God Emperor of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 4) | Frank Herbert

God Emperor of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 4) | Frank Herbert | Must read for Sci Fi Geeks

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God Emperor of Dun...

	God Emperor of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 4) Frank Herbert Ace Books, 1987 - 423 pages average customer review:based on 157 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The fourth book about the planet Dune.

I AM THE WORM

In my opinion, the best of Frank Herbert's Dune series. Here we see Leto 3500 years later, and the consequences of Paul and Leto's actions on the Universe, and why Leto did what he did. I especially liked Siona, and I loved this book.

Must read for Sci Fi Geeks

You have got to get this book- if you love Sci fi. You will not regret it.

Dune 4 ... 3000 years in the making

I remember the first time I read through this story. It was 1982, and my daughter had just been born, and I could only get in a few pages per night. The book seemed to drag on, and on, and on. It was as though it took me 3,000 years to read it. Oh wait, that's part of the plot. The tedium of knowing the future, and living out the rote script. The ultimate boredom of an unbending future written in stone.

My original thought was that this book should have been titled "God Awfully Long Emperor of Dune". Subsequent readings have dispelled my initial impression. Like all the Frank Herbert Dune series books - an excellent read.

As I tend to re-read the Dune series every few years, my recent Dune book purchases have been in hardback. Several of my old paperbacks were literally falling apart. I'm glad that Amazon now carries links to sellers who have them in hardback. That "all grown up" daughter is now a fan of the series as well. Some day, she will inherit all of these well written books - in hardback.

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A chance to see for yourself!

The masters of myth-making are those who are not only removed in time and place from their respective subjects but who are also removed in spirit. In the Dune series, this book gets straight to the heart of the matter and bypasses the myths and allows you to grasp the spirit of what Frank Herbert discovered in his own life.

I think that most people can accept that the great novels are reflections of their authors and of the realisations attained in their lives. The truly great novels are replete with insights into life, death and all of the rest, but what happens when such insights are coated in the guise of science-fiction? I think then, that with this in mind, there needs to be an element of trust in the author and there also needs to be some kind of capacity on behalf of the reader to be able to recognise the value of what the author has discovered.

When compared to the other novels in the Dune series, God Emperor comes across as very different. There is little action to speak of and the plot (such that it is) is held together purely by the strength of insights provided by the novel's main character Leto II. To my eyes, this speaks volumes on the nature of storytelling and on the nature of direct experience.

The truth of this can not only be seen in the following two novels in the series where for many in the Dune universe, the cult of myth worship has taken precedence over the 'facts' behind the myth, but also in the fact that many characters in this novel - even in the presence of the fact - remain blind to the value of direct experience. In this case, God Emperor is the record that the character Leto II is that fact and that, more importantly, his insights and discoveries are the insights and discoveries of Frank Herbert.

This 'fact' is what ties this book so elegantly with all of the other Frank Herbert Dune novels.

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Listen rather than read

This is a review of the unabridged CD audio version.

I enjoyed Book I of the series the best, and in my opinion each successive one has not quite lived up to the first. That's true of this one as well. I agree that there are too many philosophical discussions, which are interesting, but drag the action down significantly. I could not finish the print version, and when the CD version came out, I began again. I enjoyed Simon Vance's reading of Children of Dune, and he does not disappoint in reading God Emperor of Dune. Kate Fleming, an American award wining audio book narrator, said of Vance: "Without resorting to vocal gymnastics, Simon is one of those narrators who can tap into a vast reserve of imagination to find the right feel for his characters." I agree. There are two other readers as well, and they help to break up potential monotony, which was my primary criticism of the text version.

If you are having difficulty getting through the print version of this book, give the audiobook a try. Yes, you could probably drive to Iowa from the East Coast and not quite finish listening, but if you are a fan of the Dune series, you won't mind that this long reading will help wile away travel tedium.

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