Heretics of Dune

Heretics of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 5) Frank Herbert Date: 01 April, 1984   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

It's thousands of years after the Tyrant, God-Emperor Leto II, and humanity is still reeling from the effects. The Bene Gesserit are fiercely trying to keep from creating another prescient, the Tleilax are deep in the worship of their God, and members of the Scattering— the huge dispersal to different universes that followed Leto's death— are returning, bringing strange technologies, decadent Honored Matres, and the question of why they came...

I find this is where the story really starts to heat up. The previous volumes were deeply philosophical, about the nature of humanity, but starting with this volume, Herbert's thesis is that mankind has been remade for new destinies. It frees him, to a certain degree, and this feels more imaginitive and hopeful than some of the earlier volumes. One gets the sense that perhaps jihad is not inevitable, and that Herbert has an idea of humanity reborn as something greater than before.

Of course, some people find the story starting to become incomprehensible at this point. It requires close reading, and perhaps a re-read, to understand the chain of events.