God Emperor of Dune
Fourth book in the Dune series. Takes place 3500 years after the events of the original trilogy. Tells the story of Leto, the son of Paul Atreides, who has traded his humanity to become an immortal sandworm of Dune.
Stats for nerds
30recommend
90mentions
76people
2008–2026years
37% recommend57% neutral7% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- The Dune series doesn't stop with the first novel, I encourage all who liked the first one to continue reading up through at least God Emperor of Dune. Something the usually ironic calls for a Butlerian Jihad against modern LLMs miss is that even in the Dune universe, it just traded one form of stagnation and tyranny for another, it didn't really improve things. It delayed the threat of human extinction from a race of sentient machines, but such a future is inevitable without the Golden Path, and over the entire time groups like the Ixians were still developing technology to skirt the line.
- 1984, Animal farm by George Orwell
God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert.
They fit very good to present time.
- Dune Chronicles, the 8 books, as I consider them one single long story told in +4000 pages. The God Emperor of Dune (4th book) I consider to be the apex of the story.
- > Dune and sequels by Frank Herbert are the next logical option, with similarly large scope.
Not worth reading past God Emperor of Dune, the best book in the series.
- I would say the opposite. The first book is good, but pretty typical sci-fi fantasy fare. The next books are what really fleshes out a really interesting concept, this universe where humanity is far more advanced than today in a humanist way instead of technologically.
They also help make the point of the first book clear - that Paul wasn't a hero, but a tyrant. This is easily lost in the first book because of the comparison with the Harkonen and the previous Emperor, and because we're used to rooting for the main character. But Herbert's point wasn't to further the myth of the philosopher king, but to dismantle it - which is quite rare in fiction, and made extremely clear throughout the series.
I'd also say that the exploration of Leto II's psychology in the God Emperor of Dune was the most interesting writing in the series, so that's what I'd consider the pretty clear high point.
- Some recent books that really enriched my life:
- "Ace: What asexuality reveals about desire, society, and the meaning of sex" by Angela Chen. Really helped me understand my ace friends better.
- "Complex PTSD: From surviving to thriving" by Pete Walker. Helped me recover from a lot of trauma that was causing me duress
- "The Wizard and the Prophet" by Charles C. Mann. Helped me recover from anxiety disorder caused by climate change.
- "The Inner Game of Tennis" by W. Timothy Gallwey. As a former competitive gamer, this really helped me step back from competition and just enjoy the game.
- "Neurotribes" by Steve Silberman. Great book about the history of autism. Extremely sad but hopeful book.
- "Different Loving" by Brame, Jacobs, and Brame. A fascinating look back in time to the kink world of the 90s.
For fun I recently read and enjoyed: Foundation, Project Hail Mary (who's cutting onions in here), Going Postal, God Emperor of Dune, and Heart of Darkness.
