L'Empereur-Dieu de Dune (God Emperor of Dune): France 2005

Perhaps my favorite of all the Dune novels, other than the original, is God Emperor of Dune, or as published in French, Cycle de Dune, Tome 5 : L'Empereur-Dieu de Dune . Although my given name is French, I do neither speak nor read any of the langauge, but I can infer that for some reason this novel is the fifth tome (book) in the orginal Dune series, as published in France.

Let's see... first came Dune, then Dune Messiah followed by Children of Dune, later came the fourth book, God Emperor of Dune... yup, four novels. So why the difference in numeration? If I read French I might be able to figure it out, but for now I'm stumped.

This particular cover for a published God Emperor novel is unique (to me) in that it offers a clear artistic vision of what Leto II looked like following the evolution of the worm skin. The original American publication offered a puffy distorted imagery, more like a sandy snowman than King of the Universe. There exists plenty of cool fan art of the character online, but this cover carries a pretty high coolness factor.

"Enemies strengthen you. Allies weaken. I tell you this in the hope that it will help you understand why I act as I do in the full knowledge that great forces accumulate in my Empire with but one wish--the wish to destroy me. You who read these words may know full well what actually happened, but I doubt that you understand it." --The Stolen Journals