Reviews
This book may be the ultimate secret agent novel. It could also be the most insanely ambitious work of anthropological science fiction. It's also a gold mine for anyone interested in Frank Herbert's work. Let me explain... The Godmakers is a fix-up novel, a cluster of short stories smooshed into the shape of a novel. The plot concerns the adventures of Lewis Orne, an extraordinarily capable agent working for two interstellar agencies. His mission is to prevent a devastating war. As he progresses in his career - yes, Godmakers is also a bildungsroman! - his abilities and achievements escalate. The conclusion sees Orne (view spoiler)[become a god, or a least a very powerful telekinetic. (hide spoiler)] Hence the above comment about Orne as the ultimate agent. I was reminded of other sf secret agent tales, like Joe Haldman's All My Sins Remembered or Herbert's character Jorg McKie. Orne is also an anthropologist, although the term never appears. He analyzes each planet and society as that kind of cultural detective. In the opening segment (story) he and an ally uncover one planet's secret by studying the shape and size of its roads. In the second, my favorite, Orne cobbles together observations about another world's language, orbital mechanics, and biology to solve another mystery. Other stories use similar approaches to determine how humans work together. One of the great pleasures I find in reading Frank Herbert is how he brings the reader to that perspective. This is the kind of stance Herbert applied through most of his career, most notably in Dune. Think of the detailed descriptions of societies powerfully shaped by environment in that book, or in Dosadi Experiment. He quickly yet deeply sketches out hypothetical anthropologies. Godmakers resonates with many other Herbert themes. Religious engineering, a la the Bene Gesserit: check. The problem of a superhuman, a la Paul Atreides: yep. Multi-generational gynocentric political and breeding schemes, also a le Bene Gesserit: ditto. There's a painful physical-psychological test, like the one opening Dune. There is also the dialectic of social stasis and revolt, best seen in the underrated God Emperor of Dune. Glowglobes float around, and Arab/Islamic themes appear. Some of these themes speak to the general history of American sf. Godmakers relies heavily on psionics, a concept which fairly obsessed some writers and editors in mid-century. The anthropological sf approach had many echoes, especially in the 1960s. The idea of a thoughtful, well-trained elite manipulating societies strikes a chord with many post-WWII novels. As a whole, Godmakers is more accessible than most other Herbert. Plots and action happen very quickly. Dialog, which can reach terrific heights of complexity and suspicion in his other stories, is merely informative and rapid here. The setting is barely outlined at all. And the tone is brighter, less brooding than in, say, White Plague or the later Dune books. The conceptual work is relatively shallow. I wouldn't recommend this to non-sf readers, since it requires some genre familiarity to work. YA readers might enjoy it, and any longtime sf reader would as well.
