At the time of this writing I have read the first 18 pages/4 chapters of GEoD and intend to keep reading it. No spoilers, please!

Will resolve NO if I like Children more or if I can't decide which one I prefer.

If I don't finish the book by closing time then I will still resolve it YES/NO based on how much of it I've read by then (though it'll most likely mean I've dropped it and think it's inferior to Children).

I will not be betting.

My impression of the Dune series so far (vague spoilers follow):

Dune: I really liked how the world managed to both be very grounded and very weird at the same time (e.g. how everyone has to use swords because of shield technology); I think that makes for great sci-fi. Paul and Jessica were my least favorite characters (though still very good!), and I didn't love the focus on the Fremen; I wanted to read more about the Harkonnens, Empire, BG and the Guild instead. It was also pretty dry (no pun intended) but it's my favorite book of the series so far. The ending felt rather abrupt, though, and the issue of Paul trying to avert the Jihad felt unaddressed.

Dune Messiah: Didn't love it (though it probably doesn't help that I was quite depressed when I read it). I didn't mind that it portrayed Paul as a fallen hero, but I expected it to tie up loose ends (this infographic told me it was basically the epilogue to Dune), but it did ended up raising more questions than it answered. I loved the conspiracy against Paul, the Tleilaxu, and the reveal behind the Hayt plan.

Children of Dune: I loved the ancestral memory theme, but I wish the book did more with it than just "it might make you crazy!". The Preacher was cool, and I can never get enough of the "master plan involving tampering with one's own memories" trope. The Farad'n storyline felt underwhelming. Overall it felt too long, and often like a chore to read. The aforementioned infographic says not skipping it is necessary to understand God Emperor, if that's not true and it doesn't pay off then it might be my least favorite of the series.

God Emperor of Dune: It starts off strong! I love how it makes radical changes to the world with the huge timeskips. The action heist and the diegetic/epistolary texts at the beginning are great. People say it's the one that gets really weird, but I hope the weirdness is something that can be conceptually engaged with instead of just "it's like being on drugs lol". I'm really intrigued to learn what exactly is the Golden Path as that basically would explain Paul's motivations from the very end of the first book. I'm wondering if the series would be better off if this was the direct sequel to Dune and it was Paul (and not Leto II) who became the immortal worm man.

Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Great music and visuals (though I wish the costumes were more garish). Part Two was a bit disappointing, I didn't understand why everyone loved it so much. Many of the plotlines from the books were included but reduced in such a way that made their inclusion feel pointless (Liet-Kynes, family atomics). I didn't like that it whitewashed the Fremen by making them seem less fanatical and patriarchal than in the book.

Dune, the 2019 board game: Played it exactly once, but would like to try again. Couldn't really follow it well enough (we played the advanced variant and some of the players were somewhat experienced). The Atreides player won, but then the Bene Gesserit player revealed he predicted his victory and won instead. It was an amazing reveal because he had me fooled the whole night. It's like I'm really on Arrakis!