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Book Summary InformationAuthor: Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson Edition: Hardcover Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2006-08-22 ISBN: 0765312921 Number of pages: 528 Publisher: Tor Books Product features: - Science Fiction Collectible First Edition
Book Reviews of Hunters of Dune (Sci Fi Essential Books)Book Review: I only wish I had a time machine! Summary: 2 Stars
I read the original dune when I was 15, and fell in love with it. Mentats, the Bene Gesserit, Spice, Sandworms, and the first good and honest example of World-Building I had ever read; I loved every single piece of punctuation in this work of true literature.
While I knew there were more books out there (the rest of the series) I never picked them up. There were always a few missing from the series at our local book store. I re-read the original every other year or so, and liked it more each time, but never thought much about the other books.
That was until my friend told me that Brian Herbert's son was going to finish the series - then he began to loan me each of the books in the series one after another. First the original series (with each subsequent book becoming my *new favorite*). My friend and I had deep philosophical discussions about politics and religion in OUR world after we had seen it through Frank Herbert's mental filters in HIS world (allegory and metaphor!). Maybe I haven't said it enough, I love the DUNE series. As corny as it sounds, it honestly forced a re-evaluation of many things I thought I knew and believed were TRUTH. The books didn't change my mind for me, merely gave me a new framework to examine my reality with. For that I am forever greatfull.
Then he loaned me the HOUSE series of books. He gave them to me with a funny look in his eye, and asked me to tell him what I thought. I found them all quite enjoyable - in the same way I enjoyed reading some of the Star Wars novels - playful and fun books that existed inside of an established universe. I was a little unhappy with some of the textual contradictions in the books, but few and far between.
The Butlerian Jihad was more of the same, the authors given a lot of freedom to spin an enjoyable (though predictable) space-opera yarn.
All of the above is relevant to my review of HUNTERS OF DUNE! Bear with me, because if it had not been for this novel (rather, the promise that they story was going to be completed after all these years), I probably would never have bothered to read through the rest of the AMAZING books by Frank Herbert... So I owe it THAT much respect; however even that, the massive debt is negated by the utter disappointment I felt with HUNTERS OF DUNE (and then SANDWORMS OF DUNE)!
I wanted to like it, I was prepared for the fact that it is not going to be written the same way as the literary giant Frank Herbert would have, but it was going to be a conclusion to a cliff hanger I had become somewhat invested in. Whats more, a conclusion allegedly based on a skeletal outline left from the MAN himself.
I was excited, the beginning of the book felt very familiar, and I was beginning to wonder why I had had any anxiety - this wasn't some filler novels, this was DUNE 7! Unfortunately my relief was short lived - the more the book went on, the further away it was from that feeling!
The thing about DUNE 7 & 8 is that it feels much like the prequel trilogy of Star Wars! Yes, it is Space Opera, more fantasy than science fiction - BUT you're dealing with an established Universe (one of the most detailed and intriguing in literature IMHO) where things have an ordered flow to them, the idea that things happen because of things that have (or will have) happened. Instead of something being coherent with its own established history (as written by frank herbert, and George Lucas respectively) we have some guy named Qui Gon teaching Obi Wan when HE said in ESB that *You must go to Yoda, the Jedi master who instructed me* (or something to that effect).
Is it a HUGE GLARING CONTINUITY ERROR? Or just something overlooked in thousands of pages of text? It doesn't matter... Did Brian Herbert and KJA (or Lucas) ever think to run these things by a couple of Ultra-Nerds (I admit it, I'm one, and you might be too) who spent (probably) too much time with their heads filled with these stories?
Someone who could have mentioned that the entire Bene Gesserit assembly that witnessed the Ghola, Miles Teg, restored did indeed witness his burst of super speed to which he admitted to having this ability (which they only heard of through rumor and tales of his exploits on Gammu and his subsequent death on Rakis) but he was not a Kwisatz Hederach.
It was his superior physical and mental abilities, in fact, that enraged the Honored Matres to the point that they began turning worlds into volcanic glass. The abilities used to enrage them like that was the reason he was reincarnated as a Ghola.
What Teg DID try to HIDE from the Sisterhood was his ability to see No-Ships.
Or Murbella *discovering* that the Honored Matres were Tleilaxu females freed from bondage by Fish Speakers and Reverend Mothers - and their furious anger stemmed from their generations of opression. It would have been a surprise to anyone who hadn't read Chapterhouse. Odrade had surmised as much, especially once she found out what Axlotl tanks actually were.
While little things like these may not feel like such a horrible trespass in its own right the authors compound it by having Teg's character dwell on it every time you see him (a character with a mind more powerful than a super computer). Or Murbella running a Sisterhood of emotionally retarded Metal-Chicks (with spiked shoulder pads and stilettos to boot).
This sort of thing steadily snowballs into an incredibly anticlimactic end of the novel... I won't spoil it for you, but it became a nail in the coffin of the whole notion that Frank Herbert's notes were anything but a sparse incomplete skeleton (if they existed at all), and that he took the ultimate finale with him to the grave.
The snowballing effect does continue into the utterly abysmal finale SANDWORMS OF DUNE.
The well thought out prose of Frank Herbert as he laid the foundations for the ultimate exploration of his *GOLDEN PATH* was always well guided as it stretched out to the western horizon. HUNTERS OF DUNE seems, instead, to be entirely incidental. One thing happens, and another thing happens, and then another thing - so on and so forth - until they hit their page-count. Then a *to be continued* appears, and you wonder if you even want to muddle through the next novel.
If you've come this far in the books, you might as well finish it off - they don't diminish Frank Herbert's work in any way, no one will ever confuse the two. I would suggest borrowing the book, checking it out of the library, or buying a cheap copy. I would be surprised if anyone who has read the book, and had made it this far in my review, would disagree with my sentiment.
tl;dr Hunters of Dune isn't very good. But there are always the first Six to Read again.
Summary of Hunters of Dune (Sci Fi Essential Books)Hunters of Dune and the concluding volume, Sandworms of Dune, bring together the great story lines and beloved characters in Frank Herbert's classic Dune universe, ranging from the time of the Butlerian Jihad to the original Dune series and beyond. Based directly on Frank Herbert's final outline, which lay hidden in a safe-deposit box for a decade, these two volumes will finally answer the urgent questions Dune fans have been debating for two decades.
At the end of Chapterhouse: Dune--Frank Herbert's final novel--a ship carrying the ghola of Duncan Idaho, Sheeana (a young woman who can control sandworms), and a crew of various refugees escapes into the uncharted galaxy, fleeing from the monstrous Honored Matres, dark counterparts to the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. The nearly invincible Honored Matres have swarmed into the known universe, driven from their home by a terrifying, mysterious Enemy. As designed by the creative genius of Frank Herbert, the primary story of Hunters and Sandworms is the exotic odyssey of Duncan's no-ship as it is forced to elude the diabolical traps set by the ferocious, unknown Enemy. To strengthen their forces, the fugitives have used genetic technology from Scytale, the last Tleilaxu Master, to revive key figures from Dune's past--including Paul Muad'Dib and his beloved Chani, Lady Jessica, Stilgar, Thufir Hawat, and even Dr. Wellington Yueh. Each of these characters will use their special talents to meet the challenges thrown at them.
Failure is unthinkable--not only is their survival at stake, but they hold the fate of the entire human race in their hands.
Literature & Fiction Books
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Chapterhouse: Dune (Dune Chronicles)by Frank Herbert Ace Hardcover; Published: 2009-08-04; Hardcover; BookBest price: $44.25
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