Man did I review these books in a whack order. I think I’ve read about seven books since this one, but it’s somehow my latest review. Well, whatever it takes to get them all written! Like I said in the title, I stopped reading the Dune Chronicles books maybe last year. I loved Dune, I liked Dune Messiah, and I tolerated Children of Dune. God Emperor of Dune was a slog. If this wasn’t an audiobook, I think I would have given up and not finished. I just checked, and it was about the same number of pages as Tripwire, one of the Jack Reacher books I read recently that I did not feel was interminable. Holy crap was this book long. As my boos would say when she wants us to be more concise: That was too many words.
We find Leto Senior in his worm hybrid body after over three thousand years. He’s been the God Emperor and rules with an iron fist. OMG I originally wrote “rules with an iron fish”, and now I can’t stop giggling. There were actually women called “fish speakers” in this book, but no iron fish that I know of.
As in the previous Dune book, they just keep making Duncan Idaho golems, which are basically clones of the original Duncan Idaho. Leto has an unnatural connection with the Duncans, but they keep messing up in some way and dying. Well, Leto mostly kills them.
Leto (the worm hybrid) has a lady friend in this one though. But the latest Duncan also has the hots for her. It sounds more interesting than it was, I promise! Once again, I shall be quitting the Dune books. Someone slap my hand if I pick up the next one!
My rating: 3
