5 comments about Sandworms of Dune.

1. I'll be frank up front and say that I adore the Dune series. I love it to death, and out of all the books I own it's the only one I take particularly good care of. That said, I ran out of books to read somewhere in the first week of January 2010, so - itching for some good Sci-Fi after all the mediocrity I've read over the last 6 years or so - I hesitantly picked up the last bits of Dune. I've only read Hunters/Sandworms because they're the only ones outlined by Frank Herbert, and after reading these two co-authored by his son and companion, I'm not going to get the others.
   
   Hunters/Sandworms of Dune is good. If I could rate it 3.5 stars I would, but that's all it deserves. Brian and KJA draw a lot of the strengths of this book directly from Frank Herbert's previous material, and it's the incredibly rich world created by Frank that seems to prop up their own adequate skills into something a bit better than most of what's out there currently.
   
   Without the rich world, stunning visions, philosophies, and all the work put in by Frank - however - I doubt it would've sold half as many copies. Truth be told, they're simply average Sci-Fi writers. That's it. They're average authors working with an incredibly astounding setting, so the product is caught in-between.
   
   BH and KJA do not go into great detail for descriptions, nor do they layer and nest storylines to the tightly-wound perfection Frank approached. They're far more linear in their approach, and the series suffers for it.
   
   However, it can't be helped to some extent. They make a note of saying that they wouldn't try to write in Frank's style even if they could, so I wasn't expecting it to be the elder Herbert's mimicry. I suppose I just expected less of their interference and more of their understanding.
   
   Most of all, I get the feeling that Brian is just doing it for the money. I'm sure a part, if not most of it, is because he enjoys writing in the setting and enjoys honoring his father's work - but you can tell the disparate amounts of effort between Brian's work and his father's. Examples below.
   
   SPOILERS
   
   
   
   
   
   -3500 years of torture for an entire empire to release humanity from under the grip of a single power, and the ending to Sandworms puts us back at square one.
   
   -While I think the robots were definitely part of FH's original draft, I don't think Omnius was played out correctly. Omnius, as portrayed, is not intelligent, omnipotent, or even threatening. The evermind has a lot of ships, and that's about it. Replace Omnius with any overly-confident, egotistical ruler with a large army throughout history, and you'd have the same villain.
   
   -... coming off of that, all those ships travel at the "traditional" rate of lightspeed to conquer the Old Empire, and do so in under 25 years. Come on guys... Basic physics here. Nowhere does FH ever say how large the Empire is, but since it's made up of several thousand planets, which could only be spread out over hundreds of star systems (if not galaxies), the idea of conquering the Old Empire at the speed of light is down-right laughable. It would take several millenia, at the very least, to conquer the Old Empire - and that's if it's all grouped pretty close in the same galaxy. If the Old Empire is spread out over just our OWN galaxy, that's at least 1,000,000 years of travel from arm to arm. It's an enormous flaw in the science of Hunters/Sandworms, and one that I'm not sure I can think up an excuse for.
   
   -The gholas of historical figures were very much a mixed bag. I got the sensation that it was author fiat which prevented the Bene Gesserits from re-awakening the gholas of Paul and Leto II rather than plot-driven reasons. Alia in the Baron's head was simply confusing. Serena Butler as part of Other Memory didn't make sense (and Sheeana herself asks how it could be so multiple times). Yueh, however, was rather good - I will admit. Stilgar and Liet-Kynes were mediocre, but Liet-Kynes seemed less intelligent than his former incarnation.
   
   -The Oracle of Time... where to begin here. Once human some 15,000 years prior to Sandworms, now something else. How? Never explained. Powers? The Oracle retains the ability to travel through space (and time? Maybe?) as some sort of entity of pure thought. I guess she's supposed to be a super-duper-Navigator, since they can speak to her (kind of) and she's their leader/Holy Figure. However, for as powerful as she's made out to be, she doesn't do much. She flies around looking for the Ithaca, ignoring her Navigators, and at the end dragging Omnius off into another Universe. You don't get to know her, you don't understand her, and when she goes away, you don't really care. Her sole purpose at the end is to neatly eliminate your egotistical villain in one fell Deus Ex Machina swoop.
   
   
   
   /END SPOILERS
   
   
   Overall the novel is just mediocre. The science isn't "hard," the plot isn't intricate or complex (it just assumes it is because it's given over the course of decades instead of direct-sequences), and the writing style takes away all the sense of urgency and power that the original plot might of had.
   
   3.5/5 - Do not expect it to blow your mind like FH's Dune. It's one steps above fan-fiction, and two steps below an actual effort to continue FH's original work.



2. Title: Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
   
   Pages: 494
   
   Time spent on the "to read" shelf: 18 months.
   
   Days spent reading it: 3 days.
   
   Why I read it: After reading Hunters of Dune, I simply HAD to finish Sandworms of Dune as well. Its the sequel and concluding book in the Dune series (although now Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson are going back and filling in the holes in the series).
   
   Brief review: I have enjoyed reading Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's additions to the Dune universe. I have read both prequels and now the concluding chapters to the series. They are fun and easy reads. Like I said for Hunters of Dune, they're not literature, but they are not bad.
   
   Having said that, I have a few more complaints about Sandworms of Dune than I did about Hunters of Dune.
   
   First, Brian and Kevin treat the readers like they are stupid. They drop not-so-subtle hints about the direction of the story every page and I guess they hope that the readers do not put it all together before the final unveiling. At points in the novel I literally shouted out "I'M NOT STUPID!!! I GET WHAT YOU ARE HINTING AT!!!!!!!" Seriously, I'm not a kindergartner.
   
   Second, I did not like the simple way they wrapped up some of the serious conflicts in the story. The Dune universe has been about conflict its entire existence, and at the end of this book we are supposed to believe that with a few kind words those conflicts simply disappear. Please. I envision a war torn universe and factions to emerge, not this homogenizing effect that magically happens with the thoughts of one powerful being. In my opinion the conclusion of this series was a little forced. Even if this is the conclusion Frank Herbert outlined, it was poorly executed by Brian and Kevin.
   
   That being said, any Dune fan would consider this a must read. It was not difficult reading and it did bring a sense of closure that was lacking in Chapterhouse. Of course, if you are like me, perhaps you liked the wide open possibilities that Chapterhouse presented and would prefer to stay in a universe that is so open-ended its crazy. If that's you, don't read Hunters of Dune or Sandworms of Dune, just revel in your imaginative Dune universe.
   
   Favorite quote: "One can always find a battlefield if one looks hard enough."
   
   Stars: 3 out of 5.
   
   Final Word: Lacking.



