Book Review: God Emperor of Dune [Hardcover] (Dune #19 chronological order, #4 publication order)

 

God Emperor of Dune, first published in 1981, is the fourth book in the Dune series written by the original author, Frank Herbert. The events of the book are set about 3500 years after Leto II took power in the novel Children of Dune. At this point in time, Leto has become a human sandworm hybrid, terraformed Arrakis, and completely controls the remaining supply of spice. Thus, space travel is almost non-existent, and the few remaining great houses bow to Leto's authority out of fear, while some plot against him. 

The length of the book depends on which version you get. In the hardcover trilogy set, it is just over 300 pages long, but the print is very small. It is not an easy book to get through. Most of the characters are new, aside from the ghola of Duncan Idaho (the latest of many that Leto has used over time), and the main plotline is mixed within a bunch of philosophical monologues, making the story hard to follow. Ultimately, it is not as good as the original Dune novel or any of the prequel novels written by Frank Herbert's son, Brian, and his writing partner, Kevin J. Anderson. You can tell that Frank was trying to comment on human evolution and how ambition and power can turn dark (which is still a cautionary tale for real-world events). Still, the novel would have been better if he had toned down some of the philosophical commentary and focused on the plot against Leto. Even though it is not as good as the original novel, it is still worth reading to see how the entire saga plays out. But, if you were really only invested in the story of Paul, then this is not going to do much for you.