At one point, since I have just read all the Dune books written by Frank Herbert, I thought about reviewing them all. I came across the problem, however, that the reviews I would have given to Children of Dune and especially Dune Messiah would have been virtually identical to the review I gave for Dune. So I'm not going to bore myself by doing that and am going to go straight into the review for God Emperor of Dune.

I'm also going to assume that the folks who are reading this review have a working knowledge of the first three Dune books. They are absolute prerequisites for reading God Emperor of Dune.

God Emperor of Dune would likely be considered as great, or greater, than Dune itself if a person didn't have to read the first three books of the Dune series to make heads or tails of it. It is also the sort of novel that can only be published by a writer like Frank Herbert, however. If God Emperor of Dune wasn't a Dune novel, I suspect that it would have never gotten published, or, if published, no one would have read it.

The book is a philosopher's novel. Indeed, it is written almost as an interpretation of a particular philosopher: Friedrich Nietzsche. For a review, this has put me in a difficult conundrum, too. Let me explain.

Frank Herbert takes the point of view taken by, uh, the Nazis that the future happiness and perfectibility of humanity must be done through the mechanisms of war and genetic determinism. I think that's a false view of Nietzsche, but it is a view of him, no matter how much I loathe it.

So, that puts me in a pickle insofar as reading and reviewing God Emperor of Dune goes. I generally agree with Oscar Wilde's aphorism that no book is moral or immoral, merely well or poorly written. But insofar as God Emperor of Dune was concerned, I frequently wanted to argue with the book's interpretation of Nietzsche. And I was frustrated that the main character of the novel, the 3500 year old Leto II, who was also gifted to know virtually all of humanity's past and future, spouted off these extremely controversial interpretations as though they were proven fact. It frustrated me when one of the other characters in the novel brought up an alternate interpretation or refutation, Leto II would use a conversation stopper: "I was there and know things you don't know."

But, after much thought, I decided to mention the books connection to Nietzsche, and my occasional frustration with Herbert's interpretation, and attribute all that to the character, not the writer, thus allowing myself to follow Wilde's advice and disregard what could be construed the moral interpretations of God Emperor of Dune.

In short, God Emperor of Dune is about the last days in the life of Leto II, who in Children of Dune merged himself with Dune's sandtrout and made himself Emperor of the known universe. God Emperor of Dune is set thirty-five hundred years after Children of Dune, when Leto II has maintained his control over that period of time but in a world where conspiracies threaten to finally destroy him.

Ignoring the occasionally frustrating philosophical interpretations, God Emperor of Dune does several things so well it should be considered the standard against other things ought to be judged. In particular, any writer who wants to write about an ancient and powerful being filled with vast experience and subtle perceptions should, more or less, commit God Emperor of Dune to memory. (This is actually more common in literature that one might expect, showing up virtually everywhere save in books that are strictly about the common, materialistic world; certainly, people who are reading this review have likely read several books, perhaps recently, about ancient and terrible beings.) God Emperor of Dune works because Leto II is absolutely believable as the terrible Worm Tyrant.

A great deal of that is because Frank Herbert chose an intellectually robust point of view and, basically, made Leto II that viewpoint's mouthpiece. It happened to be Nietzsche; it could have easily been Hegel or Kant or Plato. But it meant when someone tried to talk to Leto II, Leto II could rip into them with a finely honed argument.

Other than Leto II's wonderful intellectual powers, framed in the set of a deep thinker to give them cutting edges and weight, Leto II is also a wonderful psychological study of the arrogance, the sheer hubris, of great age and power. Leto II, due to his knowledge of the past and future thought that he knew best for everyone. That he, and only he, could guide humanity to some bright future. Given his great age, power and experience, this arrogance is completely in character.

However, Leto II also came across, occasionally, as a poignant character. He had sacrificed his humanity for centuries of sorrow. He consistently claimed, with some believability, that the only reason he chose the course of action of a tyrant over humanity for thousands of years was to stave off annihilation of humanity. He appears, sometimes, as an almost messianic figure -- through his suffering, humanity is redeemed. But his ache for his lost humanity, which never reaches melodramatic proportions as it often does when ancient characters bemoan what they've "lost," is wonderfully portrayed.

God Emperor of Dune is also the culmination of what started in Dune: the perils of prescience. The Dune novels, from Dune to God Emperor of Dune, are a tale refuting the desirability of knowing the future. After all, if a person knows the future irrefutably, they are locked into that future; their vision becomes inevitable. This is both stifling and dull. Leto II is aware of this and his thirty-five hundred year lifespan is an attempt to get humanity out of the trap of his own future awareness. And in one of Herbert's more enlightened interpretations of Nietzsche, Leto II is trying to free humanity from all limits imposed upon it. (Unfortunately, that noble idea is tied to Nazi-esque eugenics programs and genetic determinism . . . but I'm not supposed to talk about the book in a moral sense, right?)

The book is also extremely well written in other ways. All of the characters are interesting, particularly Leto II's chief aide, Moneo Atreides. In Moneo, it is possible -- though the book doesn't actually encourage a person to do so -- see many of the flaws in Leto II's genetic determinism. In his youth a rebel, Moneo was subverted to Leto II's views and has completely sacrificed his will to Leto II.

What is also truly wonderful about God Emperor of Dune is the sense of change in the world. By the time a reader gets to God Emperor of Dune, they've read three books set during the days of Paul Muad'Dib. They're familiar with many of the political elements of the Dune books: the Landsraad, the Sardaukar and Fremen. By the days of God Emperor of Dune, there is no Landsraad, Sardaukar or Fremen. Leto II has outlawed mentats, as well. Dune is now Arrakis -- a lovely garden world without a sandworm in sight. The Spacing Guild, Bene Gesserit and Bene Tleilax are whipped dogs, almost completely impotent before Leto II. And there are new players in the form of the Fish Speakers and Leto's priesthood.

It takes a fair bit of artistic bravery to change a winning formula that much. Frank Herbert ran a very real risk of alienating his readers. But, to his great credit, rather than sit on his laurels and write another book set on dusty Dune, he radically changed the environment in which action could occur. He pulled it off, too. I wish more writers who wrote series would take a clue from Frank Herbert and actually go out on a limb.

However, God Emperor of Dune is the peak of Herbert's Dune novels. Afterwards, the books -- which still readable -- nevertheless are always grasping for something Herbert never again finds. The clarity of philosophical purpose and excellence he was able to pull off in God Emperor of Dune he tries to recapture in the last two Dune books . . . but what was vital and vibrant in Leto II's mouth becomes parodies in the mouths of the Bene Gesserit. Still, that doesn't effect God Emperor of Dune, but it might influence reading on after reading God Emperor of Dune.

If I had to point out any flaws in the book, they would be the ones I've basically mentioned. Leto II's belief system is, fundamentally, a form of Nazism and I do find that quite disturbing. But if a person keeps in mind that it's just the character, just Leto II, then the book is one of the great tomes of science fiction literature.

Recommended: Yes