3. I am sorry but this and the book before are horrible. I am a huge fan of the original six Dune novels. I have not read the son's Dune novels as I have never been a fan of sequels or prequels written by someone else. I saw both "Hunters of Dune" and "Sandworms of Dune" were supposedly based on as 30 page outline that Frank Herbert had left regarding the end of the Dune series. I bought the book in the hopes that I could see some of the deep and intricate thinking from the original six books. I did not. These two books seemingly have nothing in common with what came before. I must assume that the outline was a work in progress as I cannot seem to find the emotional nor logical conclusion to Frank Herbert's work. I advise one not to read this.... .



4. The saga is complete, as the final battle between good and evil, man and machine, Honored Matre and Bene Gesserit, and all the other big players in the Dune Universe play their hand and we see who will be left after the smoke clears... A great end to the greatest science fiction story of all time!



5. It has been many years since I read any of the volumes in Frank Herbert's original Dune series. The first of these was published in 1965, over 40 years ago. As best I recall, I read three or four of these releases shortly after they came out. I am now a senior citizen -- I would have probably been a university student at that remote date. Consequently, I find it mystifying that many hostile reviewers are pillorying this book with comparisons to first volumes half a century in the past. Bear in mind -- the Sandworms of Dune was published in 2007. This is 42 years later. Can't we find any other basis to critique this book, except that it fails to jibe with a book that most of us have long forgotten?
   
   I liked Sandworms of Dune. It falls into the general category of "future war," an honored sci-fi tradition that began way back with Jack Williamson's "Humanoids," and has moved on through such gifted writers as David Drake, David Weber, Keith Laumer, and others. We have here a large canvas to paint on -- a galactic war spreading over parsecs and centuries. Sandworms of Dune, which runs nearly 500 pages of rather compact type, has the scope to take on a galactic war.
   
   No one mentions the characters. The authors constructed some characters that I found quite fascinating. There's Sheeana, the Bene Gesserit who controls the no-ship, a kilometer-long starship of mysterious and possibly alien origin. There's Murbella, a Reverend Mother who leads the Bene Gesserits -- a woman of resolve and courage who really comes alive as a strategist and warlord supreme. Waff was a fun character -- a slightly nutty old man who bred and restored the sandworms -- dying but doughty to the end. These characters and many others -- including the "traitor" Yueh -- drew me in and drew me along. If this book is so bad, how was I drawn to read nearly 500 pages in two days?
   
   Some poor soul in one of the other "pan" reviews claims that the current authors cannot write. Lord! On the level of style and sentence structure, this book is replete with skillfully turned, complex sentences. Take the following: "Murbella felt sickened to think of all the unprepared acolytes, spice-harvesting teams in the dune belt, transport drivers, architects and construction workers, weather planners, greenhouse gardeners, cleaners, bankers, artists, archive workers, pilots, technicians and medical assistants. All the underpinnings of Chapterhouse itself." Notice the structure of this sentence, and notice the extent to which long members of the list are succeeded by shorter and shorter constructions, building an acceleration of the sentence. The poor soul who sneeringly disdains the English-language ability of Herbert and Anderson really doesn't know good English sentence structure from bad.
   
   The sweep of this novel is epic. It comes out of the past, building on the previous books if only as an outline of future history, and resolves in a battle that is not a battle. The heroes are not heroes in the end. The villains are not villains. The obvious is not obvious. The final 100 pages bring reversal after reversal. Even the "worldmind" Omnius turns out to be a pawn. The plotting is brilliant. In fact, I went on Amazon and ordered the prequel to this book by the same authors, "The Hunters of Dune."
   
   I suppose I will take a drubbing for challenging the "established wisdom" that the book is wretched. That it is a waste. Why the seeming anger and hostility against this novel? I really am not in a position to psychoanalyze the angry Dune cultists. But . . . I think my "nose" smells good fiction when I see it. I read 500 pages of novel in two days, unable to go to sleep at night until knocking off another chapter.
   
   You know that almost everyone who has reviewed this book hates it and pans it. Some of you know me. Who are you going to believe? Choose as you will --
   
   Best to all--

5 comments about The Machine Crusade (Legends of Dune, Book 2).

1. Every summer I choose a series of books to read and so for 2009 I chose Dune. I have read Frank Herbert's Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune several times over the years but had never made it past those titles until. I started with the Dune House trilogy by Herbert/Anderson and now have completed Dune: The Butlerian Jihad and Dune: The Machine Crusade.
   
   With the Legends of Dune trilogy, Herbert and Anderson are not tied down to characters already created by Frank Herbert and I very much enjoyed some new and inventive choices for this epic storyline including the standout characters of Norma Cenva, Erasmus and Vorian Atreides. Less interesting are the cymeks and Omnius, the villains of the story. And Selim Wormrider and the Zensunni on Arrakis, not as complelling as the Kynes storyline of the Prelude trilogy, are given short shrift in this volume. I wish the authors had spent more time on them, but it is interesting to see the beginnings of spice production. Less cerebral than Frank Herbert's volumes but epic in scale, high on action and clever in its hints of what we know of Dune's future, Machine Crusade is a fun, worthy read for those who just want to spend a little more time in the Dune universe and see how it all started. I'm looking forward to reading Battle of Corrin.



2. I was missing this audio book from my collection. This CD set completes all my DUNE books on audio. Shipping was excellent. No problems. If you are a Duneite, like me, this 3 book Dune prequel answers questions and gives other background info on the Dune series. Dale Luna



3. What a wonderful read!!! You can't tell the author isn't Frank Herbert, himself! If you have read and liked any of the Dune books, this one is a MUST HAVE!!



4. I have read the "most helpful critical review" of this book. While i respect it i don't agree with it.
   
   First of all, i had a great time reading this book. This book was epic, not in the physical sense but in the historical sense, an excellent motion capture of events i would call it. It is obviously different than Dune's writing (the writers saying from the beginning they would not try to imitate Frank Herbert because they would fail). The tackled problems are slightly different (or subtly tackled, but differently), which, to me, is veridical, because you can't expect a perspective on a point of history to coincide with another. Problems of period 1 probably differ of the problems of period 2. Details of the original Dune novels are not forgotten because many threads come together - both important and unimportant threads, which gives a sense of total (and accurate) connection with the components of the original Dune series.
   
   Unlike the "most helpful critical review", i felt attachment to characters from this book. One in particular, not a main character, but a character that undergoes a very human transformation and is pointlessly killed towards the end of the novel (i won't spoil :). That particular chain of events, as well as others, prevent this book from being linear as if written by a robot. Random things happened too which is exquisite.
   
   Another thing i liked about this book is that it teaches us about how the world works. Intricate political and military plans, all those happen in reality in a manner similar to what was written, i'm convinced. I could also sense the writers' strong grasp of technology, which is pretty cool - it impressed even me and i'm a Software Engineer :) The technological details aren't intrusive, just right and sometimes subtle.
   
