Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

16 reviews

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

bettysbookishworld's review against another edition

mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.0

I really enjoy the writing style where the villains' intention is presented and then we follow the story from that point until the final resolution. I think this narrative style is what keeps me so engaged and invested in the story itself. 

I like the ending and how the whole story from Dune until the ending of Dune Messiah turned out on the whole philosophical and religious level.  

However, the only negative thing to say about the second book is how female characters were written and unfortunately, it affected my reading enjoyment. In Dune, Herbert wrote female characters as strong, independent with their own minds. Even though they had the more traditional roles in the story, they were still written well. However, I didn't like how the women were handled in Dune Messiah. Mainly Alia. I felt uncomfortable how sexualized her character was when you think about her age. Also, all of the female characters lacked their personalities from the first book and here they were just submissive and shallow, really. 

I'll probably read the next book but will read it with caution and much lower expectations. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Suicide, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Incest, Infertility, Sexism, and Pregnancy

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

potatodel's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.5

Here, have strong women characters, except they are all controlled by that one dude and they appear to be unable to control their emotions.
Here, have a ton of world building in book one, except that most of it doesn't continue in the next book.
Here, have a godlike main character, except he is annoying, and we don't really know why you should even like him.
Here, have a sexualized 16 years old character, because she's a girl and it's the 70s ... I guess ?!
I'm so glad to be done with this book. Hopefully, like I was told, Dune #3 is a bit better...
I was going to give 1 star, but the last few chapters weren't that bad.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Infertility, Colonisation, and War

kateworm's review against another edition

adventurous informative mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, and Colonisation

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