After having read the Dune books numerous times, I finally decided to give another Frank Herbert novel a try: The Dosadi Experiment. Published in 1977, it appeared after Children of Dune but before God Emperor and the further Dune sequels.

A great book in its own right, but I was struck by how many things in the novel are pretty clear precursors to themes Herbert would explore in more depth in God Emperor, Heretics, & Chapterhouse.

The Dosadi Experiment takes place in a completely different universe than Dune, the most important difference being that this universe has multiple alien species inhabiting the Galaxy.

But there are some similarities. For one, they have chairdogs. Yes, chairdogs, perhaps amongst the oddest creations of Frank's imagination did not originate in the Dune universe. The standard language in this universe is, like Dune, also called "Galach."

Without going too deep into spoilers, the novel also features a planet with fierce battle-hardened warriors and it is feared what will happen should these people be unleashed into the Galaxy. Sounds familiar.

We also have an outsider introduced into this warrior culture who adapts to it remarkably quickly.

In true latter-Dune book fashion, Dosadi Experiment also has a few odd dovetails into sexual themes.

Like the Dune series, each chapter includes a quote from an in-universe text of some sort. I was intrigued that many of them applied to themes of Dune as well. Some examples:

"Choose containable violence when violence cannot be avoided. Better this than epidemic violence." - Not unlike Paul's Jihad and Leto II's unconventional domestic policy.

"In a changing universe, only a changing species can hope to be immortal and then only if its eggs are nurtured in widely scattered environments. This predicts a wealth of unique individuals." - This might as well be talking about The Scattering.

"The military is a way of rationalizing murder, rape, looting, and other forms of theft which are always accepted as part of warfare." - This is essentially Leto II's logic for his all-female Fish Speaker army.

The overall attitude towards government expressed in the book is also very reminiscent of what Frank implies in his Dune series. There is even a government agency dedicated to sabotaging the rest of the government to stall bureaucracy.

Aside from the Dune parallels, there are a lot of unique elements to this book, it is a real hoot to see Frank explore non-human cultures. There is a species in the novel called Gowachin described as "frog people", which is a hilarious visual, but they have the most fascinating fictional legal system I've ever seen depicted. It is refreshing to see an alien culture in science fiction that isn't just some metaphor for a human society, but rather a culture with completely and utterly different values than humanity. Good stuff.

I was curious if other folks here who have read the Dosadi Experiment also interpreted these parallels to Dune. Also, just wanted to recommend this novel to any Frank Herbert fans, it's quite an entertaining and interesting read. Not the only novel in the "ConSentiency" universe, and I think not the first, but I don't think they need to be read in order.