OBS: omtalen under er på engelsk. Jeg håper ikke det bryter med noen regler. Jeg kan nok få skrevet en norsk omtale på et eller annet tidspunkt, men akkurat nå føler jeg at jeg sa det jeg trengte i den engelske omtalen min på goodreads. Så her er den:
I gave this book five stars/terningkast seks - but I was still a bit disappointed with it. (OOPS: SPOILERS AHEAD)
When I begun reading, it had everything: I was immersed instantly. The writing was superb, it had philosophy, it had shades of grey.
But throughout the book I realized this was not the revolutionary sci-fi-book I had hoped for. It was not a book that dared to confront the status quo, that dared to defy authority the way I had hoped - the way I felt it was building towards.
Paul's goal is not to fight for freedom for the Fremen - but to rule them, unquestioningly, and to secure the throne. He does not defy the authority of the Empire on Arrakis, he does not say to the fremen: I lead you now, but our goal is freedom and equality for all men. And we will all rule together. Instead he says: you are mine. He does not overturn the notion that not all humans are human.
In the beginning, I thought it would be a book like that. That we would see a fight for an Arrakis free of the Empire, free from fiefdom. A free Arrakis, with a free people. But unfortunately the book disappointed me in that regard.
The reason I still give it five stars is because it's so damn well written, and the story it tells - although a different story than I had hoped for - is grand. And in many ways, the fact that it DOESN'T tell the story I wanted it to is an advantage aswell - Paul is human, so very human, and flawed. And throughout this book you can clearly see criticism of religion, criticism of putting one person on a pedestal as a natural leader. Paul claims he wants to avoid a jihad with him as the prophet that soldiers kill those who defy, but at the same time he plays right into this to secure his own power. And the book doesn't hide it, doesn't pretend that he only acts out of goodness, doesn't pretend that he doesn't see where his actions are taking them. He might say: this is beyond me, I couldn't have stopped this - but he can, and he could. And he knows it.
This, I think, is one of the strengths of the book and one of the complexities - that you see, at the end of the book, a foreshadowing of a leader as brutal and bloody as the one they fought to overthrow. That you see a man drunk on his own power. That you, as the book closes, feels that all is NOT well. And that you almost already start fearing his reign.
Few books do this well. But this does so in both a beautiful, poignant and terrifying way. And therefore I cannot wait to read more. I just hope it continues to show that good intentions can still lead you to darkness, instead of elevating P to someone beyond good and evil.