   Bottom line, what i think should be known is that this book ties many threads which also go through the original novels - from that point of view you could enjoy it as you enjoyed "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith", you know how it ends, but you want to see how it all happens. But, although i haven't read but a few pages of the "The Battle of Corrin", i can safely say that just as the Star Wars prequel, this prequel can easily be read as an independent science-fiction story. (I liked the Star Wars prequel even though it was obviously different, same goes for this). I think considering these books started from mere notes, i think Frank Herbert would be proud of the added value they bring. Even if my eyes hurt, i started reading "The Battle of Corrin" when i finished "The Machine Crusade" - for me that's proof enough this book matches the definition of 'good' good enough. I want to think of a bad thing to say about this book but i can't find one, and i'll leave it at that :)



5. Again, as Dune:House Harkonnen was to Dune:House Atreides, The Machine Crusade is to The Butlerian Jihad. Certainly a good read, a Shocking ending!

5 comments about Dune: House Harkonnen (Prelude to Dune).

1. This prequel was very enjoyable. I have purchased both this prequel series and The Legend series, which is next on my reading list. These books help shine a light on the big families in the Dune universe and make wonderful companions for the original. Frank Herbert would be proud!



2. House Harkonnen tells the story of, obviously, House Harkonnen. But also included are the stories of Gurney and the Atreides feud.
   
   The characters are brutish enough that you'll hate them, but that's a tribute to the books good writing and characterization. At times the book gets a little bit long winded, but some judicial scanning will let you bypass these bits without much trouble - and you won't have to skip much of the book.
   
   If you're a fan of the original Dune series, this is probably worth your time. If not, then this may be a good introduction to the book.



3. Don't let the title fool you: The driving force of this novel is not House Harkonnen but Duke Leto, House Atreides, and those loyal (and disloyal) to them. If you've gotten to this point, you've presumably read the six original Dune novels by Frank Herbert as well as the first House book. I have found a pattern from the third Dune novel through this one, where the books begin and end extremely strongly but have a tendency to drag a bit in the middle. They are all rather long novels (this one's 733 pages), and are very, very detailed, which is part of the appeal but can also slow the pace at times. It's worth the effort, though. I have been extremely satisfied with these prequel novels. The universe of Dune has been kept alive in brilliant fashion. If you liked Dune: House Atreides, I'm sure you'll like House Harkonen just as much.



4. To all who find fault with this book - bah, humbug!
   
   I found the storylines engrossing, well-written, well paced, and fascinating. I am going to start on "House Corrino" after I write this quick review, mostly becaue of the excellent beginning in "House Atreides," and the superior follow-up in "House Harkonnen." The well thought out progress of converging characters and their plotlines, and the exciting climax of each thread added up to an inspired finish, and felt just right, leaving me eager to see how the next book would set up the original story in "Dune."
   
   For all fans who are not critics, you will love this book. For all critics who may or may not be fans, well, when have you ever truly enjoyed anything?
   
   Set aside your judgement and get this book - used ones are available on Amazon for $.01 cent! There is no better investment in our current economy.



5. House Harkonnen is one of the best books in the series. It ranks up there with Dune Messiah and the Butlerian Jihad in it's page turner ability. Well worth whatever you may pay for it. An A-number-one in my book.

5 comments about The Winds of Dune.

1. Writing fit for grade school abounds in this Texas chilidog served up warm and steamy by Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert.
   This book was so bad that at about the half way point I was going give up and write my review, but I then decided that it would cheapen my criticism as well as discredit my honesty if I did so. So I slugged it out and finished the book. After reading page after face palm inducing page, all I can say is that The Winds of Dune (along with its predecessor Paul of Dune) is an unnecessary addition to the Dune Universe.
   
   Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson have been writing post Frank Herbert Dune books since the late 1990's. At first their attempts at continuing the story were somewhat valid as they were supposedly working from Frank Herbert's notes. However, the writers failed to capture the imagination of their audience mainly due to the cheap thrills and bad writing that is part and parcel to their storytelling. I had hoped that their writing and imagination would improve, however, it did not. Over time, the stories went from bad to worse.
   
   Not expecting these guys to write in the same vein as Frank Herbert, I was able to accept their work for what it was: "Mediocre Non Cannon Dune Fan Fantasy Fiction" that focused on time periods that were not covered in the original six novels. Despite being subpar in comparison to the original work, I was somewhat entertained at first, but my enthusiasm waned as I read further.
   
   Now, here we are, after ten years of their endless meddling, we have Kevin and Brian making a poor attempt at re-writing Dune cannon with their Hero's of Dune series. These books interweave within the timeline of the original trilogy; however, they do not fill in any voids from the original series. They only serve to retroactively explain away the inconsistencies of their work from the original series and expand upon their completely fabricated characters and constructs from the House Series all painted within a backdrop of several useless and hardly believable side stories. Surely it can be said that none of the material found in Winds of Dune came from Franks notes. Dune Messiah (The true and only sequel to Dune) was a very short book in comparison to the first book. Children of Dune was comparatively longer. With the original trilogy, the story was set as Frank Herbert had originally intended. Anything that Frank left out of the story was left out on purpose - nothing more needed explanation.
   
   In a comparison between Frank Herbert's Dune and that of BH/KJA we have [a small sample of] some of the inconsistencies:
   In the real Dune, Paul was born on Caladan as noted in the epigraph at the beginning of Dune.
   
   (In House Corrino: Paul is born on Kaitain. In Paul of Dune: Paul chastises Irulan for not telling the BH/KJA fabricated [un]truth that he was born on Kaitain! (A retroactive explanation for the inconsistency by declaring the original work as "in universe texts".))
   In Frank Herbert's version, Paul never left the Caladan until the events in Dune.
   
   (In Paul of Dune and Winds of Dune: Paul not only leaves once, twice and joins the circus no less!)
   Paul has never seen a Guild Navigator.
   
   (In Winds of Dune, he comes very close.....but then again, in the real Dune, this would have never happened as Paul never left Caladan until we read about it in Dune!)
   
   Alia was always a firecracker, but things go downhill fast once she lets Vladimir Harkonnen poses her - causing her to blow up like a balloon in Children of Dune! (In Paul and Winds of Dune Alia is a mean spirited tyrannical woman from day one (well before Children of Dune) who acts like she is already possessed by the Baron.
   
   In Winds of Dune, Paul runs away with Bronso Vernius (a BH/KJA character shameless expansion of a "Bronso" that was mentioned in Dune Messiah) and joins the circus! (This was never even alluded to in any Dune novel. Why? Because Paul never left Caladan until the events covered in Dune! But don't worry, Kevin has a thing for Jongleur's so it must be added in somehow, someway!)
   
