YMMV / Children of Dune

• Arc Fatigue: The novel having too much filler is a complaint often present in reviews.
• Ass Pull:
  • The Golden Path had not been even hinted at in the previous two books, where the Jihad and Chani's death were Paul's only bad omens, yet it now turns out it was always a part of his visions and his ultimate fate happened exactly because he rejected it, not because he fulfilled the aforementioned — which also places his character under a completely new light. Leto and Ghanima even talk about the Path as if Paul had been its creator all along, which only makes it even more sudden.
  • Genetic Memory is such a staple of the series from this book onwards that it might be surprising to know this is not how it worked in the previous books. Back then, tapping into the ego-memory of genetic ancestors was explained by Mohiam as something only a especially trained Truthsayer or Kwisatz Haderach could aspire to do, not something that came naturally with the Agony of Spice — certainly, neither Paul nor Alia (nor even a Truthsayer like Mohiam herself) were ever shown to have the skill. Tapping into the ego-memories of Bene Gesserit passed through the mental link was already present and somewhat usual, but it was clearly an entirely different process. In this book, however, Leto, Ghanima and Alia can naturally draw the ego-memories of their parents and ancestors, and this is presented as if it had always been in the regular powerset.
• Base-Breaking Character: Jessica. Many readers hate her for abandoning Alia who is having a hard time trying to retain her brother's empire and at the same time, struggles with all the genetic memories of her ancestors which led to her being influenced by her late grandfather, Baron Harkonnen. As a result, readers see Jessica as a terrible mother who didn't take care of her children when they were in a dire situation and Leto II calls her out for it in the story itself. However, other readers considered Jessica to be a flawed person who couldn't control the situation, particularly with drinking the Water of Life while pregnant with Alia and being afraid of what her children had become. While they accepted that she was not a great mother, they still see her as a well-written character who is as flawed as the rest of the cast.
• It Was His Sled: Leto II encases his body in sandtrout and later becomes a giant hybrid of sandworm and man. It's basically the main thing people know about the later Dune novels.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Jessica. Given that she abandoned her children after the end of the first book, many readers don't feel sorry for her when she mourns for losing both Paul and Alia. Some readers agreed that it was all her fault that her children were pushed into this kind of fate and didn't do anything to help them despite her love for them which doesn't help that she's still part of Bene Gesserit and is even tasked to get her grandchildren for the Sisterhood. While it is understandable that she doesn't want to stay in Arrakis because of the events in the first book such as Duke Leto's death, the fact she didn't contacted with her children at all until Paul's supposed "death" and Alia becoming regent made the reader see her as a selfish woman. For these readers, they believed that she deserved to suffer the consequences of her actions with some saying she needed to be punished more for everything, including the Jihad that Paul was unable to control.

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