The novel “Destination: Void” by Frank Herbert was published for the first time in 1965 in the magazine “Galaxy” with the title “Do I Wake or Dream?” and as a book in 1966. A revised edition was published in 1978.

An interstellar spaceship is traveling to the Tau Ceti system carrying a crew in hibernation. It’s led by an Organic Mental Core (WTO), a brain separated from his body. However, in a short time two WTOs have become catatonic and a third one has gone mad.

The few members of the emergency crew have very few choices to avoid the order to abort the mission and return back before leaving the solar system. One of the possibilities is to develop an artificial consciousness. However, it seems that the official information on the mission don’t always correspond to the truth.

“Destination: Void” is the first novel of the series of the Pandora sequence, also known as the WorShip series, but was written as a single and autonomous story. Several years later, when Frank Herbert decided to write a trilogy of sequel together with Bill Ransom, he revised the novel in order to define its basis better.

The novel is set entirely inside a spaceship that is part of a project of interstellar colonization. The plans, however, are not very clear, on the contrary they become more and more mysterious. Initially, there seems to be an emergency situation in which some crew members out of hibernation are forced to make difficult decisions but the matter becomes even more complicated.

In the end the theme of colonization is an excuse to introduce that of the creation of an artificial consciousness. “Destination: Void” is set in a future where there have been attempts to create an artificial intelligence but with negative or even disastrous outcomes.

The crew members of the starship are highly competent but are in a situation of great stress and some of them are starting realizing that things are not exactly as they seem. They are forced to try a nearly impossible undertaking without even knowing if they can trust their colleagues and the mission control center.

These issues are typical of Frank Herbert, who in many of his works put the characters in situations where they are forced to go beyond their limits. In the situation more and more ambiguous of “Destination: Void”, the protagonists argue about the issue of the nature of consciousness and the ethical issues surrounding the creation of an artificial consciousness. From this point it’s a novel with elements also philosophical.

Because of these characteristics, “Destination: Void” is a very complex novel. It doesn’t help that the technical elements related to the creation of an artificial consciousness, while limited, are at least partially obsolete. To be clear, at a certain point diodes are mentioned.

“Destination: Void” isn’t an action novel being based mainly on the dialogue among the protagonists. For this reason, I think it would work even better if adapted into a movie. The issues are too complex for a blockbuster but a small budget would be enough to produce it. This movie could take the best advantage of the constant tension created from the beginning of the story and the various twists and turns until the chilling final.

There are many interesting elements in “Destination: Void” and the characters are also well developed so their desires, motivations and sometimes secrets are revealed. However, also due to the limited length of the novel, the result ends up being really convoluted. The plot suffers because it’s fragmented and the pace suffers because sometimes it becomes very slow and that spoils the effect of the tension.

In my opinion, the “Destination: Void” is a hit-and-miss novel. For its characteristics, I recommend it to Frank Herbert’s fans, who are already used to his typical themes, and to those who appreciate the kind of themes discussed.