labingi: (Default)
One commenter on a YouTube video said Leto II was their favorite character in literature. I liked him, too, when I read the Dune books back in high school, and that prompted me to pick up God Emperor again, as it is the main book telling his story. I enjoyed the book moderately, both then and now but can better articulate a response now. So here goes.

Spoilers for Dune books up to God Emperor.

My “Grades” for God Emperor of Dune

Concept: A
The idea of Leto as a human-Worm composite and a preborn identity with billions of lives in his head across thousands of years, working to shepherd the human race through a possible extinction event and onto a future where humanity will be equipped to survive in perpetuity is unique and endlessly fascinating.

Character of Leto II: A-
Great concept and mostly executed well, convincingly preternaturally knowledgeable yet in a cobbled-together way that is different from the wisdom of a Buddha, who has progressed as a single identity across millions of lives. He sometimes comes off as petulant/egotistical/immature, and I can’t quite tell how much of this is intentional vs. a weakness in writing. (More behind the cut below)

Other major characters: B/B-
They’re okay. They have consistent, individual identities. They sometimes say intelligent things. They almost necessarily come off as ignorant kids next to Leto, a tricky writing problem. (More below)

Worldbuilding: A/A-
The Dune universe is one of the best created out there. This book carries that on. It feels internally consistent and plausible. The A- is for a certain lack of detail and some stuff that just sits odd, like humans are going to colonize multiple universes? Maybe a word on how?

Prose: B
Herbert’s language is functional and flows well, often with nice turns of phrase, idioms, sayings, etc. He writes omniscient POV with lots of barely announced flashbacks, like “He thought of the other day when...” and the next several pages are a few days before the scene you were just in. I find this a bit jarring, but I’m sure he had his reasons.

Plot: C-
This book has no momentum, no (effective) rising action, setbacks, turning points, moving up to a clear climax, all that stuff. If a good plot is like a symphony building to a crescendo, this plot is like the same tune played over and over with occasional higher and lower notes. I have thoughts on why below the cut. Read more... )
labingi: (Default)
So I'm a tough sell for a Dune movie. Not only am I fan of the book (though I confess I have not reread it in years), but I grew up on the David Lynch movie, and imperfect (and somewhat unfairly maligned) though it is, it has a place in my heart that is hard to dislodge. I was also not hugely sanguine about the performances in Villeneuve's movie based on the trailers, so this movie had some weight to lift with me.

And I can report I really liked it. I dreamed about it the night I saw it, and I dreamed entirely in terms of the new actors and their representations of the characters, so it must have really gotten into my mind. I did not, however, find it perfect, so here's a little rundown...

The Good
Taking time to tell the story. One of the only recurrent critiques I've heard of this Part 1 is that the second half drags. I didn't think so. I thought it was well paced and a nice balance of going deep into the context without slowing the plot.

Everything audiovisual: the effects, cinematography, landscapes, music, sound, visual storytelling--all of that was excellent. Others have broken it down at length, but I'll just lump that all together here.

The casting overall: the biggest win of Lynch's film for me and the biggest lose of the SyFy miniseries is in casting. This is a story about eugenic superpeople and those who can keep up with them, and that takes some gravitas. I thought this cast generally worked well visually and in terms of their performances, minus the caveat I'll discuss under "The Bad" below.

A suitably young and well-written Paul. Overall, I really liked the film's concept for Paul: small, adolescent, having some stuff to learn, but already clearly hyper-trained and very mature for this age. This landed very well, minus the caveat below.

The technology: though the film didn't mention the Butlerian Jihad, its presence is there in the tech, which is both advanced and retro, and I really liked the reliance on buttons and switches. It both looks cool and makes good sense for a culture oriented around keeping humans in charge of manipulating what tech does on a very manual level.

Stilgar's interview with Leto. Everything about this was lovely! It hit just right the balance between Stilgar's trying to make a good start with the new colonizers while having zero faith that anything will be different than before.

Chani is intrinsically a really boring character, but the film here is trying hard to make her credible and likable, and it pretty much works for me.

The Might Have Been BetterRead more... )
labingi: (r2dvd)
Many thanks to [personal profile] sidhebaap for sending me this gem: Goodnight Dune, a must-read for all Dune fans!

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