's personal philosophy's on ruling. There is a good story there, but it drags and lacks the sense of discovery that you get from the first installment. It was a worthwhile read, and I do plan to read the third book in the series. I personally think that Herbert may have had the third book in mind first and wrote the second as only a segue to the third book. Happy reading!

Dune Messiah is overall a decent book. It concludes the story of Paul Atreides and the implications of becoming a God/Emperor. However, I felt like some of the philosophical aspects of the book were overdone. Although I appreciate an intellectual book, it felt like Herbert kept trying to drive the same point over and over at times, and it was not necessary. Also, I felt like the tragedy of some of the moments of the book were lost on me because of all the moments spent on philosophical musings and not on the "real" events. However, Herbert's writing is still moving and he has a great talent for creating an amazing world and a good plot.

Dune is a colossal work. Dune Messiah is a disappointing work. I don't understand how the same man could have written both books. Dune has strong characterization and a strong plot; Dune Messiah has neither. Dune Messiah substitutes characterization with psycho-babble. Half the dialogue in this book doesn't make any sense and doesn't further the plot. The ending is strong, but it doesn't make up for all the nonsense that Herbert subjected me to. (Don't let anyone try to tell you that this book is "deeper" than Dune because of all the confusing things the characters say. "Deep" only equals "confusing" for people who can't read.) All that said, Dune Messiah made me feel like I was reading Fanfic. It was mildly entertaining, but please don't confuse it with the real thing.

I like the direction Frank Herbert took the Dune series in his first two sequels. This book has a bit more development than the original Dune. We get to learn more about the inner turmoil of Paul, Alia, and then meet the kids. Frank has a way of creating politically exciting twists and power struggles, without making any one character the villain. Paul and Alia in their own ways are both despots and victims. In terms of storyline, I think this brings the story to a satisfying conclusion (I'm not so big a fan of what happens after Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)).

Frank's writing style can be a bit dense. Sometimes the dialogue is filled with philosophical or nonsensical musings. Some of it is quite deep - but certainly not how people actually talk. It takes some getting used to. I'd recommend only continuing on to this book if you got through the original Dune and liked it.

If you liked the books, I highly recommend Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set) - it's a pretty good film adaptation of Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles) and Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3).

Dune Messiah is an excellent sequel to Dune. It is just as wonderful and intense as the first book. Frank Herbert is one of the best writers I have ever read. I love the way his writing makes you think about what is being said, and it also makes you derive your own meanings from statements, and you decide weather or not a character is good or bad. If you enjoyed Dune (which you should have) then you must read Dune Messiah. It is everything Dune was and maybe a little more. You will not regret reading this wonderful book.

Frank Herbert's amazing Dune Chronicles continue here in the second book of the epic series, Dune Messiah. Dune was one of the best, if the not greatest, science-fiction book I have ever read, and for good reasons. Dune had an incredible sense of scope, tasteful dialogue, engrossing action sequences, and a powerful plot of leadership under strain. After reading such a powerful novel, I had extremely high expectations for Dune Messiah. Although most parts of this book are as good, if not better than that in the original (espescially character development), some parts fell a bit short of what I had hoped for. For example, most of this book concentrates on a scheme to overthrow Emperor Maud'dib and the Emperor's dark vision that he has resigned himself into believing. With the impressive amount of detail given to character development, one could only agree that some other parts of what made Dune so great, particularly Dune Messiah's lack of scope in comparison to its predecessor. Also, this book spent a bit too much time focusing on Maud'dib's religion. The people worshiping Alia (Paul's sister) sometimes got downright nauseating. Also, Lady Jessica barely gets much more than a brief cameo in this novel.
All in all, Dune Messiah is a worthy successor to Dune, but falls just short of Science Fiction's Supreme Masterpiece's overall excellence.

