I read this, long ago as a young junior high (7-9th grade) in the 80s shortly after I learned about Dune thanks to the David Lynch movie.

I never understood this book, in fact, it turned me off Dune, and I only read a chapter or two of the third book before quitting.

Years later I read the follow on books written by his sone (Dune House Atradies, et. All) and the Bultlerian Jihad series, etc. I really liked those.

Since the Dune 2020 version is coming out I wanted to re-read the series, so many people swear by it and have high hopes.

What changed for me, besides seeing this book as someone who just turned 49 vs someone who was 14 or so?

There was a forward in the version I got from the ebook. Written int he 2000s by his sone, explaining how this book was his favorite. How it was the worst received of the series and how it saddened the author.

A quote from the introduction: “and revealed the dark side of the messiah phenomenon that had appeared to be so glorious in Dune. Many readers didn’t want that dose of reality; they couldn’t stand the demotion of their beloved, charismatic champion, especially after the author had already killed off two of their favorite characters in Dune, the loyal Atreides swordmaster Duncan Idaho* and the idealistic planetologist Liet-Kynes.”

Being that this is 2020, and there’s been a mess of things going on, this really struck a chord with me, and I read it in a new light. I thoroughly enjoyed the breaking, and I think having read the other books explained some of the ‘weirdness’ of this book better knowing the world building that was done in the other Brian H/Kevin Anderson novel.

I highly recommend if you read this as a younger person to go back and re-read it. It’s a quick read and worth checking out, if nothing but to prep you for what’s coming with the movie(s) that i hope handle this better than previous iterations did.