Heretics is the sequel that is most like the first book. It has plenty of action and intrigue as well. Its sad that we didn’t get that final book, but I’m at peace with Chapterhouse being the ending.
The way Herbert envisioned the series was to write Dune, Dune messiah, and children of dune as trilogy 1. Then god emporer is a bridge to the second trilogy but he died before doing a book 7. So it was supposed to go books 1, 2, and 3. 4 as a bridge since its set like 1000 years in the future then books 5, 6, and 7 as the final trilogy. Regardless, these books get real weird lol it wont be for everyone
@@adamgennerud9046 No point of comparison, first of all Frank Herbert was 65 when he died G.R.R.M is currently 75, secondly he was actually writing and putting out books at a good rate, the fifth book came out in 1984 and the sixth came out in 1985 and he died in 1986 so he was on track to finish Dune and I believe he would had finished and published the final book if he lived just a couple more years. G.R.R.M has been "writing'' The Winds of winter for 13 years, for comparison in the last 13 years of his life Frank Herbert wrote and published 4 Dune books. Please don't do my man dirty like that by comparing him to G.R.R.M.
@@AkaSora96 how could he compare him to one of the greatest fantasy authors of all time. Ah, the audacity. Also, you don't know whether he is writing or not, or what is going on in his personal life. I'm pretty sure that he is trying his hardest to finish the series. Some books take time
I must be the only person who genuinely loved Messiah during my first read. Just such a powerful, epic tragedy. I get chills every time I think of that reintroduction of Paul as he looks over his aged body and thinks about all the lives he's responsible for.
I'm with you! I loved Mesiah as I was reading it and felt like it brought a lot full circle from the first book and just did a better job of showing certain elements that weren't as fleshed out in the first book
Yeah I don't realize why it gets all the bad rep. The moment when you realize he already knows everything, and still proceeds because he believes that's the best course makes him a true hero IMHO
I've just finished it for the first time and will admit I didn't LOVE it like I loved the first book but that 2nd last chapter, the climax of the story, completely won me over
After I read Dune I was so obsessed nobody could have stopped me from reading ALL the sequels. I love everything that Frank Herbert wrote and I don't hate what Brian Herbert did, it's just a kind of fan fiction in my opinion.
Massiah is in my opinion much underrated yes it's necessary to read Children as well. In some ways it necessary to read God Emperor to get insights on what Paul was trying to avoid and why.
I just finished Messiah and I honestly love it as the conclusion to Paul's story. I feel like it could stand on its own, but I may feel differently after I read Children of Dune
@@MediumDon While it would obviously have been better to have read Dune first, I was able to follow it perfectly well. It worked as a stand alone story.
I actually love the Brian Herbert Kevin J Anderson books. Yes they are a step down in quality. But they gave us an additional 8 books following the characters we love from the original novel. The other prequels that go way back in time are also not bad either.
Only truly controversial things are their sequels based on Frank's notes. But their Prequel stuff is either Great or ok I don't think theirs any bad one. And then there's winds of dune set after Messiah which I hear is eh
I generally see the series fitting rather neatly into three duologies: Dune-Messiah: Paul’s arc. Children-God Emperor: Leto ii’s arc. Heretics-Chapterhouse: Bene Gesserit arc.
I know nothing of Dune and just saw it for the first time last night at 3am on HBO Max and I was blown away!!! It was phenomenal! The way Dennis told the story was very easy for me to follow to be honest and I don’t think anyone would have trouble following along
Yo Mike - I’m just finishing up children of dune now and I just gotta say, thanks for answering this question so succinctly and giving your reasons in a 30 second CZcams short. Saved me time and got me the info I needed! Love the channel man!
There doesn't seem to be a lot of love for God Emperor but I have to say it is definitely my second favorite book in the series. It would take first place BUT the first book is just so damn good.
Dune messiah is a really good jumping off point in my opinion and I dont understand the hate. I think it works equally well as a prequel to 3 or an ending to 1
God Emperor is the hardest one to get through, IMHO. It has such great ideas and stuff, but it is told in a very unique way that can be a bit challenging to get through. After that one; it stays a little weird overall, but the narrative format is more “normal”.
