Online-Bibliothek

Children of Dune, the third book of Frank Herbert's series, while not one of the best of the series is certainly an interesting continuation of the Dune chronicle. In this book, the twin children of Paul Maud'Dib Atreides, hero of the first two books of the series must contend with the continued upheaval in the galaxy caused by their father's violent ascent to the imperial throne. The background for this book is complex: The fallout from Paul's takeover is massive. Paul's ascent to the throne, while possibly the least evil course for humanity given the corruption and stagnation in the human race until his takeover, unleashed a bloody jihad on the galaxy. Paul's original followers, the desert-bred and half wild Fremen have become the leaders of the jihad. As army officers, they are still great warriors; however, they have lost much of their mysticism and their wildness. As a result, some of the Fremen have turned against Paul, as originally explored in the previous book, Dune Messiah. On top of this, Paul's death in the previous book has left only his two young children to rule. Given their youth, the galaxy is being run in their name by their increasingly corrupt and insane aunt, the Abomination Alia, possibly in league with their grandmother who may also be a traitor to them and their step-mother Irulan.As a result of all this, the book focuses on the children's attempts to take control of the empire and save it from those who will destroy the entire galaxy. Furthermore, they must find a way to take control of the empire while avoiding the mistakes of their father, Paul, who unleashed the violent jihad on the galaxy, allowed himself to be set up as a Messiah and became so addicted to the Spice melange which allowed him to see the future that he became unable to act except as dictated by his visions.The children strike on a horrifying method to take over the galaxy but avoid the temptation of doing so by foreseeing the future exactly. I will not reveal their method because one of the best parts of the book is the way their method unfolds, twisting and turning until the final horror is revealed. The book is worth reading just to have that revelation.Another interesting aspect of this book is the fact that for the only time in the Dune series, Herbert's main characters are young children. Although they have collected wisdom greater than anyone else in the galaxy, except possibly their aunt Alia due to their parentage, Herbert is still able to deal with them as children. Herbert shows his deftness as an author, not simply as a sci-fi writer.The only flaw with this book is that it is significantly less mystical than the prior books. Although the result of the path chosen by the children is very mystical, as revealed in the next book, this book primarily deals with plot rather than Herbert's amazing insights into humanity and religion.

After reading God Emperor of Dune, I am quite glad to readandlearn more about the Dune universe created by Frank Herberthimself. One of the most recent Dune novel I've read is Children of Dune which tells the story of Paul's royal twins, Leto and Ghanima. Both of them have supernatural powers like their father's but one of them is destined to change the history of the universe forever, attempting to save the sandworms from extinction as well as the lost of his humanity. Like other Dune novels, Children of Dune is simply brilliant, packed with politics, religions and a few action sequences. Some of the memorable characters make their appearance as well like Duncan Idaho and Lady Jessica. However, the only catch is that it's too wordy at times. Some people think that it's also too prophetic due to its complexity but readers will later learn that Children of Dune is remarkably beautiful and enchanting. As a conclusion, Children of Dune is one of the greatest achievements ever made by Frank Herbert.

I find this book like a kind of effort to move over with a new plot. I mean this by the following. In the original book, we are told the story of Muad'dib, a man destined to be a king, a messiah. This is more than enough plot to write a series of books (Just what Herbert did) but in this book we're introduced to the son of Muad'dib, a child with tremendous powers and thus, more powerful that his own father. This, at least according to my point of view, contradicts the original plot of a man destined to be Emperor. Personally, I would have prefered Herbert to keep the original storyline and let Paul, and not Leto, the one who overtook the transformation. Still, this is no boring book, it is quite interesting, and the last pages are worth the book's price. Even if Leto had been just a bit more mature, I would have given this book the full five stars. Sorry, it could not be this time.

Muad'dib has sacrificed himself to the desert, Alia is descending into abomination, and the twin heirs to the Atreides legacies are targets is constant peril, yet the true thrust of this book concerns Leto II's (did Herbert forget there was already a Leto II? shouldn't this one be Leto III?) assuming the role his father was unable to truly fill: that of Kwisatz Haderach.the fastest paced book in the series, Children of Dune almost makes up for Dune Messiah's shortcomings. yet while i was swept along to the conclusion, the air smelled of deus ex machina. it would have been simple for Herbert to include a short passage near the beginning of the novel about Fremen children playing with sandtrout. instead, we are surprised with attributes never before even hinted at.yet this is still an excellent novel, far better than its predecessor. while it would be nearly impossible to duplicate the original's complexity and subtleties, this and Chapterhouse come closest.

In the wake of Muad'Dib's disappearance the Atreides are in as much peril as when "the house generators" were down and they were left wide open to Harkonnen attack. This time, however, the threat, though similar in source, is horribly different in nature. The Atreides' children must look to their elders for aid...or it may be forced upon them! A truly great ending to the first trilogy of the chronicles