   Watch out for more lame ideas in both Paul of Dune and Winds of Dunce where you see (now get this): potted plants that turn into Chinese throwing star assinbots! In WoD, lookout for "thunderclouds" that turn into the face of Alia's nemesis "Bronso" to inform the Arrakeen populace of the big sham! Be aware of the "bang zoom" story telling of the magical and whimsical circus performer/ninja clowns. Be on the alert for an assassination attempt by the use of fancy lights and mirrors - but wait, just when you think it is safe, a sonic bomb will be sure to ruin everyone's day! (And I thought that a robot that looks like a dragon that flies around the galaxy in an asteroid was pretty lame! These guys never cease burry the needle on the lame-o-meter.) You may also want to be prepared for paint by numbers characters in a "made for TV" presentation, complete with cut-to- commercial-break suspense.
   
   One of the overall themes alluded to in this book is the notion that the future makes its own judgment of the past. With that, the authors are hoping [in vein] that the future will look more favorably on their work with the passage of time, however, these authors can only hope. The reality is that the authors more closely resemble the Alia that they write about where they are trying to re-write and distribute a more accessible and "convenient" history instead of facing the facts of life and accepting that they made serious errors in their version of the story against the original by Frank Herbert.
   
   For the foregoing reasons, I judge this book, and its predecessor to be: an unnecessary addition to the Dune Universe.
   
   With these new "McDune" books that they are producing, it seems as if they are writing a story that makes it unnecessary to read the original books, which would be crying shame. They should have left this time period alone and focused on other time periods (the ancient schools) or better yet, just worked on their own original material from the start.
   
   If there was a zero star option, I would have selected it.
   
   If you want quality: stick with the original six Dune books written by Frank Herbert.



2. I would give a spoiler alert, but these new Dune books seem to be already spoiling the greatness of the classic Dune series. Ok, so the Bene Gesserit have psychic powers this time around. They're going around "casting guilt" on people. When it's discovered that Bronso of Ix has Face Dancers working for him, nobody in the imperium thinks to have the Tleilxu rein them in..........Paul has yet another past adventure everyone had forgotten about until just now. Thats just what I remember off the top of my head - And I admit it, I derived enjoyment from this book because it gave me a reson to revisit the Dune universe. If only something had actually happened. There's a couple of instances where they discuss how Emperor Paul sterilizes several planets. Now there's something I'd like to see in my mind's eye. But no, they only talk about how it's happened before and might happen again. In the meantime Alia's IQ seems to be dropping rapidly dispite all the folks in her head. Great stuff guys!
   Sarcasm? Yes moron,
   
   As a fan of science fiction, I usually don't mind a few plot holes. And I will likely continiue to purchase all things DUNE. All I ask, is that the authors spend a little more time fusing the elements that they've added to the existing characters to what's already been established by the original author. So far, *just my opinion here* the young rascally Paul Atreides that they describe, clashes a bit with the slightly older yet sheltered Paul that the original author started with in Book 1. Their efforts are improving, but still no cigar.
   I do look forward to the next one though,



3. Oh straight to Salusa with all you naysayers! Do I wish Frank Herbert had lived to continue his saga in person? Why, yes, I do! But do I think the kid etc. are doing a fine job carrying on? So yes! I've found all the "new" Dune books to be thoroughly engaging and in keeping with the world that the Creator proclaimed.
   
   This book wrestles with the disturbing question, "What in the world was Paul thinking / seeing as he tried to guide the universe through the Jihad apparently inherent to 'The Golden Path'?"
   
   In the end (because as often as they may fruitfully return to mine the interstices, they DID reach The End, a couple of books ago) it remains unclear to me what "point" Paul and Leto's Golden Path really did have, in terms of benefiting humanity in the long run. Maybe the living authors are struggling with that too, because this book certainly wrestles with the question -- not to conclusion, but interestingly, and always engagingly.
   
   Shall I recap the plot for you? THAT's always a nice touch in a review!



4. Once again I was excited to be immersed in the tales of 'Dune'. My only complaint would be in relation to the poor proof reading of the text. Far too many spelling mistakes. I'm not sure if this is just a problem with the kindle version or if it also occurs in the print version. Either way. Not really acceptable. More care should be taken.



5. For all you nit picking super fan geeks... Get over yourselves. Be happy you have something to read from the Dune universe. For the rest of us... It was another good diversion from reality. I have been re-reading the original Dune 6 ever since I was given those books by my father, 20 years ago. These "midquells" have just given me another excuse to read the series again. I did enjoy this book and all the others these two have written. Because I am not a book snob. Frank Herbert created the greatest fiction of all time. No one will live up to that standard.

5 comments about The Road to Dune.

1. Awesome Read for any Dune fan. This duo really did a wonderful job as usual on their books. Thank you Mr. Herbert, and Mr. Anderson for writing this among the many other books you have shared with all of us Dune fans.



2. A treasure trove! Amazing historical stuff from the archives of Frank Herbert, letters, rejection slips, missing chapters, alternate endings. Plus the collected Dune short stories written by Brian and Kevin. I particularly enjoyed the unorthodox collaboration of "Spice Planet" -- a science fiction adventure story that Frank Herbert had outline, a prototype version of DUNE. Something in this book for all Dune fans.



3. Ever want more information about how the books got written? The characters developed? Want to see the original drafts for Dune, drafts that contain significant changes? Want a deeper insight into Dune than ever before? Then prepare to walk The Road To Dune.



4. In looking at the other reviews, it is clear that everyone who reads this comes to the book with a set of prejudices that completely color their take on this book. So let me begin with that. When I was in fifth grade, I fell madly in love with Arrakis. I've always been much more ambivalent about _Dune_ and its sequels. The world itself is so rich that it feels just as real as the moon in the sky. The characters, however, are all cut from the same power-hungry cloth. They might be good or evil (rarely in between) but they're always striving and scheming. It seems like such a narrow take on the human experience. It was all the more shocking to read Herbert's moving description of the end of his wife's life that follows _Chapterhouse_. The short essay left me with a sense that we readers had been robbed of so much of what _Dune_ could have been.
   
   The narrowness of the characterization turned, in my view, into self-parody in the second generation novels by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson. They're credible pulp fiction but at the end of the day they're nothing more than light adventure stories and as you get older that loses its hold over you. I stopped reading them when I got tired of the homophobia and the machismo.
   
   I found _The Road to Dune_ remaindered, so I bought it on impulse. It's a mixed bag. It contains four separate parts.
   
