This week for Book Series Wednesday I’m covering another Dune book. It’s God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert!

Plot Synopsis: 3,500 years have passed since Paul Atreides had become the messiah of the Fremen and the Emperor of the known universe at the end of the novel Dune. His son, Leto Atreides II, sees the path that his father Muad’Dib had also seen, a future that secures the continuation of human life throughout the universe. That future, however, requires an aberrant act of selflessness: becoming a hybrid of man and sandworm. At the end of Children of Dune, Leto II accepts this mantle of godhood from the Fremen and transforms himself into a monster of the desert, a sandworm, that will dominate the ecology of the planet Arrakis (known as Dune) for millennia. This is an act his father had been unwilling to do. Leto essentially accepts the terrible price of saving humanity which his father had rejected.

Plot: The plot is incredibly serious and deals with the fallout of the end of the production of Melange, Leto’s rise to power and decline of Fremen society. I enjoy it quite a bit, but at the same time the book is quite a departure from the previous books in the series.

Characters: Leto is quite a joy to read/listen to in this book, as is Duncan and Siona. The rest of the cast is also interesting, but it’s really all about those three characters.

Overall: This is a great sequel to Children of Dune, and it’s the center point for the remainder of the series.

For those who like: Dune, Frank Herbert, Sci-Fi.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.