GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE by Frank Herbert

Narrated by Simon Vance (main text)

…..The Worm Turns

While a necessary part of the sequence of the saga, this is the most uncharacteristic novel in the series. Clearly the figure of the God Emperor is pivotal to the development of the series, but I found this installment merely a place-holder for the era of the Tyrant. I think the account of Leto II and his millennia-long empire could have been handled better as a brief retrospective in the next novel Heretics of Dune than it was executed here as a novel-length episode of its own. Herbert fails to impart the necessary sense of vitality and irresistible power that the figure of the God Emperor holds in the story. The dialog for Leto II is so feeble and mundane that it is a wonder that such an impotent personality could wield such megalomaniac power over all of mankind on many different worlds.

Simon Vance again handles the reading. He is excellent at enunciating each word perfectly so Frank Herbert’s words come through without alteration. I would have enjoyed it more had he played Emperor Leto II with a bit of campy melodrama—it would have been so much more fun.