   The first is an early attempt at the original _Dune_ novel. As an example of campy pulp fun, it's not bad. It has a glaring plot hole that I'm pretty sure doesn't exist in the classic version of _Dune_ (but would have to reread to double check). In seeing the evolution of the novel, it also makes sense of some of the less explicable parts of what was ultimately published. The replacement of the Harkonnen with the Atreides on Arrakis always struck me as forced, for instance, but seeing its origins in more of a contest in an `action story' at least gives it some context. My main reaction to this short novel is that it gives what a sense of an accomplishment _Dune_ is. It took an enormous amount of work to create such a vivid world in this `Spice Planet' story. To keep working it and working it into _Dune_ was quite the feat.
   
   The second section, rather brief, is a series of letters about the publication of _Dune_. That the novel had such difficult getting published is the stuff of science fiction legends, but the actual story is more interesting than I expected. I hadn't realized that the major objection was really to the length of the novel -- it doesn't seem like that big of a deal today -- and that a number of the publishers who rejected it had a sixth sense that they were making a mistake.
   
   Unless you put the fanatic back into fan or have read _Dune_ or _Dune Messiah_ recently, the deleted scenes that make up the third part of the book generally deal with such minor points and are so hard to put into the time line that they seem like random minutiae. The alternate endings to _Dune Messiah_ are the arguable exception.
   
   The fourth section is four stories by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson that others have criticized for already being available for free online. I wouldn't want to read something that long online myself , so their inclusion doesn't seem so baffling to me. One is set during _Dune_; the others are based on the Butlerian Jihad thousands of years before it that the second generation authors have fleshed out (in books I haven't read). My main sense of these three stories is that they are consistent in quality with their other work. So if you like their novels, you'll probably like them. If you've gotten to the point where the relentless violence and scheming seems old or the one-dimensional characterization isn't worth your time, then you won't.
   ----------------------------------------------------------------
   This review is based on a remaindered trade paperback edition. After having written the review, I realized that it appears to be a UK edition.



5. Herbert & Anderson have written the wonderful precursors to Dune, following in the footsteps of the Master & firmly entrenching themselves as his worthy successors; Road to Dune is an impressive adjunct & valuable reference material (for the world of Dune) of itself...

5 comments about Paul of Dune.

1. I know there is much controversy surrounding this book and the gap that it bridges between Dune and Dune: Messiah. Some dune fans feel that Brian and Kevin's work are not worthy to be part of the Dune series. Some others love their work and enjoy reading deeper into the Dune universe. I for one enjoyed this book a lot.
   
   I feel it tied in well between both books and even gave some interesting insight on the war of Assassins while Paul was a child on Caladan. YES the writing style is not the same as Frank Herbert but nonetheless is still an entertaining read.
   
   It also filled in many gaps on Paul's Jihad. I've always wanted to read up about this and was actually disappointed how Frank Herbert skipped clean over this. Yes, you fanatical Frank lovers explain the reason for this is because you feel that he didn't need to spend time on this topic (or irrelevant) but I'm glad his son did devote some time to it. Why not enjoy further reading on the Jihad?
   
   Other great reasons to read this book:
   -It dives deeper into the roles Gurney Halleck and Stilgar played during the Jihad.
   -How the Fedaykin fit into the Jihad and their fanatical devotion to Muad'Dib
   -Count Hasimir Fenring and his plot to overthrow Paul (he practically fell off the map after the first Dune book)
   -War of Assassins
   -Further exploration into Paul's father, Duke Leto and his previous endeavors
   -Young Paul and his adventure with Duncan Idaho on CAlladan
   -Princess Irulan and her writings of the history of Paul Muad'Dib
   
   4.5 stars



2. Other reviewers here have said most of it- the characters are one dimensional, the writing tells rather than shows (true to degrees across all the books but egregious here). Sadly, you're left with the realization that neither author has the slightest grasp of the motivations of these amazing characters- but this did not stop them spending hundreds of pages reducing each and every one of them to pathetic, drooling rubble.
   
   Every one of the characters seems stunned into emotional catatonia by having wrested control of the empire from Shaddam. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that this is much the same state Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson find themselves in attempting to delve the depths of Frank Herbert's core characters in the classic timeline. They've been less obviously out of their depth with prequels and sequels, dealing with new or much older characters or golahs where the gaps between Frank Herbert's writing and theirs is less immediately painful. Honestly, Frank Herbert's entire cast of characters have been turned into a group of dolts, cowards and repressed social anxiety sufferers.
   
   Except Baron Harkkonnen. He's actually quite reasonable and sane. Yeah. That's the Baron we all remember.



3. I am enjoying this book a lot but it isn't for those who are seeking the original character. It must be a daunting task to sit in your father's chair and attempt to complete his vision. The story fleshed out by Frank Herbert's literary heirs is good and I am grateful that the Dune worlds continue to thrive. Having read the prequels created after Frank Herbert's death I find this one more true to its character and more in tune with the original philosophy. It fills in some gaps in the saga.
   
   If this were his father's work, I would not be reading it -- I would have completed it and be rereading it. The reader should be familiar with Dune to truly appreciate this book but it can stand alone as a good science fiction novel. It is on a much higher plane than others in the genre who continue another's concept.
   
   I recommend this highly for anyone looking for a fine story and for those who want Dune to continue as long as they are not purist followers of the original.



4. Reading this book was a chore. Somebody paid to buy it for me, and I'd started it, so I gradually picked it up time and again until it was finished.
   
   There are two mixed timelines in the book, one of Paul as a teen on Caladan, and the other, Paul as Emperor before his son takes the reins. The Paul as a teen thread was enjoyable to read at times, but then you'd get punished with the Paul as Emperor segments as the timeline switched back and forth.
   
   The Paul as teen segments of the book fit with the rest of the dune books nicely, and the characters seemed "right".
   
   Given the power of the Quizatz Haderach, I was left expecting grander scope and character. Perhaps this was the point of the authors, that once Paul got into this role his position was fixed and none of his abilities or decisions really mattered that much. If that was the case, understanding that doesn't make it less tiresome to read. The only saving grace of the emperor timeline was the storyline about the Marie, daughter of Fenring, and the Tlielaxu's Quizatz Haderach. That was also a fun subset of the book, but also lacking follow-through and completeness, and in the end that part of the story line just fizzles.



5. Like all the rest of Brian and Kevin's stabs at recreating the original Dune experience, this falls short in my opinion, in part because of the infantile dialogue spoken by characters. I feel much of what is said is sorely lacking in intellect. Sometimes I would find myself aghast, shaking my head at what just came out of the mouth of a character. We just cannot expect from Brian and Kevin, what we came to expect from Frank. Still, my enormous love and enjoyment of being in the Dune universe, will keep me purchasing and reading each new book as it comes out. Even a Dune book of the caliber that Brian and Kevin write, is better then NO Dune book to me. I'm sure many out there will not agree with what I just stated, and feel that they tarnish Frank's monumental works, but I must admit I still get some enjoyment from them, believe it or not!

