Book 4), God Emperor of Dune (Dune Chronicles

a continuation of the dune story line. Set long after Children of Dune. Lots of dialog and only sporadic action. Far different than the first few books. The terraformring of dune is nearly complete. The god emperor has been in power 2500 years. The ramifications of his iron hand and the scarcity of spice are becoming apparent.

To be honest, it took a bit to get into this book. Sure, the same old groups are there (Atreides, Bene Geseret, The Guild, and a remnant of the Freman) and there are two people that carry over from the previous tale (The Ghola Duncan Idaho and Emperor Leto II). But this seemed to be nothing but conversations and lacked action, which the first Dune book was chalked full of. But after became familiar with all the new characters I slowly began to like and then fall in love with this book.

At the end of the third book, Leto covered his body with the sandworms of Shai-hulud and in doing so became nearly invincible. Following the "Golden Path" he started on in the third book, Leto controls the galaxy and is preparing the galaxy for the time when he must eventually pass on.

This book is high on emotion, much more than the previous books. I feel that Leto becomes the most developed of all of Frank Herbert's characters (with the possible exception of Duncan Idaho, who I'm learning even more about in the fifth book). You feel his loneliness, his troubles, and the demons that haunt him. You will weep for the horrible sacrifice he makes for humanity.

The first three books lead up to Leto's reign. If you are interested in seeing where the "Golden Path" reads, you really should continue the series. This is highly recommended if you loved the first three books.

This book is better than Children Of Dune, and yet still lacks a highly dynamic plot. In fact, the whole thing is set within the space of a few days, detailing the life of Leto II (technically Leto III - but only Siona seems bothered about that) 3,500 years after the events described in the first Dune trilogy.
Leto II has become a human-sandworm creature, ruling over his angry and frustrated empire with his vast legions of Fish Speaker soldiers, enforcing peace for dozens of generations to teach the universe a lesson, while also waiting for the right time to turn Dune back into a desert planet.
While it is obvious allthroughout that Leto has a deep, vision-motivated reason behind his lesson to humanity, the actual reasoning only became even slightly apparent at the end. And some of the talk of politics made whole chapters almost unitelligible to me.
And yet, again, Herbert's strong talent meant that this book never became a punishing read. The tale contains enough action to keep your heart beating, and once more this book has an ending that is heart-stoppingly shocking, but at the same time brilliant.
This is a great transition from the old Dune that we knew into the knew trilogy, but in my opinion the rest of the second trilogy is better. Read on.

This book delves into the psyche and experiences of Leto II, a tragic and powerful figure that is both very human and very far removed from humanity. We get a detailed picture of Leto's mind, his sacrifices and his goals, but we also get other memorable characters, such as the everpresent aide Moneo and the latest Duncan Idaho ghola. I feel this Dune novel's epic expanse was much more within Leto II's mind than the galaxy-spanning intrigue of other Dune books, but the plotting and scheming of other factions is definitely still here.
The mix of character depth, emotional and political conflict, and the vast scope of Leto II's life and influence make this an unforgettable read and great installment in the Dune series.

One contemplates another readers reviews with curiosity, hoping to find like-minded re-assurance of ones own tastes......
In the case of the subject at hand, Herbert's "God Emperor of Dune", I, as an humble reviewer, am comfortable in stating publicly the following: This is a piece of literature that is a unparalleled "teachable moment' for all of us living 20th/21st century humanity.
Many reviewers ( bless their well-meaning hearts) bore us with a synopsis of the plot, etc....
Philosophy- what is it? At its best, it is an analysis of-"What does it all mean? What does it mean to be human? In short:WTF?
This woefully underrated bit of genius, this book,... illuminates these tough questions via the Same Old Story- Power, Politics, Pain, Heartache... who among us is immune?
Those who think that they have seen it all, who have tasted the luxury and pain of human existence...there is much here to stir the soul.
Written with grace and beauty. Timeless.

I personally think Herbert could have ended his series here, as he manages to accomplish, with Leto Atreides II, all of the things he didn't manage with Paul. I'm going to reveal a ton of plot here, so bear with me. [Reading a review about what happens and reading the book are two different experiences, anyway, so you won't lose anything by reading what I type here.]
At the end of Children of Dune, Paul's son Leto II had merged with the "sandtrout" (larval form of the Dune sandworms) to become a super-human monster who was very close to invincible. It is speculated at the end of that book that he could live for 4,000 years. As God Emperor of Dune opens, it is 3,508 years after the events of Children, and Leto's sandtrout have transformed him into a human-sandworm hybrid, the only such animal in existence. Arrakis is now totally terraformed, and Leto has a tyrant's grip on the empire's dwindling supplies of the spice, melange.
Leto is a more powerful telepath than his father, and has the memories of all his ancestors--male and female--upon which to draw. He has become sensitive to moisture, and mostly lives in a citadel near the desert portion of Arrakis. Around him, the Bene Gesserit, the technologists of Ix, and the genetic manipulators of Bene Tleilax continue to weave their schemes in an effort to find his "secret stash" of spice.
The God Emperor has transformed society on an unprecedented level. Every world reflects the same pattern of life, and has been frozen by a ban on space travel. Only Leto's "Fish Speakers," an army composed entirely of women, are allowed free travel, and they perform the roles of conquerers and "civilizers." The clever part of forcing humanity into this pattern (which I didn't catch until I had read the book later) is that all of humanity gets to experience what age after age of peace is like. That was a big part of Herbert's story, after all: to show what life would be like for a person dependent upon prescience. And the verdict of that life is boredom.
Thrown into this mixture, of course, is a rebel Atreides, Siona, and the continually-reborn Duncan Idaho. They are considered crucial to Leto's breeding program for humanity. There is also a new, female ambassador from Ix, who allows Leto to recall his human side. All in all, there's a lot happening here, but Herbert manages to tell his story briskly. The usual quotes at the beginning of each chapter are usually excerpts from Leto's Journal, and provide (as usual) interesting comments about society and politics. I really enjoyed this book. To get a better, simpler look at Frank Herbert's universe, this serves as a triumphant example.

Frank Herbert originally planned for the Dune series to be seven books-- the six that he actually wrote and a concluding 'Dune 7,' which he died before completing. God Emperor was to be the most important book in the series, a sort of tie-in between the Dune of Arrakis and the Dune of Rakis/Chapterhouse.

The story of God Emperor hinges around the transformation of Leto II into a giant sandworm. When I first saw the cover of this book, complete with a human-headed worm on the front, I had my misgivings. In the hands of practically any other author, this book would have been a confusing joke... but Frank Herbert's insights and originality breathed life into a somewhat ridiculous premise.

Leto's manipulation and control of the human race makes his father's rule look like child's play. Leto is not a typical protagonist; much of the universe sees him as something akin to evil. He is a tragic hero at best, but does what he does out of a profound and deeply human desire to save his race from itself.

This being said, I wouldn't advise anyone to read Brian Herbert's and Kevin J. Anderson's 'Hunters of Dune.' Many people have suggested that they only wrote Hunters and its as-yet-to-be-released sequel for money; I have no idea if this is true. If it is, however, then I recommend you just buy all the originals; you'll be reading some of the best science fiction literature ever written and the Herbert estate is sure to get some compensation out of it.

The fourth book in the Dune saga is perhaps the best written of the 1st four. This makes it a more enjoyable to read. However, as usual in the Dune series much is left unsaid by Herbert. Just what is the Golden Path? What is the terrible fate that Leto is saving humanity from? (subservience to machines is my best guess).
What is Siona that Leto, with his ability to see into the future, cannot predict her actions? Is it part of the Ixian conspiracy against him or something different?
Although I enjoy the Dune series, Herbert can be a frustrating writer. I'm not asking him to spell it out for me... well ok I am asking him to spell it out for me.
Maybe in the next book.

I read "Dune", and loved it! It was great. So, I bought the second part, and it was good, so I went ahead and bought the next 4 chapters...
Book 3 was interesting, although not as good as book 2, IMHO. I just did not like "God Emperor of Dune". It was too pretentious, for my taste. I did not like the transformation of Lord Leto II. And I'm sick of the gholas.
I had heard that the best books were 1, 2, 5 and 6. I hope that is so, since so far that comment has been right. And I already have the last two books, anyway. This book was not so disappointing as to make me quit the series, but I expected more from it, or something different, at least.

God Emperor of Dune has taken the Dune cycle a step further with its brilliant storyline, characters, and plot. Leto II, a god yet a emperor, showed the depth that Herbert could peer into his creations. His worm-like existence was horrible statement to what Arrakis had become. The new planet that once was Dune raised horrible questions to what humanity could accomplish. Those who shaped the planet and its events have long since passed yet they live on for who knows how long. Leto II and Duncan serve as reminders of a past that once was and can never be visited again. Herbert has showed that maybe mankind can be taught not to live his history's mistakes over again. (But at what price?) The Sisterhood's oppression serves as a testament to their survival. The book was deeply philisophical yet had a well constructed storyline. Its consistency to the novels before it flowed smoothly despite the new elements that were incorporated. All in all, Dune's addition ensured the cycle a place in the eternity of literature. (Although nothing lasts forever.)