Please don't give up on it, if you like sci-fi you should really push through, I promise you won't regret it. Just find some place quiet, get a drink you enjoy and just try and smash through as much as you can in the first sitting to get yourself into it. Don't forget the glossary at the back of the book.
Thank you for introducing me to Dune. I finished it literally 15 minutes before seeing Pt. 2 and wow. I’m so excited to get deeper into this universe. Thanks Mike!
I’ve read all 6 plus the ones his son wrote not entirely because I wanted to but because my personality is one that I don’t like leaving things incomplete so it would’ve bugged me not finishing the novels (I haven’t read the graphic novels) 😂😂😂
Currently Rereading Children of Dune Truely Great Second Read 📚 Love Those Classic Covers I have both Children of Dune & God Emperor of Dune, Can't Wait to upgrade for The Coming Deluxe Hardcover for Messiah & Children of Dune. 😊 still gonna Keep my Classics Covers as well Thanks Mike Great! 👍 Insight for New Comers in the Dune Saga.
If you liked the first book, I feel you have to read Messiah & Children of Dune, and read God Emperor if you liked Leto II in CoD and you're interested in the golden path.
I want to read all 6 books. Would you recommend getting the gollancz black leather collections or getting the new hardbacks and hope 4 to 6 will get them as well? I've read people complaining about option 1, but I have the Necronomicon and Eldritch Tales from that series and they're both fine.
I definitely think they should adapt up to Children of Dune for this new film saga, but everything after that? Like don’t get me wrong, they’re great novels on their own, but for a movie adaptation I don’t believe they would work well. Sometimes books and movies don’t mix well together. It would be interesting though to see spin off films based off of the lore built by Brian Herbert such as maybe a prequel film following Leto I’s rise to power or Feyd Rautha.
I’ve read all the books several times as it looks like you have from the condition of those books. You prescribed an excellent approach to reading these. I’ve always felt that messiah and children of should have been one book. Thanks for encouraging people to immerse themselves in the world of Arrakis. InscrutableJohn
Dune 1 & 2 - no beefswelling detected Dune 3 - light foray into beefswelling Dune 4 - um okay is beefswelling actually going to be a thing now, this is weird, but I guess there could be some fascinating ideas involved Dune 5 & 6 - overwhelming full on beefswelling, I can't escape, save yourselves, fly fools fly!!!
I recently bought the first three books, Dune, Dune: Messiah, and of course Children of Dune. Judging by what I feel comfortable with on whatever book I plan to read next I intend to read just the first three books of The Great Dune Trilogy; The Rise of the Atreides.
Yeah I read a bunch of the Brian/Kevin books. And it’s not that they were bad so much as they are so radically different in style than Franks original six novels. Less about philosophy or character and more about pure plot. And they sort of retcon the end of Chapterhouse in a way that totally negates where Frank was taking the story. I found the legit 6 to be fantastic though.
i just finished The Dune and its already in my top 5.For anyone who still cant decide should they read dune or not,bcz some booktubers says that writing style is bad or its hard book,bla bla bla..dont listen to them bcz everything that is not YA or Romance is hard read for them.they tricked me into avoiding Dune for so long,big mistake! cant wait to buy sequels!
I'm currently reading Dune. About 200 pages in. I have it in hardback form with the next 2 books included. Opinions so far? It's good. I like his prose. Does it grab me like Dan Simmons Hyperion book did? Absolutely not. Not in the same Stratosphere. Still...I am enjoying it.
All 6 of Frank's are excellent and its very hard to pick a favorite. I like Messiah alot. But I feel you gotta read all 6. I've read the majority of his sons and Kevin j Andersons (contradictory) glorified family/fan fiction. Can read them, but do so with a shaker or 10 of salt
The problem with Brian is that he tried to make something that was not his, his own. What we wanted was him to basically be a ghost writer and write as if it's his father writing from the afterlife 😂 and he was like "nahhhh we are steering this my way" and he failed miserably.
The fact that Kevin J Anderson was involved doesn't really help the books credibility. The sequels are pretty good but I believe thats partly because Brian Herbert left a lot of content regarding to the events previous to Dune.