5 comments about Hunters of Dune.

1. And apparently not his father either, and thats a bad thing.
   
   Its not that the writing is that horrible, its just that it is a very pale shadow of the real thing. The real thing being Frank Herbert. It reads like a good episode of Star Trek or Stargate. I gave it two stars for that reason alone. I am cutting Brian some slack by conceding that it would be difficult for anyone to follow in Frank Herbert's footsteps.
   
   There are isolated spots where I got a Frank-esque tingle (there are scenes where Murbella asserts her control over the Honored Maters that are really good), but they are few and far between. Mostly the writing is shallow and heavy handed. It completely lacks the subtlety and polished nuance that made Frank Herbert's writing feel so...epic.
   
   It doesn't help that Brian Herbert seems bound and determined show he is in charge now by ignoring and retconning the established canon. He seems to go out of his way to prove he is in control now by blatantly contradicting the Dune encyclopedia and even the original six novels. It is ironic that the Dune Encyclopedia, now considered "officially" non-canon (and remaining out of print for that very reason), feels way more like Dune than the new novels which are to be considered "official" canon now.
   
   It is supposedly based on some of Frank's actual notes though, so if you really have a burning desire to tie up all the loose ends of Chapterhouse, it might be worth enduring.



2. Not the best in the series but not the worst either. There is a lot of action and the infamous 'Baron' Harkonnen reappears! The character you love to hate. Much is explained about the Honored Matres which is good. Scenes with Sheena and Miles Teg are wonderful.



3. I've never written a review on amazon before, just never been moved enough one way or another to actually jump on and throw in my 2 cents. I've also never been able to not finish a Dune book. And it's not a matter of being a Frankophile or a Herbert Jr. denier. There are series that I still read every new installment of, including some I've read since I was a kid, even though the new books are not the innovative literary gems from earlier on (for example Brian Jacques Redwall series and Alan Dean Foster's Flinx series). I feel a sense of loyalty and commitment to some of these series, continuing to read and support them, sometimes out of sheer momentum. but this book... I can't finish this book. I'm a hundred pages in, and although I fully realize that it's somewhat unfair to judge a book that you haven't finished, I just can't stomach anymore and I don't want to further corrupt my personal mental conception of what Dune is.
   
   it's just that... this isn't really a Dune book. it's a book that has the terminology, has the charactes and settings, but somehow is a completely other product. if you're a fan of Heinlein and read his seminal work Starship Troopers, you can completely understand the sentiment. Starship troopers the movie had all the names right, even had some of the events right, but by and large it just took the elements of that book and just scrambled it into it's own concoction. But at least that entertained me.
   
   and it's not that I didn't go in realizing that it wouldn't be up to FH's standards. I knew from the start that BH and KJA didn't have the chops or the style that characterizes the original Dune novels. I had a friend who loved Dune to death (due to a MUD if any of you older nerds are out there), but could not actually finish the book because the literary style was too much for him to handle (not saying he's a dumb guy, but Dune is definitely a contemplative subtle fare, as opposed to quick and spunky read). but when house atreides came out, he loved it, a lot. and that to me was one indication that the new novels just were not on the same level... that and creating prequels or intermediate books/films is a creative effort that is only slightly above just doing a remake. the story elements and framework are there, you just have to fill in the blanks to agree with canon events in the storyline. and it's not like I didn't read the dozens of bad reviews on hunters and sandworms. taking with a grain of salt the fact that some people will be somewhat fanatical about the original work, I was still prepared for a book that would very likely be far below my hopes and standards. but hey, it's dune 7, something I've dreamed of that would never happen. it's been a couple years since the publication, and my curiousity just happened to crest aftet my latest re-reading of books 1-6, so I figure, swallow your pride and expectations and buy the book, find out what happens.
   
   now I don't care what happens. the reviews have given me enough about the ending to not care at all. and I don't want to have the words of this book in my brain filed under the heading dune. I'd rather live with my imaginings and speculation of what happened after that no-ship left chapterhouse then this heretical "canon" set by hunters and sandworms. so I'm just going to stop reading.
   
   in all fairness, who could really create a dune novel that is on par with the old master? possibly no one. but at least one can try. in their forward the authors pretty much say, we can't do it, so we're not gonna do it. well if it's not worth doing right, it's just not worth doing. if you don't have the tools or the skills to do something right, why bother? and this isn't a matter of a piece of fan fic or video you create at home for yourself. there is an entire community of people who in some way own a piece of this mystique. Sure the Herbert family owns the rights to Dune, but like any book, the author gives a part of that world to his readership. and for a world like Dune that is no mean or small thing. so why sully this part of so many people's lives? why paint a picasso-esque painting if you can barely draw a stick figure? why attempt a re-arrangement of handel's messiah with a tone deaf choir and an orchestra of kazoos?
   
   honestly this thing reads like a 4th grade paper, but instead of "what I did last summer" it's "here's what happens in Dune". there's no subtlety to this thing, whole chapters feel like just a listing of events. so this happened, then this happened, which caused this, then this and then the chapter ends. switch scene and character, repeat ad nauseum. the style is so heavy handed, even in the first hundred pages I have no idea how many times the word "whores" was used. every third page? every other page? and really there were two very easy ways to make this entire effort a decent piece of work. one is to use writers who have proven that they have the ability to handle the material and style. I think of the second Foundation trilogy, authorized to be written by the Asimov estate to Greg Bear, Gregory Benford and David Brin. each of these authors a master of science fiction in their own right. when you read these books you know that they are not Isaac's work, but you are reading something where you know the author has a respect and familiarity with the material, as well as a writing ability to give it the substance and style it deserves. the second method is to have good editors, not just the ones at the publisher checking for spelling and punctuation, but people who know and love the story. Countless author's turn to family and friends who have read their works over the years, knowing that when you create an entire universe, sometimes you forget things. Or take a note from Orson Scott Card, who in many books talks about and thanks the commmunity at his hatrack river website that have helped him keep the new Ender and Alvin books inline with the old. and sure there are still the occasional continuity errors, but they are neither frequent nor glaring. I don't doubt that if the Herbert estate tried to find a forum of Dune adherents to help proofread Dune 7, it could find thousands, tens of thousands of eager volunteers. I know I'd have jumped at the opportunity
   
   but this thing makes no attempt to carry on a greater work. even though it may not be possible to match the groundbreaking original novels, that is no excuse to not try. I find the authors excuse that they had to write 6 books to bring people back into Dune peurile. I never left Dune! there is a following, you don't need to recreate it. George Lucas could have released star wars episode 1 with no trailers or advertising and you can bet that the fans would have flocked to see it. and then there's the line about how the later novels did not sell because they were too complicated. well that depth and density is a large part of why people love those novels and go back to read them again and again. some things are not meant for everyone because not everyone has the mindset or interests to truly appreciate them. by BH and KJA's logic the best pieces of writing belong to primetime television as the audience for any hit network tv show far surpasses the following for any given book. not everyone likes opera, either because they don't understand it or it's just not something that appeals to their psyche. that doesn't mean that you stop staging or writing operas, that means you keep on doing opera, sure you can put a new spin or innovation on it, but respecting and honoring the history and tradition of it. leave the pop music to someone else but keep don giovanni off the american idol albums! the supposed rationalizations of these two pretenders to the throne only further strengthens my suspicions that the money and not the legacy is their primary objective. after all they've done it, they've written the conclusion. but hey, we still got some in between books for you, c'mon paul of dune. you guys could have picked a more mysterious era, the gap between dune/dune messiah was not that great in time and the outline for the fremen jihad already exists. why not pick the period starting from leto's living still-suit through his slow evolution into the pre-worm?
   
