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High-Opp

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High-Opp

By: Frank Herbert
Narrated by: Scott Brick
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About this listen

Published posthumously, this dystopian novel was written between Frank Herbert's classics The Dragon in the Sea and Dune.

EMASI! Each Man a Separate Individual! That is the rallying cry of the Seps, the resistance force engaged in a class war against the upper tiers of a society driven entirely by opinion polls. Those who score high, the High-Opps, are given plush apartments, comfortable jobs, every possible convenience. But those who happen to be low-opped live crowded in warrens, facing harsh lives and brutal conditions.

Daniel Movius, ex-senior liaitor, rides high in the opinion polls - until he loses everything, brushed aside by a very powerful man. Low-opped and abandoned, Movius finds himself fighting for survival in the city's underworld. There, the opinion of the masses is clear: It is time for a revolution against the corrupt superprivileged - and every revolution needs a leader.

©2012 Herbert Properties, LLC (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Adventure Fantasy Fiction Science Fiction

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All stars
Most relevant  
From the opening sequences, the reader is drawn into the bleak dystopian world of Daniel Movius as he looks out on his coming fall from one of the haves to that of used-to-be, from the quietude of luxury, to noisy, jostling squalor. And his crime? A popular vote had eliminated his government office for 'tax economy purposes'. But how had his driver known the results of the poll at least an hour before the results could have been called?

This is a fun romp through political manoeuvrings, with the same bleak prescience as Brave New World or 1984. Although there is little attempt to flesh out the characters, dialogue and action carry the story forward at a brisk pace to the elevated ending. Narration is by Scott Brick whose reading is immaculate, further adding to the sense of bleak inevitability of all that occurs..

Over an half mercury since it was written and lacking the later immersive polish of Dune, High-Opp is still a good read. My thanks to the Audible Plus programme for the complimentary download.

"Majority opinion rules."

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Well written and performed, another interesting take on the human psyche by Frank Herbert, I always am impressed by FH’s insight and find similarities to how our society could easily take these dark roads.

Still Relevant

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clever story. I got lost halfway through with all the fururistic government department names and just who was in power where, but still well worth a listen.

clever story

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Really enjoyed the subject matter in this story, especially given how long ago it was written and how much it foresaw aspects of modern life. The expected great character development didn't disappoint either.

one of the best Herbert standalone novels

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Somehow this story seemed sub-par for the author that wrote Dune. A classic tale of its type with an interesting twist wrapped inside it. The plot is hurried and the romantic elements are trite. You’ll need to take into account the attitudes at the time of writing with respect to the female roles.

The narrator, however, gave a great performance.

Published posthumously - I can see why

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Reading this was a like riding a roller coaster that inexplicably grinds to a halt and then falls off the rails. In the opening, I was genuinely interested in the worldbuilding, conceits, and quality of the writing. There was a tone that felt rather Orwellian, but once the actual plot gets going in the second act it becomes a bogged down and boring mess, before a ludicrous eyebrow waggling, fart sniffing conclusion.

This is an older, unpublished book released posthumously, so that has to be somewhat taken into account, but the politics, assumptions, and handling/ treatment of women range from ridiculous to disgusting and abhorrent. The women are one dimensional 'Madonna' and 'Whore' archetypes and the men are hardly characters either.

In many different ways I'm offended by this book, but the treatment of women, farsical and unopposed abhorrent views taken as fact, and a meandering and boring 'great man' 'beneficent' authoritarian revolution are at the top of my list, along with making me think this really might be something.

The performance is actually brilliant and perfectly in line with the tone, which I don't think I would have finished this without.

I'm learning the hard way that the Audible Included library is not the way to first encounter famous writers. I am still interested in reading Dune, though, knowing some of the conversation around its actual intent and message, the politics of this book will certainly be in my mind.

Really disappointed.

Interesting Ideas, Awful Ideas & Yikes!

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absolutely nothing happened, except the fact that I fell asleep a few times listening to it and having to go through it again

nothing happened

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