I keep thinking we’ve seen the last of this character (I thought he was full on dunzo halfway through book one, and I was so sad, because Jason Momoa is playing him, but don’t worry, Jason, your paychecks are secure forever as long as the movies are a hit). One of those characters is a clone of Duncan Idaho. I also did like several of the secondary characters (although, some of them verge on sharing protagonist credit with Leto). It’s still the same basic universe and planet, but things have changed, and it was interesting to see how, and speculate as to why. There’s also the fact that 3,500 years have passed since we last visited Arrakis so we get to go through the process of discovery again, sort of. I’m not sure if it was the WTF factor, or the fact that Leto kept making me angry, or that the things that were happening were escalations of fuckery, or all three. I read it pretty fast, all things considered, when I crawled through the previous two. So the thing about this book is that I kind of hated the storyline, and the main character was incredibly unlikable and almost totally unrelatable, but! It did engage me emotionally. And he has some overarching bullshit plan that he likes to vaguely hint at while proselytizing to anyone who will listen. He is all-knowing, and prophetic, and he has the entirety of human history in his mind. Like, he acknowledges this to everyone, out loud. (I’m still not clear on why this is happening, or even why he chose to merge with the whatever they’re called at the end of the last book, but whatever, I’m going with it.) He is full on a tyrant. He’s also transformed physically, and is still transforming, into a sandworm of Dune, though he still retains a human face and arms (his feet are vestigial “flippers”. So, the title of this review may have given it away, but our main character is Leto Atreides II, the son of Paul and Chani, and he’s 3,500 years old at this point, and is basically God Emperor of the universe. what the fuck? But not in a bad way, mostly? I don’t even really know what to say about it? In general, my reaction is just sort of.
I was very much dreading the rest of the series after reading those books. The second two books I appreciated on an intellectual level but they did not engage me emotionally at all. I will read it again! I will see the movie. The first book is a straight up classic that I enjoy reading, despite some issues with it being dated and gross in places. Reading this series has been a truly weird experience.
I keep going back and forth on this rating.
0 kommentar(er)