   I'm sorry but I have to go into my issues with the way the characters are used, even though I've only ready 100 pages. and I apologize as I know several of these points have been brought up before, but I have to vent my spleen
   
   SPOILERS!!!
   
   1) what is up with this oracle of time nonsense? in a hundred pages it's mentioned twice and I get that it's something silly they made up for the prequels. but it's not mentioned in any Dune book, and the original series firmly states that the navigators use their limited prescience to avoid the perils of folded space. there's nothing about this all encompassing entity that looks out for guild navigators making sure they don't drive into potholes. way to tie into your silly prequels, I think it's safe to say that the oracle of time didn't exist in FH's outline
   
   2) how does no one know about teg's super speed? there were rumours all over gammu about it after he ran roughshod across ysai and he clearly demonstrates in front of a whole panel of BG observers(and talks to Duncan about it!) in chapterhouse. yet somehow everyone is ignorant and Duncan didn't remember that conversation.
   
   3) they refer to the face dancer couple (I don't care what they write, they are a face dancer couple in my head now and forever) twice in the first 100 pages. for a subtle unknown power that has hidden itself for time unknown, they make themselves pretty blatantly obvious, as evidence in the conversation between the face dancers and the lost tleilaxu master
   
   4) the bene gesserit are an organization concerned with the progress of human race, would rather function as the power behind the throne than sit on it, sees themselves as teachers of societies, use subtlety as a way of life, and have saying upon saying that nothing must be held as an absolute, even the sayings themselves. somehow they become this polarized power hungry organization that is about as subtle as a man whacking an electrical panel with a sledgehammer. and yeah I get that merging with the honored matres changes some things, but the whole idea was to be so subtle that the matres didn't realize that in victory they had lost.
   
   5) the idea of torturing reverend mothers in the no ship was stupid. it's stated in heretics and chapterhouse that the BG bodily control allows them to pretty much die at will.
   
   6) dunno what this mysterious origins of the matres is going to be but it looks like something about tleilaxu women. it says flat out in chapterhouse that the matres had their origins in fish speakers allied with bene gesserits in extremis. but this book treats it like a big unknown, but murbella has other memory... and she's from an established matre world, so the chances that she had just one honored matre ancestor is pretty good, in case you are wondering just try taking the number 2 to the power of say a couple dozen generations and see how likely it seems. and with other memory, it only takes one
   
   7) in that same vein, why would sheeana have to state that she has had ancestors that studied kaballah... um she had ancestors that were just flat out jewish since it's established that she's of fremen descent and there are numerous inferences in the original books that the jews were one of the precursors of the fremen.
   
   8) why do they treat rebeccah's sharing with lucilla as a changing moment? sure it changed her and pushed the bene gesserit mindset strongly into her mental framework, but she had already experienced the spice agony prior to that and had other memories. you'd think that the idea of being more than herself started with the surviving the original agony. but they make it sound like she was meek and obedient until the horde of lampadas came along, I'm pretty sure that when you have other memories of history and ritual that the rabbi only learned the old fashion way, that you already know that your old mentor is not infallible
   
   9) when did everyone become prescient? Duncan Idaho is now prescient and so is Sheeana... that ability isn't necessarily present in every Atreides, not to mention that genetically Idaho isn't all that Atreides (though chapterhouse implies that he has some gene markers of Siona, those cheeky tleilaxu). but nowhere in either heretics or chapterhouse does either indivdiual show any inkling of prescience. Sheeana has worm super powers and Duncan has mentat super powers plus altered vision based on combining mentat stuff with the merging of his serial lives.
   
   10) since when was folding into another dimension a risk? nothing was ever mentioned of ships punching into another dimension. ah well, it's a great excuse to introduce that bastard child the oracle of time back into the mix
   
   11) in the meeting with the guild representatives there is a reference about how there used to be multiple sources of melange. um there were two, rakis and the tleilaxu. maybe the authors should look up the definition of the word multiple
   
   12) in the same confrontation they describe the rep's braid as resembling an electrical cord... stunning visual metaphor guys, truly. why not a hirsute snake? or overgrown follicular parasite? something with a little more punch than... it looks like a cable. better to have not mentioned it than to use such a weak reference
   
   END SPOILERS!!
   
   I shudder to think of how long this rant would have continued if I had actually finished the book, especially if the ghola bit is as horrific as so many people say. the only thing new Dune thing I want to read is the outline, so do the community a favor Brian and give it to the public



4. Title: Hunters of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
   
   Pages: 520.
   
   Time spent on the "to read" shelf: 6 months.
   
   Days spent reading it: 3 days.
   
   Why I read it: Nearly 10 years ago now, I started and finished the original Dune series by Frank Herbert. I have long considered Dune (the original novel that kicked off the franchise) and Chapterhouse: Dune (Book 6 of the series) two of my favorite novels. I loved the complex story telling, inter-weaved with innovative (and strange) ideas about science, religion, politics and technology. But most of all, one of the last chapters in Chapterhouse is one of my favorite chapters in a book of all time. It was not expected and simply blew my mind away. The possibilities were endless. Frank Herbert had left a door so wide open my mind raced with the different scenarios of what happened after the book ended.
   
   Frank Herbert was supposed to write a final 7th Dune novel, but sadly he died before this could happen. Then his son, Brian Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson found some outlines for the last novel and started writing. The result has been 2 trilogies of prequels to the Dune series and now the final 7th novel (which became 2 novels). I waited patiently for the 2nd of the two novels to be released and then preceeded to read books 7 and 8 in the Dune saga.
   
   Brief review: I enjoy the Dune universe. I think Frank Herbert had a very creative mind that was both full of intrigue and subtlety. He was nuanced in his writing. It is truly sad that he could not be the one to complete his grand epic. Instead his son Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson have picked up the mantle.
   
