The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
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.
Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just the vibe of the ending): Definitely not happy, but more…bittersweet.
Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Violence, and Xenophobia
Minor: Child abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Child death, Colonisation, Hate crime, and Sexual content
More...