Point of View

Frank Herbert uses a third-person, past-tense perspective throughout the narrative portions of Heretics of Dune, being omniscient to the character's unexpressed thoughts. Much of the novel is driven by dialog and inner musings. Having a young Duncan Idaho ghola at the center of the story allows emotional comparisons with conditions on the planets Gammu (previously Giedi Prime) and Rakis (previous Arrakis/Dune). Meditations about what the God Emperor (or Tyrant) Leto II, intends by his "Golden Path" fill the novel, clarifying by distancing some items in the previous novel, God Emperor of Dune, which is told largely from Leto II's perspective.

The beleaguered, exhausted, but singularly devoted Reverend Mother Superior Alma Mavis Taraza unites the various story lines and her viewpoint provides the central perspective. Her intentions come out slowly, as other characters intuit what she has in mind. Particularly important in this respect is her...