God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Contemporary editions of this, the fourth main installment of Frank Herbert’s original Dune Chronicles, commence with a foreword from his son Brian, who found a draft at his parent’s home, which the author intended to be a bridging work into a new trilogy of the science-fiction series. The elder Herbert never finished the trilogy following God Emperor of Dune, with his son writing two novels, Hunters and Sandworms of Dune, from his father’s notes. The fourth entry supposedly marked a change in writing style for Frank Herbert, but it will still be familiar to series fans.
Leto Atreides II has reigned as the titular God Emperor of Dune for three and a half millennia, with his Golden Path supposedly necessary for humans to survive. Following Brian Herbert’s introduction is a speech excerpt from Hadi Benotto, who finds a storehouse of manuscripts composing the journals of God Emperor Leto II, with Benotto joining poet Rebeth Breev in reading a translation of said diaries. The actual action of the story begins with three hundred individuals on the run through the Forbidden Forest, with D-wolves pursuing and Siona Ibn Fuad al-Seyefa Atreides vowing to destroy Leto.
Leto’s lineage is reflected upon, with Arrakis during his lengthy reign terraformed, the desert of Sareer being the only arid portion of the planet. There are no melange-producing sandworms or any successful recreations of the geriatric spice, and without it, Navigators can’t fold space to expedite space travel, members of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood can’t ordain Reverend Mothers and Truthsayers, and life expectancy is down. The God Emperor controls the melange and has maintained three millennia of his namesake Leto’s Peace, transforming from his human form into a giant pre-worm.
Leto needs an Ixian Royal Cart to move about, with a woman named Siona being crical, and Leto’s D-wolves being an extension of his purpose. Her father, Moneo, serves as an advisor to Leto, who meets with the latest incarnation of Duncan Idaho. Most chapters begin with excerpts from the God Emperor’s private journals, with plenty of politicking and a marriage proposal throughout the novel, which is ultimately surprisingly good for a transitory novel and contains a little more science-fiction elementality than human interest, being recommended to fans of the prior books.
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