Average Rating: 
Rating: - A Great Book Pertinent to Our Times
God Emperor of Dune continues millennia after Children of Dune, after monumental changes to the government and life of humankind; Leto II, still alive after 3500 years, is not quite human but something far beyond it, and his reign sits between the conservative rule before his day and the great forces of change promised after. As a whole, not a lot happens in the story, but it richly explores the mind of the God Emperor and the reactions of those he tells his thoughts to. Full of philosophy and analysis, this story is ahead of its time (1984)in that it carries a lot of value in our post-9/11 world, especially in regard to the effects of war and the threat of it, and the values of people in leadership positions. Keep your eyes open to his thoughts on people like those responsible for the Enron and WorldCom disasters (he would describe them as "bad administrators") and the struggle of those who wish to shake off a power they believe tyrranizes them. All in all, a very good and deep story that builds a bridge between the first trilogy (Dune, Messiah, Children) and the second--as yet unfinished--trilogy (Heretics, Chapterhouse).
Rating: - As the Worm Turns
In the fourth volume of Frank Herbert's Dune Series, the tale goes three thousand years after the first three books. Leto, the son of Paul Atreides is still around, however, a semi-immortal who is the title character.Paul might have been the equivalent of Julius Caesar, setting up an Empire for his successor, the Augustean Leto. Leto has established his own version of Pax Romana, creating a government that has remained in power over three millenia. The price of this peace is obvious: civilization has stagnated and many of the same institutions are still around, despite a time gap similar to the time of the mythical Agammemnon/Atreides to our modern day. Leto is extremely powerful, not only physically and intellectually, but economically as well. His Achilles heel (speaking metaphorically as his worm-like body no longer has heels) is his simultaneous development towards worm-hood and his vague longings for his humanity. Among his allies/opponents is Duncan Idaho, the latest in a series of Idaho clones that have served Leto and have often died trying to assassinate him. The book focuses on Leto's scheming about the human race and those who oppose him. While quite interesting and entertaining, it would sometimes be nice if Herbert's characters were a little less serious. No one speaks or does anything frivolously; it is all part of a larger agenda. Nonetheless, although different from the first three books, this is a worthy part of the series and a good science fiction novel.
Rating: - Interesting but confusing
This book is better than Children Of Dune, and yet still lacks a highly dynamic plot. In fact, the whole thing is set within the space of a few days, detailing the life of Leto II (technically Leto III - but only Siona seems bothered about that) 3,500 years after the events described in the first Dune trilogy.Leto II has become a human-sandworm creature, ruling over his angry and frustrated empire with his vast legions of Fish Speaker soldiers, enforcing peace for dozens of generations to teach the universe a lesson, while also waiting for the right time to turn Dune back into a desert planet. While it is obvious allthroughout that Leto has a deep, vision-motivated reason behind his lesson to humanity, the actual reasoning only became even slightly apparent at the end. And some of the talk of politics made whole chapters almost unitelligible to me. And yet, again, Herbert's strong talent meant that this book never became a punishing read. The tale contains enough action to keep your heart beating, and once more this book has an ending that is heart-stoppingly shocking, but at the same time brilliant. This is a great transition from the old Dune that we knew into the knew trilogy, but in my opinion the rest of the second trilogy is better. Read on.
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