[daseiner1]

Children of Dune is my favorite thus far (just finished God Emperor… and don’t intend to continue the series).

With that being said, Frank Herbert certainly (IMO) is a genius of pure vision and worldbuilding but he is a serviceable writer at best.

By the aforementioned fourth book, he no longer has anything to add to his consideration of prescience/fate and is increasingly focused on sexuality. And his writing on sexuality is about as un-sensual as I can imagine.

[psunavy03]

I've found that "escaping from one's editor and writing things you think are cool or sexy" is a common hazard of being a successful author, especially in SFF. Look at George R.R. Martin's complete inability to actually finish a damn book, or Robert Jordan's insistence on incorporating detailed descriptions of people's clothes alongside gobs of spanking and ceremonial nudity. And those are series I enjoyed despite their flaws.

[jcranmer]

It's been a while since I've read them, but I recall Heretics and Chapterhouse being better than God Emperor. Although also weirder.

[cmrdporcupine]

The sex stuff is a bit weird and cringe, but they're still great books. I just re-read Heretics again as I'm making my way through the whole series again and frankly in many ways it's the best book of the series if you can get past the weird sex stuff.

There's plenty in there still about prescience.