...It has always boggled my mind as to how a writer who can write one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time can turn around and write shamefully crafted work. But Frank Herbert has succeeded at this. With flying colors. Not only is Dune Messiah one of the most static and lifeless works I have ever read by any author. There is tons of badly written science fiction out there of the commercial dumb character dumb plot type but at least they breath, they live, even in their patheticness. Dune Messiah is still-born, oxygen deprived.
Set twelve years after Dune, Paul Atreides is now Emperor of the galaxy after legions of Fremen troops have conducted a holy jihad in his name. Even though his rule extends over many lightyears, we are still claustrophobically stuck on Arrakis with much the same power struggles. As in Dune, he who controls the spice also brings much danger to themselves because it is so important that others would kill to control it. A conspiracy composed of his greatest enemies arises to overthrow Paul.
This book is set up more as "literature" than science fiction, with there being very little plot but a lot of soul searching and characterization. Unfortunately for us, the characters are not interesting enough to warrant this treatment. The characters are uninteresting because they all seem to be locked into their destiny and can do nothing about it. There is no surpise. No spontaneity. That leads me to another fact. This book is missing an element of adventure. By that, I mean the physical type and also the mental. The jacket says this is the "pivotal novel" of the Dune series. Well, if it's pivotal, the house has collapsed.
This novel is more an epilogue to Dune than a novel in its own right. To me, it should've just been tacked onto the first book. The conspiracy goes on and on and on and everybody talks and talks and talks and nothing ever happens until maybe the last 50 pages or so... It's boring. It's dull. It frightens me from reading the next book... I don't know if I will go on with this series. It doesn't get one star simply because I've read some books worse than this. Not a lot, but some.

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.

I have read the Dune trilogy for the first time as a very young adult, and it made a very large impact. It opened up a complete new world to my already over-active imagination.

The Dune Universe, is anything but simple or easily digestable: filled with dark and soul tortured characters in a highly political structure, with creatures, technological and ecological ideas that can only come from a genius - The Dune trilogy is simply a masterpiece, and not just in the Science Fiction genre...

Dune Messiah, the second installment, is absolutely brilliant.

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!

behold the mighty universe of dune! Its so perfect and flawless and oh so great and mighty! Not really, this novel is a snoozer, Frank Herbert always wants you to guess, so much has happened, great cities have been built, Paul rules the entire universe, the book does not really go into any of this, the follow up to the incredibly gripping DUNE is pretty dull. Its very predictable in some parts and in those parts it never follows up on it and acts like it never happened. The Dune universe is still shrouded in mystery, the book does not go into as much detail as you'd like it too. It seems all the characters do is sit around and talk and talk and talk about things you could have already guessed.
Duncan Idaho's return is great and now you finally get to the know the character and Paul's exile into the desert forever changing his seeing into the future curse is a fresh breath of air into the Dune universe.
Nothing much happens in this book but its a great opening for Children of Dune which is probably the greatest Dune book ever.
Buy them all, its worth owning every single book, this is the weakest one but it gets better and better.

As some of you may or may not know Dune was conceived in a large part as an essay on Messiah figures. What this means is that it wasnt desgined as a trilogy or any such nonsense and parts of this book and COD where written before the orignal Dune was even completed. In other words its one story and this is a true closure on Muad`Dib as the main protaganist. Its also one of the saddest and most beautiful pieces written. Some of the lines in this book are worth the entrance fee alone. Old Frank must have been an old romantic at heart and in some ways it shows. Brutal and frustrating in its honesty, yet you couldn`t have asked for any less... Read it or don`t...but....

A bit shorter than Dune, but no less interesting. It continues the intrigue and high-minded politics of the first book. It didn't pan to the audience or lose the integrity and grit of the Dune story. It also deals with Paul's inability to escape his own forsight. Basically, you're not going to be buying this book if you haven't read Dune, and if you haven't read Dune, then go read it and then read this one.

-- JJ Timmins

After reading Dune you just want more of that universe no? It was to sci-fi literature what Star Wars was to sci-fi films. This sequel is short, has very little action, has nowhere near the scope of the first book, but was interesting to read none the less, because it expanded upon the Dune universe. We do get to see Paul's character evolve, but other than that, no other characters seem to be developed very well at all (with the exception of the ghola Idaho). Where was Jessica for example? - and Chani, Stilgar, etc. seem to be glossed over. I wish Herbert would have doubled the size of this book, and maybe then it would have seemed less like a quickie coda.

In fact, I would consider Dune Messiah to be better than the original Dune. Dune is a masterpiece, don't misunderstand, but Messiah goes much deeper. Dune was about Paul, rising to become the leader of the Fremen, and focused on his power and prescience. In Messiah, we find out that prescience is not a gift, and is much more a curse. Paul Muad'dib goes through many trials in this book, but the recurring theme is how his prescience warps him to become less of a God, and more of a man. Paul was not perfect, as we find out, and while the book is more philosophical than action-packed, it is a much better experience. Many say that because it is not like Dune, it is not good. The good in this book is hidden. The conspiracy to kill Paul, the hidden intentions of Reverend Mother Mohiam, Paul's mind, Alia's abrasiveness, Hayt's true purpose, the list goes on. To understand these things is to understand the entire Dune series, and to say that this book is not as good as Dune is to admit that you didn't understand Messiah for what it was.

