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mburnamfink 's review for:
Heretics of Dune
by Frank Herbert
Heretics of Dune is many interested pieces scattered on the sand, waiting to be assembled into a coherent whole. 1500 years after the events of God Emperor, the universe again teeters on a knife's edge, as dangerous humans from the Scattering return to the old Imperium, the Bene Gesserit and Tleilaxu battle for supremacy, and new potential superhumans undergo their training ordeals.
Let's start with the superhumans. Sheeana is a young girl from Rakis (the planet formerly known as Dune) who can control the sandworms, possibly communing with the dreaming pearls of Leto's consciousness in each worm. Miles Teg is a commander in the Bene Gesserit army, a soldier-diplomat called out of retirement to oversee the training of the latest Duncan Idaho ghola. And Duncan himself has been thoroughly upgraded, and may have hidden potential of his own.
The Tleilaxu are a new viewpoint. Master genetic manipulators, their politics is defined by an unbroken succession of ghola masters (Scytale from Messiah still lives) and hive-mind Face Dancer mimics, who serve as infiltrators, assassins, and soldiers. The Honored Matres, returning from the Scattering, are like the Bene Gesserit squared. Rather than ruling from behind the scenes, they hold power in their own hand, using a form of sexual dominance to control their slaves.
The sex stuff is of course where the book gets weird. Basically, the Honored Matres have pussy game so strong they can enslave men. Duncan Idaho can do the same to women. The Bene Gesserit hate the Honored Matres and call them all 'whores'. Love is treated as the ultimate heresy, something which can upset the most delicate political plotting. It's weird, and not in a good way.
This book is at its best in tense confrontations between the Tleilaxu master Waff and others; the subtle designs of the Bene Gesserit and the unbounded threat of the returners, the feral Honored Matres. One side gains an information advantage over the others, and presses it. Yet, there's the matter of the information advantage over the reader. Herbert tells us that these characters are subtle and crafty and bold and wise and dangerous, and yet they rarely exhibit these qualities in the story (aside from the last one: all characters are quite lethal.) Dune and God Emperor had me quite convinced that they covered pivotal times and pivotal people. Heretics has a sense of "why not now, with them?"
Let's start with the superhumans. Sheeana is a young girl from Rakis (the planet formerly known as Dune) who can control the sandworms, possibly communing with the dreaming pearls of Leto's consciousness in each worm. Miles Teg is a commander in the Bene Gesserit army, a soldier-diplomat called out of retirement to oversee the training of the latest Duncan Idaho ghola. And Duncan himself has been thoroughly upgraded, and may have hidden potential of his own.
The Tleilaxu are a new viewpoint. Master genetic manipulators, their politics is defined by an unbroken succession of ghola masters (Scytale from Messiah still lives) and hive-mind Face Dancer mimics, who serve as infiltrators, assassins, and soldiers. The Honored Matres, returning from the Scattering, are like the Bene Gesserit squared. Rather than ruling from behind the scenes, they hold power in their own hand, using a form of sexual dominance to control their slaves.
The sex stuff is of course where the book gets weird. Basically, the Honored Matres have pussy game so strong they can enslave men. Duncan Idaho can do the same to women. The Bene Gesserit hate the Honored Matres and call them all 'whores'. Love is treated as the ultimate heresy, something which can upset the most delicate political plotting. It's weird, and not in a good way.
This book is at its best in tense confrontations between the Tleilaxu master Waff and others; the subtle designs of the Bene Gesserit and the unbounded threat of the returners, the feral Honored Matres. One side gains an information advantage over the others, and presses it. Yet, there's the matter of the information advantage over the reader. Herbert tells us that these characters are subtle and crafty and bold and wise and dangerous, and yet they rarely exhibit these qualities in the story (aside from the last one: all characters are quite lethal.) Dune and God Emperor had me quite convinced that they covered pivotal times and pivotal people. Heretics has a sense of "why not now, with them?"