Adina's Reviews > Children of Dune

“Too much knowledge never makes for simple decisions.”
This review is another proof that things should be done at their proper time. Like writing a review for this book right after I finished it not 2 months later. I could have expressed more the reasons I decided to give it 5* more eloquently, although the novel is deeply flawed and many times nonsensical. Alas, it’s too late now but I will do my best.

Let’s start with the plot. The twins are now 9 and way too developed for their years. To be expected since they both have all the memories of their ancestors. They live on Arakis with their aunt, Alia. She finally turns bat shit crazy and becomes possessed. Lady Jessica is back to the Bene Gesserit ways an returns to Arakis with plans for her grandchildren. The remaining relatives of the Emperor plan their revenge and return to power. A blind Prophet appears and speaks against Muad’Dib religion. He might be or might not be Paul Atreides.

As in the previous volume, there are schemes over conspiracies, each character has their own agenda, which usually clashed with the other goals. There isn’t a lot of action in this novel but there is an abundance of philosophic talk. It will be a treat for the readers who read Herbert for the quotable ideas. Not much for those who want so see many battles in their Sci Fi.
I had a few problems with the novel. Firstly, it only took 20% for the 1st talk of incest to appear. Oh, and Alia married Duncan right away at 15 going on 16. I thought we were going to continue with the cringyness but it was at manageable levels from then on. Secondly, many parts of the plot made no sense. I could not understand why some characters chose one path instead of the other. I could have explained exactly what those problems were but I cannot remember now. Thirdly, the problem of women in classic SF . Lady Jessica was probably the only exception in this book. The other women were either cardboard characters or they were cut throat bitches/crazy.

Some quotes:

Despite the lack of a coherent plot and other issues, I could not stop reading. I was constantly thinking about the novel even when I was doing something else. I cannot give less than 5* to a novel that absorbed me so completely.

“A large populace held in check by a small but powerful force is quite a common situation in our universe. And we know the major conditions wherein this large populace may turn upon its keepers— “One: When they find a leader. This is the most volatile threat to the powerful; they must retain control of leaders.
“Two: When the populace recognizes its chains. Keep the populace blind and unquestioning. “Three: When the populace perceives a hope of escape from bondage. They must never even believe that escape is possible!”
“To suspect your own mortality is to know the beginning of terror; to learn irrefutably that you are mortal is to know the end of terror.”
“Abandon certainty! That’s life’s deepest command. That’s what life’s all about. We’re a probe into the unknown, into the uncertain. Why can’t you hear Muad’Dib? If certainty is knowing absolutely an absolute future, then that’s only death disguised! Such a future becomes now He showed you this!”
“To exist is to stand out, away from the background,” The Preacher said. “You aren’t thinking or really existing unless you’re willing to risk even your own sanity in the judgment of your existence.”
“Religion is the emulation of the adult by the child. Religion is the encystment of past beliefs: mythology, which is guesswork, the hidden assumptions of trust in the universe, those pronouncements which men have made in search of personal power, all of it mingled with shreds of enlightenment. And always the ultimate unspoken commandment is ‘Thou shalt not question!’ But we question. We break that commandment as a matter of course. The work to which we have set ourselves is the liberating of the imagination, the harnessing of imagination to humankind’s deepest sense of creativity.”