The Library
Scythe
SCYTHE SCYTHE SCYTHE, let me tell you, if you have not read scythe. READ. IT. It has taken over my reading time as of late. The world is so interesting taking place in a post-mortal world 500 years in the future. The "Thunderhead" as they call it, a sentient(?) and benevolent AI that formed as an amalgamation of all of humanites knowledge in 2050, it quickly solved all of humanities problems... INCLUDING DEATH. Sorry this book is so fucking good, Neil Shusterman my beloved. I blitzed through the first book after a friend reccomended it to me, well two friends, you guys know who you are hiii! Anyway, I'm fully enraptured by the second book, only about 100 pages left so i'll probably be done in a day or two. Also idk the format for these book rants yet. Im not sure whether I'll have them be drop downs or links or something. But anyway READ THESE BOOKS NYOW!!
Dune
I probably dont need to explain Dune to the vast majority of those reading this.
But! I will do so anyway, Dune is a book, now series, that has been out for
decades at this point. It has been the subject of multiple film adaptations
and has garnered approval from many.
Now! For my personal thoughts on the book.
I think Paul has the most to unpack right away, Paul is essentially the white savior
but interestingly enough I think Frank Herbert was self aware of this fact when writing
this book. As Paul is living on Arrakis he is slowly becoming accustomed to the effects
spice has on his body. But spoiler alert since he is basically the chosen one he benefits
from the spices geriatric properties more than the average person being able to
peer into time with prescience. This ability basically since he becomes aware of it,
torments
Paul endlessly. He tells his own mother she has made him into a "monster" with her Bene
Gesserit
conditioning.
He sees the future, or a future at least. One he wishes to avoid with
all his
conscience. One where the native population of Arrakis, the Fremen, worship Paul Maud-dib
as a god emperor. Paul is horrified to see the bloodshed caused by the "Jihad" the religious
crusade across the universe with casualties in the tens of billions. All of it his doing,
much to his horror, but he is unable to avoid this fate. Everything he does to try to be
honorable and noble ends in failure, yielding to the tides of fate pulling on Paul
relentlessly.
And sure enough near the end of the first book all the choices hes been either tried to make
as
a means of stopping this outcome, or were forced to make knowing it may serve it yet, lead
to
Paul Maud-dib Atreides becoming the emperor.
I think its worth it to think about the
different
outcomes that could have come from this set-up, as well as what the white savior is. Think
if
Paul had not become emperor, instead he escaped his destiny and resided among the fremen
instead
of taking the throne. He still would have saved the helpless native population as it were,
he is
still their saviour, but now instead of becoming the ruthless forever pained emperor
seen in history as a villain. He is revered as a hero to live his life without pain or
oppression.
The adamant choice to shift Paul's role to that of the villain in "Dune Messiah" is one that
saves
this story from condoning this trope openly, instead of showing it for what it truly is. Not
to say
this story is without fault, but reading of Frank Herbert, the author's, background and
research into
foreign cultures and affairs. It does show a pointed awareness that some of Herbert's fellow
old white male
contemporaries may be lacking.
Anyway I could ramble with my unedited
psuedo-analysis of Dune forever,
but I will leave you with this for now. And I do encourage you to go and read these books.
While, yes,
they may be dense and harpy at times, I think there is a lot to gain from reading these
works of fiction.
I will say it certainly feels like reading an academic paper with the pure amount of
information presented to you at times. Anyway READ IT
