Book review: The Dosadi Experiment

Mumblings from the author of Dune. It lacks the epic sweep of Dune, but alas shares, but displays to a greater extent, Dune's worst flaw: it tells but doesn't show. Time and again we are told how clever the characters are being; we are told there are wheels within wheels and plots within plots; but we are never shown these things; instead we get the fairly routine events that FH's mind can devise.

The second major problem is FH's sociology / politics / Darwinism: the idea is that a massively over-crowded society left to evolve for a twenty generations will develope into something interesting; in particular that the people will become hyper-capable. This deosn't seem particularly likely; more likely is barbarism and oppression. But this again is a "Dune" theme; he has his Arrakis, and his Salusa Secundus. FH is clearly interested in these ideas; but doesn't really have anything to say about them.

Far too much of it is too incoherent to really attempt to analyse properly. By the end, at the "trial", it seems like almost everyone is in someone else's body, for no particularly obvious reason.  By that point I was just reading through hoping to get to the end, which mercifully eventually arrived.