GEoD Audio Book Review at Scifidimensions
Posted: 22 Jan 2009 13:12
http://www.scifidimensions.com/main/200 ... r-of-dune/
The fourth installment in Frank Herbert’s monumental Dune saga is a complex rumination on the nature of violence, politics, religion, and the human condition.
Review by John C. Snider © 2009
Readers who have not read the late Frank Herbert’s first three Dune novels (Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune) approach the 1981 novel God Emperor of Dune at their own peril. A sufficient summary of What Has Gone Before is nearly impossible; nonetheless: the original trilogy told the tale of Paul Atreides, a superman who is the end product of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood’s secretive breeding program. Paul leads a rebellion that overthrows the Emperor of the known universe, and establishes his headquarters on the planet Arrakis, a desert planet that is the only source of the miraculous, life-extending, mind-expanding drug called Spice, or melange. After Paul’s death, his son Leto II, ”pre-born” with the memories of all his ancestors and possessed of near-omnipotent prescient abilities, attains virtual immortality by entering into symbiosis with a school of ”sandtrout,” which are the adolescent form of the Sandworms (kilometer-long monsters that dominate Arrakis and secrete the raw form of Spice). As is oft-repeated in the Dune-iverse, “He who controls the Spice controls the universe.”
As God Emperor opens, more than 3,000 years have passed since the events of the previous novels (which are themselves set roughly 8,000 years in our future). Arrakis has been transformed into a green world with limited deserts; the great Sandworms - save for the sandtrout embedded in Leto’s body - are extinct, and Spice is a carefully guarded, ever-dwindling commodity. Leto II is now Lord Leto, morphed into the inhuman God Emperor. Half-man, half-Sandworm, Leto is a ruthless dictator who guides society along the “Golden Path,” the one possible future, according to his prescient vision, in which humanity can avoid extinction. Exactly what the Golden Path is, and how it can be achieved, is a mystery even to Leto’s closest confidantes, which can make many of his thoughts and actions seem petty or capricious. Why, for example, would the God Emperor tolerate rebellion, especially when that rebellion has discovered his Achilles heel?
Leto II is a character nearly unique in the annals of science fiction, with a cast of supporting characters that are both peculiar and realistic. There’s Leto’s longsuffering major domo Moneo, part of an Atreides breeding program that has supplanted the now-forbidden Bene Gesserit schemes; Hwi Noree, a young woman genetically engineered to be irresistible to the God Emperor; and finally, Duncan Idaho, the latest ”ghola” reincarnation - more than just a clone - of Paul’s original swordmaster who died during the events of Dune. Despite the rebellious streak inherent in Duncan’s personality, the God Emperor has ordered one ghola after another to lead his vast army of female “Fish Speakers.”
God Emperor of Dune is, among the six Dune novels that Frank Herbert wrote, second in quality only to the original Dune. It achieves a complexity and literary richness far in excess of nearly any science fiction novel you care to name. Like its predecessor volumes, God Emperor is deeply philosophical, ruminating on the nature of violence, political power, and religion. While there’s court intrigue aplenty, God Emperor is not without its hair-raising action: the novel opens as a pack of specially trained wolves pick off a fleeing band of rebels one-by-one; the God Emperor himself cruises into a terrorist streetfight, plowing his high-tech Royal Cart hovercraft into the jumble of combatants; and the climax is a literal cliffhanger that is also the stuff of Greek tragedy.
This book is also part of Macmillan Audio’s ongoing project to publish new, unabridged audiobook productions of the entire Dune series. God Emperor of Dune (Jun 2008, 13 CDs, $49.95) features the excellent reader Simon Vance, with support from Scott Brick and Katherine Kellgren. Vance imbues each character with a distinctive voice: his Duncan is a truculent Clive Owen sound-alike, while his Leto (suitably) has the stentorian tones of a self-absorbed Shakespearean actor.
