Can’t think of any specific characters, but probably any of the mentats from the Dune franchise, since I wish I could have my mind and thoughts superbly organized and mimic computer abilities like being able to commit new ideas to memory, recall that which is important, and block things that trigger me.
I remember watching the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory starring the late Gene Wilder back near the end of fourth grade, and it remained an endearing classic in my mind to the point where I rewatched it a few times when it appeared on television the following decades. I never read the Roald Dahl book and maybe saw Tim Burton’s adaptation once a few years after it was released. It’s been a bit of a curse for film adaptations of Dahl’s work to falter financially at the box office as the 1971 movie did (though Burton’s version and this were exceptions).
This prequel serves as a companion piece to both the 1971 film and Dahl’s original novel, starring Timothée Chalamet (whom I know best as Paul Atreides in the latest adaptations of Frank Herbert’s Dune) as the eponymous fledgling chocolatier, twenty-five years before the events of the first Willy Wonka film. When he returns home, he struggles financially yet finds ways to make ends meet as he grows his chocolate business. An Oompa Loompa named Lofty, portrayed by Hugh Grant like the non-dwarf actors portraying the halflings in the Lord of the Rings films, eventually aids Wonka in his endeavors. Oh, and the film’s a musical.
While I have fond memories of the original Gene Wilder film, I didn’t have any expectations before watching this prequel film but ended up enjoying it. The musical numbers are pleasant, with many original tunes alongside staples of the 1971 movie like “Pure Imagination” and “Oompa Loompa” (with Grant singing a quirky ending credits epilogue for the various characters to its tune). The cast performances are superb, the settings well executed, and the effects brilliant, accounting for an entertaining movie that does the novel and first film adaptation justice.
Chapterhouse: Dune by Frank Herbert
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Frank Herbert’s final Dune novel before his death follows the action of Heretics of Dune, chronicling the continued conflicts of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood against the Honored Matres, who are attempting to control the universe and destroy factions and worlds that oppose them. In his introduction, Herbert notes the novel’s setting, over ten millennia in the human future, when women rule the Known Universe. The story begins with Mother Superior Darwi Odrade celebrating the birth of a ghola-baby (in other words, a clone) from an axlotl tank of the recently deceased military genius Miles Teg. Meanwhile, Great Honored Matre Dama, nicknamed the “Spider Queen,” tortures Reverend Mother Sabanda.
Odrade enjoys seeing the cloned Miles at play, with the boy being trained in the military arts just like the original, as the Honored Matres plan to use a mysterious “weapon” to further their conquest of the universe. The Honored Matres destroy Lampadas, a center for Bene Gesserit education, with one of the survivors, Reverend Mother Lucilla, escaping with the shared minds of millions of Reverend Mothers from the past and finding sanctuary with an underground group of Jews. The Rabbi who leads them reveals a “wild” Reverend Mother named Rebecca, who has gained her Other Memory, a well of genetic memory, without formal Bene Gesserit training.
Duncan Idaho returns in ghola form like Teg, retaining memories from his previous incarnations due to being a Mentat. The time eventually comes for the assault upon the Honored Matres, with Teg becoming the Bashar of the military forces, and the tides constantly turn in each other’s favor. Throughout the story, the Bene Gesserit attempt to terraform the eponymous planet, Chapterhouse, to accommodate sandworms, given that the native homeworld of the creatures, Arrakis, had been decimated by the Matres. The story ends with a cliffhanger, which Herbert’s son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson would resolve with the final two chronological books in the Duniverse a score later.
In brief, Chapterhouse does have many positive aspects, such as Herbert’s trend (which his son would continue) of including various philosophical quotes at the beginning of each chapter, alongside the intricate outer space setting, discussion of ecology, and the presence of the Kindle X-Ray feature, which alleviates some confusion readers unversed in the franchise’s unique terminology and many characters may have. However, confusion frequently abounds regarding character ages (namely, the gholas), many lines and terminology are unclear, and it can be hard to keep track of who is talking in conversations given the infrequent mention of names and constant use of pronouns. Though not a bad book, this is one that readers will need to meticulously focus on while being incredibly familiar with the plots of its predecessors.
Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
When author Frank Herbert wrote his famous Dune series, he had nothing in mind for its success or failure, with the initial installment of his franchise having been the product of six years of research and a novel of ecological and human concern. Publishers turned it down twelve times before its official publication, with the author noting that he wrote parts of its sequels before the first Dune story. As with its predecessors, the penultimate entry of his series before his death contains various philosophical quotes commencing each chapter that provide good insights into the society of the Known Universe.
Heretics introduces the twelfth Duncan Idaho, a twelve-year-old, with Reverend Mother Schwangyu observing his behavior on planet Gammu, once Caladan. The Mother Superior Taraza effected the creation of the twelfth clone, with the Sisterhood dreading another Kwisatz Haderach, vowing not to take the clone to Rakis, formerly Arrakis or Dune. In the meantime, a girl from the former desert world named Sheeana Brugh learns to control sandworms, with the late God Emperor Leto II, fifteen centuries dead before the book’s timeframe, predicting a sandrider.
Reverend Mother Taraza has a meeting with a woman who had borne nineteen children for the Bene Gesserit, Darwi Odrade, on the Chapter House planet. The latest Duncan clone gradually gains memories from prior incarnations, such as being a ghola, with backstory given on the Bene Tleilax, divided into Face Dancers that serve as mules submissive to Masters. Also introduced is the Weapons Master to Duncan, Miles Teg, who didn’t want to come on assignment to Gammu, but Taraza personally requested him, with background given on him as well like his wife’s death thirty-eight years past, and grandchildren through his daughter Dimela.
