Dune

This week I read and finished Dune by Frank Herbert. It details the story of Paul Atreides as he and his family move to the desert planet Arrakis, nicknamed Dune. Dune contains the secret of the universe, the spice of the world which everyone depends on, is addicted to. The inhabitants have all blue eyes, no pupils. Paul is, at the beginning, threatened to be assassinated but then finds the killer object before it can do its deed. Additionally, he is tested by a member of an organization of women who are more powerful than others. They can control people with "the voice" and use this to overpower enemies. He places his hand into the gom'jabbar and therefore becomes accepted as a human, instead of an animal. On Dune, his family is attacked, and Paul and his mother have to escape. They hide to the desert and there are chased by "worms", massive, hundreds of feet long, and extremely dangerous. They make a transition to a cave and are there found by a group of inhabitants on Dune, named the Fremen. They try to kill them but they persuade them out of it and are saved. Water is especially precious on this planet, and they are threatened to be "drained of their water". More next week!

Alienist cont'd

This week in my reading of the Alienist, the plot thickened more. John Moore disagrees with the coroner's report and decides that the murder of the child is connected to two other murders in which the victims had their eyes gouged out as well. They set up a base for operations outside of the police precinct to get rid of any political ties, and Roosevelt isn't able to stay with them that often because he can't risk his political career in the murder mystery. New detectives are found to help investigate and use new techniques that are modern to them, old to us. These are fingerprinting, and the Bertillion System. When I finished reading another person was killed, yet of what I know not. More next week!