The novel “Heretics of Dune” by Frank Herbert was published for the first time in 1984. It’s the fifth book in the Dune saga and follows “God Emperor of Dune“.
Fifteen centuries after the Tyrant’s death, a caste of priests holds power on the planet Rakis, formerly known as Arrakis. When a little girl named Sheeana shows that she can control the sandworms, which she calls Shaitan, their power is threatened, not least because the Bene Gesserit show considerable interest in Sheeana.
On the planet Gammu, formerly known as Giedi Prime, the Bene Gesserit are training a new Duncan Idaho ghola to which the Tleilaxu have provided state-of-the-art physical abilities. The project is so important that Mother Superior Taraza also involved Miles Teg, the former Supreme Bashar of the Sisterhood forces. Other reverend mothers disagree, as they fear that a more powerful Duncan could become a new Kwisatz Haderach. Another threat comes from the Honored Matres, a product of the Scattering.
“Heretics of Dune” represents in many ways a new beginning in the Dune series. Duncan Idaho is the only character who remains from the previous novels because the Bene Gesserit are interested in him as part of their projects. Planet Arrakis, now called Rakis, is a desert again but everything else seems to have changed for humanity.
The Tyrant, as Leto II Atreides is remembered, caused the Scattering, a new expansion of humans into unknown space. Fifteen centuries later, many of their descendants are coming back, and among them are the Honored Matres, a new Sisterhood that bases its power on sexuality.
Frank Herbert recounts the clash between old and new powers with alliances that were unthinkable in the past such as the one between Bene Gesserit and Tleilaxu. From this point of view, the themes are the ones developed in the previous novels with new variations but the results are not the same.
The novel was developed by Frank Herbert at a time when he was also assisting his wife Beverly, a cancer patient, until her death in 1984. Maintaining high quality in a complex series such as Dune’s would have been difficult under the best of circumstances but it became impossible in the personal situation the author was facing at the time.
The result is a novel with a plot that is convoluted even by the standards of this series and with an uneven pace. The various subplots are mixed in ways that are sometimes chaotic in a build-up far away from the sophistication that is especially seen in the original novel.
On the bright side, in “Heretics of Dune” Frank Herbert explores much more than in the previous novels the internal dynamics of the Bene Gesserit and the Tleilaxu, who had generally remained in the shadows. In my opinion, the complex relationships between the two organizations are the best part of the novel. Frank Herbert shows in greater depth the techniques of manipulation of the Bene Gesserit, who use religion in various ways, and some secrets of the Tleilaxu.
The planet Arrakis, now called Rakis, is no longer the center of the known universe for a number of reasons that are explained in the novel. The story centered on Sheeana is set on Rakis but the other subplots are set on other planets. The Golden Path set up by the Tyrant has influenced human history in a remarkable way with a number of important consequences. Frank Herbert’s intent was to tell that future with the choices of organizations that have very conservative attitudes that clash with new, much more dynamic forces.
The result is a novel in which the reader feels a certain familiarity with settings and characters and at the same time, there’s a clear break with the past. With its strengths and weaknesses, in my opinion, “Heretics of Dune” was only partially successful and also had the problem of being the first book of what was supposed to be a series within the Dune saga, so it doesn’t have a real ending. It seemed to me a clear step back from the previous books’ quality and yet I still found many reasons of interest and food for thought in it. If you’re not afraid to venture on the Golden Path, it can be worth continuing with this saga. It’s available on Amazon USA, UK, and Canada.
