Pierre reviewed Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert (Dune Chronicles, #2)
Lost in the Spice Trance
3 stars
Content warning Plot Spoilers
I read dune Messiah a few months back and am taking time to reflect as I just finished Children of Dune (the third book in the series). Overall, I was pretty disappointed in Dune Messiah. To me, the plot and characters marked a stark departure from the first book and I was pretty much lost the whole time. Herbert’s prose even though aesthetically pleasing, especially to me since he tends to borrow a lot of french words to describe the etiquette or customs related to the emperor and empire, gets really confusing especially in passages describing the spice melange and spice trance. I was taken aback by seeing a character, Paul Atreides, stuck in his progression. Maybe that’s what Herbert wanted to convey in Dune Messiah, but I felt like the character had phenomenal power and super powers yet the story failed to show how he was using them and to which end he wanted to use them. It also felt to me like the characters lacked individual personality. They seem to all speak in the same way and interact in similar fashion.
I’m rating 3/5 for the world building and the lore but overall was not pleased by the general plot.