Heretics of Dune

[Dark Pickle]

Was most likely my least favorite of the series.

First off, he was pretty rigid with the paragraph of text followed by a sentence or rord in italics (usually with an exclamation point) format for every character in every chapter: distracting.

Secondly, there was like three chapters missing: Patrin's death? The capture of the no-ship? The destruction of Rakis? All of this had to happen off camera?

 

[Cassie]

Huh? Are you talking about the chapter headers? I always loved those.

Didn't Patrin sacrifice himself so Teg and Duncan could escape? I can't remember. Also the destruction of Rakis was described, cause Odrade barely escaped.

 

[Dark Pickle]

It all happened off camera, one minute everyone is taking off, leaving Teg to fith the Honored Matres, then it's "later".

Huh? Are you talking about the chapter headers? I always loved those.

No, not those, I love those too. I meant the actual form of the chapters in that book.

Didn't Patrin sacrifice himself so Teg and Duncan could escape? I can't remember.

He did, but again, they didn't show it. Just talked about it.

 

[CaptainWacky]

The last two are definitely my least favourite out of the six, probably mostly because they're so removed from the other four (God Emperor is thousads of years later, sure, but still feels like the same story as the first ones, to me.) There's so many character introduced and just when it feels like one of them is going to be the "main" character they're killed off. And I remember thinking more would be done with Duncan and the little girl (umm, her name is some variaton on Siona) but I don't think much was...I can't remember. Oh, that's another thing, there was a LOT unaswered and obviously being set up for future books, but of course Frank Herbert had to go and DIE and ruin it all...and I'm refuing to read the books not written by him on Cassie's orders.

 

[Archibald Nixon]

Heretics & Chapterhouse are definitely their own "book", apart from the rest of the series. I tend to look at the whole thing as a trilogy (although Messiah was so short it seemed more like an extensive epilogue to the first book and a prologue to the second), followed by an interim story (God Emperor, which may be my favorite besides the first), followed by what was supposed to be a second trilogy, of which only the first two were completed.

As for Heretics...I liked the no-rooms & no-ships, and Teg's "awakening" was pretty cool. I had kind of mixed feelings about the whole Honored Matres thing, although Murbella was intriguing.

 

[Cassie]

I think the series was complete with God Emperor, but the publishers wanted FH to write more. Heretics and Chapterhouse are not my favorites by a long shot. I do love the bits about Teg, and Odrade.. but the HM were too weird, and all the spit smell of sex stuff was just creepy.

OK.. I just dug up my copy of Heretics, I see what you mean about the words in italics, but I guess it didn't bother me. The italics indicate an actual thought, from the few pages I just scanned.

 

[CaptainWacky]

There should be a whole book about chairdogs.

 

[Cassie]

Yes, cause I'm dying to know what they eat and how they poo! AND sex, sex, sex with chairdogs, sex.

 

[CaptainWacky]

Maybe they eat human waste and poo cushions?

 

[Dual]

They eat their own waste.

 

[CaptainWacky]

That would be effecient, yeah.

 

[Dark Pickle]

and all the spit smell of sex stuff was just creepy.

That the other thing I didn't like about Heretics, that really crappy sex scene!

 

[Cassie]

Well.. FH was old and horny.

 

[CaptainWacky]

Did we ever clear up if he disowned his gay son or not?

 

[Cassie]

I think he did.

 

[CaptainWacky]

The Fish Speakers love fish cakes.

 

[Cassie]

And each other.

 

[CaptainWacky]

And Duncan.

 

[Cassie]

And Leto's giant worm.

 

[CaptainWacky]

And my axe?