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.

Dune Messiah was a fantastic read. Chronicling Paul's life as messiah on Arrakis, and Paul's inability (read as unwillingness) to accept his own Golden Path. Paul rules Dune and Spice production as only an Atreides could do...

This book foreshadows so many of the wonderful happenings in future books, albeit it stands as a novel of it's own merit and splendor.

If you liked the first novel, you'll love this short gem in Herbert's universe.

This is the sequel to the #1 selling science fiction novel of all time. Whereas 'Dune' is broken down into 3 parts: Dune, Muad'Dib, and The Prophet, about 150-200 pages a piece, I see 'Dune Messiah' as Part 4 of Dune, about 200 pages. It is a MUST READ for anyone who enjoyed the first novel. Essentially, this story picks up right where Dune ended. This is the only novel I have ever read that made me cry.
...

As I read through most of these reviews, I see many people complaining of how this book is more literature than Sci-fi. In fact, I agree. I actually believe that Dune is very anti-technology and science, and instead, focuses more on the spiritual side of humanity and the iniate abilities we have as a species. There is very little dealing with technology and science in these book, but rather a strong emphasis on politics and religion, and the effect they have on each other. To call this book a Sci-fi book in many ways seem offensive to me when you see what most people percieve Science Fiction to be. Every book in this series blows all other Sci-fi books away, the polical intrigue, the depth of the characters, the symbolism, no science fiction writer can compare with this, George Lucus be damn. If all of you people writing these reviews have a problem with this novel, then go back to your Star Wars and D&D books. The book was absolutely amazing, the decontructing of a messiah, the jealousy that even his own people showed toward him, the angry and bitter former rulers that conspire for revenge. What did most of you people think would happen after what occurred at the end of Dune, all the defeated former rulers would just go away and sulk, be serious. This book shows the true extent of Frank's genious and it too bad most of you are too dimwitted to realize it.

This book picks up with in a few years of the end of Dune. It deals with Paul Atriedes problems as the new emperor and Messiah. It is a very human story as Paul tries to control what he has unleashed. If you read Dune, then you want to know what happened next. This book answers ALL the questions you are left with after reading Dune.

Dune Messiah is an engrossing tale, returning to the world of Dune, Paul, Duncan Idaho, and Stilgar. Where the original DUNE was an epic, DUNE MESSIAH takes the story further. Although it does not compare to the excellence of the original, it is still a very interesting and exciting story of intrigue, mystery, and suspense. Frank Herbert has the ability to immerse the reader in his tale, having them constantly wanting to read more and more. The term "page turner" comes to mind. It was almost two years between the time I read DUNE to the time I read DUNE MESSIAH. I can say that I eagerly await reading the next chapter of the series, CHILDREN OF DUNE, which I hope to begin this week.

First off let me say that of course theis wasn't as good as the first Dune nothing ever would be.
-But that doesn't mean it's not woth reading. If every book you have to read has to be a masterpice like Dune!
-The charector development was good i loved seeing the problems Paul Artrdies actions, and how he is disgued with what he created, It was overal, avery short but good read, and i highly recomend it to anyone who liked the first book.

It may not be as good as the first book, but its still a far cry above a lot of the other works out there. If we had 100 stars, the first book would get a 98, and this one would get a 94.

Frank Herbert is a brilliant writer and I thoroughly enjoyed all of the Dune books he wrote.

the only redeeming quality of this book is that it ends. i was so disinterested in all the characters, i didn't even care about the little 'twist' at the end of the novel. dune messiah is a nasty little speedbump between the first and third books, and i will never return.

I read the Dune novels as a teenager and recently started re-reading them 15 years later.
Dune Messiah is exactly as I remembered it: a disappointment not just in comparison to Dune, but a true mediocrity in its own right, with a surprising amount of fragements of thoughts and ruminations that just don't make any sense. The point of Dune Messiah, and Children of Dune, is to enjoy the much grand God-Emperor of Dune.

