Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

17 reviews

lizzyjean's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-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? Yes

4.5

This was an absolutely underrated book. It is very politics-heavy, therefore can be hard to follow, but if you allow yourself to focus on the story as well as read between the lines, this book is fantastic. Dune and Dune Messiah are a fantastic pair, and I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Death

Minor: Child death and Incest

The incest is

only theorized, never explored.

The main plot surrounds a war, but is not too descriptive about each battle, it’s just mentioned quite often.

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

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

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

muriel_r's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War

Minor: Child death and Violence

claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Twelve years after the events of Dune, Paul still rules as the Emperor, with his sister as a religious leader at his side. He avoids jihad where he can, but even for someone as all-seeing as the Muad’Dib, some things cannot be avoided. A small group, whose members include the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Helen Gaius Mohiam and Paul’s wife, the Princess Irulan, a Tleilaxu face dancer and a Guild navigator, plots Paul’s demise.

Messiah contains less worldbuilding and far less action than Dune, but (perhaps for those reasons) conveys Herbert’s warning against heroes that much better. We see Paul struggling with the future, trying to find a way to minimize the violence that he foresees, but he can never avoid it completely. Alia, too suffers from her status of near-divinity.

I initially disliked the Duncan Idaho storyline (and I still don’t like the Duncan/Alia pairings…the age gap is creepy), but I loved the idea that his love for Paul and the Atreides brought him back essentially from the dead. The power of love and devotion to change even the most intense training is great, and reminded me of Doctor Yue in the first book. I have also always been interested in the idea of sight and blindness, and the use in literature of blindness to signify true insight or foreknowledge. And, though I don’t generally like sad endings, I was moved by Paul’s commitment to the Fremen traditions, even though it meant his own death.

Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just the vibe of the ending):

Definitely not happy, but more…bittersweet.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Sexual content, and Colonisation