Alex James's Blog: AlexJamesNovels Blog - Posts Tagged "dune"

Paul decided to disappear into the desert with his visions of past, present, and future. His empire disappears with him, leaving corruption, vice, and greed in his wake. The ecology of Dune is adapting, and water is plentiful. The old Fremen ways are dying out, and moisture-fat Fremen live in the towns, grown soft with privilege, and fearful of their incompetence to the tyranny.

The third Dune novel focuses on the abnormal children of Paul Muad’ Dib and Chani, who the Bene Gesserit faction fear are both at risk of becoming abominations. As if to give truth to the theory, Paul’s sister Alia is overwhelmed by the tumult of voices from the living consciousness of memory that exists inside her and she becomes tyrant, in thrall to a familiar evil voice from the first Dune book.

There were many scenes and parts I enjoyed in Children of Dune: the children attempting to escape death from the beasts of assassination, the Lady Jessica’s attempted escape from her mad daughter Alia, and Leto II’s rise to prominence.

However, more than half of the story was mired in irrelevant conspiracy, corruption, nostalgia, and uninteresting characters. Children of Dune was a disappointment, for three main reasons:

Firstly, the character focus is off, and what binds the subplots together is the planned assassination of the children of Paul Muad’Dib and Chani. Both of the parents are now dead as characters, and there wasn’t much about either boy Leto or girl Ghanima that made them unique characters. They were lenses into the past characters and events in Dune, the first story. Through the story I had my fill of all-knowing children with many memories of lives stretching back to ancient times. Though the contrast between abomination Alia and the children was meant to be illustrative, the delivery of differences was tiresome, complex, and littered through the text.

Secondly, the book was all about nostalgia: what Paul had said to Chani or his mother Lady Jessica; dead characters returning in new forms; or inflexible Stilgar being Stilgar. It was okay with Duncan Idaho in the second book Dune Messiah because the author added a more developed, if not entirely plausible, idea about his flesh being resurrected and him being given new abilities. As a character Duncan Idaho had changed. There is change in Children of Dune but the emphasis of that change wasn’t interesting enough: about a bureaucracy having grown large and corrupt, no longer recognising the days of die-hard Fremen. I thought we had covered this in Dune Messiah so returning to it and exploring it further made it read like a history of Dune than a great science fiction novel.

Third, these visions have gone too far! As with the many-lives of the children, the intricacies of how the omnipresent visions work go beyond comprehension and into a realm of justified contradiction, and of the nonsensical.

I actually really enjoyed the last third of the book, which did tie some loose ends together and it moved the story forward through immediate action – Leto II’s struggle to escape captors and learn the truth of his purpose on Dune. Nevertheless, I don’t think I’ll read this book a third time.

The Worm tyrant
The son of Paul Atreides, Leto, had a legacy but little did we know after Children of Dune that Leto would embody a gigantic worm as part of the Golden Path for humanity. It’s a visage that alienates everyone he comes into contact with. He can’t love properly and even the beloved, loyal Duncan Idaho reviles him for being a monster.

‘Sand crunched beneath him as he rolled, flexing his body in pure animal enjoyment. He could feel his worm-self being restored, an electric sensation which sent messages of health all through him.’

The fourth Dune book is a funny one, standing out as it does in memory as being a book about the tyrant God Emperor Leto Atreides who claims to have godly powers and yet refutes them at the same time with proclamations about the miracle of the individual. In fact much of what Leto says doesn’t make sense, and he says a lot during the book. Leto meets with his dull advisor Moneo, who is Atreides with subservience that doesn’t resemble it one iota. Leto and Moneo talk about the meaning of prophecy, conspiracy, and some of the main characters, for example, this Reverend Mother Anteac and this ‘rebel’ Siona whose plans are housed within the greater machinations of Leto’s – Siona’s own father is the ever loyal Moneo.

Leto will then meet with Reverend Mother Anteac, for almost no reason at all. Or he’ll summon Duncan Idaho, his newly resurrected ghola, to his chamber. Perhaps he’ll have a few words with one or more of his conspirators about tricking Siona ... The point is, when does it end? When will something happen? Well, three things happen in the whole book: three points where there is action, and all are short lived. This includes the prelude, which I felt didn’t have much significance to the emotions of the characters. The story of a legacy only took this story so far.

The Duncan Idaho gholas
The only character that brings any real interest to the table is Duncan Idaho as he’s in similar, though slightly different, circumstances to previous books. Yes, he’s been resurrected as a ghola again but the problem is the last dozen Duncans have been killed and he learns he’s only really the replacement to serve as another loyal subject of Leto. It’s this Duncan brain of the past with an idealized view of male soldiery and Atreides loyalty that is now face to face with an empire defended by the female soldier Fish Speakers.

‘You choose male companions for their ability to fight and die on the side of right as you see it. You choose females who can complement this masculine view of yourself. You allow for no differences which can come from good will.’

And the Fish Speakers pose problems for Duncan. They want to mate with him in a carefree way – they even mate with themselves in a way he finds objectionable, highlighting a change towards homosexual acceptance in Leto’s new Dune (Dune or is it Arrakis or Rakis now?). You can’t blame the Fish Speakers as Leto has propounded the myth that Duncan is holy, and he’s the only man other than Leto who has this status (well, remember, Leto’s a worm now.) Leto wants Duncan to mate with Siona. Whereas Duncan appears to be a one-woman man, and to make things complicated the one he’s taken a fancy to is Leto’s bride to be, Hwi Noree.

“‘My Uncle Malky used to say that love was a bad bargain because you get no guarantees.’
‘Your Uncle Malky was a wise man.’
‘He was stupid! Love needs no guarantees.’
A smile twitched at the corners of Idaho’s mouth.
She grinned up at him. ‘You know it’s love when you want to give joy and damn the consequences.’”

Praise and criticism
I remember the story being difficult to understand with nonsensical monologues, and there were more than a few on this read. That being said, there is a richness to the description and awareness of the Dune universe that makes even this book irresistible, a bit like the melange sand.

Not much exciting happened. By this stage the reader must be wondering, are the real events of Dune over and are we to make do with nostalgia?

Conclusion
I suppose it can’t be helped. If you make your main character a gigantic worm that can’t move around much, maybe the story is going to do the same. I enjoyed reading nonetheless, being a Dune universe addict, but I can’t help but think that the first three books were a lot better.