God Emperor of Dune Review

God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert is the fourth book in the Dune series. This one takes place a couple of thousand years after Children of Dune left off. Everyone from that book is dead except Leto the second. He is the god emperor of the known universe. He is called god because the sandtrout skin is turning him into a worm. He is about half way done with the transformation. His only human features left are his arms, his legs reduced to unusable flippers, his face and, of course, a human mind, though it is getting worm instincts. The other major powers are the Bene Tleilaxu, Bene Gesserit, the Guild, and the Ixians. Leto controls all of the spice and distributes it as he sees fit. Everyone else wants to get their hands on as much spice as possible. Leto has been making gholas, which are like clones of dead people, of Duncan Idaho. He has made thousands of them. This novel is much like the other Dunes just farther in the future than the first three Dunes. It still has the "plots within plots within plots" thing going on. The plot is a bit confusing but it is very good.

The book was very exciting because of all the plots going on at once. There wasn't a lot of actual fighting but it was still a great book. There was a lot of politics involved, which makes it a bit hard to follow sometimes but if you stick to it you understand it. I didn't feel like I was in the book. Instead I felt like I was someone watching everything going on. It was a very different style of writing than I am used to but it was still very good. It was hard, for me, to keep track of the main conflict because there were so many other conflicts and plots. It also switched between characters every couple of chapters. One chapter you're following Leto the next you're following the Bene Gesserit or a rebel or someone else. That sometimes got me confused but I got used to it. The main conflict was very interesting and made you want to keep reading. The characters were very realistic. The author was very good at showing their emotions. He also would let you see their thoughts in the middle of a conversation, which was very cool and let you know the character better. The characters also had very distinct and unique personalities. The characters almost seemed like you could meet them on the street as real people. The book's ending was very exciting. There were several large twists, none of which I will ruin. They made you want to keep reading to see what happened next. It left quite a few big questions unanswered but I hope they will answer them in the next Dune book.

The author speaks through whichever character he is using for that chapter. This allows you to get to know the characters' personalities and feelings better. This also gives you a chance to see into their thoughts. The author uses very descriptive words when describing emotions or a new character. In some cases I could almost visualize the character or thing. This helped me with the book and made the story much better. The author used a lot of dialogue which made the book more interesting. It was sometimes hard to follow the conversation but generally it was good and easy flowing conversation. The author was very detailed when telling you about anything new or how a character's face changed to show emotion. The over all tone of the book seems to be that Leto has to do this or make someone do this, to save humanity and stay on the golden path. Which is good but it gets a little annoying. I liked the style the author wrote in but sometimes the conversations were hard to follow. It was generally easy to follow but every once in awhile I got lost.

I would give this book 9.5 out of 10 because it was a great story with a great plot but it was hard to follow sometimes and I was very confused when I started because this one takes place so much farther in the future than the other Dunes. It was a great book and I recommend it for any and all sci-fi readers and of course all Dune fans. It is amazing how the author created this new world out of the old Dune worlds. Dune fans will love this new Dune to the series because it still follows the same great Dune way.

This was a beautifully written book where Frank Herbert used his imagination beyond anyone else's. It is a marvelous sci-fi book and probably one of the best ever. Enjoy reading it!

In Frank Herbert's fourth book in the dune series he has created an increduably complex character in the person of Leto II, the god emperor. Leto repesents botht the best to which mankind can obtain in his ability to see the big picture and do what is best for the whole of mankind rather than let petty narrowly defined personal goals, wnats or needs geet in the way. At the same time Leto also represents the worst of what mankind can be, cold, caloous and unfeeling. This is in my opinion the best of the Dune series and a science fictional heavy weight.

My first reading of God Emperor of Dune was a bit of a chore. However, I did find myself enjoying the story of what had become of the Atreides dynasty. Here I am years later reading the book for the fifth time and I still find nuances never before seen. Quite possibly one of my favorites in the saga.

God Emperor of Dune does not focus much at all with extravagant new technology (though you can find some of it here and there) nor does it reveal any new planets or exciting battles. This book tells the story of the inner workings of the God Emperor's religion, palace intreague, a rebellion, and the continuing story of Duncan Idaho and how he fits in with the fabric of the universe that Leto II has created for himself.

Science fiction at its best, even though there is not much science at all.

Five Stars!

-I'm almost done the fourth book in the series, and I've found it very addictive, so I just rashion it so I won't finish it too quickly...In the fourth book, there is the introduction of many Satanic concepts...Most readers miss this, but I am well versed in history( I attended Penn State for a short time). I think it is great that Herbert recognised the siliness of religions such as xtianity, judaism, and islam even back when he wrote the series...I found it highly ironic and truthful that the bene gesserits are regarded as witches...And that the religious texts within the novels are thought of as being lies by the characters...Even Leto II knows them to be untruthfull if you carefully analyze what he thinks and says...

God Emperor of Dune continues millennia after Children of Dune, after monumental changes to the government and life of humankind; Leto II, still alive after 3500 years, is not quite human but something far beyond it, and his reign sits between the conservative rule before his day and the great forces of change promised after. As a whole, not a lot happens in the story, but it richly explores the mind of the God Emperor and the reactions of those he tells his thoughts to. Full of philosophy and analysis, this story is ahead of its time (1981)in that it carries a lot of value in our post-9/11 world, especially in regard to the effects of war and the threat of it, and the values of people in leadership positions. Keep your eyes open to his thoughts on people like those responsible for the Enron and WorldCom disasters (he would describe them as "bad administrators") and the struggle of those who wish to shake off a power they believe tyrranizes them. All in all, a very good and deep story that builds a bridge between the first trilogy (Dune, Messiah, Children) and the second--as yet unfinished--trilogy (Heretics, Chapterhouse and the upcoming Dune 7).

This book, in my opinion, is unquestionably the best in the series, if simply because of the main character. Leto Atreides 2 is simply the most fascinating, unique character I have evr seen in science fiction/fantasy. His aims are unique and eminently hard to understand- but throughout the book you get the feeling that he is trying for a 'noble purpose'- his Golden Path. Although its not clear what exactly the golden path is, it can be incredibly satisfying just to try to figure bits of it out and putting them in place, like a jigsaw puzzle. Leto is a tyrant (as he acknowledges freely), but he is simple different from anything you will have seen. a tyrant with a love for humanity, one who is no longer human himself, and who manipulates his people but is incredibly, painfully conscious of that manipulation. The dialogue in the book is also well-written, if a bit abstruse 9but thats part of its charm). Reading the book is like wrestling with difficult concepts and trying to understand them. Part of the dialogue is even just Leto's manipulation of words- 'just words, however beautiful' as he says. But anybody who like lterature will have an experience just trying to follow Leto's mind through the dialogue. Sadly, this is the last interesting (or even readable) book in the Dune series. The next two books have neither a compelling character, nor interesting dialogue and subtle meanings. Heretics f Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune are, to put it frankly, unreadable in the sense that you will understand practically nothing of whats going on.

Just finished this 4th book. It's a real treat! It really peers into the sufferings of a god-tyrant. Complex, cruel but also you will feel pity longing and rage for what he has lost. You will be in awe of what he has gained. Keep trecking forward in dune and don't pass over this gem.

Of all the Dune books so far, this one reads the slowest. You can easily skim past paragraphs and not miss much except for descriptions gone on too long and philosophical babble, especially the blurbs written as Leto's journals at the beginning of each chapter. There's nothing wrong with intelligent or detailed writing, but often it goes to unnecessary lengths and hinders the story instead of progressing the plot. It would have been better if Herbert just stayed devoted to writing a good story instead of slowing it down with all these extras. There are some good parts to the story, and the ending is interesting. The characters of Siona and Hwi seem a bit empty but had such potential, and I wish there had been more exploration into Moneo. Most of all, I was disappointed to find the pace of the first three books was missing in this one, along with a fascinating set of characters.

Unlike anything else you'll read in the sci-fi canon. There's too much talking, and not enough consistency about the God Emperor's "Golden Path," but the net effect of epic weirdness combined with the oddly moving payoff at the end, make the long read very worthwhile.

I have heard many criticisms of this book. It is a big change from the first three in the dune chronicles, and many complain that it is a little inaccessable and well, disturbing. God Emperor does start off much darker than the other books in the series and it is more blatently philosophical than the others. However, it is still interesting to see the purpose behind the character and the setting. It is supposed to be dark, it is not happy and I think it is a break in what people expect from Herbert: usually bitter-sweet solid but satisfying endings. God emperor tacks on an ending to Children that is all but gratifying, and yet getting beyond the initial change in focus it sets up an interesting background for the two books that follow it. THere is no real hero in this book but that is, I think, part of the point. I found the change in focus refreshing; it sparked new interest in the series rather than continueing with the same popular notions that carried the first books. As always, God Emperor is well thought out and equisetly written in a styke that even reflects the harshness of time it is suposed to portray.

Unlike anything else you'll read in the sci-fi canon. There's too much talking, and not enough consistency about the God Emperor's "Golden Path," but the net effect of epic weirdness combined with the oddly moving payoff at the end, make the long read very worthwhile.

I have heard many criticisms of this book. It is a big change from the first three in the dune chronicles, and many complain that it is a little inaccessable and well, disturbing. God Emperor does start off much darker than the other books in the series and it is more blatently philosophical than the others. However, it is still interesting to see the purpose behind the character and the setting. It is supposed to be dark, it is not happy and I think it is a break in what people expect from Herbert: usually bitter-sweet solid but satisfying endings. God emperor tacks on an ending to Children that is all but gratifying, and yet getting beyond the initial change in focus it sets up an interesting background for the two books that follow it. THere is no real hero in this book but that is, I think, part of the point. I found the change in focus refreshing; it sparked new interest in the series rather than continueing with the same popular notions that carried the first books. As always, God Emperor is well thought out and equisetly written in a styke that even reflects the harshness of time it is suposed to portray.

