The Godmakers

By: Frank Herbert

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

On the edge of a war-weary and devastated galaxy, charismatic Lewis Orne has landed on Hamal. His assignment: To detect any signs of latent aggression in this planet's population. To his astonishment, he finds that his own latent extrasensory powers have suddenly blossomed, and he is invited to join the company of "gods" on this planet - and the people here place certain expectations on their gods.

The Godmakers is an expansion of four short stories written from 1958 - 1960. It is an exploration of the concepts of war and peace, government and religion.

©2013 Frank Herbert (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Lewis Orne = Hari Seldon

WHEN THINGS DON'T FIT, THERE ARE MISSING PIECES
I like Dune and The Heaven Makers. I was hoping since this was a shorter work, that it might be similar to The Heaven Makers, but it was not. NOTHING IS TRULY SIMPLE. Even though lots of big words are used, lots of descriptive language, the story and the characters are not engaging. It seemed at first that this was going to be Herbert's Hari Seldon, than we got this Psi stuff. This was not for me.

THE GALAXY MEDAL
Brick did a fine job.

YOU HAVEN'T EXPLAINED ANYTING, WORDS, JUST WORDS.

Faith Rewarded

I recently listened to The Godmakers written by Frank Herbert and narrated by Scott Brick. 

This book presupposes a future where religion has been developed not merely as a belief, but as a science. As part of the course of its development they use massed belief to intentionally create a God. While they are fairly certain one of the human race will become a God, they have no way to predict who it will be or what will occur after that. They don't even know if the God they created will survive once the individual realizes they are, in fact, a God.

Their story is intertwined with the unsuspecting soul of Lewis Orne. He's part of R&R, the Rediscovery and Reeducation Service. He is sent to distant planets seeking out forgotten fragments of humanity and making sure they are not harboring any hostile intent towards the rest of the human race, before releasing modern industrial secrets to them. 

Scott Brick does a very good job with narration of this book and gives real emotional depth to all of the characters he reads. He is quite a gifted reader and brings his skill to bear here.

Conclusion: As I understand it this book was originally a number of separate short stories that have been compiled into this single novel. I would never have guessed such, had the information not been readily available, as it's extremely cohesive and well put together. As a story it's quite an interesting bit of science fiction, however, it does require the reader presuppose that religion can be turned into scientific study and that massed belief does have power that can affect our universe in a tangible way. 

If you don't want a scifi book that admits the possibility of God's and miracles, this will not be for you. If, however, you believe the idea of creating a God sounds like an interesting tale, it's likely your faith will be rewarded. 

Scott Brick could read me the dictionary.

Herbert wraps this one up with some pretty open ended questions. I was hoping to get more into his interpretation of the day-to-day of a god, but the ride there was fun all the same.

Somewhat Disappointing

Readers hoping for something approaching the richness and excellence of Frank Herbert's Dune masterpiece will find The Godmakers disappointing. The Godmakers consists of four closely connected short stories concerning Lewis Orne, an agent of the Investigative Adjustment (AI) organization. Similar to the Bene Gesserit in the Dune Universe, the AI employs made-up religious doctrine and applied sociology to neutralize threats posed by potentially warlike planetary societies. Also like the Bene Gesserit, AI agents possess extrasensory psychic powers and prescience which they employ to manipulate individuals and societies to their ends. Unfortunately, the stories in this book are not that interesting. The characters are one dimensional and spend entirely too much of their time pontificating at each other. One cannot fault the generally excellent narrator Scott Brick, who does the best he can with what he has to work with, for the failure of this book to engage the reader.

oh my

this was spectacularly written and performed. it's hard to describe this work as science fiction or fantasy, rather it is an exploration of metaphysics against an imagined background of characters and plot. instead of calling it an allegorical fiction, I'll call it what it is: a parable of the nature of man, existence. and creation

Bleh...

How could the performance have been better?

This reader is one of the worst. I have heard many of his books, and they all put me to sleep with his sing-song reading that has zero bearing to the action. The character might be yelling, crying, singing, whispering -- the narration stays the same regardless. No idea how anyone can call this a good performance. :(

Could you see The Godmakers being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

NEVER!

Any additional comments?

The opening was boring. The middle was OK, but pretty thin on character development. Then the end went on and on and on, with a nonsense finish.In a phrase... short book, but too long for what it had to say...

DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME

This book is a complete waste of time. About 25% of it was entertaining and the rest was philosophical horse crap.
There's no way this book would have ever even been published if he had not already had such a huge hit with the book Dune which was an absolute masterpiece!
Do not waste your time or money.

Good oldie from Frank Herbert

I just discovered that Audible has most of Frank Herbert's older, non-Dune books. Because his Dune series is SO famous, and has been extended by his son, some of his other work fades into the background. Most, if not all, of his older work deserves the same fame that the Dune books do. I'm glad I discovered that Audible has them in audiobook form. The narration is excellent, as well.

Starts off good

The story is good, at first then it just digresses into a bunch of boring babble.

Good story, not SUPER easy to follow

In my opinion, some books translate to audiobook better than others. This story is told in sections that I think are a little easier to process when reading the physical book. There are no discernible “part one: x part two: y part three: z” breaks in the telling so it is easy to become lost. While listening it can become disorienting at first during new sections. I found myself starting several sections over as I became incredibly confused trying to associate the events/conversations taking place with what I had just heard.

I enjoy this narrator. I would assume the reviewer(s) that say he has a monotonous cadence with no inflection or emotion have incredibly high standards. Likely these people are looking for something highly produced with sound effects/different narrators etc. Though some “amazon originals” are like this, I would not categorize them as audiobooks.

I would like someone to catalog for me how many times Frank Herbert has had the words “tried to swallow in a dry throat” published.

Special and still meaningful

So we’ll written, narration is good - doesn’t detract. Herbert’s dialogue about religion is important. This gem is a classic. I read it more than 30 years ago. But listening now, it is fresh, pertinent, incisive and still incredible. Not to be missed.

One of the best books ever.

Superb book, written by one of the best SYFY authors of all time. it is the only book I read every year.

Disapointing

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator sounded like he had taken sleeping tablets

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

disappointment

Any additional comments?

I read this book back in the seventies, at the time I thought it was really good. I don't know if it was the narration or that it has dated badly but I found it dreary. It is slightly misogynistic with some of the feel of his later Dune novels but none of the wonder. nothing much happens.

Reads like an incel manifesto

Things start pretty good, interesting world, interesting concepts, then the weird fear of Arabic women running the world from behind the scenes comes in, then it rapidly becomes a Mary-Sue power fantasy.
It was so jarring that I quit then.

A good idea that gets quickly lost in the desert

The premise of the Godmakers is an intriguing choice, with the prospect of a solid story wrapped around it elevating this novel to the top of my listening list. But unfortunately it does not deliver.

The story and narration felt slow and ponderous, even with the playback speed increased, and it did not take me anywhere enlightening, and mostly just gets weirder as the chapters pass. GM is simply too wrapped up within its own introverted philosophy and internal monologues, and I found myself having to re-listen to whole chapters to maintain the thread.

The themes of religion, spirituality, authority, good, evil and the relativism of both, are all present and thoroughly explored and well integrated into the journey the story takes. But equally, the treatment of these ideas often felt heavy-handed, oddly contrived and disappointingly banal.

Frank Herbert was undoubtedly an excellent writer whose work will be enjoyed for many, many years to come. He was of his time and possessed a unique style. If you are a fan, you will love this. Sadly, not for me.

"Capable, dependable, disposable."

Beautifully written and read, but just didn't go anywhere Four short stories patched together to make a single book in which young Louis Orne undergoes various trials to become more than he was. Written before the magnificent Dune, there are obvious similarities including philosophical thoughts and each chapter introduced by a cultural or religious quotation. Unlike Dune, however, there's not much of an accompanying story leaving the whole somewhat tedious and unsatisfactory. Even Scott Brick's otherwise excellent performance disappointed be failing to pause briefly at the beginning (or end) of each chapter and reading sufficiently slowly to need a slight speeding of the download.

Fine for anyone who enjoys internal philosophical musings, self questioning and a strange, old fashioned musing on fear, self abasement and religious domination. But with little characterisation
or story to carry it forward, it can be hard to engage without tedium for very long.
"A boredom greater than extinction."

How to make a god

One of Herbert’s lesser known books, but well worth reading. So much of his philosophy in it and a great story too. Needs to be listened to without distraction

It was alright

I think the Heaven Makers was, by far, more compelling than this book. Still worth a read/listen but it wouldn't be my first choice and recommendation to someone.

highly informative story

what is God... what is man,if your mind ponders such processes you will enjoy this beautifully written and well researched story

What a book!

Well read, this book covers timeless concepts of our humanity in a beautiful way