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Told through a combination of straight narrative and excerpts from imaginary histories and journals, God Emperor is a cautionary yarn about the messianic ego and an uncritical faith in technology. The book also harbors a cynical view of politics. Some musings from the worm who would be god: "Scratch a conservative and you find someone who prefers the past over any future. Scratch a liberal and find a closet aristocrat." Some of Leto's decrees are variations on the Old Testament. Dune's religion, for example, outlaws computers as graven im ages of the mind. Throughout, his observations toll a somber truth: "Government is a shared myth. When the myth dies, the government dies."
Though written in a popular style, God Emperor does not sidestep moral complexity and ethical dilemma. Herbert understands that humanity needs myths and heroes to embody them. But he also knows the danger posed by those who claim to be the sole carriers and interpreters of those myths. Dune folk who subscribe unquestioningly to Leto's self-proclaimed godhood are shown as virtual automata, doomed to perish with him or to be lost without him. In Herbert's dry and gritty world, the future belongs only to those who think for themselves.
—By Peter Stoler
Excerpt
"'You talk riddles!'
'I talk accumulated observations which tell me that the peaceful posture is the posture of the defeated. It is the posture of the victim. Victims invite aggression.' 'Your damned enforced tranquillity! What good does it do?' If there is no enemy, one must be invented. The military force which is denied an external target always turns against its own people.'"