This is a lot shorter then Dune. Parts of it are very enjoyable but they never give you enough time to sink your teeth into to enjoy it. I felt it was written on a much more of a "Kids level," but hey if you like this book then more power to you. Ever great serise has its lack-luster member and this is it for the Dune books.

This book is very brief, but I guess this is how its supposed to be since it seems Frank Herbert wanted it to be a link between Dune before Paul, and the Dune after Paul. The end of the book is the perfect way to take us to the next stage, the children of Muadib.

While in the first book Paul was a hero in this hes much more of a anti hero. Throughout the book you can see hes almost a evil emperor but there are undertone that he hates what he has became and is tired of seeing the future but has to keep going while choosing the lesser of to evils, though if the lesser is killing 32 billion people I wonder what the alternatives are. Over all a great book book that show the thing people do might be for different reasons then we think.

I know I’m probably going to get a lot of flak for this, but I don’t particularly like this one.
I really like the first book. It introduced me to this totally unique world with all these bizarre cultures. It was, epic. It was grand, and it had people riding sand worms. What else could you ask for in a book?
While the first one was action-packed, this one is really talky. While the first one created a new world, this one just revisits it.
This one feels crushed under the weight of its own pretentiousness. The story feels like a lot of buildup without a payoff. It just kind of sputters around.
Still, it is a book in the ‘Dune’ series, and I know some people who liked this one. I’m not one of those people.

I realize that many people find Dune to be one of the greatest SF novels of all time, but I found it odd and a bit boring. This, on the other hand, is extremely well-developed and portrays Paul as human. The only critisim I have is with the ending. Overall, a book worth reading.

It won the first Nebula award and shared a Hugo award, and it has been the best selling SF book of all times. Dune, Dune messiah and Children of Dune, the 3 books originally written, tells the dazzling story of an honorable family that tries to keep up in a rat race full of betrayal, trust, heroism and sensitivity. As you will discover, the story is not just playing out in your book, it is everywhere. But while the story never pretends to need a new environment, Frank Herbert brilliantly brings an exciting but very dangerous universe convincingly to life, several thousands years into the future. Taking a step back after reading, anyone will agree that Herbert was a visionary with a delicate taste for symbolism and a way with metaphors that has been unparalleled so far. Dune will lock you into your chair for days, if not weeks, and reading it again becomes a promise much rather than an option. This is a book that will not just be on your shelf, it will dictate what's next to it.

Sometime in this book Dune ended. It wasn't that the following books are bad, or that I don't count them as canon. They are still great, they just lost the sheer awe of Dune, the feel was different, more scifi and less spiritual. This book (and to some extend COD) tie them together, comining the two styles. Saying goodbye to one thing, and hello to something new.

Sequel of Dune. If you think Dune has not enough action, wait until you read this one. 95% dialogues, I would say. Still, I like the book because it attempts to depict what Paul is thinking and why he did certain things. I recommend this if you like the first book and don't think it is boring.

Contrary to some others opinions, this book was just as good as the first. Frank Herbert once again works his magic in creating a book that you can't put down. I finsished it in less than three days, mostly reading at home and during Latin. But I digress. Dune Messiah is a worthy addition to the Dune saga, proving that once again Frank Herbert is the best Sci-Fi writer of all time. This book deals more about how Paul/Muad'Dib rules the massive empire that his jihad has taken over. No spoilers, but the end of this book has you saying goodbye to some beloved characters. I won't give away the story, but it as just as great as the first. I DEFINITELY reccomend this book.

"Dune Messiah" was OK, but I was not impressed. It was a fair follow-up to "Dune". I was mainly interested in the character, Paul, not in his children. However, I was losing interest in the story by this point.

I loved Dune but this book does make a good addition to the Dune books, it was a little slower in pace and to much politics but the scheming and lies were absolutly brilliant, if you've read Dune and liked it why not go ahead and read the entire series.

Classic science fiction with a streak of Libertarianism. I don't think Dune Messiah is as good as Dune, but Herbert clearly put his finger on the pulse and issues of the 60's Nixon era in the US quite well. Like all the other Dune books, Dune Messiah can be interpreted in multiple ways.