The major thing that can be said about "God Emperor of Dune" by Frank Herbert is that although it isn't one of your usual sci-fi stories, and would certainly be termed an unsuccessful book by modern novel standards (as an example of what you shouldn't do in a modern novel today-i.e. more narration and description instead of more action (that readers nowadays demand), what is the magic that Frank Herbert creates in this most unusual book is that he compels you through his gifted writing skill and most unique and multifaceted character of Leto II to continue reading to find out more about Leto and his world, and especially near the end-what happens to Leto once these plots within plots have been set in motion.
This was the first Dune book in the series I felt that I (with my limited knowledge of politics and economics and religious allegories) could understand the workings of this universe better than even the first three books. And felt I understood more of what was going on and what was trying to be accomplished by all of the factions now being held under one ruler, the worm-god emperor of Leto II.
The story itself remained a bit implausible in my mind as to how this one bizarre creature, part man and part worm, could hold together this vast empire under his rule for so long. It worked mainly for me because I remembered history not too long ago with another almost god-emperor worshipped by the masses-of Hitler's Germany, and in the near-indestructableness of Leto II in his worm-encased body.
For one reader out there who can't be typified or quantified in the usual generalization of "modern reader", as one who prefers the intellectual workings of the mind and character instead of merely the actions of one, I enjoyed "God Emperor of Dune" immensely, and found it one of the most satisfying novels I have ever read.

I enjoyed the first three books, but this one disappointed me. I stuck with it hoping for it to get better, but it just didn't. While I agree Frank Herbert is a creative genius which can still be seen in this book, this book was just dull all the way through. It's full of repetitive dialog and the climax was pretty obvious early on. If you want to continue with the series, though, I'd recommend drudging through this one or you'll be somewhat lost in Heretics, which I'm currently reading and is already much more interesting. Who knows? Maybe you'll enjoy what I didn't.

How do I start a review of God Emperor of Dune? It simply blew me away. Leto Atreides II is the single most complex, interesting, and expertly crafted character in literary history. In fact, it seems a travesty to even call him a "character"; Leto is a person. This book is about a lot of different things, but it's mostly about Leto -- and believe me, you could write a hundred books about this guy. What really blows me away about God Emperor of Dune is how satisfying it is while still being totally open-ended. Herbert leaves you with a thousand unanswered questions, and it is by exploring these questions that you begin to truly appreciate the book. There are a few times when the psychobabble gets to be too much for even the most absorbed reader, but in the end the good FAR outweighs the bad, leaving God Emperor practically unblemished in my mind. My biggest worry is that people will start the Dune series and never reach this book...in retrospect, it's a tie with Dune Messiah for my favorite entry in the entire series. A slowly paced, terrifyingly deep, cathartic complete/incomplete masterpiece.

I've read several novels from some acclaimed authors (Jeffrey Archer for example) but still, Frank Herbert's God Emperor of Dune is the best novel I've ever read. Although there are some plots which can be quite confusing (as well as Frank's confusing English), the rest is absolutely perfect. Probably one of the most memorable characters is Lord Leto II, the God Emperor who is sometimes known as The Tyrant. The son of Paul Muab'Dib who slowly turned into an ugly sandworm, becomes immortal and ruled Rakis with a purpose. Later, more characters are introduced; Siona (first appeared in the beginning of the novel), Hwi , Moneo, the lovable Duncan Idaho, Fish Speakers and so on. Besides, we know that Leto is the loneliest creature in this universe until he meets Hwi Noree (actually she likes Duncan most) who would have become his bride but tragic strikes and that eventually costs their lives. Overall, no other novels can be as beautiful as God Emperor of Dune (along with the rest of the other Dune novels). I really like the story very much because you can imagine that its world is huge and immersing. I also like Leto's beautiful words, even though some of them are quite political of some sort. However, that's the only Dune book I've read so far. Perhaps I should get my hands on Dune: House Atreides to discover how Dune, one of the acclaimed epic of our time, is born.

After having read "Children of Dune", I could not wait to get my hands on this book. This book drips even heavier that its predecessors in philosophy, but maintains enough action and drama to keep you turning the pages.
The planet is now rich with moisture and plant life. The sandworms are all dead, except for one. After 3500 years of metamorphosis into a new breed of sandworm, Leto is still alive as Emperor, tyrannically pursuing his 'Golden Path'. Except for the ghola Duncan Idaho, all the other characters are long dead. It explains even more of the allusionary foreshadowing of "Dune: Messiah" and "Children of Dune", which is its real strength.
The ending however was not really the best in my taste. It happens too quickly and it didn't seem to answer the foreshadowing that was presented earlier in the book. Also, the character development of the surviving characters was poor while the well developed characters all die.
While I look forward to reading about how the Dune universe turns out in the final two books, I was ultimately disappointed in flaw in character development. I'm also becoming a little tired of the constant resurrections of Duncan Idaho when there are many more intriguing and complex characters that die premature deaths.
Despite this, I stil give the book a four star rating because of its predominant consistency to the Dune theme and its epic foreshadowing of the events to come in the following books.

This is the fourth of the magnificent dune chronicles.It is amazing that the first three were masterpieces ,but this borders on something even greater,a book of nearly divine wisdom and beauty.No human has created a better work of art in recorded history (save the sistine chapel).This book encompasses all that is important in life ,and shows it to you through the vastly visionary eye,of Leto atredies ,the God of the universe.
This book will give you sympathy for the roll of God,which we so often despise for petty reasons,not even realising the lonliness and sacrifice required ,to be the ruler of all existence.
Should be required reading in all highschools and colleges,along with the other 5 books.
If frank herbert was not divinely inspired,then he is the greatest single writer,in the history of the world.

My take on GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE is that it's an absurdist tragicomedy, like CALIGULA. I say absurdist tragicomedy not simply because the main character is 3500 years old and slowly turning into a giant worm (though there is that), but because he's convinced himself and many others that he's the far-sighted savior of humanity when he is in fact a deluded and despicable tyrant.

Though it's discussed briefly, a significant part of the God Emperor's strategy for the salvation of humanity has to do with what's called the "Famine Times". In the Dune universe, interstellar pilots require a rare spice from the planet Dune to navigate starships properly. The Emperor has for centuries been hoarding and otherwise limiting access to this spice, in part to buy himself political power, but also in order to reduce space travel. He plans ultimately to strand the various populations of humanity on their respective worlds for centuries (until an alternative mode of space travel prevails), leading to overpopulation and the various crises that accompany overpopulation (war, starvation, presumably global warming, etc.). The final objective of all this anguish is to leave humanity stronger for the experience and capable of extremely long-term survival.

Needless to say, even if humanity does emerge somehow stronger from this excruciating punishment, we are clearly walking in Cure-Worse-Than-The-Disease territory here. Anyone who would willfully subject generations of billions or perhaps trillions of human souls to this grueling fate is beyond diabolical. The God Emperor, the author of this galactic Famine Time, is clearly demented at a comicbook-villain level.

Nonetheless, the novel plays things straight, or at least ambiguously, and the Emperor functions as the book's protagonist. In fact, he's usually the viewpoint character. But the author offers plenty of clues that we're to take Leto's (the Emperor's) perspective on things with a grain of salt. Here's a few:

1. For one, many of the reviewers here have already pointed out how Frank Herbert disliked hero-kings (or perhaps the blind acceptance that a hero-king encourages). For example, Leto's father, Paul Atriedes, ends the first novel DUNE as the conquering hero; but, in the followup DUNE MESSIAH, he transforms into a taciturn, bitter, and (somewhat justifiably) paranoid hero-king; and, by CHILDREN OF DUNE, he's abdicated political power to his troubled sister (a mistake), and wandered off into the desert to spend his remaining days a raving prophet ala the Old Testament. If Paul's hero-king life experience proves ultimately to be bad news, Leto's godlike superhero-king incarnation must be the worst of the worst.

2. Leto the God Emperor is an outright tyrant. He says as much here and there in the book, but justifies it by pointing out that he's tyrannical only at certain times and always to a purpose, keeping the big picture in mind -- probably the same line of reasoning that every tyrant who's ever lived has used, if he's bothered to reason about it at all. In an entertaining, tyrannical passage about a quarter into the novel, Leto pontificates on the evils of religion and cites Torquemada's burning of heretics as an example. Leto's courtier points out that he (Leto) has burned some historians to death for the crime of falsification. Leto's response: Yes, but they were unconscious at the time.

3. Leto's behavior veers toward the unstable. This is understandable in a 3500 year-old man who's turning into a worm while running the galaxy, but it also underscores the fact that he's hardly the clear-thinking savior of humanity he imagines himself to be. In one chapter, he retires to his room to talk to himself (questions in quotes, responses in italics); then, when he tires of this, he constructs an "imaginary visitor" to carry on the conversation; following that, he proceeds to cry. Also, Leto is one of those people around whom you have to watch everything you say, and how you say it. Leo's chief courtier Moneo pretty much lives by this fact. Every conversation Moneo has with the Emperor carries with it the danger that Leto will lose control of his emotions and squash him (or something equally lethal) without thinking. Moneo spends much of the novel a nervous wreck.