For me messiah was the best, becouse of it s shorter length, and condensed story. Children and god emperor was okay, but heretics dropped the ball big time for me. I ll finish chapterhouse some day, but i m not excited for it at all :/
Chapterhouse: Dune is worth it. I felt like it was a poignant ending to the series, even if it wasn't intended to be. To me it's a meditation on death and transitioning through life phases reflected through the metaphor of the entire universe shifting into something new and uncertain.
I just finished heretics and its the first one that felt like a real chore to get through. Love Miles Teg but man, that book felt super horny. I am also in the minority that didnt really care for children of dune. I think Dune, Dune Messiah, and God Emporer are total must reads.
Before you even watch this short I'll give you the objective answer: yes you should read all 6. Subjective answer: parts 4-6 are better than the first 3. Sue me Also you are totally within your right to stop Dune at any point, even the first but that's lame af. Your only legitimate stoping points for Dune are books 2, 3, 4, and 6. Heretics and Chapterhouse MUST be read as a pair.
I regret reading the sequels. It wasn't the ideas. It was the fact that there was not a single decent human being to get behind. It was like watching a world of Machiavellian psychopaths manipulating everyone and everything for their own selfish purposes. Yeeech! It turned my stomach reading it. My final thoughts were, "Why should I care what happens? Nothing good comes of anything. Of course, this was about 40 years ago, so memories fade. But those are the thought and feelings I remember.
Actually, I found book 6 The Chapterhouse quite compelling. My personal rating from best to worst 1. Dune 2. God Emperor 3. Children of Dune 4. Chapterhouse 5. Messiah 6. Heretics But it's still necessary, obviously, to read them in chronological order, as each js dependant on the previous plot. I found the Heretics to be the most boring. Not a huge fan of Messiah either. Chapterhouse was quite interesting with the emergence of the rival sisterhood order of Honored Matres to the Bene Gesserit. The story gets very weird at times after the Children of Dune 😅
If you’re going to read through book 4 you have to continue til the end! It definitely gets weird , but Leto’s whole plan for the human race isn’t fully realized until they leave in the no ship
There’s a reason nobody says Heretics or Chapterhouse are their favorite Dune novel… I read Heretics last month and it was weird, and not the Dune-weird I’ve come to expect. Sex fight with a space Amazon weird…
It’s a bit of a shame not reading Chapterhouse, which IMO is a fascinating book giving at last a lot of insight into the Bene Gesserit. For the rest…. I really hated that KJA/BH felt the need to spend 6 bad prequel books just to set up “book 7” which in no way is as complex as they claimed nor benefited from this. It just made whatever interesting ideas that survive from Frank’s outline feel trivialized or already stale by the time they finally got there. I know there’s a huge debate about the themes in “book 7” and how much came from Frank, but they are actually very reminiscent of threads from his other non Dune books, notably his views on AI from Destination Void, and what he was exploring in the Pandora sequence with Bill Ransom at the same time he sketched book 7. So I think the general ideas, however weird, likely came from Frank. The execution is far from optimal, alas. Personally out for curiosity I think people should keep expectations low but still read books 7-8, but by all means they should NOT touch any of the prequels, completely unnecessary to read 7-8.
I agree. BH/KJH get a lot of undeserved hate for the sin of simply not being the writer that FH was. Frank was an impossible act to follow and the fact that we got any kind of conclusion to his story, even if just based on notes and an outline, is something I will be forever grateful for. At least it was written by his own son and not some rando that the publisher decided to hire to make up sequels out of whole cloth, ignoring and disrespecting the lore that came before *coughDisneyStarWarscough*.
You should absolutely read up to Children of Dune. After that there’s a 3,000 year time jump and it’s hard to wrap your head around the new characters and setting and it doesn’t really scratch that itch to get more “dune” as you may know it. Children of Dune has about as conclusive of an ending as the first dune book, with just S many loose ends as there are tied up plot lines. Unfortunately the entire Dune saga never cleanly wraps up.
God Emperor of Dune might be the best scifi book I've ever read in my life, I'm serious. Nothing else comes close to the themes and ideas explored in that book.
Children of Dune is worth reading for its story but it really emphasise what a poor prose-writer Herbert was. It's hard to get through. Dune Messiah is just meh. It's only when reading Children of Dune that I understood what Dune and the spice was really about and I wished I didn't because it takes the 'SF' and 'fantasy' out of this great story.
