Although I have read Dune at least 6 times, I have only read the sequels all the way through once, and only read the first three books one additional time. In any event, it has been a long time and while I remember the big picture, a lot of the details were lost to the sands of time. (See what I did there?)
Children of Dune starts 9 years after the events of Dune Messiah. Paul and Chani’s children have grown up, and are dealing with their grandmother, Lady Jessica, the Prophet, a mystic who wanders the desert, and their possibly possessed aunt, Alia. This book returns a bit more to the ”wheels within wheels” subterfuge of the great houses that features so prominently in Dune. It also features a lot of religious/mystical aspects as Leto II and the Prophet come face to face in the last third of the book.
I remember that this book was where I started to lose the big picture the last time I read it, and i lost interest, without finishing the rest of the books. This time, it read differently to me. I liked this a lot more than Dune Messiah, and I am very interested to re-read what happens next. I had thought about skipping the next 3 books and reading something more modern, but I know that if i don’t keep at it, I will lose the details.
This book explores the changing planet of Arrakis, as moisture begins to become more prevalent once again after hundreds (or thousands?) of years of being a desert. The terraforming program begun in book one has continued. The life cycle of the worm, spice, sand trout is explored and explained, but I am not 100% sure how much of it is from the text and how much of it is from some Dune wiki reading I have done… This book is again told from an omniscient first person perspective, and I have gotten so used to it that I am hardly seeing it anymore like I was when I reread Dune 2 months ago. It is a choice, and it is not one that I think one could do as well in today’s market. It is certainly not a voice I would choose.
Speaking of my voice, I have slowly but surely been completing my novel. I am doing 2nd round edits on a second pass through for my reading group (just posted chapter 7 today) and am still working forward. I am writing in chapter 34, and there are ten outlined to go. The major climactic threads have all be spun, and now I will weave them together for the next six or so, and then the last 3-4 are denouement and tying up loose ends. I am very close to getting that alpha draft done. It has taken much longer than expected… I had hoped to have the alpha draft finished this month, but real life got in the way in the back half of July and the next few weeks are also full of real world things. I am happy to be making progress, and I will finish, likely, by the end of September or soon thereafter. Wow. 37 years after I wrote the first words, ”I am not from your planet,” which sadly have not survived in this modern draft, I will complete my first novel.