4. And Leto is clearly self-destructive. One example: the Duncan Idaho gholas. For millenia, the Emperor has ordered (or accepted without ordering) gholas/clones of his childhood protector Duncan Idaho, perhaps for companionship. But the usual trajectory of each Duncan ghola is slowly to realize what an abhorrent being the God Emperor really is, and then attempt to destroy him (unsuccessfully). Following that, the Emperor gets a new Duncan to start the whole process over. As if in the subconscious hope that one of the Duncans will get around to actually killing him. (***SPOILER ALERT***) Another example is the Emperor's acceptance of Hwi Noree, whom he knows for a fact that his enemies have constructed for the purpose of weakening and possibly killing him. And there's that perilous wedding procession (on foot), which Moneo warns against, and which the Emperor undertakes anyway for the sake of tradition or something.

While I found the novel pretty engrossing for the above reasons, I thought it had some weak points. For one thing, the whole long story revolves tightly around Leto the God Emperor. Leto is the viewpoint character for at least half the pages in the book, and in the remaining pages, the other characters are talking to or about Leto, or else they're thinking about him. This narrow focus gives the story a claustrophobic feel. Certainly it's inferior to the spectacle and breadth of the original DUNE novel.

Another thing I didn't like was the unconvincing behavior of the above-mentioned Duncan Idaho gholas. When Duncan is regrown/resurrected, he has no memories past his death 3500 years previous. But in the novel, he seems to fit right in as soon as he hits the ground of Dune. Leto appoints him captain of the guard almost right out of the growing tank, and Duncan takes on the job like an old pro (which he was, tens of centuries ago). He has a few problems coping with the idea of the all-female Fish Speaker army, but beyond that, he's surprisingly well-adapted for a person 3500 years out of touch.

And, a final nitpick: Siona's Atriedes heritage. The novel makes a point of Siona's ancestry in a few places, mentioning the Atriedes characterstics of her face, and so forth. Now, I understand that (**SPOILER ALERT**) Siona's a subject of the God Emperor's breeding experiment (**END OF ALERT**), but her Atriedes ancestry really should be no big deal. Atriedes genes have been floating around the population of Dune for at least 3500 years, something like 150 generations. In that amount of time, you'd expect that if anyone at all has Atriedes DNA, then everybody's got some. Again, it's a small nitpick, but it seems like the author forgot the magnitude of his own time scale.

What I believe is that "God Emperor of Dune" is the closest look you can get into the philosophy of Frank Herbert. In his title character "Leto" he has imagined someone with the highest level of awareness that humankind can reach. And rather than let us imagine this "god's" great thoughts with pseudo-profundity or letting us fill in the blanks of hollow dialogue, he actually lets Leto speak his philosophy, giving us insight into a mind that is filled with revelations on the definition of mankind.
True--in this book you won't find action as much as intrigue. And some of the passages can seem long-winded. I had to re-read the chapters many times before I came to fully appreciate the value of what Frank Herbert had created. But I see within this book Frank Herbert's treatise on the future of mankind: a glimpse into his vision of what we must evolve into, and more importantly his ideas about what kind of animal we are.

And that's how I feel about Herbert's Dune books...they're old friends. I've been reading the prequels and felt compelled to go reread the originals. God Emperor of Dune is such a sad book. Being a god is lonely work. Leto is one of the most isolated characters ever created. His sacrifice isn't recognized by most. As the book unfolds I was met again with the realization that his loss of humanity is merely physical because this character is one of the most noble humans ever written.

Leto II, the God Emperor of Dune, has lived for 3000 odd years and undergone monsterous changes into a sandworm for the sake of mankind. However, dispite the decendants of his twin Ghanima that surround him and the ghola Duncan Idahos that the Telexiu have created for him for millenia, no one has ever loved him.

But, at the end of the Tyrant's reign, all that is about to change. Plots and plans centuries laid are comming to conclusion. The great sandworms of Dune are about to return and the Atredies are at the fulcrum once again.

Storyline:
Centuries have passed on Dune itself, and the planet is green with life. Leto II, the son of Dune's savior, is still alive but far from human. He has become a human-sandworm creature, ruling over his angry and frustrated empire with his vast legions of Fish Speaker soldiers, enforcing peace for dozens of generations to teach the universe a lesson, while also waiting for the right time to turn Dune back into a desert planet. The fate of all humanity hangs on Leto's awesome sacrifice.
Opinion:
To begin with, I expected this book to be a disappoitment after hearing opinions from people about it. But they were wrong. This book has brought back the excitment that has lacked since Dune. Children of Dune was a little confusing and it took me a several times more of reading it to understand it. God Emperor of Dune is a very deep book. It allows you to see a part of person who makes so much of sacrifices and sees everyhting yet still believes in suprises and wonder and awe. The God Emperor of Dune, Leto Atreides II, the son Paul Atreides who was the Kwiastz Haderach knows how he is being hated, abused and unapreciated by the population of then known universe yet he continues to have compassion for them and continues doing what he does. He has sympathy for people who insult him and criticise him in such way that no normal human can endure or tolerate for very long. But then he is no TRUE human. He is half worm, half human.
This book was so totally touching that it brought tears to my eyes. I have never seen a book touch me this way since Dune Messiah. It was so absolutely and completely captivating that when I read it, it had me at the edge of my seat until the very end. I think Dune is right now displacing Lord of the Rings as my favourite book. Though I'm still only a teenager, and have many more books to read in times to come, I find that no book can compare Dune what with its majestic grandeur and hidden meaning and message which makes you expand and extend your imagination to such depths and meaning that is very exciting. It makes you think and to understand. I like books who allow you room for your interpretations of your own rather than reveal all openly for you to read. There is no magic in books like that. That's why I LOVE Dune. I can't wait to read the next book.
And I hope that you will enjoy this book as much as I did even if the last part was a bit bittersweet and sad.So for any Dune lover this is a simply must read!!!

This book is not a page turner like some of the others in this series, it took me probably twice as long per page as its immediate successor, heretics of Dune. It's kind of hard to read, with it's immense amount of concepts, many that you aren't supposed to understand. Even from the view of Leto himself, you are still just a human reading his words.
However, give this book a little time when you think you've had enough, let it sink in. Keep reading, by the end you are in to it. I tingled through the ending.
When I was reading the bulk of the book I didn't enjoy it as much as the others a lot of the time, but now loooking at it in retrospect I see the greatness of the thought, and the story as well.
After all, Herbert is only a mediocre action writer anyway, his strengths are in plotting and concepts, which this book is filled with.
Sorry if I didn't communicate as effectively as some of the others the quality of this book, but it's great.

The Dune Series has overall, been a solid set of Science Fiction. Dune Messiah was average (3 Stars) but rebounded with the great Childern of Dune (4 Stars.) So, when I picked up this book I wanted to see what happened to Leto II after Children of Dune.
I was in for a huge dissapointment. The intrigue and the excellent storytelling has been sacrificed here. I found The Worm to be a major dissapointment as a character . Leto is a flat and rather dull main character , he is not able to support this novel. Alia and Maud'Dib were far more interesting and were able to evolve. There is little interaction and change. If a book is to have one charachter be the focal point of the story atleast make him interesting. The complexity of the series has been dissolved.
This book is big on words, thin on action. There isn't that interesting of a story going on in here. This book could be a simple 200 pages instead of the rampant 400 of nothingness that plagues this book. I could not wait for it to end. All in all, I would have thrown it away if it weren't my only reading on an airplane.
Regardless, your not going to listen to me if you read this book. You've gone up to this point in the series, there is no turning back. Just don't have giant expectations.

Every time I am perusing through a bookstore and I happen to see this particular book in Herbert's Dune series, I pick it up and flip through the pages remembering the awesome moments that happened during the God Emperor's reign over Dune.

This book is a testament to love, love denied, love incapable, and love misunderstood. It's the story of someone who's love can never be comprehended unless it's gift can be shared for 3 millenniums.

I completely recommend God Emperor of Dune...but truth be told, if you wanted to end with the Dune series on a 100% positive note, I might recommended leaving the series on this book. Although the next two were good, they did not leave the same impression that this, and the previous books in the series did.

This installment of the Dune series is by far the most thought provoking for me. The way the story opens new territory in the scope of how and what these people worship is interesting. The fact that the "God Emperor" is also a tyrant continues to plow new ground that Frank began to push towards in Heretics. This author was most assuredly one of the most forward thinking people in the 20th century, tackling many issues from our own times and projecting it on a much larger scale in this futuristic tale. Excellent work.

I won't spoil anything for potential buyers (plenty of others have already done that) But I will say that the story here takes an even more bizzare turn that usual. Prepare for more cold hard calculating an odd religous "theories" (if you could really call them that), with, as usual, nobody that really acts like a normal PERSON.

If you didn't enjoy the previous books, or weren't too sure, I would say this is a bok for LAYING DOWN AND AVOIDING.

But if you did enjoy them, I highly reccomend this book.

God Emperor of Dune is truly a great science fiction achievement in literature. It is the fourth book in the Dune series and it is my favourite out of all the Dune books written by Frank Herbert. The story takes place thirty-five hundred years after Children of Dune, the third book in the series. Although many people may think it's weird that there is such a big gap between the books, I think it's really cool that Frank wasn't afraid to jump ahead so many years to tell a great story because the events that happen in God Emperor are way cooler than what happened in any of the previous Dune books.

