It is hard to tell at first who to root for and who really matters. Once these connections were made though and the book became integrated into the canon of Dune lore it all clicked and I was once again mesmerized by the genius of Frank Herbert. It took almost half the book for my mind to start to grasp the new players, motivations, and all the connections to the previous books. This book is crazy complicated and it was very difficult getting into it for me. Lucky for the Bene Gesserit that they have the most powerful descendants of the Atreides lineage among their ranks and the power that those ancient genes have the potential to wield.

They seek to wipe out the Bene Gesserit and anyone else that doesn't bend the knee to their form of tyranny. Unfortunately, a group known as the Honored Matres has evolved more powerful forms of manipulation and control more forces than any other in the universe. The Bene Gesserit are up to their usual witchcraft with the goal of protecting humanity from those groups that would suck humanity dry. Is his Golden Path being fulfilled or is mankind doomed? She is the key to finding out if The Tyrant is back and what that might mean for the interests pulling at the strings of human evolution. Sheeana, a peasant girl whose entire family was killed by sandworms, can summon even the largest of sandworms, speak to them, and somehow hear their psychokinetic voices.

How do the Tlielaxu make their version of melange? How do they create and manipulate their ghola clones? How does the new Duncan play into all this? Who controls the diary passed down by the God-King Leto II and what does it say about the future? And who is the young girl who can speak to and control sandworms? It is still completely vital but so is knowledge. Now that melange can be made synthetically by the Tlielaxu the planet known as Dune, Arrakis, and now simply known as Rakis, the sandworms that create the original spice are not the only resource that is being fought over.

The Bene Gesserit, Tlielaxu, Ix, and Fish Speakers are part of the old world and continue to compete for dominance over the most powerful resources, melange, and information.

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