Nate Russo > Recent Status Updates

Paul's transition from the son of a Duke to the Duke himself is done with such tact. He's purposeful in pursuing the same leadership style as his tradition has encourged him to do so.

It's interesting to read the Lady Jessica's introspection on how she is perceiving her son's transition into authority.

Woah. The description of the sudden assault on Paul by his nascent Kwisatz Haderach abilities, and how that is holding back his grief, is brilliant. Herbert's prose is still odd to me—odd although not in a negative sense—but I think his pacing makes up for it completely. His characters feel natural and believable. A reminder of what good fiction should be.

Lady Jessica is interesting. She has such agency over her own body and harnesses such power that even her enemies recognise could bring their downfall.

But at the same time, Bene Gesserit—while holding such a potent ability to seemingly guide the progression of history, from what I can gather—take on roles of domesticity and service in men. They appear to have this very indirect power and its fascinating.

Duke Leto is an amazing character so far. Herbert builds him, and others, slowly but so well. Like great fantasy should do. R. F. Kuang could do with reading some of these to get an idea on how to do it.

Brilliantly paced so far. I love the Islamic/Arabic influences in Herbert's world building. His prose is slightly odd at times; I can see why Tolkien perhaps didn't rate it, but I am enjoying it.

This has bursts of moments when it gets intense and interesting, while other moments feel so dragged out. It took until p.400 for me to finally feel like something interesting is happening.

The plot is a trauma-fest. And so is reading it.