The story revolves around Lato the second, who has evolved into a giant part worm, part man and his faithful clone servant, Duncan. Lato falls in love with a woman but cannot give her physical love because of his massive, monstrous worm body. He flies into blind fits of rage often and kills many of his subjects in his anger and regrets it when he comes to his senses. This is a great book and would make an awesome science fiction movie that could compete at the box office with the best Star Wars films and blow them away.

If you have a short attention span, this book won't hold your interest.
If you hunger for an engaging peek into one man's insightful, if metaphoric, vision of human destiny, this is THE book to read.
Even more relevant today than at the time of it's publication, God Emperor of Dune comments on sociology, philosophy, religion and politics through the voice of it's title character Leto II. Yes, the book contains long, wordy passages, but the truths contained therein are the kind of revelations that have the power to change your world view.
The characters are all engaging and fascinating, and the plot is unparalleled in it's originality. Herbert's fiction is rooted in the (often paradoxical) reality of human interaction. He masterfully peels back the layers of pretense (that we keep as a comfort zone) to reveal the truths about ourselves that we, as a race, don't like to face forthrightly. That notwithstanding, we, as readers, can see our true selves at a distance, the medicine taken with the proverbial spoonful of sugar that are the delightful imaginations of Frank Herbert's God Emperor of Dune.
Don't miss this one.

This is my least favorite book of "Dune: The Original Series." Part of my dislike comes from premise of the series: "Dune" is anti-messiah, therefore the core theme is negative. Beneath the plot, characterization, style, and setting, there is this old battleaxe spinster wagging her creaky finger saying, "No! No! No!--Don't you even think of doing that!"

The book's message is one of iconoclasm. But along with the shattering of the Empire, the Golden Path, and the worm-body of Leto, I feet that the series had also shattered the core idea by overkill. OK, mortal messiahs are bad, and you can get in trouble by putting blind faith in a fallen, imperfect being. But this book drove the point home in a too hard of a way. By overstating the case, you logically work your way into an absurdity. Besides, if we get too cautious about mortal messiahs, then we will, by default, embrace anarchy. This would be worse than tyranny, because no social order

What kept me intrigued, however, was the hidden story behind the events. Paul was supposed to be a daughter, and to marry Fayed, and their son would have been the Kwisatz Haderach. However, Paul was male, married Chani. Their child, who would have been in the right generational slot of the intended Kwisatz Haderach, was Leto II. So, in an odd way, their prophecy came true--as mangled as it was.

This story focuses on the Worm, Duncan ghola, and Siona, and is a medieval courtly drama. But what I was curios about was the day to day life of the people under the Golden Path. Maybe Herbert and Anderson could do a short story to this effect: What was life like under the Golden Path? How did people find personal fulfillment? Were there any other subversives to Leto besides the one depicted here?

Assuming you have already read the predecessor books or seen the SciFi channel TV adaptations, you are ready for this book. If not, you will miss too much by starting with God Emporer.

I found this book to be an engaging read from cover-to-cover. I was looking forward to getting back to it each time I put it down. The plot was as rich as one would expect from a Dune chronicle and the story line was very engaging. I found much of the God Emporer's writings complex and difficult to understand, however this did not impact the overall read. If you like philosophy you can spend the time and decipher them.

I didn't give it a 5, because I'm not sure I really agree with all of Herbert's observations, but irregardless, this is an excellent book! As stated above, it's *not* an easy read. The book is full of philosophical meanderings and intertwined dialogue that can be tough to push though, but it does give an excellent portait of this super being - not quite human, not quite worm - who has sacrificed his humanity FOR humantity.

Because of his ancestral memories and history as emporer for 3000 years, he has a deep understanding of government, religion and politics - but none of these are important, they are all a tools to further the *golden path* which will ensure humanit's survival (even though we don't realize it).

I can't recommend this book for somebody looking for action - this is a deeply intertwined book giving discourses on human society, religion and politics - at times lengthly, but for the most part very interesting. The action is there, but it's the dialogue that predominates.

So - a very good book. If you want to learn about the plight of a 3000 year old worm emperor with billion of ancestral memories and the ability to see into the future who has decided to save humanity, then this would be the book to read.

The DUNE series is, without a doubt, the greatest science fiction epic ever created. GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE, the fourth book in the DUNE series, is the greatest DUNE book of them all.
Frank Herbert creates a stunning world of science fiction in GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE. This book contains the most thorough, most complex character i have EVER read: God Emperor Leto Atreides II. GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE is a book of stunning depth, in which Frank Herbert projects a deeply perceptive picture of psychology, sociology, and humankind. Although it does not incorporate the usual action elements of the other DUNE books, GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE surpasses all its series companions in elegance and mastery. GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE will awaken within you a deep empathy and a deep antipathy for the God Emperor at the same time. You will find the journey through the mind of the God Emperor very involving, and the pages will keep turning and turning until the book's bitter end. If you have read all the previous DUNE books, don't stop now! You're still in for the best. GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE brings back a well-known character from the first book, Duncan Idaho, and pits him against the Atreides God Emperor, belonging to a family to whom he had pledged undying allegiance. GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE is a mesmerizing masterpiece.

God Emperor of Dune is an essential part of the Dune series, and therefore you must have read it. It contains certain key events, described from the God emperors point-of-view, which is the only way to know how stuff really happened. In the sequels, which happen several mellenia later, the people have a quite wrong image of the God Emperor, because history is written by the victors.. This book is unfortunately the most awful book I've'ever read, and trust me, I've read plenty. The storyline is downright pessimistic, none of the main characters, excluding the Idaho invoke any sympathy, while The Fremen have continued to degenerate. Hell, Duncan even meets one with BROWN EYES! Fortunately, the sequels to this book make up for this debacle. Read it, yawn, cry a little and move on to the next book, which I rate 5 stars.

In some ways, this is a very simple book. There's not a whole lot of plotline, only a smattering of main characters (and one compelling super-character), and much of the book is simply monologue. This is Frank Herbert's masterpiece, surpassing the original Dune. Every time I re-read it (at least once a year) I get more from it.

This book is not perticularly an easy read, it is very rich with philosophy, political intrigue and such.

It is a little hard to follow at times, but nevertheless it is a must read, especially if you are going to continue the Dune saga.

Even if this sort of book isn't your preference, Frank Herbert had a vision and will leave you confuzed if you skip this novel and read the following ones.

This novel was extremely disappointing. Leto II is one of the most tiresome characters I have ever seen. While talking to his close friends like Moneo and Duncan, he rambles on and on without actually saying anything. What a normal person can accomplish in a mere sentence takes Leto an entire paragraph. Midway through the book, I lost all incentive for finishing it.
Most of the other characters in the book aren't much better. Hwi Noree continually breaks into tears whenever Leto talks about his "awesome sacrifice", and Moneo always seems to be encouraging Leto in his never-ending speeches by asking dumb questions like "How, Lord?". The only characters I can actually stand are Duncan Idaho and Siona. They are the only ones with enough common sense not to blindly follow Leto in his "Golden Path".
Reading this book is a waste of time. I would recommend skipping this book entirely and going on to the next.

God Emperor of Dune is set several thousand years after the events in Children of Dune. Leto's sandtrout metamorphosis has continued, and he is becoming more of a sandworm.

He continually keeps Duncan Idaho gholas by his side as this gift keeps being sent to him.

He is now seen by most as a tyrant, but is still working towards his plan. He has plans for his latest Duncan Idaho, and a woman named Siona, and is protected by a female military service.

Duncan and Siona plot against Leto on their own, and realising his sandworm nature, know that water is antithetical to him. When they strike, Leto's body breaks down and baby sandtrout escape into the desert. Leto, dying, tells them about his spice hoard.

This is what the whole series is all about right here. Paul Muad'Dib was a failed messiah. Failed because he locked himself into a future that he could not stand to be a part of. Like his father, young Leto II also saw the path that his father fled from. But in looking deeper into that future saw the only way to save humankind from itself. The Golden Path. This book is set smack-dab in the middle of that golden path. Deeply religious and philosophical undertones drive this book right to the top of my personal best list. If I had to pick only one book that truly changed my perspective and deepened my thinking it has to be this book. Leto is a very rich character unparalled in any other series. Frank Herbert took the ideal of a higher power and what it must be like to be that power, and humanized it for all to disect and study. True Genius. If you're looking for the action of the first book, God Emperor might dissapoint you. Though there is action, it is the dialogue of this book that makes it the timeless perfection that it is. So if you want to take your mind on a consciousness expanding ride, curl up with this book and enjoy.

The setting for the Dune world, with all its factions, and mix of jedi-type magic and politics is probably the most exciting, interesting, and marvelous setting I've ever read about. So how could this book be so bad?
There is almost NO action and an immense amount of dialogue. At times I believe Herbert was just talking to himself, amazing himself at how clever he could be.
It's everybody against the 'God Emperor' but how do you defeat someone that knows the future? Obviously Herbert couldn't figure it out either because he had to make Leto II purposely dense and uncaring so that everyone would have a chance.
I loved the first 3 and still plan on reading the last 2 but they HAVE to get better. If you can find an abridged version of this book read it just to keep up with the story line.

