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'Paul of Dune' takes place just a year after Muad'Dib's forces seize control. The jihad is in full force and Muad'Dib has created many enemies. Muad'Dib's inner struggle of accepting the number of lives lost is chronicled in detail. Most of the plot centers around Count Fenring who schemes to overthrow Muad'Dib. Princess Irulan whose inner struggle with accepting the life as Muad'Dib's wife is detailed. Paul laments that people view him as a monster bc the jihad has cost so many lives. However, in his view the jihad is necessary for the betterment of mankind. In fact rather than attempt to stem the violence, Paul encourages it. Allows no dissension and gives direct orders to annihilate whole worlds killing billions. This is where the authors are WRONG. One of the primary lessons of Dune was to show the pitfalls of a Messiah or a religion built on a charismatic leader. Frank Herbert discuss this objective of Dune in the preamble of Heretics of Dune. The jihad that was unleashed after Muad'Dib ascended to power was not something that Paul wanted or that he considered good for humankind. Instead he lived with the hope that he could control the jihad, that he could somehow stem the tide of the jihad and curb the violence. Frank Herbert never intended for the jihad to be considered a good thing. Just the opposite. Frank would never have portrayed Paul as an unsympathetic figure. Besides the obvious contradictions with Dune, what makes the story frustrating is the slow, plodding pace of events. Page after page is devoted to trivial matters such as the building of the giant Citadel. Then there is the transition to the chapters of the youth of Paul. Who cares about the youth of Paul? Dune begins when Paul is 15 for a reason. Because, his life before than is of little importance. If anything, the life of the Fremen before Muad'Dib would have been far more interesting. Muad'Dib was only a tool Herbert used to tell the story of Dune. So Paul's life before Dune is of little interest. Instead the focus should have been on the Fremen. So we are left with a book with a bunch of filler material, that doesn't go anywhere, that leaves an avid Dune reader very confused, and without any new revelations about the Dune universe.