Dune Messiah is the follow-up to Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic Dune.
The first book saw Paul Atreides (Muad’dib) conquering of Arrakis, defeating the Emperor, taking the Emperor’s daughter as his political wife, and unleashing his Freman on a holy jihad to conquer the galaxy.
The sequel takes place 12 years later and features a galaxy cowed by the Fremen’s ferocity. It introduces a Paul Atredies who very much understand the cost of his war to himself and his people, and a longing to turn his back on that war. It also sees scheming amongst the surviving factions of the empire, who seek to seize control from Paul.
For his part, Paul continues to walk a delicate line that will minimize the amount of death and destruction in the galaxy, and preserve humanity’s part in it. He continues to walk the path of his own prophecy, powerless to avoid the dangers ahead because he knows the consequences if he changes.
Prophesy Revisited
I read Dune Messiah – Amazon – for the first time back in high school, when I was tearing my way through all of Frank Herbert’s Dune books. At the time, what stood out to me was how Paul sought to give up his empire.
What struck me this time is Frank Herbert’s understanding of the cost of power, and his character’s innate distrust of government. Looking back, I can see how this novel helped inspire my own libertarian bent in my 20s (and beyond; I’m just a little less intense about it now…).
What also struck me is that this book will be exceedingly hard to film as written. It’s mostly talking heads, politics, and philosophy. There are some dramatic moments and intrigues, but it’s nowhere near the sweeping drama of Dune. I imagine they’ll need to introduce aspects of the Jihad just to have some on-screen battles to show, while playing up the conspiracy against Paul.
There are potentially some great visuals in this book – particularly Paul’s ending – but I do not envy them the challenge.