This is the best of the Dune series. Leto II has done what no one could dream of doing, not even his powerful father - sacrificing his humanity for a perceived death of the human species. The action is great, the philosophy is fascinating, and the scope is incredible. A real mind bender. There is too much here to digest in one reading. Highly recommended for those who are into futuristic studies and who are students of religion or politics. In particular, note Leto II's admonishments on holding of power, and on who make the best staff officers. If you are military and don't understand - get out.

"God Emperor of Dune," hereafter referred to as GEoD, is the fourth book in the original Dune novels written by Frank Herbert. This book, in my opinion, is the best in the series and one of the best SciFi novels of all-time.

The story takes place 3,500 years after Leto II Atreides, the God Emperor, became Emperor of the Known Universe. Readers of the first three books will notice right away that this universe is vastly different and almost alien to the one depicted in "Dune," "Dune Messiah," and "Children of Dune."

A 3,510-year-old "pre-worm," Leto II is one of the most fascinating characters in science fiction literature. He is both cruel and selfless in his quest to save humanity by sacrificing himself to a long life of lonliness and boredom. By the end of the novel, I felt pity for the God Emperor, whose sacrifice was tragic but necessary, and whose fate was poignant.

One of the things I love about this novel is the slow pace, in which Herbert uses Leto II to pontificate on religion, the Army, government, free will vs. prescience, human nature, and other philosophical concepts.

GEoD is a great novel that I would recommend to anyone who loves science fiction.

The first three Dune books are obviously five-star masterpieces, but I got sick of this one halfway through. A good half of the book is Leto on his cart in his chamber receiving people. For each line of dialogue there is a paragraph of thought. The book was promising in the beginning with the intense wolf chase, but thereafter I was wallowing in boredom. Sorry to all you diehard fans, but this book just isn't up to par with the first three.

Not as much action as any of the other books so far but it doesnt matter this has been my favourite of the four ive read.

All my praise for this book goes to the character Leto II, easily the deepest character ive ever read about, his insights and choices were brilliant reading which i coudnt put down. The book is the story of Leto and the ramifications of the sacrifce he made in children of dune, his life is a tragedy and you feel his lonelyness and his pain and the tidbits of joy that are few and far between

The previous 3 books were great stories and very well written but this book is unique ive never read a novel like it or encountered a character like Leto.

It was just a very strange book. Hard to explain. It made me depressed and very anxious to get to Books 5 and 6. Maybe that was exactly what it was meant to do.
And now, I find Dune 5 to be a very rich new beginning, almost as good as the First Dune.
All in all, a worthy bridge to Books 5 and 6.

'God Emperor' represents Herbert's big comeback in the Dune series. Messiah and Children were both pretty good, but this one is as good as Dune itself. Mind-blowing concepts and an incredible main character are the highlights of this one. Worth your time and or money.

-- JJ Timmins

Frank Herbert is my favorite author, but I have to admit I was a little disappointed when I finished this novel. It's not as good as the first three Dune books, nor Heretics of Dune (book 5), however, book 4 in the Dune Series is still a pretty good read, especially if you like psychological thrillers. Which is exactly what this novel is.
...

A somewhat interesting story is bogged down by wordy and pretentious dialogue. Much of the book is set in Leto's private chambers where he attempts to talk the reader to death. The story itself manages to hold ones attention amazingly long, but after a while all the psuedo-psychological babbling becomes a bore. The original book rose above its pop pschology rantings; this one simply wallows in its.

The fourth book in the Dune series picks up several thousand years in the future where the third book left off. I found this book to be a refreshing and compelling read after the bordom of the second and third volumes in the series. The plot builds and builds and builds until the final climax at the very end. The reader is definately left wondering throughout the novel where the story will go next. It seems as if there is no clear cut enemy presence in the novel. This book is a great addition to the Dune series and leaves the reader knawing to get at the fifth volume.

I thought Dune was a fantastic book, a rare ultra 5 star. The second, Messiah, was just as good in its own way. It was a delightful coda to the original story. Since it was short it was an easy read. However, the Russians have a saying that a sequel is either tragedy or farce. "Children" was nearly as good as the original Dune. Everything is tied up nicely. So, Dune #2 and #3 are tragedy, Paul loses his wife; his son his humanity. That isn't bad from a sequel point of view.

"God" is not fun and it dances a little with farce. Leto embarks on putting people on a breeding program. Why isn't just plain old genetic engineering used? That's called a hole in the plot and Frank Herbert isn't known for doing many mistakes. However, this is a big one.

I'll be truthful. I didn't like Leto. I consider "God" the first of the series of post Dune books which are largely the same as all the others but with little twists. It is merely milking the original. Indeed, it continues until Dune is destroyed in a war that is beyond this scope of this book.

Duncan Idaho, or clone mark "X", makes his umteenth appearance in the series. At first this is a good concept and used to good effect in Messiah of Dune. However, in the 4th novel this is nothing new. You always get that internal dialog from Herberts characters. In Dune it was fun. By "God" it feels like it has been around. When ever a Duncan clone starts to figure out how screwed up Leto II is then the worm kills the clone off and asks the guys to give him another. No wonder they want monopolies in Herbert's universe. It's steady employment.

I dislike Leto II. Personally, I think he is just as controlling and bloodthirsty as anybody from the Harkonnen clan, he is only an eighth Harkonnen but has none of the flair of the old Baron. That leads to the other question. Would have Dune been better off in the long run if Paul and his family never come to the planet? The ultimate effect of Paul and Leto were the changing of Dune to Arrakis. Paul's Dune is a desert planet, sort of like Saudi Arabia run amok. Arrakis is semi-arid after the climate changes by both Paul and Leto II. I had thoughts that Arrakis was a planet wide Nevada on steroids. Baron Harkonnen would have just taken every bit of spice out of the planet possible. But he would not have destroyed the ecology nor have corrupted the Fremen.

Towards the end of "God" I was actively cheering on the people against Leto II. I will no give away the ending. I should just to spare you from reading this longwinded book.

Three stars (and that's only because Frank wrote this one)

I have read many novels in my life but none like Frank Herbert's God Emperor of Dune. This book is a complete gift to readers worldwide.

GEOD is no action novel but is so compelling and immersing that you'll find it impossible to put down.

The God emperor is a sort of man living inside a life extending alien body and carrying the memories of his ancestors. He tries to single-handedly subdue humanity and put her in a place of forced peace. This he succeeds in accomplishing making himself a tyrant in the process. He is hated for his galactic dominance by independent cults like the Bene Geseret and a few others.

Out of sheer Bordom of living for over three thousand years, the God emperor decides to just add a new twist to his long lived dominion.

The book is deeply philosophical and religious at the same time. Its amazing how the world of Dune is able to capture and hold your attention until you don't even realize you've just read the last line.

A must read, a master piece. I've read nothing less than ten Dune books and this is obviously the best to me.
Go grab a copy, now.

This is without a doubt the best book in the whole series, even better than the first. It is amazing to see the world that the God Emperor created and why he has created it in such a way. Its very hard to put down this book once you started reading it. This book could not have been better written.

I was (and still am) a big fan of the original Dune trilogy. It captured my imagination and I could not put the books down. I was looking forward to any new books in the series when God Emporer was published. My excitement turned to diappointment as I found it very hard to keep interested in the book. The reasons are that I found that there was far to much exposition in the book. The plot, for me, was covoluted and difficult to follow.
I did not finish the book, but bought the others that came later, only to find that they were worse than this. This was a great example of an author having a great idea for a first few books, but having no real idea what to do next. Dune will stand as a classic in Science Fiction - the same can't be said of the later novels.

A great book in its own right, God Emperor of Dune palls in comparison with the first book in the Chronicles. Like Children of Dune, it focuses more on religious and philisophical views. and although interesting, are a poor substitue for the action and suspsnse of the first novel.

The god emperor of dune is simply amazing. At first when I started reading this book I found it very boring. But later on the book becomes really great. Herbert is a very talented maker of personalities for the characters in his books. I loved Leto the second's personality. I started to REALLY like it when Hwi Noree came around. Simply an amazing book.

I am reading this book for the second time, and I hope that I can convince a few of you to read this book for the first time.

Other reviews summarize the plot, so I won't duplicate. In this book, Frank Herbert succeeds in creating a character--Leto the God Emperor--who will linger on in the reader's mind for years. In essence, Leto's plight suggests that knowledge may well bring power, but it might also bring an unimaginable melancholy (Leto's love for Hwi is so touching that it is difficult to read).

I should warn you that you should read the first three books in the series befor you read this one. Still, the first three books in the series are only slightly less brilliant than this one, so the task is not a painful one.

Most people read Dune then start on the series and end up disappointed. It happens. It happend to me also. But READ ON!!! Sadly, they miss the fact that this fourth book is the center of the Dune universe. <Previous books plot spoiler next> Leto II is the true Super Being and becomes what his "premature" father refused. He also displays the true meaning of leadership, self sacrifice, and love. It takes a couple readings to have it all sink in, especially if the reader bonded strongly with Paul, but there is a reason why the son must kill(replace) his father. Without a doubt, this book is the reason why the first 3 exist. The other two books after this talk about the effects. This is an absolute must read, or read again, if you just didn't "get it" the first time. Personally, its required reading for all my students.

Two words, just didn't like it. After reading the first three i noticed Herbert's quality stedilly declining. The first was just overwhelming. The second ok but shadowed by the first. Third like the second but the fourth, God Emperor of Dune. Just Horrible.

