Tag: Dune

The only character I like in this book is Bijaz the dwarf:

“His mouth rattles, but there’s no harm in him,” Otheym said, affection in his voice, the one good eye staring at Bijaz.
“Even a rattle can signal departure,” Bijaz said. “And so can tears. Let’s begone while there’s time to begin.”

And this is why I hate the rest of the characters:

“You’re not a despot!” she protested, tying her scarf. “Your laws are just.”
“Ahh, laws,” he said. He crossed to the window, pulled back the draperies as though he could look out. “What’s law? Control? Law filters chaos and what drips through? Serenity? Law—our highest ideal and our basest nature.
Don’t look too closely at the law. Do, and you’ll find the rationalized interpretations, the legal casuistry, the precedents of convenience. You’ll find the serenity, which is just another word for death.”

The strange twist is that while Paul learns about conspirators, a “stone burner” goes off. It’s a strange bomb, nuclear, powerful enough to burn to the planet’s core, but only blows a couple of houses. Still it burns Paul’s eyes. But wait, he isn’t blind, he can see in his mind! But maybe he’ll use it to fool his enemies? No, he immediatelly announces to everyone that he can see without eyes. So why add this in the first place?

First Dune was Lawrence of Arabia fanfic with Hamlet sprinkled on top (took Brandon Sanderson to explain that familiar taste I couldn’t put my finger on).
With the positive influence gone, it just gets weird.

Aliya, Paul’s sister, is literally horny, so she decides to spare with a dummy naked. Of course she reaches level 11, while even the fencing masters are level 7. Then Paul walks in, and scolds her telling that he once reached level 10, but was scolded by his tutor for being so amazing in everything.

Later in the book, the story becomes outright petty. There’s a shapeshifter plotting against Paul, and he takes a shape of a Bedouin woman telling Paul that her father wants to share a conspiracy plot with Paul, but he must come personally accompanied by Chani, his concubine. A reminder, Paul is the Emperor of Mankind, 650 billion died in 12 years opposing him, but sure. And the “Bedouin woman” even has an argument when he refuses to bring Chani.