Ahira's Hangar

I started a long overdue reread of this "bridge" book tonight.

I have always thought it to be a bridge between the original trilogy and the following duology.

I can remember most of the big stuff that happened, but not enough of the details, so I am well overdue.

So far I have only read the prologue and the first chapter or two, and remember why I had thought it to be a bit odd the first time I read it.

Few authors even attempt to tackle the sort of time scales that Herbert does here ~ not only the thousands of years between the original trilogy and the main story, but also between the main time and story of the novel and its own prologue, which takes place a long time after the main story.

There are odd differences - such as the name of the primary planet itself changing - as well as the ecosystem of the planet - and weird similarities such as the cloned Duncans, and the fact that there are still Atreides running around causin' trouble.

The "museum" Fremen are disturbing. I thought that the other time I read the book, and still find them to be so.

OK, finished up this morning. I would have gotten done earlier, but everytime I lay down in bed to read, I ended up falling asleep. I am still fighting off the tail end of this respiratory infection.

You know, this book is filled with characters I really do not like. Leto is interesting, but he is not likable. The last Duncan is whiney and emotionally unstable. Hwi never seems real. Siona is a stubborn and selfish immature mess.

The only characters I like are Moneo and that one Rev. Mother who gets sent to Ix, and she is not in the book enough.

Plenty of interest, though. We get to see what Leto has been trying to breed for in humans. And we see that his "Golden Path" is a way to keep humans bottled up in a very controlled fashion until he has achieved his breeding goal - and the alternative would have been extinction for all mankind at the hands of the machines - which must still be out there somewhere.

But what do humans who cannot be seen by a prescient eye have to do with machines anyway? That part is not clear to me. I know that these are probably highly evolved computers, strong beyond my ability to imagine them, true artificial life - but can even sentient machines have prescience?

I can hardly remember the last two Dune books at all. Perhaps the answers will be found in them?

My favourite book in the series, apart from the first.

The scale, the ambition of Leto II and his Golden Path is literally awesome.

Like you though, I don't like many of the characters...and Moneo is my favourite. The Duncans annoy me particularly.

As for why he keeps them, perhaps he is simply lonely.

And I've always found the plight of the museum Fremen a particularly sad one. A long way from the proud warriors who faced down the Imperial Sardukar with equinamity and emerged victorious.

And yet, thus is perhaps the fate of all proud warrior nations. Already the seeds were sown in Bk 2 & 3 I think.

Paul wasn't the end the BG wanted though. He was a horrible mistake, and his son an even worse side-effect of it. But as you say, they are nothing if not patient.

--A

Oh yes - the last Duncan in particular was entirely annoying. He was emotionally unstable, if not flat out insane towards the end.

But then on the other hand, imagine the shock to find out that Leto had been resurrecting him regularly for the last 3,500 years? That everything you know and believe is wrong...

--A

Oh sure - it would be unsettling to say the least. On the other hand, This particular ghola and Siona hardly seem to be emotionally stable enough to become the new Adam and Eve of the new improved human race, do they?

Great post EL.

But you're saying there that the Golden Path isn't preventing the slaughter of humans by machines, but merely allowing some humans to survive it?

--A

Fascinating. (Haven't read Hunters myself). I see the logic of it certainly. Does it explicitly say in the series that the oracle creates the future by "seeing" it?

--A