Dune Messiah

2☆
Imma be real, I liked Dune more than Dune Messiah.
Messiah starts 12 years after the end of Dune, and I feel like all the truly interesting stuff happened within that 12 year gap and we only get glimpses at that. Do I wanna know how Paul managed to bring hundreds of worlds under his control and kill billions and basically become The Worst Guy EverTM? Yes. Did the book tell me? No, not really. You can't tell me that all it took was prescience and a couple of tough desert guys.
Messiah is a lot more heavy on the political intrigue, but there were also long stretches where nothing really seemed to happen and move forward.
On top of that, while women weren't portrayed all that great in Dune, it's somehow worse in Dune Messiah, aka 14 year old Alia is horny for a much older man and Chani gets to die in childbirth for no real reason (truly the Padme blueprint). Irulan basically stops existing halfway through the book, after only being bitchy and whiney about wanting to get pregnant.
There were still some cool moments that I'm very excited to see on screen though. I just hope that Denis manages to turn the rest of this book into an interesting movie, too.
Because Dune Messiah ain't really it for me.