Dune Messiah

Frank Herbert's sequel to Dune finds Paul Atreides now Emporer of a vast galactic empire, centre of a new religion whose Jihad has swept all before it, killing billions along the way. Revered as a god, Paul Muad'dib and his new religion are evangelised everywhere. His sister Alia is High Priestess, having the same spice visions as her brother. But, inevitably, the forces of the old regime plot to overthrown him.

The Bene Gesserit sisterhood, who for countless generations have cultivated the bloodlines of the Great Houses in search of their messiah, their Kwisatz Haderach, resent their loss of control. The Guild of Steersman, who pilot spacecraft through their addiction to the spice Melange, want to wrest control of it from Paul by stealing a sandworm. And the Shape-shifting Face Dancers of the Bene Tleilax seek to destroy Paul through the means of a “ghola”, a reanimated corpse - in this case that of trusted House Atreides lieutenant Duncan Idaho (having no memory of his previous life, he is rechristened Hayt). Will the plots succeed or will Paul, aided by his spice enhanced “future vision” see a way out?

Herbert's second Dune novel is less epic in scale perhaps but full of intrigue and is in the end a meditation on power and the true cost of ultimate power. Sombre in tone, even fatalistic, Dune Messiah is less space opera and more a character study, but is no less involving for being that. As before, at the end of Dune, Paul is faced with terrible choices in order to preserve his legacy.

Dune Messiah is a powerful middle to one of the great SF trilogies.