FH's Dune series is a masterpiece. Holding BH to the same standard is not really fair but if you're the kind of person who wishes that they could read the Orange Catholic Bible or files from the Missionaria Protectiva then you will be drawn to the back stories that BH writes. Not all of it is great but Erasmus and Omnius are kinda unforgettable.
I’ve gotten up to children of dune which was way better than messiah IMO grateful I didn’t stop there. I have the others in my collection but I’m hesitant to pick them up for some reason
I genuinely think Messiah is as good as Dune and you can totally stop there if you want. I think that Children and God Emperor are more tied together than Messiah and Children.
Children of Dune is my favorite! He doesn't lie, you must read Messiah and Children. God Emperor you should read if you liked the original trilogy. Understand though, its a whole new trilogy starting with God Emperor.
Loved Dune, absolutely hated Messiah. Not only was it incredibly boring, but while I can enjoy a complex and not straight forward hero, I do not enjoy a complete dismantling of the hero I rooted for in the first book.
I read all 6 books, don't regret it at all. It's weird but really interesting.
There's definitely lots to unpack
There’s two more books that Herbert Jr and Kevin J Anderson finished on Herbert Sr’s behalf.
Heretics is the sequel that is most like the first book. It has plenty of action and intrigue as well. Its sad that we didn’t get that final book, but I’m at peace with Chapterhouse being the ending.
@@thefilmeffect6089 there are actually two more books. ‘Hunters’ and ‘Sandworms’.
@@jonathancooper4914 They can be fun fan fiction, but I was talking about canon books. Frank’s books.
The way Herbert envisioned the series was to write Dune, Dune messiah, and children of dune as trilogy 1. Then god emporer is a bridge to the second trilogy but he died before doing a book 7. So it was supposed to go books 1, 2, and 3. 4 as a bridge since its set like 1000 years in the future then books 5, 6, and 7 as the final trilogy.
Regardless, these books get real weird lol it wont be for everyone
First Dune book in itself was supposed to be a trilogy. Publisher suggested him to merge three books into one.
Seems like George RR Martin is following the same path😅
@@adamgennerud9046 No point of comparison, first of all Frank Herbert was 65 when he died G.R.R.M is currently 75, secondly he was actually writing and putting out books at a good rate, the fifth book came out in 1984 and the sixth came out in 1985 and he died in 1986 so he was on track to finish Dune and I believe he would had finished and published the final book if he lived just a couple more years.
G.R.R.M has been "writing'' The Winds of winter for 13 years, for comparison in the last 13 years of his life Frank Herbert wrote and published 4 Dune books.
Please don't do my man dirty like that by comparing him to G.R.R.M.
@@AkaSora96 how could he compare him to one of the greatest fantasy authors of all time. Ah, the audacity. Also, you don't know whether he is writing or not, or what is going on in his personal life. I'm pretty sure that he is trying his hardest to finish the series. Some books take time
I must be the only person who genuinely loved Messiah during my first read. Just such a powerful, epic tragedy. I get chills every time I think of that reintroduction of Paul as he looks over his aged body and thinks about all the lives he's responsible for.
I'm with you! I loved Mesiah as I was reading it and felt like it brought a lot full circle from the first book and just did a better job of showing certain elements that weren't as fleshed out in the first book
Yeah I don't realize why it gets all the bad rep. The moment when you realize he already knows everything, and still proceeds because he believes that's the best course makes him a true hero IMHO
Same! Messiah gets hated on so much and I don't know why. It is the most "normal" sci-fi out of all the dune books lol
I loved the ending of Messiah that shit was poetic
I've just finished it for the first time and will admit I didn't LOVE it like I loved the first book but that 2nd last chapter, the climax of the story, completely won me over
After I read Dune I was so obsessed nobody could have stopped me from reading ALL the sequels. I love everything that Frank Herbert wrote and I don't hate what Brian Herbert did, it's just a kind of fan fiction in my opinion.
Massiah is in my opinion much underrated yes it's necessary to read Children as well. In some ways it necessary to read God Emperor to get insights on what Paul was trying to avoid and why.