I may be Frank Herberts biggest fan (God rest his soul) but I found "God Emporer" a bit of a chore to get through. Alot has to do with the internal dialog of Leto II, and the changes in his personality that has undergone during his transformation from man into worm-god. This book is a 180 degree twist from it's 3 predecessors, due in part to the huge time span between Children of DUNE to this book and partly due to the pace in which the story unfolds. Not the most action packed story of the series, its pace is much slower than any of the other DUNE books.

The fourth enstallment of the Dune saga is a slow moving story with almost now rising action. However, in light of this fact there was some aspect of the story that kept me reading. For me personally I tend to attribute this to the philisophical nature of the novel. However, I would like to warn the none Dune fan, that you would probably not want put up with the some 400 pages of philisophical exposition and conversation.

This is quite possibly my favorite book of all time. I have never read a book with a larger scope. The series encompasses thousands of years and thousands of light years and this book makes up the largest part of the story. With such a grand scope it would be easy to become lax in detail, but that isn't the case at all. The only way this book could be better is if it were written to be a stand-alone novel, but that would cheapen the series.

The deepest, most complicated and developed science fiction book ever written. As simple as that.

Certainly not for the average sc-fi enthusiast, who seeks a light reading. Also make sure you have read the previous Dune books as well. You don't want to start with this one.

The fourth enstallment of the Dune saga is a slow moving story with almost now rising action. However, in light of this fact there was some aspect of the story that kept me reading. For me personally I tend to attribute this to the philisophical nature of the novel. However, I would like to warn the none Dune fan, that you would probably not want put up with the some 400 pages of philisophical exposition and conversation.

This is quite possibly my favorite book of all time. I have never read a book with a larger scope. The series encompasses thousands of years and thousands of light years and this book makes up the largest part of the story. With such a grand scope it would be easy to become lax in detail, but that isn't the case at all. The only way this book could be better is if it were written to be a stand-alone novel, but that would cheapen the series.

The deepest, most complicated and developed science fiction book ever written. As simple as that.

Certainly not for the average sc-fi enthusiast, who seeks a light reading. Also make sure you have read the previous Dune books as well. You don't want to start with this one.

After reading the fantastic original and seeing how much love the rest of the series gets,it seems almost like sacrilege to post a negative review of a Frank Herbert Dune book. However, I can't be anything but honest, I really hated this book. This book had so much potential, but it was completely and utterly wasted.

To put it simply, nothing happened in this novel. The entire book is just Leto II preaching his "profound" ideas onto stupid characters. Call me stupid if you want, but none of the "profound" philosophy that was taught was particularly deep or interesting. I've heard people say how thought provoking much of this book was, but all the ideas in this novel are quite simple. "Stagnation is negative", "limited amounts of innovation and chaos is good", "imprisonment breeds the desire for freedom", "the loss of humanity is a fate worse than death", "knowing the future traps you in that future", "women being a more protective military force", blah, blah, blah. All of these ideas, while potentially interesting, are quite simple. Problem is, Herbert decides to talk the reader to death with intentionally vague and obtuse dialog in order to make these simple ideas sound deep and profound. It became a chore to read the novel because every conversation would devolve into Leto going off on crazy tangents every time a character asked a simple question.

There are a few things that happen plot wise, but they are all either stupid or pointless. For example, the sub-plot involving Malky was completely and entirely pointless. He was mentioned a few times early in the novel, then is forgotten for about 200 pages. all of a sudden Leto says he is incredibly dangerous and Malky is captured and killed for no apparent reason and is never mentioned again. What was the point? By far the most ridiculous moment of the plot came at the ending. Leto's death was literally one of the most stupid pieces of writing I have ever seen. So, after Leto falls in love with some random girl after one conversation, he decides to stage his marriage in some back woods town where his two biggest threats (the rebel Sonia, and the infuriated Duncan) are currently stewing. Naturally he decides to travel on foot (or hover cart) all the way their, even though he could have flown. He then acts surprised when he gets dumped into a river and killed. Seriously? The all seeing and all knowing God Emperor couldn't see this coming? I have to assume that he wanted to die in that particular spot. However, it is beaten over our heads how Leto would not use his prescient abilities to see his own death. Furthermore, even if he knew he would die there, why did he bring his beloved wife with him and act genuinely upset when she died? This can only lead me to believe that Leto is an idiot.

One major knock I have against the novel are the characters. They are flat as can be. Every character seems only to exist for Leto to bounce his annoying philosophical ideas off of. Sonia started out interesting, but never did much of anything and became kind of a jerk. Duncan did nothing but yell at people. Hwi was disgustingly goody two shoes. Moneo seemed like the deepest of the human characters, but in the end never really did much of anything other than obey Leto. That only leaves Leto, who despite being and incredibly interesting character in premise, turns out to be a whiny, hypocritical, douche. Leto acts like a monster (constantly bringing back and killing Duncan, burning historians alive, opressing the galaxy) but justifies it with lame excuses (like in the case of the burned historians "they weren't conscious at the time"... That makes it okay I guess).

One of the main reasons I persisted with this novel was to discover what the "golden path" was that was so strongly foreshadowed in Children of Dune. It turned out to be not nearly as interesting as it sounded. Basically, the entire point of all this oppression and cruelty was to foster a sense of exploration among the people of the galaxy so they will spread out after words and prevent humanity from being wiped out. My question is, why did Leto need to become a worm or even oppress the galaxy in order to do this? Couldn't he have just used his immense wealth to fund colonization projects? It would have been much simpler, less time consuming and not required the death of billions. I realize that there were psychological implications to his plan, but I fail to see how humanity would be permanently changed by the God Emperors rule. Also, we are never once told what the "terrible" fate Leto was saving us from. Leto mentions that humanity would have been wiped out if not for him, yet never explains how or why. That kind of takes the potency out of his warning and basically relegates his justification for his acts to "because I said so".

I will give the book credit though, it did hold my interest all the way through to the end. Unfortunately, I was hugely disappointing after I finished.

As I read some of the other reviews, I was forced to agree that at times the book was difficult and even pedantic, but this book is more than the forth in a series. It binds the transformation of Leto's family to the survival of the race. The following books are daunting to many, but well worth the effort. The entire series is a spectacular journey into a possible future of mankind.

After the incredibly entertaining and thought-provoking first three novels, Herbert put together this philosophical treatise (Yeah, we get it. We got it after Dune.) and draped a lot of dialogue around it. The problem with the novel is that nothing particularly interesting happens. If you really liked the three Dune novels, you probably need to read this to see what happens to Leto, but skim it quickly. The ending is significant to the trilogy, but little else before that.

If you've seen the "Matrix: Revolutions" you know about Neo's origin, and how the Machines created him to get rid of troublesome humans who wouldn't accept the Matrix, and the architect looked on Neo as being unfortunate, but neccessary.
That's how I feel about this book. It tells of an important period in the Duniverse, but it rather tedious. It's a good book, but not up to Frank Herbert's par by any means.

Definitely not for the easily bored but packs lots of philosophical punch to it.A book that shows that with every coming generation, the bloodline of the Atreides gets stronger yet. A must for hardcore Dune fans looking into issues which will never interest people seeking fast action and adrenalin in a novel.

3000 years after Children of Dune, Letto Atreides II is the emperor after his fater Paul Mua' dib Atreides and he has made the ultimate sacrefice to ensure the future of human kind, even though Leto is not quit human anymore, will he succeed in the Golden Path and ensuring us a future, it all will rest with Siona, better keep going to see how Dune will go forward.

This work tries to pass off muddle for sophistication. Like the academic who uses big words to intimidate the unwashed masses, Herbert cannot resist indulging in obscurity, in the hope that deficient thought and calculated confusion will be taken for deep philosophizing. This is dishonest and insulting to our intelligence. Worse, it makes for a lousy read.
This is not to say that one shouldn't have to sweat to grasp difficult or elusive concepts. Philosophers through the ages have expanded our minds by requiring us to think hard to understand complexity. But complexity is not obscurity. Mental effort should be called upon to reach a higher understanding, not to penetrate opaque muck that a writer exploits simply to appear clever.
The main theme that Herbert tries to explore is actually relatively simple: Life can only have meaning if contrasted with death and can only have value if we fear its loss. Therefore, to live fully, we cannot live securely. This is life's big and seeming contradiction; that although we hanker for the comfort of safety and order, such things lead not to vitality, but to stagnation and extinction.
The rest of the book is about a benevolent dictator's attempt to revitalize humanity by introducing a measured dose of disorder into the universe. Various interests oppose him because they believe that he is either evil or wrong.
Stated this plainly, we have the germ of an interesting and successful story. But Herbert lades this theme with so much convoluted symbolism and metaphorical baggage that it suffocates under the weight of its own pretension. As readers, we must wade through a swamp of contrived bombast and Zen-like gobbledegook to arrive at an understanding that could have been better conveyed if the writer had simply phrased it cleanly.
Other writers also obscure their themes for ulterior purposes. They may wish to create dramatic tension, or to pique our curiosity. Some few do so because they genuinely believe that such an exercise brings out hidden textures within their themes that a straightforward exposition will not uncover. But such artifice must never be overused or the reader will feel manipulated. In this sequel, we feel not only manipulated, but positively browbeaten.
Herbert's theme has been done before and done better by others. For an exquisite example of how such a theme can be explored both honestly and gracefully, try Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea Trilogy. Here, Herbert tries to be so tangential, so mystical and so clever, that he misses the target entirely.
No sequel of Herbert's ever came close to the brilliance of Dune. Readers should bypass all of them and stick to the original. Allow the unanswered questions of that masterpiece to stand on their own and the quality of your own imaginations to supply the answers. The result will be far superior to the contrived, pretentious and meandering bombast contained in the sequels.