Complex, astounding worlds are created in the trilogy and the subsequent titles. The reader follows the young prince into the desert and exciting adventures. Yet advanced technologies, antiquated and new weapons fuel an ancient power struggle and reflect rather dismally on an all too human thirst to control the known world. Whilst the plot keeps the reader on the edge of his seat with surprising twists and turns a philosophical portrayal of mankind unfolds, and the sight is not pretty. A masterful epic.

Again, I could have sworn that I had ordered a hardback copy of this book, I received a paperback. The book came neatly and carefully packed. Its condition was mint as far as I am concerned. In addition to its expert packing, it came in just as expected. I am completely satisfied with this company and will continue to do business with them.
As for the story itself,currently this book. I have just finished readding "Heretics of Dune". I am very much enthralled by this series and though I read "Dune" many years ago. I was not aware of the follow up books being this good. I had tried the next 2 books in the series and was not impressed. However, after reading the latest series of pre-Dune books. My interest has been re-awakened.

A little shorter than the massive Dune first installation, but Frank doesn't disappoint in the manner of the storytelling. Not as sweeping as it could have been, but a great gateway to The Children of Dune book.

Wow, coming off Dune and you make this? I researched a lot after reading dune (b/c I hate to read sequals, especially of extremely amazing books). But, everyone's review said this was an amazing book. GIVE ME A BREAK. This book is nothing like the original. It's dissapointing b/c I think the author didn't have all these sequals in mind when he wrote dune. He came up with an amazing world, and a great story. Then, after he made a lot of money, decided to come up with some other books trying to get that magic the first book held. Well, it doesn't have that magic, and really I don't think I will ever read a sequal to a book ever again. I can't even imagine what crap will come out of his son who now is trying to write other dune books (make some money with your own idea).

I loved the first Dune book. It was an absolute masterpiece! But this second book was alright. It was a good book, but it didn't really grip you like the first book did. I kept waiting to be stunned by some unforeseen event at the beginning, but it never happened until the middle of the story. Overall, this was a good book that hopefully leads up to a great third book in Children of Dune. I hope that the third book can pick up some of the slack that was left behind.

Herbert carries on the Dune legacy with another spellbinding novel. Although I have to agree with most people that the original Dune was far superior, Messiah more than adequately shines as the second book of the series.

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...

Messiah is a good enough next step in the story of Paul and his family. I would recommend it to anyone who has read Dune first. However, if you want deep philosophical reading, go elsewhere. There's a lot of supposed deep thought in here but it's really just a bunch of rambling verbiage that fills the pages. Nothing deep. Go read the Tibetan Book of the Dead if you want deep thought!

This book wasn't as good as the first book but still written out very well. The first book had too much description and so does this one. The dialogue is what keeps me reading the book. The story is a 4 out of 5 because of the comparison to the first book. A fairly large portion was left out between books but that is in all series (or most). I still look forwasrd to more of these books.

Let me preface this review by saying that I believe Dune is one of the greatest books ever written. And to judge any subsequent work to such a masterpiece is unfair. However, DM is everything that the original is not. And a brief look reveals its many flaws. This book is and I believe was intended to be a bridge novel between the heights set in Dune and the continuation of the story in Children of Dune (which was as far as Herbert originally intended to go. And the book reads just like a bridge, short, boring, and predictable. It's almost as if Herbert wrote this book over the Summer just to make a quick buck. Duller than dishwater, this book lacks creativity, lacks imagination. There's absolutely no excitement, no suspense. But if you short, morbid, depressing books, then this is the perfect read.

Set 12 years after Dune, the jihad unleashed by Muad'Dib has spread off planet and cost billions of lives. Not suprisingly, Muad'Dib now has many enemies. Chief among them are the spacing guild, Princess Irulan, and the Tlexau. And you'd think they would be the first 3 targets of the jihad. It's funny how the jihad has managed to destroy everyone who could possible oppose them but their actual ememies!

Princess Irulan is another matter. She has no right to be in this book. At the end of Dune Paul marries her to justify his ascension to the throne, but he already controls the spice, has defeated the emperor, so why bother with the marriage? He's about to launch his jihad to kill off anyone who would oppose him anyway. And if we buy Herbert's reason for the nuptials, then Irulan would be the empress, holding the cards to make Paul the emperor.

But in Dune Messiah, Paul is the emperor and Irulun is the empress wannabe, so the impetus for Irulan's anger shouldn't exist. In Messiah Paul complains he is unable to control his jihad. He's in power, so it's simple, don't tell the fremen these other planets exist. Or have the spacing guild send them to uninhabited worlds. They won't know the difference anyway.