I just finished Messiah and I honestly love it as the conclusion to Paul's story. I feel like it could stand on its own, but I may feel differently after I read Children of Dune
I actually read Messiah first thinking it was a stand-alone novel.
@@madcyclist58How…
@madcyclist58 lolol what did you think of it?
@@MediumDon While it would obviously have been better to have read Dune first, I was able to follow it perfectly well. It worked as a stand alone story.
@@madcyclist58😂 wow had me double checking what I read on this shorts comment section
Gotta get myself around to reading the series
I actually love the Brian Herbert Kevin J Anderson books. Yes they are a step down in quality. But they gave us an additional 8 books following the characters we love from the original novel. The other prequels that go way back in time are also not bad either.
The Prequels set 10,000 years before the Original novel is Kevin and Brian's best work
Only truly controversial things are their sequels based on Frank's notes. But their Prequel stuff is either Great or ok I don't think theirs any bad one. And then there's winds of dune set after Messiah which I hear is eh
What are the best Brian Herbert Dune books?
I generally see the series fitting rather neatly into three duologies: Dune-Messiah: Paul’s arc. Children-God Emperor: Leto ii’s arc. Heretics-Chapterhouse: Bene Gesserit arc.
After reading God-Emperor, I’m having to take a break and read lighter stuff. Reading Dune is bloody hard work, but I find I get out what I put in.
Heretics and Chapterhouse:
Am I a joke to you?!
Answer - “yes”
“I’d go ahead and wrap it up” 😂😂 this is exactly how I phrased it to my sister when I was explaining the books after we saw dune part 2
I know nothing of Dune and just saw it for the first time last night at 3am on HBO Max and I was blown away!!! It was phenomenal! The way Dennis told the story was very easy for me to follow to be honest and I don’t think anyone would have trouble following along
Yes the movie is simple. We are discussing the books here.
Yes the movie is simple. We are discussing the books here.
Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson write solid pulp Fiction. Frank Herbert wrote literature.
Yo Mike - I’m just finishing up children of dune now and I just gotta say, thanks for answering this question so succinctly and giving your reasons in a 30 second CZcams short. Saved me time and got me the info I needed! Love the channel man!
God emperor dune is my favorite book in the franchise definitely a must read
There doesn't seem to be a lot of love for God Emperor but I have to say it is definitely my second favorite book in the series. It would take first place BUT the first book is just so damn good.
Yep, same here. I get something different out of it each time I read it.
Dune messiah is a really good jumping off point in my opinion and I dont understand the hate. I think it works equally well as a prequel to 3 or an ending to 1
i agree, ive read up to book 5 and the series is very thought provoking
Finish out with Chapterhouse, and then merely speculate from there. Brian fucked it up imo.
I’ve only got to Messiah and I actually kind of love it as a stopping point. It felt like a great conclusion to Paul’s story as tough as it was.
I was very happy with Messiah’s ending. Children of Dune was very disappointing for me. Wish I didn’t read it.
I tried the first book and gave up. It was quite dense but last year I was gifted all the 6 books so I will try again, 😊
God Emperor is the hardest one to get through, IMHO. It has such great ideas and stuff, but it is told in a very unique way that can be a bit challenging to get through. After that one; it stays a little weird overall, but the narrative format is more “normal”.
Please don't give up on it, if you like sci-fi you should really push through, I promise you won't regret it. Just find some place quiet, get a drink you enjoy and just try and smash through as much as you can in the first sitting to get yourself into it. Don't forget the glossary at the back of the book.
Heretics and Chapterhouse are also really solid.
Heretics is decent, Chapterhouse is terrible
I’m actually reading Messiah right now. Definitely a very different tone. Very slow at the beginning but it’s picking up.
Thank you for introducing me to Dune. I finished it literally 15 minutes before seeing Pt. 2 and wow. I’m so excited to get deeper into this universe.
Thanks Mike!
Children of Dune was my favorite in the series!
I’ve read all 6 plus the ones his son wrote not entirely because I wanted to but because my personality is one that I don’t like leaving things incomplete so it would’ve bugged me not finishing the novels (I haven’t read the graphic novels) 😂😂😂
Currently Rereading Children of Dune Truely Great Second Read 📚 Love Those Classic Covers I have both Children of Dune & God Emperor of Dune, Can't Wait to upgrade for The Coming Deluxe Hardcover for Messiah & Children of Dune. 😊 still gonna Keep my Classics Covers as well Thanks Mike Great! 👍 Insight for New Comers in the Dune Saga.
