Dune Messiah - Frank Herbert

Book Review & Rating: 9/10

This was part 2 of the Dune series. I hadn’t realized there were six books in the official series but the consensus I took away from the Reddit community was that the initial trilogy was worth reading. Even among the first three, there is debate between whether book 2 or 3 is better and some seem to skip book 2 and go straight to the third book while some may stop at 2. Either way, books 2 and 3 still seem to have the magic from Dune. 

With that contextual background out of the way, this was a particular book where I was awestruck by how wonderful the writing was. There were several moments when I had to pause to just take in how profound Herbert’s use of words was and how he eloquently tied in the story with his views on politics, religion, government, and psychology. Then you top it off with the pace by which he can lead you, as a reader, down an ending you can foresee coming. You intuitively understand the ending but the big question “how?” looms over your head. Then, the ending hits you in the face like a bag filled with bricks and you are angry that he delivered. I was quite upset at the ending. Not because it was bad. But because it seemed so perfect that there was no other way the book could end.

Dune Messiah explored a different theme from Dune. If book one could be described as a world crafting story of adventure steamed with ecology, history, and human structures…book two became a focused lens on the relationship between government, religion, and the evolution of civilization through the eyes of nation builders.