Youngsters of Dune, the third guide in creator Frank Herbert’s Dune collection, explores the lives of Leto and Ghanima Atreides, the dual kids of Paul Atreides, the hero of the primary novel. TV author Andrea Kail was impressed by the guide’s considerate examination of complicated concepts.
“It is a very philosophical guide, way more so than Dune was,” Kail says in Episode 559 of the Geek’s Information to the Galaxy podcast. “The variety of historic and philosophical references on this simply blew my thoughts.”
Science fiction creator Matthew Kressel agrees that Youngsters of Dune is a great, well-researched guide. “I used to be making an attempt to determine all of the non secular references,” he says. “I’ve Buddhist, Hindu, clearly Christian, Jewish references, historical Egyptian. There’s additionally Jungian psychology. I imply, there’s a lot in there.”
Youngsters of Dune excels relating to concepts and worldbuilding, however the pacing and characterization can really feel a bit dated. Science fiction creator Rajan Khanna warns that the guide is usually pointlessly obscure. “Plenty of stuff will get revealed proper earlier than it turns into related, and it may have been woven all through a little bit bit higher,” he says. “And there’s a number of enjoying coy with the reader. ‘Oh, I’m going to speak about these items that no one else is aware of,’ and that bugged me.”
Geek’s Information to the Galaxy host David Barr Kirtley admires the ambition and imaginative and prescient of Youngsters of Dune however didn’t essentially get pleasure from studying it. “It appeared like an mental train,” he says. “It didn’t appear to be [Herbert] was that within the characters. He had all these concepts he wished to discover, and he was type of going by means of the motions with the characters is the way it learn to me, as a result of the concepts have been what he was actually interested by.”
Take heed to the entire interview with Andrea Kail, Matthew Kressel, and Rajan Khanna in Episode 559 of Geek’s Information to the Galaxy (above). And take a look at some highlights from the dialogue under.
Matthew Kressel on worldbuilding:
I discovered myself at instances simply blown away by how deep and resonant and highly effective the concepts are, and simply the depth of thought that Herbert put into this, and simply going again and reviewing all of the plot threads and the way they match collectively, and the way he needed to plan that from the start, and simply the philosophical undertones of it. … I nearly really feel like Herbert himself is taking spice and seeing the way forward for humanity. This guide feels actual. It feels prefer it’s a lived-in world. If you learn this guide you expertise it together with the characters, and it’s so vivid and so actual in my thoughts. I feel it’s pretty much as good as the primary guide.
David Barr Kirtley on character motivation:
Far and away my primary downside with this guide is that I discovered it consistently irritating that I didn’t know: ‘What aspect is that this individual on? What do they really need? Are they a double agent? Are they telling the reality on this scene or are they hiding one thing?’ I’m OK with a few characters the place you’re undecided what their agenda is, however I felt like there was simply no one right here that I may establish with and that I used to be with emotionally. So usually characters have plans and there’s a throwaway line to elucidate their motivations that was like 100 pages earlier or 100 pages later, or doesn’t seem in any respect.
Andrea Kail on Jessica Atreides:
Jessica is a villain. She’s extremely egocentric. She’s egocentric when she provides start to a son when she’s supposed to present start to a daughter, resulting in all of this. She’s egocentric when she takes the Water of Life when she’s pregnant. She is aware of what it’ll do and she or he does it anyway. She sacrifices her daughter to save lots of her son. After which she ran out on her two-year-old daughter and left her there to deal alone with the implications of her actions as a substitute of staying on Dune and being the information that she wanted. Alia’s downfall is particularly due to Jessica, and I got here out of this horrified by what a horrible individual Jessica is.
Rajan Khanna on Leto Atreides:
The second greatest factor I hated about this guide was superpowered worm-flesh Leto, as a result of he simply begins throwing doorways and punching worms and leaping off cliffs. I’m like, “How does that occur simply from carrying the sandtrout in your physique? How is that this organism which is meant to be very primitive supplying you with tremendous energy?” I suppose if you wish to slide by means of the desert they’re designed to try this, however how is he tremendous sturdy from that sort of stuff? I don’t get it. … I like superhero comics and films and all that stuff, however it felt like abruptly a comic book guide hero jumped into this Dune novel that I used to be studying, and it was jarring.
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