Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Heretics of Dune

By far my favorite in the series, so far. Loved Miles Tag and his view, enjoyed Duncan for the first time since the first book. Overall a good read, filled with existential questions answered in a true Frank Herbert fashion.

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sir_willyam's review

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adventurous challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

A return to some of the fundamental story telling in previous Dune books found in Messiah, and Children, Heretics is a lot more character-based than the philosophy-heavy slog that God Emperor sometimes felt like. Despite Arrakis being recognizable again, aspects of Frank Herbert’s story telling doesn’t. The inclusion of sex-driven plot was the single most disruptive part of the entire series, and is a big factor in why I DNF the last book in the series, Chapterhouse: Dune.

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dannilmp's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.25

Now we have another time skip, to see the long lasting consequences of Leto II's final choice in God Emperpr of Dune. It was nice to finally move away from the Atreides family and focus on some other characters.

This book finally felt like the knive that split the series, with the loss of Leto II, all of our major players are finally dead and gone and this sets the stage for a new cast to rise up. However, not all of these new players were particularly brilliant and once again they were not written very well.

Herbert's ability to write women with the way he wrote the Honourned Matres was shocking to say the least, I'm not sure this man has written a decent female character in this entire series. If one does start to look they have slightly positive qualities it feels like this is instantly rectified in the next book and we're back to women as the bad guys again.

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revolution666's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Took me long enough to continue reading these. I've been loving the series up to this point, including the more divisive God Emperor of Dune, and I finally decided to get to this next one recently, and I have to say...it's easily my least favorite so far.

Herbert's prose has always been very unique, sometimes being a bit detached and slightly difficult to follow, but it definitely hits that peak with Heretics. The flow of this novel is somehow simultaneously slogging and erratic, with individual scenes taking significantly longer to get through than ever before with constant interruptions of internal dialogues and reflective musings, as well as regular flashbacks to previously unvisited scenarios to give context in certain situations, which is an interesting storytelling choice that can admittedly work in some cases but doesn't really come off well in such a deeply detailed and elaborate work as this, making it rather messy and sometimes unfocused.

Another aspect that really annoyed me ALL throughout is the fact that, unlike the more naturally unfolding (yet still very complex) plots of the previous novels, every character seems to be able to read every person they interact with and divulge and demystify just about every aspect of every conflict and conversation they're in in just the right way to conveniently move the plot along in the way Herbert needs it to, or in some cases we have just the right kind of change happening or character showing up at just the right time for just the right purpose, all resulting in a very awkwardly forced story progression (this is all at its very worse in the final chunk of the story as well). I can't tell you how many times I sighed or rolled my eyes at a character coming to get another immense revelation that felt totally unnatural.

Despite these glaring issues, though, Herbert's prose in of itself is still very good, albeit at its most difficult to penetrate yet, the story in general is still decent enough despite its progression problems, and it has some otherwise interesting and unique characters, especially Miles Teg who I found myself liking very much. It's not a bad book, and I had no real issues getting through it, but its easily the most flawed of the Dune novels up to this point.

6/10

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peachtea's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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americano_romano's review

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

This book was a breath of fresh air after God Emperor of Dune. While this book still had some weird aspects, it actually had a plot unlike it's predecessor. It time jumps you with new characters, so I didn't feel all that attached to them but I did find myself routing for them. The return to action and a complex/mysterious plot made this book mostly enjoyable. I was invested enough in this book to call it good, but not too good.

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clabepeterson's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Oh boy. I don't really know if I liked this book or not. There were some portions of this book that clearly were made to improve on the faults of the black sheep of the Dune franchise, God Emperor, and some portions of the book where... I don't even really know what was going on. I'll start with what I loved. Heretics has finally, FINALLY brought back more of the space politics that have been so sorely missed in the series, since the first and best instalment. Dune was about the complicated philosophy of a messiah and prescience, yes, but what really drove the plot were the scenes where the conflict was verbal–not physical. The tension built between both the Harkonnens and the Atreides, as well as the tension between the Fremen and those intruding on their land was palpable, and was what kept me hooked. Moments like when Stilgar spat on the floor in the first book are a perfect example of this. The conflict lied in how that gesture of respect by the Fremen was misinterpreted by the Atreides–holding weight in terms of the power both groups held, but also was, now say it with me, SIMPLE. A moment like that perfectly displayed the conflicts within cultures with barely any dialogue–we didn't even need a giant worm to sit in a room and talk philosophy to us for 200 pages for us to get it. Heretics brings this tension back strongly, giving you a room with two diametricially opposed characters, building upon the conflict slowly, and then resolving it before it stagnated. The reset of the Dune universe that God Emperor brought helps in this regard, as we can explore the intricacies of groups that are either unknown or known little by the reader. Herbert expertly sets up multiple camps with nuanced motivations, and sets them at each other's throats. That is what keeps the book captivating. However. However, however, however. I am not sure why the need was felt to continue to try to one-up the weird elements of the previous books.

Spoiler

I maybe should have expected that mind control sex was a distinct possibility after we had entire book based around a sentient worm, but I didn't. It was weird. I'd be able to ignore this if it weren't such a crucial part of the climax (no pun intended) of the book–but alas, a lot of the major conflicts–that I really liked–were resolved by saying–"oh yeah, the answer is mind control sex". Ah yes–there is a spooooky element the tleilaxu implemented in the new Duncan, I wonder what it'll be.... MIND CONTROL SEX. Oh well. The ending–while the buildup to it is genuinely superb, with each separated group of characters facing a unique and interesting roadblock, culminates in: something I shouldn't have to repeat anymore, and a connection back to God Emperor that I don't particularly care for. Maybe I'm just dumb–but is it really necessary that we make Leto a major player again? God, let the man(?) rest, I never want to deal with him again. The explanation and the end makes sense, and it does kinda tie everything in the story up... it just feels pretty unsatisfying.

Well, yeah. I had a lot of thoughts on this one. I would probably recommend it if you like the series, it is quite a bit better than God Emperor and has some genuinely great stuff, just prepare yourself for the normal Dune weirdness and jank.

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