God Emperor of Dune

By Frank Herbert (1981)

This is the first book in the Dune series that  I would call "mid"... there were some interesting storylines, but in general the plot is slow and most chapters are filled with a single character's musings. This focus on character thought and dialogue is one of the key aspects of Dune that I love, but in this book it became too much. Some of the internal monologues we hear ooze faux-wokeness that is simply not that appealing to read. We've also come to a point in the series where so many of the characters we grew to love are no longer there, and I miss them. It begins to feel like less of a cohesive book series, and instead a collection of stories in the same universe. Like how Star Wars has books about random lore that isn't in the mainline films. 

God Emperor of Dune was still overall enjoyable, and as a fan of the universe and series I had to read it, but Auva and I both left the book needing a solid break from the Atreides. 

(05/08/22)