These are the final two books in the Dune Saga, and to be honest, the only thing that made me read them all the way through is that I am the kind of person that finish books I’ve started. They have very little going for them. Unlike the earlier parts, here there are few new ideas explored, the characters are boring – by now most people are copies of themselves or others, so any development is by definition impossible.
They make up a whole, separated from book four by another few thousand years. The only real power left in the universe are the Bene Gesserit, a kind of postmodern (these are written in the eighties) atheistic female Jesuit order, and a mysterious counterpart that has appeared from the fringes of the known university and are effectively taking over. The books explore the difference between these two orders, which could be interesting, but when it is drawn out over some 900 pages it is just boring.
So, no, these are not worth reading really. Spoils one’s experience of Dune.
