tim

Boring and confusing. I frankly couldn’t wait to get to the end, no longer ingesting and understanding the events that were unfolding, but feeding myself words like gruel.

The author fails to recognise that, while it may not be “proper”, he must remind and re-explain the figures and institutions involved. I lost track a number of the countless individuals and their respective views and policies. I sometimes found this (mass market paperback) impenetrably confusing.

Speaking as someone who doesn’t read a lot of fantasy but for whom the first Dune awoke something, I didn’t find Messiah as engaging or succinct, though it did take me back to a place I didn’t think I would ever return to. I’m glad I was able to experience the sequel.

It just isn't very well written. Perhaps I am the wrong audience.

Characters seem to do things without no prior knowledge or experience. Things happen in a moment that would take a lot of time and effort. If it were a film it would be 80% montage. The characters don't make much sense.

Frank Herbert spent 6 years developing the universe Dune was set in. The "Red Rising" universe is "plausible-sounding" but not very believable. It reads how someone unfamiliar with the genre would think Dune was. It's not original; it doesn't bring anything new to the table.

Read this book if you're thinking about writing a novel and don't think you're good enough yet.

I almost didn’t finish reading, after putting it down for a week around the 80 page mark. Yet, here I am writing a review at 11.30pm, having read the last ~70 pages in one go. It’s very well written, though perhaps a little too “educated” for me; the protagonist, a character who keeps moving forward and then retreating over his own thinking, I found difficult. Emotive but slightly unsatisfying.

Absolutely brilliant. Thrilling. Sad. Romantic.