So I disagree that this book was the inevitable outcome of what transpired in Dune. And if anything it is what least likely would have happened. In my view, internal problems would have caused Muad'Dibs downfall long before his enemies got to him. (similar to how the Mongol empire created by Genghis Khan quickly feel apart under its own weight). But then again a book about a sagging economony and internal corruption would have been as boring as this book.

Wow, coming off Dune and you make this? I researched a lot after reading dune (b/c I hate to read sequals, especially of extremely amazing books). But, everyone's review said this was an amazing book. GIVE ME A BREAK. This book is nothing like the original. It's dissapointing b/c I think the author didn't have all these sequals in mind when he wrote dune. He came up with an amazing world, and a great story. Then, after he made a lot of money, decided to come up with some other books trying to get that magic the first book held. Well, it doesn't have that magic, and really I don't think I will ever read a sequal to a book ever again. I can't even imagine what crap will come out of his son who now is trying to write other dune books (make some money with your own idea).

I loved the first Dune book. It was an absolute masterpiece! But this second book was alright. It was a good book, but it didn't really grip you like the first book did. I kept waiting to be stunned by some unforeseen event at the beginning, but it never happened until the middle of the story. Overall, this was a good book that hopefully leads up to a great third book in Children of Dune. I hope that the third book can pick up some of the slack that was left behind.

Herbert carries on the Dune legacy with another spellbinding novel. Although I have to agree with most people that the original Dune was far superior, Messiah more than adequately shines as the second book of the series.

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...

Messiah is a good enough next step in the story of Paul and his family. I would recommend it to anyone who has read Dune first. However, if you want deep philosophical reading, go elsewhere. There's a lot of supposed deep thought in here but it's really just a bunch of rambling verbiage that fills the pages. Nothing deep. Go read the Tibetan Book of the Dead if you want deep thought!

This book wasn't as good as the first book but still written out very well. The first book had too much description and so does this one. The dialogue is what keeps me reading the book. The story is a 4 out of 5 because of the comparison to the first book. A fairly large portion was left out between books but that is in all series (or most). I still look forwasrd to more of these books.

Let me preface this review by saying that I believe Dune is one of the greatest books ever written. And to judge any subsequent work to such a masterpiece is unfair. However, DM is everything that the original is not. And a brief look reveals its many flaws. This book is and I believe was intended to be a bridge novel between the heights set in Dune and the continuation of the story in Children of Dune (which was as far as Herbert originally intended to go. And the book reads just like a bridge, short, boring, and predictable. It's almost as if Herbert wrote this book over the Summer just to make a quick buck. Duller than dishwater, this book lacks creativity, lacks imagination. There's absolutely no excitement, no suspense. But if you short, morbid, depressing books, then this is the perfect read.

Set 12 years after Dune, the jihad unleashed by Muad'Dib has spread off planet and cost billions of lives. Not suprisingly, Muad'Dib now has many enemies. Chief among them are the spacing guild, Princess Irulan, and the Tlexau. And you'd think they would be the first 3 targets of the jihad. It's funny how the jihad has managed to destroy everyone who could possible oppose them but their actual ememies!

Princess Irulan is another matter. She has no right to be in this book. At the end of Dune Paul marries her to justify his ascension to the throne, but he already controls the spice, has defeated the emperor, so why bother with the marriage? He's about to launch his jihad to kill off anyone who would oppose him anyway. And if we buy Herbert's reason for the nuptials, then Irulan would be the empress, holding the cards to make Paul the emperor.

But in Dune Messiah, Paul is the emperor and Irulun is the empress wannabe, so the impetus for Irulan's anger shouldn't exist. In Messiah Paul complains he is unable to control his jihad. He's in power, so it's simple, don't tell the fremen these other planets exist. Or have the spacing guild send them to uninhabited worlds. They won't know the difference anyway.

So I disagree that this book was the inevitable outcome of what transpired in Dune. And if anything it is what least likely would have happened. In my view, internal problems would have caused Muad'Dibs downfall long before his enemies got to him. (similar to how the Mongol empire created by Genghis Khan quickly feel apart under its own weight). But then again a book about a sagging economony and internal corruption would have been as boring as this book.

