a Dune fix

I came across this book while searching for something, anything that would satisfy the high I'd become accustomed to while listening to every Dune book. this was sufficient. Creative, gripping and emotionally intelligent. If Dune is a 10, this work is a strong 7. that is a good thing!

13 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Very human aliens

Melodramatic. A bit too much for me. Made worse by the narration. The aliens, supposedly far advanced beyond humanity in every way, seemed like lesser versions of the human characters. The ability for aliens who evolved on a different world to breed with humans is far fetched - as is the physical attraction to humans. The message or lesson in psychology and philosophy is intended to be the focus of the story but the overly dramatic telling of the story along with the poorly drawn aliens dominated the experience for me. I'm a big fan of Herbert's Dune books, but not so much his other works.

10 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Read this a long time ago and just came across it.

Would you listen to The Heaven Makers again? Why?

Yes, I love Herbert's older, non-Dune work, and it gets short shrift among the Dune fans.

What other book might you compare The Heaven Makers to and why?

Godmakers, Dosadi Experiment, any of Herbert's older work.

What does Scott Brick bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He's a bit ponderous, but easy to listen to.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not a particular one, just all-around.

Any additional comments?

Any Dune fans should check out this and Herbert's other old books. He has many universes that are worth a read or listen.

8 persone l'hanno trovata utile

I dig it!

Good hard science fiction, couldn't believe how well this book aged. It's been well over a decade since I took a psychology class, but I really felt like everything was spot on. The plot twist was simple, not over done, and practically forced me to love this book to the very end.

4 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Dated

Theme was fun. Good for a Twilight Zone episode, but dated with the psycho-babble in vogue in 1968. Also, the use of the N-word, used by one of the characters was a shock, but indicative of the times.

one complaint of older SciFi is how male-centric it is.

2 persone l'hanno trovata utile

You Really Aren't in Control of Your Life

This is a book for everyone who feels like we are not really in control of our lives. In it, Herbert posits that a group of immortal aliens, struggling against the ever-present weight of boredom, have been secretly manipulating events on earth for thousands of years in order to provide entertainment dramas for their race. These aliens are responsible for humans becoming civilized, developing religion, fighting with each other on both a grand and personal scale, and basically everything else that has ever happened on our planet. One of the major storylines of the story involves an investigator coming from the alien government to learn why the owner of this planet (and the creator of these most famous entertainment spectacles) is still interested in this planet after thousands of years. The answer to that is the great mystery of the novel.

The second plot is more personal. It focuses on a psychologist (Herbert loves to have psychologists as main characters) whose ex-girlfriend’s father has just murdered her mother with a saber. This psychologist has just suffered an accident involving radiation which damaged his eyes. The unique eyeglasses that correct his damaged vision also permit him to see through the cloaking devices of the aliens and notice them. The psychologist attempts to find out how and why the aliens are playing with people’s emotions and causing so much damage.

It's a very enjoyable story, but the first storyline involving the alien investigator really doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. The aliens have been watching stories about humans for many thousands of years and can’t wait for the next ones to come out. Why then is it surprising that the creator of these stories is also still interested thousands of years later? Yet, without that investigation, the whole novel falls apart, so you have to look past that and just enjoy the ride.

2 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Fantastic Narration- okay story.

It was an okay story but certainly not one of the authors best. It lacked any Woman characters of significance. Scott Brick, narrator makes the story worth listening too.

1 persona l'ha trovata utile

I’ve had the same thought!

A few weeks ago the thought popped into my mind that this entire earth was a spectacle created for the entertainment of powerful non-human beings. So coming across this title when I did was serendipitous. I loved it, I love Scott Brick’s narration as always. I’m so happy when I see he’s the one narrating. I agree with another reviewer than Frank Herbert’s non-Dune works are amazing. Every one so far has been spectacular. Of course, Dune is nearly Gospel for me - but I’d live to see Herbert’s other works turned into film or limited-run series. Come on Apple TV, Amazon or Netflix - get on this !!

1 persona l'ha trovata utile

Imo

A much better and interesting story than Dune (I however only have heard the one book, but it wasn't what I expected after all the fuss).

This book is as said pretty entertaining story. (from the eternal boredom! 😉) when it got really started I missed a lot of "sleep time * in my day. (join movement for 30 hours day to get more book time! Or whatever. Sounds like the Kem seems to have cycles independently than such thing as a random thing like how long the earth revolves shouldn't mean anything when electricity is used to light everything anyway.!!)

1 persona l'ha trovata utile

Herbert rocks

This kind of stuff is why we have reptilian conspiracy theorists like David Icke, who would probably like this book if not having been influenced by it in the first place