Thaidakar the Ghostblood

Alright, before I start talking about Children of Dune, I want to bring up that I will finally be continuing the Inheritance cycle! I'm really excited to continue this series. 

If you don't want to read a big rant/discussion on Dune, feel free to head on out lol.

Alright, now, I really need to unpack a lot of what has changed in my opinion of Children of Dune, so here goes:

Children of Dune by Frank Herbert is a novel which I have had a diverse number of opinions on since the moment I picked up the book and read the first chapter.

This is the second time I've made it all the way through Children of Dune and I now understand it fully and why I didn't like it before.

The key element is that I accidentally skipped some things and I misunderstood three characters.

Children of Dune is not one of those books where you can skip a few pages. In almost any place, you will miss important info that attributes to the plot and the arcs of the characters. A lot of big things happen.

(spoilers from here on out)

The other times I read this book, I was a fan of Alia. Alia was one of my favorite characters. However, in this read through of the books, I finally realized how annoying she really was in Dune: Messiah and how she manipulated Duncan. This helped me accept her changes in Children of Dune, which was one of my biggest complaints since I accidentally skimmed through some of the Baron parts. 

I misunderstood Paul too. Idk where I said my opinions on him, but I made a reply to a post of mine once after Eddie was asking something and I had a big ol thing on him. I misunderstood his role in this book. I now understand that his role is to show us where we could potentially go after making mistakes. Paul in this book is meant to usher in the next phase of Dune and show that Dune is no longer about the story of Paul Atreides. It was never about him.

The third character that I did not understand was Leto Atreides 2, part 2 (Yes, I remember the other Leto Atriedes II. He's great and I never want him forgotten.) I never got Leto. I never saw what he was doing, I never saw the sacrifice, I never saw the pain he went through. Then I realized it this time and saw that Leto was doing this because it was literally the only way to do it that he could find. I disagree with a lot of what he is doing to get the end he wants, I think he could use the future to shape a different future where he can still accomplish it, just without as horrible a means.

Leto's way is that the ends justify the means. That is an outlook that I can understand, and if you hold a version of that as your belief, I do not hold it against you, but as for me I really, really, really dislike it. I like Leto as a character despite his twisted worldview, which I feel is different than saying "I like Kaz Brekker." Being a Kaz Brekker fan and being a Leto fan are two different things. I don't know precisely how, but it just is and the comparison makes sense. 

And now, to get to the real point of all this.

The other times I have read this book I have hated the last third of the book. I have mildly disliked the rest of it too. HOWEVER, this time I read it, I have understood far more and now move it up from a 6/10 to a 9/10. Why? Well, here's the following reasons:

1. Leto makes sense and does cool stuff.
2. The faction interplay is far more complex than I thought it to be.
3. Jessica is just doing her Jessica thing and I love her and anyone who dislikes her is doomed to watching Rebecca Ferguson movies on repeat till the day they die.
4. GURNEY AND STILGAR ARE GOATED
5. The Preacher's first scene. Nuff said

Sorry if that read a little scatter brained or something like that, I'm a little tired from school this week.