The eleven-year-old Sheeana has been with the priests on Rakis for three years and is interested in the planet’s desert environs. She befriends a worm and names it Shaitan, with her regular wormriding causing disdain among the clergy overseeing her growth. Miles Teg receives additional backstory, being a Mentat, with one of his earliest memories being a dinner with his brother Sabine, whom he adored. Time skips also occur sporadically, with Duncan turning fifteen. However, some inconsistencies appear, like a mention of him at a younger age than the twelve years he starts at.
Some familial revelations sporadically come throughout the story, with other characters introduced, like Tylwyth Waff, a Tleilaxu Master of Masters. Teg ultimately finds himself on the run from adversaries late in the novel. After I finished, I found this to be another enjoyable series entry; however, better definitions of unique terms like no-ships and no-globes, the former vessels that can turn invisible, would have been welcome. The novel further emphasizes human interest more than science fiction. Even so, it’s a good yarn, likely to be relished by series enthusiasts; however, newcomers to the Duniverse will likely want to start from the beginning.
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.
Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
In the third entry of Frank Herbert’s original Dune Chronicles, Stilgar, Naib of the Sietch Tabr, raises the orphaned twins of Paul Muad’Dib and Chani, named Leto and Ghanima, who are nine years old at the beginning of the story. In Paul’s absence, his sister Alia rules the Imperium and wants to groom Leto as her successor to the throne. In the meantime, a wanderer known as The Preacher roams Arrakis, spreading his teachings. Furthermore, Princess Wensicia Corrino, daughter of the deposed Emperor Shaddam IV, wishes her son Farad’n to overthrow Alia and regain control of the Imperium.
Throughout the story, Alia finds herself possessed by the spirit of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, with her nephew embarking on a quest across the desert, experimenting with melange trances and communicating with the sandworms, which eventually begins to alter his body chemistry. Jessica further trains Farad’n in Bene Gesserit teachings, intending him to marry Ghanima, who at one point seeks advice from her missing father’s consort Irulan, the eldest daughter of Shaddam IV. During his desert excursion, Leto receives help from his father’s advisor Gurney Halleck, House Atreides’ War Master.
Farad’n himself consults The Preacher, with a kidnapping of Jessica plotted, the mother of Paul yearning to banish Wensicia. Duncan Idaho is further involved in the plot against the twins, and throughout the novel come several deaths and revelations of things such as the identity of The Preacher. While it’s obvious who this mysterious wanderer is from the beginning, the third entry is still enjoyable, with plenty of political intrigue and hints of what will come in further books. However, like its predecessors, it borders more on human interest than science fiction.
Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Newer editions of the first Dune sequel have a foreword from its author’s son, Brian Herbert, who indicates that it’s perhaps the most misunderstood entry of the original series, given its antithetical nature to its predecessor, with protagonist Paul Atreides, the Muad’Dib, becoming a “fool saint.” Frank Herbert intended the first follow-up to evoke the lesson that governments often lie to their people, with citizens needing to question their leaders. As in the first entry of the original Dune Chronicles, new chapters open with philosophical quotes, indicating things such as the lack of separation between gods and men.
The second book occurs twelve years after its predecessor, with Paul’s Jihad raging for that intervention. The Muad’Dib controls the flow of the spice melange, with his sister Alia also a religious icon. Meanwhile, Scytale, a Tleilaxu Face Dancer, and Jadacha, a hermaphrodite able to change his gender at will, conspire to assassinate Paul. The Sisterhood also believes that Paul’s Jihad has somewhat gone out of control. Furthermore, a love triangle develops among Paul, Irulan, and the Fremen Chani, with the Muad’Dib contemplating siring an heir and arguing with the two women about doing so.
There are occasional surprises in the second installment, such as the return of a character thought dead in the book’s predecessor, not to mention a sequel hook for the third book in the Dune Chronicles, with Brian Herbert indicating that Dune Messiah arose with the intent of being a bridge between the first and third entries rather than a standalone story. The first sequel accomplishes its goals well, although, like the original, it’s somewhat more human interest than hard science fiction. Even so, those who enjoyed the original Dune will likely appreciate its sequel.
Dune by Frank Herbert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The first written installment of the late author Frank Herbert’s Dune franchise opens with Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam visiting Jessica on the Atreides homeworld of Caladan. Her son Paul is the prophesized Kwisatz Haderach, with the Reverend Mother upset Jessica didn’t birth a girl, and she tests Paul with the gom jabbar, a needle with poison on its tip. The Houses of Atreides and Harkonnen have been bitter enemies for generations, with the latter holding the desert world of Arrakis in fiefdom for fourscore. Family patriarch Baron Vladimir Harkonnen plots with his nephews to lure the Atreides into a trap in the desert world.
The Atreides prepare to move to Arrakis, with an assassination attempt upon Paul. His father, Duke Leto, informs his son of a plot by the Harkonnens to have Paul distrust his mother. The Atreides are targeted by the Harkonnens on Arrakis, with Paul ultimately discovering his true lineage. The spice melange, found exclusively on Arrakis, is considered valuable as water and key to defeating the Harkonnens. Paul and Jessica ultimately take refuge with the world’s native inhabitants, the Fremen, with the Atreides son learning skills like how to ride sandworms.
The Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe, Shaddam IV, is eventually involved in the plot against House Atreides, shortly after which the narrative ends. Herbert follows the main text with appendices explaining things such as the ecology and religion of Arrakis. He also includes a helpful dictionary on terminology exclusive to his Duniverse, with newer incarnations of the novel adding an afterword by his son Brian Herbert. Overall, the first written tale of the Duniverse is enjoyable, with good action and its influence on future science-fiction franchises such as Star Wars, even if it sometimes delves into human interest.
Dune: The Heir of Caladan by Brian Herbert
Dune: The Lady of Caladan by Brian Herbert
St. Gallen's Scribblings 