Heretics of Dune

Heretics of Dune is a 1984 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert, fifth in a series of six novels. Fifteen hundred years have passed since Leto's reign ended; humanity is firmly on the Golden Path. By crushing the aspirations of humans for thirty-five hundred years, Leto caused the Scattering, an explosion of humanity into the rest of the universe upon his death. Now, fifteen hundred years later some of those who went out into the universe are c... more

Heretics of Dune is a 1984 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert, fifth in a series of six novels. Fifteen hundred years have passed since Leto's reign ended; humanity is firmly on the Golden Path. By crushing the aspirations of humans for thirty-five hundred years, Leto caused the Scattering, an explosion of humanity into the rest of the universe upon his death. Now, fifteen hundred years later some of those who went out into the universe are coming back, bent on conquest. Only the Bene Gesserit perceive the Golden Path, and are faced with a choice: keep to their traditional role of hidden manipulators, quietly easing tensions and guiding human progress, while struggling for their own survival; or embrace the Golden Path and push humanity onward into a new future where humans are free from the threat of extinction. Much has changed in the millennium and a half since the death of the God Emperor. True to his prophecies, sandworms have reappeared on Arrakis (now called Rakis) and... less