Dune Messiah

Great reading. clear and easy to understand. while the reading does change a few times to different narrators i found this a good thing. A superb book explaining what happened 12 years after Paul Atreides took over Dune. As gripping as it is intricute. This is a must read for those who want to know what happened to Paul, channi and the others in the royal court

I had heard that this book was a bit of a week link in the Dune series so I was a bit apprehensive in ordering it. However, after listening to the original Dune audio book I knew I had to find out what happened to Paul and the others.

It was always going to be a hard act to follow but the production of this audio book is not as accomplished as that of Dune. I think this is mainly because many of the more distinctive characters from the first book do not appear in the sequel. The plot starts very very slowly and the clue is in the title - it is very Messianic and almost spirtual in the descriptions of the 'oracular vision'.

That said, there are some superb original concepts in the sequel, including the ghola 'Hate' and the descriptions of the Tleilaxu culture. The book also ends very well.

I'll certainly be downloading the next one.

I listened to the first book and loved it. Although I found the first book hard going at the beginning you drop into the new words, and now 50 years on a lot of the Arabic words the author drops in a more familiar to westerns - Haj, Jihad.

I can't help thinking though that this book is slightly addled and more of it's time - 1969! Book one seemed timeless and I was amazed that after 50 years it still felt fresh and relevant, but this one felt like something from the height of flower power and hippy trippy acid frenzies. The author seems to jump from event to event, with little to interlink the story and long, rambling, impenetrable, and frankly nonsensical passages that drift off to nowhere describing the nature of Paul’s visions of the future with a torrent of words that seem thrown together and make little sense. Maybe the author is genius and the nonsense of his passages were meant to reflect the confusion of Paul trying to read the right path in the future … but frankly I got bored of listening to long passages of babble and garbage thrown together with little attempt at a coherent story thread.

Here’s just one extract (and I could find many) that will give you an idea of how mind bendingly nonsensical it is

“He became a motionless chain of relative existence, singular, alone. Old memories flooded his mind, he marked them, adjusted them to new understandings, made a beginning at the integration of a new awareness, an new persona achieved a temporary form of internal tyranny, the masculating synthesis remained charged with potential disorder, but events pressed him to the temporary adjustment, the young master needed him.”

I won’t be listening to the rest of the saga, this just disappeared up it’s own behind. I found myself listening to it more, just so I could get it over with faster. Thankfully it was under 10 hours so less than a week of my driving schedule, if it had been longer I'd have just ditched it.

After the superb 'Dune' I though this was a very disappointing sequel. Nothing much happens and it seems more like a mere episode than a book.

This is a very analytical and political second book in the Dune series. It grasps the loneliness of a powerful emperor, in the meanwhile letting the reader take a sneak look at the conspiracy against him. I found it fascinating how it proves that seeing the future is a very tricky business and can cause infinite boredom if not used wisely and in moderation.

I've always enjoyed the concept of the Dune books, and love the slow pace and build up to an almighlt climax. This was no expectation and i could not stop listening towards the end (in fact I had to replay the last 20 minutes to make sure I had taken it all in).

Due to the books philosophical and religious content this can sometimes feel a little heavy going, but ultimately very enjoyable.

I'd listened to Dune about two years ago, so it took a while for me to re-learn all the characters in this book, but once I had done I got really back into it. No other sci-fi author really uses politics like Herbert, and I always loved the way we get to hear the thoughts of the characters as they say one thing and think another. Great ending too.

I've always felt that Messiah is a bit of a let down in the Dune series. It seems to try to be the last chapter of Dune, while setting the scene for Children of Dune. However this means that by itself, it is not a very good story. It kind of meanders around the various characters from Dune filling up some back stories and looking into their new motives and goals. However after coming straight off of Dune, it seems to take away a lot of the awe from the story and I can't help but feel it somehow cheapens the first book. Anyway, on to Children of Dune!

The production, like Dune, is fantastic. Clear, well read dialogue with a healthy balance of actors, voices and narration. If only all audio books were this good.

I have all the books in this series and have had them for many years, if your in to sci-fi then you can't go wrong.
I must have read this book 10 or more times over the years and never get board of it.

This sequel to the epic Dune was in some ways a disappointment. Having embraced our hero, it was sad to see him turn out less wonderful than we were expecting from the first novel in the series. Also, although there are multiple voices at times (as before) it is mostly read by just one actor. This is a shame but understandable from a cost point of view.

Nevertheless, these quibbles aside, 'Dune Messiah' makes a worthy sequel to the original 'Dune'. It is perhaps unfair to expect perfection on perfection. If you have enjoyed 'Dune' then you should certainly go for this too: it is miles better than most of the rubbish sold today as SciFi.