As with the rest of the Herbert's Dune work's, a compilation of history, ecology, religion, furturism, and anthropology that excedes any of the "Fantasy" genre as of Tolkien. Based in true Science Fiction, but with a stretch of time exceded only buy such authors such as Asimov.Imagination plus+...David Williams

I liked it a lot. No book was ever as good as the first Dune, but this one recaptures the beauty to a large extent, a beauty that was lost in Dune Messiah and Children of Dune It is well worth the reading. It fact, I would have to say it was a mandtory assignment!

This has to be the most tedious book I have ever attempted to read. Even by the new standards in glacial storytelling set by its predecessors, this stands out as a stupefyingly dull read. After a couple of hundred pages I was forced to start skimming, hoping against hope that something even remotely interesting was about to happen later on: it didn't. You'd have to have the boredom threshold of a slug on valium to make it all the way through this pretentious, verbose bit of authorial self indulgence.

I read God Emperor of Dune for a second time after a very long period of time and I was very disappointed. As others have painted out, the story line is all about Leto's vain, self-centered life and journal. The other point I wish to make is that I think God Emperor of Dune is outdated. The story line was clearly intended to reflect the times it was written which was the Nixon Administration, and the big religion ethos which was the Catholic Church in the 1960's and 1970's. President Nixon was an emperor in the White House and that was the achilles heel which pulled him down.

Metaphorically, America has moved on from the melting pot to the more ecletic salad bowl culturally and with a black man in the White House, God Emperor of Dune is archaicaly out-of-date. The recent updates to the Dune series by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson are far better than the originals, with the exception of Dune, because they are up-to-date and resonate with the current times and states of affairs in the US and the world today.

I really didn't like this book. Not much happened and it just consisted of Leto II preaching to EVERYONE. The 3 books before this one were MUCH better and I've mostly through the 5th and it is also better. Basically, read this one just so you can move on in the series. Be prepared for lots and lots of empty dialogue.

Having loved "Dune," having enjoyed "Dune Messiah," and having found "Children of Dune" interesting, I could barely finish this installment of the saga. Boredom permeates the book, covering the plot (and reader) with a patina of pointlessness.

I have read Dune, Dune Messiah, and Children of Dune. God Emperor of Dune was a big disappointment. The whole story centers around this half man/half worm Leto II, and frankly it was just plain ridiculas. I don't recommend reading GEoD if you want to keep a good thought about the chronicles in general.

The worm's-eye view of the DUNE universe. Herbert generates a little emotion at the end of this 1, when Leto the worm-emperor & His Only Love plunge from Leto's royal cart hundreds of feet down into a rapid lying underneath a high bridge -- a death Leto has seen coming 4 years & which he in part helped bring about (4 the betterment of humanity).
The rest is just DULL, all talk, 400 pages worth. DUNE is 1 of the best science-fiction novels ever; THIS is 1 of the worst SF novels by NE major SF author. This series should've ended after CHILDREN OF DUNE (4 stars) -- if U read this book, U'll wish it HAD....

After reading the first three books of dune,i ve understand that there is no chance to get the magic of first 2 books.franr herbert killed muad dib too early i guess and change the racial features of house atreides.this book is all about philosophy and action is out.

I'm no stranger to long and difficult novels (war and peace, gulag archipeligo) but GEOD is a very dull book.

I've made it 55% through on my kindle and can go no further. In fact i downgraded my earlier review now to 1 star. Terrible book.

It's very philosophical and well thought out as a concept, but at the same time as others have indicated here, pretty much nothing happens. Epic Dull. I'm sorry to have wasted any time now on this stinker

I really wanted to like it. Loved the predecessors and the House books by Brian, but this one pretty much helped solve my insomnia!!

Let me begin first by saying I believe that with the Dune universe, Frank Herbert created the most remarkable and imaginative sci-fi/fantasy universe yet conceived. His imaginative gifts cannot be doubted. Secondly, I want to add that I have a Bachelor's in English literature and a Master's in philosophy, so I have plenty of experience reading novels and difficult philosophical works. I say this in anticipation of the rebuttal that those who don't like GEOD simply aren't smart enough to get it.

I wanted this book to be monumental. It begins so intriguingly. Its set up seems so perfect. You have a 3,500 year-old reclusive demigod Leto II, who is mostly a sandworm by now, who lives in a gigantic citadel surrounded by hundreds of kilometers of desert, forest, deadly predators, and impossibly high walls. He is the sole ruler of the universe and is determined to halt the bloodletting of history no matter how stagnant and tyrannical his rule becomes. The book begins with a group of rebels managing to penetrate his citadel and make off with secret journals and plans.

What a fascinating beginning to a book. I thought I was in store for the best Dune novel yet. While one could look at the first three novels as allegories on the nature of corruption in governmental, religious, and economic institutions, I was excited to see Herbert truly speculate on an alternative future for humanity in Leto's "Golden Path," a prohibitive empire ruled by a benevolent dictator intent on stepping out of humanity's endless cycle of revolution, corruption, and oppression. I was very prepared for a cerebral book light on plot and heavy on philosophy. I wanted to be there with Leto perched on the balcony of his enormous tower and hear about his Golden Path, where it has lead, and where its discontents lie.

Though the set up is perfect, Herbert fails to bring the book off. His breathtaking imagination being far ahead of his ability as a writer and communicator is no more apparent than in GEOD. What the reader gets is 400 pages of pedantry, obfuscation, dilletantism, and bad dialogue. Most of Herbert's "insights" are really just platitudes presented as godly wisdom. Basic ideas are heard hundreds of times over and over: religions and governments are corrupt, stagnation is bad, chaos and novelty are good in small doses, prescience is limited, history repeats itself but isn't ordained, hardship makes individuals stronger, doctrines become corrupted, words are ambiguous, ruling makes one lonely, etc. As something of a philosophical dabbler, Herbert seems to have felt compelled to dress up these basic ideas -- most of which are born out of classic sociology -- in tangles of bad prose. Although I don't want to get into ad hominems here, it is hard to believe intellectual insecurity didn't have a part to play here.

If the narrative isn't dwelling on some platitude, it will be dwelling on one of Leto's many riddles, which also fall into familiar patterns. The reader is treated to hundreds of little paradoxes and quips and metaphors and aphorisms and poetical riffs that always seem awkwardly out of place and disconnected, not to mention extremely pretentious. Which leads me to the dialogue, which is very non sequitur -- on purpose. The reader never gets a straight discussion between two characters, but only contrived verbal jousting in which the participants seemingly follow an unspoken rule that one always responds to a question with another question, or drops a "clever" tangent that is so elliptical that it always comes across as awkwardly non sequitur. In a few cases Herbert tries to get a Shakespearean kind of rhythmic repartee going with lots of verbal jousting and word play, but it fails. In fact, I can't think of a single chapter where two characters agree on anything. Every dialogue follows the format of a debate or lecture, and, though Herbert sets up his characters as paragons of self-discipline and emotional control, his characters are actually quite snappy, histrionic, easily offended, flamboyant, fractious, contrarian, and rude. Not only does this attempt at Platonic dialogue format come across as intellectually ostentatious, it makes the characters seem immature and very hard to like -- a far cry from the elite superhumans they are advertised as.

Additionally, some of the plot elements are weak, in my opinion. In brief, I found it lame that a 3,500 year old God Emperor with clairvoyance and the memories of billions of lives would degenerate into little more than an angsty and horny teenager with a crush on a young woman who is described as "very" sweet. Is this all Herbert could come up with? Beneath all the pseudo-philosophy and riddling, Leto turns out to be concerned with one thing: getting married to a pretty girl. Is this really what 3,500 years of wisdom leads one to? Infatuation of the most adolescent kind? My apologies for the ad hominem again, but I believe this angsty and lusty emperor says more about Herbert's own foibles than anything else. He wanted us to believe that the Emperor, perched in his tower, had some new and profound experience to share, and he gave us a banal and prurient little story about desire.

I'll cut it off there. I hope my review has been helpful. I have higher expectations for Heretics of Dune!

Set about 4,000 years after Children of Dune, Leto II has been transformed into a giant sandworm. All the other characters from previous three books are long since gone. In fact, this book is not even connected to either any prior books or any sequals in the series.

The idea of turning Leto into a sandworm is one of the dumbest ideas in fiction. It's amazing that a man of such genius would write about such a stupid idea. Back also are Herbert's other dumb inventions, gholas and the hideous face dancers.

The plot is centered around Leto II the tyrant, Duncan Idaho ghola number ???, and a young woman named Siona.

The book is filled mainly pointless dialogue (Herbert's endless diatribes take on a whole new level in this book). It's obvious Herbert didn't want to write this book. He only wrote it in response to pressure from publishers. So Herbert rebelled and said 'fine if they want another Dune book, they'll get one, but I'll just rant, rant, rant').

The good news is that the book does mercifully come to an end. As bad as the book is, it's still far superior to anything written by the hideous KJA-BH duo.