Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Spasiteľ Duny by Frank Herbert

21 reviews

infinite_harness9030's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infertility, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Murder, and War

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Self harm, Slavery, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

josiah17's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

This book is decent. For starters, I think the themes and warnings about the power and role of governance, as well as deifying leaders, are well done. They remain relevant today and clearly Frank Herbert was passionate about expressing this caution and philosophy. This is easily the best part about the book. 

"There exists a limit to the force even the most powerful may apply without destroying themselves. Judging this limit is the true artistry of government. Misuse of power is the fatal sin. The law cannot be a tool of vengeance, never a hostage, nor a fortifications against the martyrs it has created. You cannot threaten any individual and escape the consequences."

I also found Herbert's prose to feel more polished than I remember from reading Dune a year ago. It matches the philosophical and introspective tone quite well.

However, even if the themes and prose are good, they're not quite enough to make up for the elements of the book I found to be lackluster.

The plot introduces some good promise of a conspiracy (minor spoiler). However I don't feel that it delivers on this promise in a manner that is ultimately satisfying.

I also found that I didn't really feel anything for the characters besides resentment towards Paul. I think the massive time jump doesn't help with this either. And I saw someone say something along the lines of Herbert writing his characters as if they're more so pieces on a chess board to convey certain messages, and I think that's accurate to how I feel. They feel more like plot devices rather then real people I'm supposed to connect with. Not that that's necessarily poor character writing, but I'm not sure it works for me. And I didn't have any problem with the subversion of the Messiah archetype with Paul; I actually thought the execution was solid. It's just that I had no strong feelings or attachment to the characters.

And finally, part of the appeal to reading the Dune books was Herbert's praised worldbuilding. I found Dune to match and even exceed the hype around Herbert's worldbuilding. What he's able to do in building Arrakis and the entire Fremen cultural is nothing short of extraordinary. However, because all of that worldbuilding is done in the first book and we remain on Arrakis for this book, Dune Messiah feels like it's missing something captivating to me. I hope that makes sense. I just miss the level of worldbuilding of the first book.

Ultimately, I think this is a step down from Dune.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent and War

nils_0's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Incest, Miscarriage, Violence, Grief, Cannibalism, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and War

melancholymegs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Incest

finn_1312's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Drug use and Slavery

Minor: Incest

eurypterus's review against another edition

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Paul has to come to terms with fate and a plot to control him. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Body horror, Infertility, Torture, Blood, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Child death and Incest

hollowpointe's review against another edition

challenging sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Incest, Infertility, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Colonisation, and War

bergha1998's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The main theme of this book is how power corrupts. It takes the whole Dune series in a completely different trajectory. We watch Paul in Dune and believe him to be the “savior,” but in this one we see that even he falls when given absolute power. 

“They’re trained to believe? Not to know. Belief can be manipulated. Only knowledge is dangerous.”

“There is nothing firm, nothing balanced, nothing durable in all the universe—that nothing remains in its state, that each day, sometimes each hour, brings change.”

“If you need something to worship, then worship life—all life, every last crawling bit of it! We’re all in this beauty together!”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Infertility, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lordofdisorder's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Child death

nicolepaul_ine's review against another edition

mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Incest and Suicide