If you liked the first book, I feel you have to read Messiah & Children of Dune, and read God Emperor if you liked Leto II in CoD and you're interested in the golden path.
I want to read all 6 books. Would you recommend getting the gollancz black leather collections or getting the new hardbacks and hope 4 to 6 will get them as well?
I've read people complaining about option 1, but I have the Necronomicon and Eldritch Tales from that series and they're both fine.
I would recommend to read the 4 novels, God Emperor is amazing.
God Emperor is where a lot of people either get sucked in or lose interest.
@@Questionthis1 And if you get sucked in you get rewarded with the great character of Miles Teg
I read all 6 books loved every second of it
I definitely think they should adapt up to Children of Dune for this new film saga, but everything after that? Like don’t get me wrong, they’re great novels on their own, but for a movie adaptation I don’t believe they would work well. Sometimes books and movies don’t mix well together. It would be interesting though to see spin off films based off of the lore built by Brian Herbert such as maybe a prequel film following Leto I’s rise to power or Feyd Rautha.
i like how you convinced me to continue reading in just 60 seconds of shorts, i also like the graphics, did you use tiktok or youtube for it?
Thanks for the advice!
I actually really liked the Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert books!
I’ve read all the books several times as it looks like you have from the condition of those books. You prescribed an excellent approach to reading these. I’ve always felt that messiah and children of should have been one book.
Thanks for encouraging people to immerse themselves in the world of Arrakis.
InscrutableJohn
Yes! Through GE! Nice quick and helpful short
I'm on the 4th one.. so far I'm loving it.
Dune 1 & 2 - no beefswelling detected
Dune 3 - light foray into beefswelling
Dune 4 - um okay is beefswelling actually going to be a thing now, this is weird, but I guess there could be some fascinating ideas involved
Dune 5 & 6 - overwhelming full on beefswelling, I can't escape, save yourselves, fly fools fly!!!
Brian Herbert is the Disney of dune...
Giving props where they're due tho -
Paul of Dune was good
I've read Dune and intend to read the next 3. I just wonder if the graphic novels are worth reading.
I recently bought the first three books, Dune, Dune: Messiah, and of course Children of Dune. Judging by what I feel comfortable with on whatever book I plan to read next I intend to read just the first three books of The Great Dune Trilogy; The Rise of the Atreides.
Yes.
Teg really is a great character.
Yeah I read a bunch of the Brian/Kevin books. And it’s not that they were bad so much as they are so radically different in style than Franks original six novels. Less about philosophy or character and more about pure plot. And they sort of retcon the end of Chapterhouse in a way that totally negates where Frank was taking the story. I found the legit 6 to be fantastic though.
i just finished The Dune and its already in my top 5.For anyone who still cant decide should they read dune or not,bcz some booktubers says that writing style is bad or its hard book,bla bla bla..dont listen to them bcz everything that is not YA or Romance is hard read for them.they tricked me into avoiding Dune for so long,big mistake! cant wait to buy sequels!
I'm currently reading Dune. About 200 pages in.
I have it in hardback form with the next 2 books included.
Opinions so far?
It's good. I like his prose.
Does it grab me like Dan Simmons Hyperion book did?
Absolutely not.
Not in the same Stratosphere.
Still...I am enjoying it.
@@geminisundoneDune shines in the latter half and gets very deep philosophically.
I read up to chapter house, and I loved them all.
Could anyone give the complete list of these books and in what order should one read them?
Dune
Dune Messiah
Children of Dune
God Emperor of Dune
Heretics of Dune
Chapterhouse
@@jakethewoz thanks
All 6 of Frank's are excellent and its very hard to pick a favorite. I like Messiah alot. But I feel you gotta read all 6. I've read the majority of his sons and Kevin j Andersons (contradictory) glorified family/fan fiction. Can read them, but do so with a shaker or 10 of salt
Can someone explain why God Emperor is so unique without giving spoilers? Thanks!