   There are pros and cons to this situation.
   
   Con--Brian and Kevin are no Frank Herbert. Frank's thoughts were dense and his overall vision broad. He was a visionary and a creative genius. Brian and Kevin, not so much.
   
   Pro--Brian and Kevin are MUCH MUCH easier to read. I cruised through these two rather large books (each over 500 pages) in a little under 3 days each. It would have taken me a few weeks to manage reading 1,000 of Frank Herbert. Really its the difference between pop fiction and literature. Frank Herbert wrote literature, it just happened to be sci-fi. Brian and Kevin write pop fiction. Not bad, just not of the same caliber.
   
   I know I did not get much into the plot here. And I won't really because it would reveal too much from the previous books and the next book. What I will say is that I did enjoy reading Hunters of Dune. It was cheesy at points, it was action filled adventure at others. But it was a fun read. This book is definitely defined by the "Hunters" that exist in many forms through the book. It is a constant game of hide and seek, of hunting and being hunted. There is a real sense of danger for the main characters through the whole book.
   
   Did it live up to my expectations for book 7 in the Dune epic? No, but I think with the way my brain was rolling after Chapterhouse:Dune, perhaps nothing ever could. Not even if it was written by a Frank Herbert ghola himself (gholas are people who have been cloned from dead cells in the Dune universe...often they can get their old memories back, for those who have never read the series).
   
   I think anyone who has read the entirety of the Dune series would read Hunters of Dune and its sequel Sandworms of Dune simply for closure. Its not bad, its just not as great as it might have been.
   
   Favorite quote: "As human beings, we have trouble functioning in environments in which we feel threatened. The threat becomes the focus of our existence. But 'safety' is one of the great illusions of the universe. Nowhere is truly safe."
   
   Stars: 4 out of 5.
   
   Final Word: Spicy.



5. I am sorry but this and the book before are horrible. I am a huge fan of the original six Dune novels. I have not read the son's Dune novels as I have never been a fan of sequels or prequels written by someone else. I saw both "Hunters of Dune" and "Sandworms of Dune" were supposedly based on as 30 page outline that Frank Herbert had left regarding the end of the Dune series. I bought the book in the hopes that I could see some of the deep and intricate thinking from the original six books. I did not. These two books seemingly have nothing in common with what came before. I must assume that the outline was a work in progress as I cannot seem to find the emotional nor logical conclusion to Frank Herbert's work. I advise one not to read this....

5 comments about Dune: House Corrino (Prelude to Dune).

1. This really wraps up the amazing and ambitious trilogy of prequels. Some genuine surprises -- I did not see the Piter de Vries twist coming! The authors have done a good job polishing the continuity, fixing some of the glitches that inevitably crept into Frank Herbert's originals, and telling a very enjoyable epic story that brings to mind the first (and best) of the Frank Herbert chronicles.



2. I own all 3 books of the Dune prequel and I have thoroughly enjoyed them all. I have always loved the original and couldn't wait to dive back into the immense Dune universe! Both Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson are accomplished writers I really could not think of anyone who could do a better job continuing Frank Herbert's masterpiece.



3. House Corrino is a book which is extremely politically oriented. If you cannot stand to read about intrigue and politics, then this book is probably not for you.
   
   If you can enjoy such things, however, you will find the book quite satisfactory. The dialogue and exposition is well written, and while the pacing sometimes lags a bit, the book provides a pleasant reading experience.



4. I must admit, I'm a little surprised by the mediocre rating this book has on Amazon. While it's to be expected that it would not receive the same glowing reviews as Frank Herbert's original Dune novels, I found House Corrino (as well as the first two Prelude to Dune novels) to be a rock-solid 4-star outing.
   
   It's a fair criticism to knock Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson for not matching the literary quality of Frank Herbert's Dune and its five original sequels. Dune is, after all, considered by many to be the best science-fiction novel ever written. (If you're reading this, the odds are you've read at Dune and need no convincing of that.) While the Herbert/Anderson novels sacrifice some of the depth of the originals, though, they do make up for it in a faster pacing and remarkable plotting. Even if there are a few inconsistencies between these prequels and the originals, it's nothing compared with the problems you see in the Star Wars prequels, and those were made by the original creator - so that should give a hint as to just how much of a challenge it is to work with a fictional universe like this.
   
   Step back from the criticisms of the obsessives and those who simply can't bear other authors treading on the sacred ground Frank Herbert created, and you get my perspective: A science-fiction fan, a fan of the Dune series and of well-plotted novels in general. For me, these novels triumph - big time. The curse of the prequel is that in the end you wind up right back where you started (in this case, not long before the original Dune begins). The Prelude to Dune novels manage to make it all interesting and compelling. There is plenty of room for surprises in these books, and quite a bit of suspense. One example is Paul's birth. Of course he will survive, and so will Jessica - yet the birth sequence is so tense I felt like I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.
   
   The Herbert/Anderson novels expertly set up the plot-points like a set of dominoes, positioning the many characters just-so, piece by piece, and when the dominoes start to fall, I find it tremendously satisfying. So, no, it's not a Frank Herbert book, but it's a great conclusion to a remarkable trilogy.
   
   I was shocked to read an on-line review of this book by someone who hadn't read the first two House books, so I'll conclude with this: If you've read the original Dune novels and enjoyed House Atreides, I think you'll enjoy following up with House Harkonnen and House Corrino. If you didn't like House Atreides, you will probably want to steer clear of the other Herbert/Anderson novels. Above all, you definitely should not read House Corrino until you've read House Atreides and House Harkonnen.



5. This book provides a good back story that fills in many of the unknows from the previous books. This sheds light on the Atreidies family as well as Harkonnen and others. Focus on Corrino.

4 comments about Star Wars Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith (Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi).

1. Some Times Dark horse makes it tough to figure out which comic is which. If you are looking for the early sith - Jedi comics try this one: Paperback: 160 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.34 x 10.18 x 6.67
   * Publisher: Dark Horse Comics; (April 1996)
   * ISBN: 1569710953



2. Very fast delivery.
   Good CD quality
   
   Very happy with the purchase. :D



3. This is the second segment in the story of Ulic Qel-Droma's and Exar Kun's rise and fall of Lords of the Sith. The radio-drama style works well for the story and the story itself presents the view from the Dark Side. Ultimately, the only thing that's missing the the fact that the third and final segment of the story isn't in an audio format.



4. The Star Wars audio books are always extremely satisfying, adding voices, music, and sound effects into the book to create an experience highly reminiscent of the old radio shows.
   
   While you lack the visual aesthetic of the original comic, you'll find so much more inside this audio adaptation. Recommended for all Star Wars fans, whether you read the comic or not.

No comments about Dune: House Atreides (Prelude to Dune).