Frank Herbert's "Dune: Messiah" is a Compelling Sequel

Less than a week after finishing Dune, I managed to get my hands on the second book in the series Dune: Messiah. Finishing the novel within a matter of days, I was once again completely entranced by the fictional desert world, from cover-to-cover.

Dune: Messiah picks up some twelve years after the conclusion of its predecessor. Paul Atreides is no longer a boy, but rather the supreme ruler of the known universe. The weight of great power hangs heavy over him, and enemies threaten to overwhelm him on all sides. The book at times feels heavier than the first in the series, and yet offers its own irresistible narrative.

Overall, Dune: Messiah expands upon the various concepts touched on in the first book. Rather than merely examining the nature of human agency, the novel explores the dangerous consequences of the power to shape one's reality. At times the book also reads like a piece of political commentary, prodding the ways in which rulers wield power and how social contracts are created between leaders and their subjects.

While Paul is perhaps less likeable in this sequel, one cannot help but sympathize with him. Throughout the book he is trapped in a cosmic battle between free will and fate, almost to the brink of insanity. One of the greatest philosophical debates of all time plays out in the life of the protagonist, through which one comes to recognize the unspeakable weight carried by a life governed by free will, or by forces entirely outside of ones control. 

The ending of this book was surprisingly satisfactory, and I look forward seeing what is in store for House Atreides.