Thanks for this
The problem with Brian is that he tried to make something that was not his, his own. What we wanted was him to basically be a ghost writer and write as if it's his father writing from the afterlife 😂 and he was like "nahhhh we are steering this my way" and he failed miserably.
The fact that Kevin J Anderson was involved doesn't really help the books credibility. The sequels are pretty good but I believe thats partly because Brian Herbert left a lot of content regarding to the events previous to Dune.
I love Messiah so much. Definitely not disappointing at all
I mean, 4/5/6 kind of present it’s own story arc. I don’t think you can read 4 and enjoy the things Herbert starts without finishing it
Also, if you want hard hitting Frank Herbert without the brick-sized book, read The Whipping Star and The Dosadi Experiment - You’ll thank me later!
For me messiah was the best, becouse of it s shorter length, and condensed story. Children and god emperor was okay, but heretics dropped the ball big time for me. I ll finish chapterhouse some day, but i m not excited for it at all :/
This is 100% the right take.
Hmmm. I've read books 1-4. Have been taking a bit of a break, but had intended to continue. Now I'm not so sure...
Chapterhouse: Dune is worth it. I felt like it was a poignant ending to the series, even if it wasn't intended to be. To me it's a meditation on death and transitioning through life phases reflected through the metaphor of the entire universe shifting into something new and uncertain.
I just finished heretics and its the first one that felt like a real chore to get through. Love Miles Teg but man, that book felt super horny. I am also in the minority that didnt really care for children of dune. I think Dune, Dune Messiah, and God Emporer are total must reads.
What about heretics and chapter house
I don't know! I stopped at book 3 and i'm saving the rest for later but i feel like the first one needs Messiah more than Messiah needs Children 🤷🏻♀️
I read the first three and that was about it.
Would you ever consider doing a Dune reading order? I’ve tried figuring it out on my own but there’s a lot going on with the books lol.
Publication order. Ignore the Brian Herbert books.
@@mikesbookreviews thanks!!
I really liked the Prequels
Before you even watch this short I'll give you the objective answer: yes you should read all 6.
Subjective answer: parts 4-6 are better than the first 3. Sue me
Also you are totally within your right to stop Dune at any point, even the first but that's lame af. Your only legitimate stoping points for Dune are books 2, 3, 4, and 6. Heretics and Chapterhouse MUST be read as a pair.
I regret reading the sequels.
It wasn't the ideas. It was the fact that there was not a single decent human being to get behind.
It was like watching a world of Machiavellian psychopaths manipulating everyone and everything for their own selfish purposes.
Yeeech! It turned my stomach reading it. My final thoughts were, "Why should I care what happens? Nothing good comes of anything.
Of course, this was about 40 years ago, so memories fade. But those are the thought and feelings I remember.
Actually, I found book 6 The Chapterhouse quite compelling. My personal rating from best to worst
1. Dune
2. God Emperor
3. Children of Dune
4. Chapterhouse
5. Messiah
6. Heretics
But it's still necessary, obviously, to read them in chronological order, as each js dependant on the previous plot. I found the Heretics to be the most boring. Not a huge fan of Messiah either. Chapterhouse was quite interesting with the emergence of the rival sisterhood order of Honored Matres to the Bene Gesserit. The story gets very weird at times after the Children of Dune 😅
If you’re going to read through book 4 you have to continue til the end! It definitely gets weird , but Leto’s whole plan for the human race isn’t fully realized until they leave in the no ship
There’s a reason nobody says Heretics or Chapterhouse are their favorite Dune novel… I read Heretics last month and it was weird, and not the Dune-weird I’ve come to expect. Sex fight with a space Amazon weird…
😆
I was totally not disapointed after Dune Messiah, even though after that Children of Dune became my favourite novel of Frank Herbert.
God emperor is the best book imo, anytime leto II is the focus which is pretty much the entire book it’s impossible to stop reading
Absolutely you should they are all excellent!
Me trying to give up golden showers...
This guy - "the golden path is the way to go"
😳
I prefer 4, 5 and 6.
I devoured Dune, but stopped midway through Messiah. It was so bloviated, but I enjoyed the concept. I'll try to push through eventually.
