After two of my favorite Dune books comes Heretics of Dune. You don’t need to know too much of Dune lore to enjoy first four books. Heretics of Dune feel like you need deep knowledge of the lore to fully enjoy it. Dune is the first book with world building. Dune Messiah continues Paul’s story. Children of Dune continues soon after Dune Messiah. Lot of time passed between Children of Dune and God Emperor of Dune but not too much had happened and God Emperor of Dune had limited set of characters with Leto II who was introduced in Children of Dune. Most importantly everything revolved around House Atreides.
Heretics of Dune happen fifteen hundred years after God Emperor of Dune. World is quite different from what is was before. There is no House Atreides. There has been scattering which introduced new players to the game. Book follows different factions as they try to gain upper hand. It would help to know all different factions when you start the book. It assumes you know them to some extent. I don’t know where you can learn what you need to know without spoilers. If you try to find out about the lore books you haven’t read will be spoiled.
I didn’t get the main story arc like there wasn’t one. In the end it all comes together. Closest thing to main story arc is getting two kids together after they are properly trained. Ending is pretty confusing but I think they got into same space ship at the end. Not sure about it though. I am not sure if I should listen last few chapters again to understand what really happened. I rather continue to next book and return to this later after learning the lore better.
Heretics of Dune is weird. It has really good chapters but at least I had problems connecting chapters together on first listening. It is lot of world building with little story arc running through it. I wasn’t as disappointed with it as I was with Dune Messiah. It has few of the best moments in Dune saga. I am sure I will get more out of it next time when I know more about Dune lore.