DUNE MESSIAH

My 1st impresion of the book was how different it is from the 1st book, the classic sci-fi masterpiece Dune. Dune Messiah is far shorter in length in comparison to the epic Dune, and its bulk is almost purely philosophical. The plot itself is actually very short, and the action minimum. Wat u have is lots and lots and LOTS of monologue, intellectual musings and philosophical debate which, I must frankly admit, I dun understand much at all.

Nevertheless, it is still readble enough to me, and I read on in quite a fast pace bcuz I wanna find out wat happen next. There's also this slow-building sense of inevitable doom, which makes the reader very anxious to know wat is the ultimate price Paul has to pay to avoid the Jihad he had started from bringing chaos all over the universe. And the ending is quite unexpected. Eventhough someone have spoiled the ending to me, i.e. I know wat happened in the end, I'm still very surprised at HOW it happened. And believe me, it's seriously depressing. The path that Paul has chosen for the universe, and in doing so sacrificing all the power and happiness that he has...

Well, I won't spoil more of the story now. Sufficient to say that it is a good read, albeit may be pretty hard for those expecting another Dune phenomenon. Still, I think Frank Herbert takes too much time to explain so little. But the creation of the ghola Hayt, or (SPOILERS!!! SKIP THE ITALICS IF U DUN WANNA BE SPOILED!!!) should I say the "resurrection" of Duncan Idaho, is the highlight of the novel to me. He is by far the most interesting character in the book, now that all the "main" characters seem... distant. It's worth a read, and I guess I'll continue with The Children of Dune next! >=)