Children of Dune

And I thought Dune Messiah was the best story-wise so far, but to my surprise, this proved that assumption incorrect, and God Emperor of Dune might as well do the same, but onto Children of Dune; I absolutely love the direction they took with this installment. I've heard plenty of people say they dislike this book, but I genuinely can't see why. The story was a ride from start to finish; it felt beautiful in some sense, with this novel really showing the consequences of Paul's actions in the previous installment. I won't say I was as attached to Leto II and Ghanima as I was for Paul, but Leto II specifically has an interesting storyline that bleeds into God Emperor of Dune. Well, that's another assumption. However, Frank took the emotions I held for Messiah and dialed it up to 100 with tons of shocking/hype and painful moments, such as Alia's role in the story. It was difficult not to feel sympathy for her as she was a great character in the past two books; her death was certainly memorable in ways that will keep me awake at night. On the topic of deaths, my only gripe with this part was the reintroduction of Paul into the story. I truly believe Paul's final moment in Messiah was one of the greatest scenes in the series, so to just go back on that, simply to kill him off a second time is a bit frustrating. I understand that it had to happen, and I liked how Frank went about it, but I found it to be a bit distasteful to kill him off so swiftly. Once again, I understand why, but I wish he had some more conversations with the original characters (Alia, Jessica, Gurney, Idaho) before his grand sacrifice. Nevertheless, the ending left me excited for whats to come next in this masterpiece.