I finished this book in two days, and it wasn't that bad. Dune is still the best so far, but I still got several books to go. It's about how Paul acts as an Emperor and what all happens the time during his rule. This book make me bawl and I mean bawl. Heck, read it and then put an opinion on it. It was boring at the begining but it really did get better.

Dune Messiah was a bit of a boring and wordy book. It mostly has to do with the rule of Paul Mau'dib and his reign as Emperor over Dune and the universe. Plots to remove him from his position as a godhead are formulated and carried out by people all around. Basically, it was a good story, but dry and boring in comparison to Dune. Read the book if you plan to continue with the Dune Chronicles like I have.

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.

With some disturbingly bad twists in the plot, the interesting mix of characters and Herbert's contrapuntal story telling make it a pleasant, though a bit short experience.
A must to those who want to reach the plotty Children of Dune and the philosophical grandeur of God Emperor of Dune, the highlight of the Dune series.

If you read Dune, then do yourself a favor and read Dune Messiah. It is a much easier read, with a great conspiracy and plot. Much less cumbersome than Dune. The story stays with its main focus and doesn't go in different directions each chapter. Excellent!

Although the scope seems limited compared to Dune, there is plenty of intrigue to captivate readers. While not as gripping as Dune itself, Dune Messiah features new faces and new places, as well as old friends. I found it somewhat disjointed to begin but as the final chapters approached and the senarios emerged I couldn't put the book down.

They did a great job with this audiobook. Dune Messiah is my favorite of the Dune Books. I found myself getting all choked up at the end, even though i knew what was going to happen. That tells you a lot. I hope Children of Dune is not too far off in the future. They really do need to get all of the original Frank Herbert material on cd.

Sure, not much happens in the book in terms of war and political intrigue, but this book really tells you who the people actually are and how they think. I really felt sorry for Alia and Paul, and I learned how must it suck to have their powers. I loved it.

After reading Dune and enjoying it, I thought I'd try the second book. It didn't live up the the original in many regards. In particular, it's writing disappointed me. It seemed amateurish and unsophisticated compared with Hebert's first book.

The book I received came to me within a week. For this, I am glad. I could not wait to read the second book out of the Dune trilogy. I loved the book, even the smell of this aged copy made the reading more desirable. Thank you

I am NOT a "Dune" (or sci-fi) fanboy. I like a well written book with a good plot, but am not genre specific. I am 36 years old and read "Dune" for the first time a month ago. It is a very good book. The Greatest Sci-Fi novel ever? I'm sceptical of that claim, but I would recommend it to anyone who likes a very good, intelligent, action-packed adventure novel.

"Dune Messiah", on the other hand, is almost a travesty - MASSIVELY underwhelming. There is virtually no action in this one. Just a bunch of crusty middle aged people talking...and talking...and talking. Though the ending is satisfying, and there is something almost resembling action at about the 250 page mark, it is otherwise devoid of excitement.

Reading this book was like being the only sober college student in a room filled with pot-smoking philosophy majors. The same points get repeated over and over again, until you can bearly stand it. There ARE some interesting ideas in this book (particularly about how extraordinary men and their actions are twisted to serve the purposes of their warped followers, a la Jesus Christ), and dozens of wonderful lines to quote, but not nearly enough to justify it's 300+ page length. It is almost necessary to read, since it does complete the story of Paul Atreides, but it would have been so much more bearable if it had been half the length.

I will NOT be reading any more Dune books, as the general consensus is that each sequel is progressively worse than the one before. I believe it now.

I enjoyed the three original Dune books although I eventually got bored with the never ending story and gave up. This book is the least significant of the three as it is effectively to link from the first book to the third (Children of Dune).

As always Mr Herbert's writing is easy to read

Female 22,: is available for rent (as a TranzCon Hostess) (Volume 1)

This book is every bit as good as the first one and, for the life in me, I have absolutely no idea as to why there is less of a fanbase for this book. Every book in the Dune series is absolutely amazing and if people liked Dune so much then why don't they bother to read anything more that the author has supplied?

Disappointing follow up to a great book. Author seemed more interested in creating esoteric rhetoric that had not only no real meaning to the story, it typically had no real meaning. The story could have been compelling but the author could not seem to get out of the way of the language.

The story started out a bit slow for me. Not as much fast paced action as book one but still a good story. Excellent narration! Same cast as book one I believe. Looking forward to book three and the rest of the Dune series.