Hunters of Dune (Sci Fi Essential Books)
by Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson
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Book Reviews of Hunters of Dune (Sci Fi Essential Books)
Book Review: Please do not read this book...
Summary: 1 Stars
...even if it is only to sate your thirst for the knowledge of "What happened after Chapterhouse?" You will NOT be satisfied because you will know that Frank Herbert never intended for that ending, and you will be appalled beyond all belief.
When I had first learned that there would be a sequel to Chapterhouse (this was before any of the prequels were published) I was ECSTATIC. The idea of Frank Herbert supposedly having left an "outline" before his death made me extremely hopeful. Then the House books came out and I became extremely doubtful of BH and KJA writing abilities. The Legends Series came out which I enjoyed a tad more but by this time I was extremely dubious about "Dune 7". I ended up reading "Hunters" simply for curiosity's sake. I knew that it was going to be a poor quality book before getting into it, and I knew it wasn't Frank Herbert's Dune, but I didn't realize that it would be quite so atrocious; I leave only to say I have never seen an ending that was so transparent.
I am not going to be reading the second part of Dune 7. And other than the fact that the ending is lame the middle is worse than powder puff candy. It is filled with review of the previous novels as if you are explaining Dune to a second grader. That which is not a recap is completely superfluous and cheesy. The characters, who were once some of the most riveting characters ever in science ficture, are now reduced to 1-dimensional cartoons.
If you want to explore more of the Dune universe, stick to fan fiction. The run-of-the-mill internet hacks have more creativity and talent than BH and KJA.
Book Review: Disappointing, Save Your Money
Summary: 1 Stars
Earlier novels by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson received postive assessments from this reviewer,despite the authors' poor pacing and wooden writing styles. Not this book. I re-read Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune in anticipation of the release. It is impossible to believe that their interpretation conforms with what Frank Herbert intended. There is little plot interconnection with the earlier novels. Herbert clearly indicated that sometime happened to the human race during the Scattering that followed the reign of the God Emperor. The Honored Matres were running from that. At the same time, they themselves were 'no longer human.' The apocalypse the Golden Path was intended to avoid clearly focused on the potential for humanity to destoy itself, not some alien force. Not a direction for this book. Instead, we have a very bad rip-off of the Gregory Benford Galactic Center series. Worst of all, human evolution has retreated about 50,000 years. Every character was so very, very smart in the earlier novels. Now they are incredibily dumb and cannot see the obvious. Other reviewers, without spoiling the book and the remaining sequel, have pointed out other numerous flaws: bad writing, fragmented chapters, silly plot convolutions, complete distortion of who the mysterious characters at the end of the novel are (everyone knows they're Herbert and his late wife in altered guise -- he knew he would not live to finish the final book). You will do better to remain with the mystery about where Herbert might taken the conclusion. Let your own imagination take you to that unexplored universe. This bad work will not.Book Review: Ugh
Summary: 2 Stars
I have read all of the previous Dune novels by Frank Herbert and the Preludes and Legends by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. I consider myself an avid Dune fan and I found no deep issues with the other Dune novels by these authors. Hunters, however, was a terrible letdown. After many years of waiting for a conclusion to this series -- one suposidly based off of the outline and notes of Frank Herbert himself, I was entirely stupified at the result. There were a number of problems which contributed to ruining this book. For instance, each chapter was only three to four pages long. Also, the style of writing was more geared to a "young adult" audience; I highly doubt that this would have scored at even a high school reading level. The characters were very two-dimensional and there was little compassion or endearment for any of them built up for the reader. There were also some "weird" things that seemed to be pulled out of nowhere, which did little to tie up the mysterious conclusion of Chapterhouse (although they may have helped tie up some loose ends from the other Dune novels written by these particular authors.) The intense Dune addicts will likely find a number of contradictions with the original works by Frank Herbert, however that argument has been repeated for all of the other Dune novels by Brian and Kevin. Overall, I think that most Dune fans, not necessarily just the "hardcore" audience, will dislike this book. It's odd to even see the number of gushing reviews here at Amazon. Perhaps as more readers trudge through this mess the rating will become more realistic.Book Review: This is not your father's Dune
Summary: 2 Stars
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.
Book Review: A MUST for Dune fans; Disappointing, though
Summary: 3 Stars
As a long-time Dune fan I was waiting with baited breath -- ask my wife, it was pretty stinky -- for this book since I first heard about it a year or so ago. Well, I was happy to read about the further adventures of everyone, glad to hear about the way the Honered Matres were getting a great big dose of gosmic Karma -- literally -- shoved down their throats, and I was happy to hear that the story was still going on.
But ...
My biggest problem is that the book simply STOPS, it doesn't end. I know, I know, there will be another book, but some kind of conclusion in this book would have been nice!
And then the story line just kept going and going and going ...
We get it they're lost in space! Some kind of end -- maybe on an uninhabited world -- for the no-ship crew would have been nice, not just everybody just going on further into unknown space.
Also, I was very interested in hearing about the Honered Matres and the Guild working to find a substitute for Spice. Where do we go from here, though? After the last of the Honered Matres are destroyed, Murbella will just build up defenses to fight the 'Unknown Enemy' -- who, by the way, anyone with half a brain (and who had read the prequel novels) could tell would be the machine mind/Erasmus & Ominus.
I think it would have been more creative if it weren't the machines, but that's just me.
Overall I was happy I read it, but I was disappointed to have paid for the hardback.