Yes simply yes
It’s a bit of a shame not reading Chapterhouse, which IMO is a fascinating book giving at last a lot of insight into the Bene Gesserit.
For the rest…. I really hated that KJA/BH felt the need to spend 6 bad prequel books just to set up “book 7” which in no way is as complex as they claimed nor benefited from this. It just made whatever interesting ideas that survive from Frank’s outline feel trivialized or already stale by the time they finally got there. I know there’s a huge debate about the themes in “book 7” and how much came from Frank, but they are actually very reminiscent of threads from his other non Dune books, notably his views on AI from Destination Void, and what he was exploring in the Pandora sequence with Bill Ransom at the same time he sketched book 7. So I think the general ideas, however weird, likely came from Frank. The execution is far from optimal, alas.
Personally out for curiosity I think people should keep expectations low but still read books 7-8, but by all means they should NOT touch any of the prequels, completely unnecessary to read 7-8.
I agree. BH/KJH get a lot of undeserved hate for the sin of simply not being the writer that FH was. Frank was an impossible act to follow and the fact that we got any kind of conclusion to his story, even if just based on notes and an outline, is something I will be forever grateful for. At least it was written by his own son and not some rando that the publisher decided to hire to make up sequels out of whole cloth, ignoring and disrespecting the lore that came before *coughDisneyStarWarscough*.
My questiom is why haven't you read everything? Chapterhouse ❤. Yeah the son... 😑
You should absolutely read up to Children of Dune. After that there’s a 3,000 year time jump and it’s hard to wrap your head around the new characters and setting and it doesn’t really scratch that itch to get more “dune” as you may know it. Children of Dune has about as conclusive of an ending as the first dune book, with just S many loose ends as there are tied up plot lines. Unfortunately the entire Dune saga never cleanly wraps up.
Are the prequels any good?
God Emperor of Dune was weird af
Stopping with Dune could be a good choice. There are many goid sci fi books out there.
God Emperor of Dune might be the best scifi book I've ever read in my life, I'm serious. Nothing else comes close to the themes and ideas explored in that book.
Children of Dune is worth reading for its story but it really emphasise what a poor prose-writer Herbert was. It's hard to get through. Dune Messiah is just meh.
It's only when reading Children of Dune that I understood what Dune and the spice was really about and I wished I didn't because it takes the 'SF' and 'fantasy' out of this great story.
FH's Dune series is a masterpiece. Holding BH to the same standard is not really fair but if you're the kind of person who wishes that they could read the Orange Catholic Bible or files from the Missionaria Protectiva then you will be drawn to the back stories that BH writes. Not all of it is great but Erasmus and Omnius are kinda unforgettable.
God Emperor is the best on though.
I read all the books up to chapterhouse. I DNFed that one because it was dragging on
Just finished god emperor. I am confused
Prequels all the way!!!! Read the house books, theyre my Fav.
IMHO, don’t start Dune unless you’re gonna read everything up to Chapterhouse
I would say read only the first book xD
Yes, read all of them
I’ve gotten up to children of dune which was way better than messiah IMO grateful I didn’t stop there. I have the others in my collection but I’m hesitant to pick them up for some reason
I genuinely think Messiah is as good as Dune and you can totally stop there if you want. I think that Children and God Emperor are more tied together than Messiah and Children.
The first 6 are oustanding books. The only question is if 7 and 8 are worth it. They are if you've already read 6 books and need closure lol
My auntie got me the first dune book, messiah and heretics. I have no choice but to read to at least heretics. But I’ll read chapterhouse too
Children of Dune is my favorite! He doesn't lie, you must read Messiah and Children.
God Emperor you should read if you liked the original trilogy. Understand though, its a whole new trilogy starting with God Emperor.
Loved Dune, absolutely hated Messiah. Not only was it incredibly boring, but while I can enjoy a complex and not straight forward hero, I do not enjoy a complete dismantling of the hero I rooted for in the first book.
I did exactly that. I stopped after the 4th book.
Frank Herbert's Dune series was awesome. I tried reading his son's books, but I don't like 'm.
You're exactly right. No need to go past God Emperor. God Emperor might be my favorite of the series, it's well worth reading.
God Emperor is amazing. Heretics and Chapterhouse weird and cool at first and then progressively goofy