I highly recommend God Emperor of Dune for any audiobook library; or, if dead trees are more your style, it’s available in a brand new Ace hardcover edition from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
The fourth installment in Frank Herbert’s monumental Dune saga is a complex rumination on the nature of violence, politics, religion, and the human condition.
Review by John C. Snider © 2009
Readers who have not read the late Frank Herbert’s first three Dune novels (Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune) approach the 1981 novel God Emperor of Dune at their own peril. A sufficient summary of What Has Gone Before is nearly impossible; nonetheless: the original trilogy told the tale of Paul Atreides, a superman who is the end product of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood’s secretive breeding program. Paul leads a rebellion that overthrows the Emperor of the known universe, and establishes his headquarters on the planet Arrakis, a desert planet that is the only source of the miraculous, life-extending, mind-expanding drug called Spice, or melange. After Paul’s death, his son Leto II, ”pre-born” with the memories of all his ancestors and possessed of near-omnipotent prescient abilities, attains virtual immortality by entering into symbiosis with a school of ”sandtrout,” which are the adolescent form of the Sandworms (kilometer-long monsters that dominate Arrakis and secrete the raw form of Spice). As is oft-repeated in the Dune-iverse, “He who controls the Spice controls the universe.”
As God Emperor opens, more than 3,000 years have passed since the events of the previous novels (which are themselves set roughly 8,000 years in our future). Arrakis has been transformed into a green world with limited deserts; the great Sandworms - save for the sandtrout embedded in Leto’s body - are extinct, and Spice is a carefully guarded, ever-dwindling commodity. Leto II is now Lord Leto, morphed into the inhuman God Emperor. Half-man, half-Sandworm, Leto is a ruthless dictator who guides society along the “Golden Path,” the one possible future, according to his prescient vision, in which humanity can avoid extinction. Exactly what the Golden Path is, and how it can be achieved, is a mystery even to Leto’s closest confidantes, which can make many of his thoughts and actions seem petty or capricious. Why, for example, would the God Emperor tolerate rebellion, especially when that rebellion has discovered his Achilles heel?
Leto II is a character nearly unique in the annals of science fiction, with a cast of supporting characters that are both peculiar and realistic. There’s Leto’s longsuffering major domo Moneo, part of an Atreides breeding program that has supplanted the now-forbidden Bene Gesserit schemes; Hwi Noree, a young woman genetically engineered to be irresistible to the God Emperor; and finally, Duncan Idaho, the latest ”ghola” reincarnation - more than just a clone - of Paul’s original swordmaster who died during the events of Dune. Despite the rebellious streak inherent in Duncan’s personality, the God Emperor has ordered one ghola after another to lead his vast army of female “Fish Speakers.”
God Emperor of Dune is, among the six Dune novels that Frank Herbert wrote, second in quality only to the original Dune. It achieves a complexity and literary richness far in excess of nearly any science fiction novel you care to name. Like its predecessor volumes, God Emperor is deeply philosophical, ruminating on the nature of violence, political power, and religion. While there’s court intrigue aplenty, God Emperor is not without its hair-raising action: the novel opens as a pack of specially trained wolves pick off a fleeing band of rebels one-by-one; the God Emperor himself cruises into a terrorist streetfight, plowing his high-tech Royal Cart hovercraft into the jumble of combatants; and the climax is a literal cliffhanger that is also the stuff of Greek tragedy.
This book is also part of Macmillan Audio’s ongoing project to publish new, unabridged audiobook productions of the entire Dune series. God Emperor of Dune (Jun 2008, 13 CDs, $49.95) features the excellent reader Simon Vance, with support from Scott Brick and Katherine Kellgren. Vance imbues each character with a distinctive voice: his Duncan is a truculent Clive Owen sound-alike, while his Leto (suitably) has the stentorian tones of a self-absorbed Shakespearean actor.
I highly recommend God Emperor of Dune for any audiobook library; or, if dead trees are more your style, it’s available in a brand new Ace hardcover edition from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
]
