Book Four in the Magnificent Dune Chronicles—the Bestselling Science Fiction Adventure of All TimeMillennia have passed on Arrakis, and the once-desert planet is green with life. Leto Atreides, the son of the world’s savior, the Emperor Paul Muad’Dib, is still alive but far from human. To preserve humanity’s future, he sacrificed his own by merging with a sandworm, granting him near immortality … near immortality as God Emperor of Dune for the past thirty-five hundred years.
Leto’s rule is not a benevolent one. His transformation has made not only his appearance but his morality inhuman. A rebellion, led by Siona, a member of the Atreides family, has risen to oppose the despot’s rule. But Siona is unaware that Leto’s vision of a Golden Path for humanity requires her to fulfill a destiny she never wanted—or could possibly conceive….
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This book has a lot of interesting ideas going for it, mainly in regards to the character of Leto.
A book that details what it’s like from the point of view of a godly character, what their choices must be like, what other people are like around them, etc, is a great approach, especially within this particular universe.
There is a lot of subtle buildup through the story toward a particular event. As a reader, you are aware of how important this event is to Leto, but the consequences aren’t clear right up until the end, which was done well.
But the ending itself is where this story falls. It’s abrupt. VERY abrupt. Almost to a point where you’re left feeling like a lot of it was pointless. There is some promise of things to come, but as a reader all you can do is hope some of that stuff comes to pass. Otherwise, so much of what was promised through all the previous books becomes kind of moot. the importance of events and characters such as Leto or Paul become pointless as well.
Fingers crossed those promises take fruit in the next book.
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I didn’t love this as much as the first Dune. I didn’t love the second or third as much either, but this one was a little more boring than those. The majority of the book is talking, three quarters of the way some action starts. That being said, I’m still happy I read it and I’m still excited to read the next Dune: Heretics of Dune.
Best sci-fi novel.
Possibly my favorite book.
Dune was Herbert’s masterpiece. Nothing he wrote before or afterward could come close it.
I read this book and others based in this universe. Some of the characters are often bizarre and uncomfortable to think about. But there are heroic figures to bring the reader back from the edge of fear. It has been many years since I explored the characters and their lives in Dune so much is forgotten but I remember the Dune series as being very gripping.
The true end of the Dune saga. All the other stuff is either filler or nonsense.
The Dune Series is a Sci-Fi classic that I started reading in 1972 and continued reading beyond Frank Herbert’s books through the prequels and sequels written jointly by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. They are one of the few hardbound books that I own as Sci-Fi books only because I enjoy the books so much. You aren’t a hardcore sci-fi fanatic if you do not own the hardcopies or e-copies 9f these.
Great book. First read it in Analog and several times since.
A classic book that everyone should read.
A very involved plot, but an interesting story none the less One of the best science fiction novel series ever, A classic.
I read this series years ago and want to reread all of them again. I just loved them then and still do.
I love the entire Dune series. Read them in order and travel to another world.
The six Frank Herbert Dune series (not to include the posthumous pulp travesties of his son) is a classic and IMHO a must to have read in order to have as fully a human life as possible.
The book was boring. It moved so slowly, I just could not get into it.
Sometimes referred to as “heady,” this novel is essential reading for those pursuing the Dune series, but it can be tough going a times, since it covers a vast span of time in the Dune universe, and we spend a lot of time inside Leto’s thought processes. Worth the time spent, though, and required reading for subsequent novels in the series to make full sense.
While this book does not contain as much action as the first books, it has many deep philosophical and political threads that can easily be applied to our current reality and world view. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it as a stand alone book as without some basis of understanding the story and characters it might not make as much sense. Herbert was an amazing intellectual that intertwines many different fields of study into his books.
Being a Dune fan from many years ago, I must let the reader know that God Emperor of Dune needs to be read after having read the first Dune books (Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune). The story is harder to follow if the previous books are not read in order. That said, I do love the continuation of the Atreides line and how the lives have played out.
Incredible continuation of the series. Can’t miss book if your read the previous Dune books.
Here is Leto II’s tyrannical enforced peace across the universe, 3,500 years after Children of Dune. The God Emperor’s (Leto II, the “pre-worm”) boredom is a side effect of his peace. It’s his plan for humanity to become stagnate for all of this time in the universe. This is his Golden Path, and it’ll ensure the continuing of the human race.
Another price of his peace is the only ones with any sort of power remaining are the Bene Gesserit, the Spacing Guild, and the Ixians.
The great worms of Rakis, (once known as Arrakis and commonly called Dune), are no more. In addition to the rumored secret of Leto’s massive hidden stockpile of spice, the God Emperor distributes each and every particle of spice to these three according to his discretion, mostly as a reward or as a punishment.
(view spoiler)
Leto is the entirety of the Atreides. (view spoiler)There have been so many throughout the millennia that he sees them as a thing more than a person. The pre-worm Leto calls them “the Duncan” or “my Duncan”. (view spoiler)
As a “pre-worm” Leto is vulnerable to water, and his death will bring the great worms back to Dune, but with a pearl of himself in each one. It’ll take the combined skills, talent, planning, and timing, along with the too perfect Hwi, the Ixian ambassador, Leto’s human emotions, and the Duncan’s loyalty to old Atreides honor and his own moral code, to bring the God Emperor pre-worm Leto II’s death, which even he hides from his own prescience.