Sandworms of Dune
by Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson
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Book Reviews of Sandworms of Dune
Book Review: A trip down memory lane . . . . .
Summary: 4 Stars
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--
Book Review: A big disappointment
Summary: 1 Stars
I recently revisited Frank Herbert's entire Dune series for the first time in close to twenty years. I re-read Dune itself every few years, and it's among the most brilliant and imaginative books I've ever read, science fiction or not. I recall being underwhelmed by the remaining books in the series. Upon rereading them, however, I came to realize how much of my problem with the five later Dune books came from my being too young (in my teens) to really understand what Herbert was trying to do, and, perhaps more importantly, why he was trying to do it. By the end of the series, the teenage version of me was essentially just flipping from one page to the next, without much actually registering--including the cliffhanger ending of Chapterhouse: Dune. I basically put the book down and immediately looked forward to reading something I could understand.
Upon my second time through the whole series, I was pleasantly surprised by how much more sense the second through sixth books of the series made. (I didn't get any smarter between my teens and thirties, but I am a better reader.) And that translated into a much more enjoyable read. The series still didn't knock my socks off--I think Herbert's reputation wouldn't have suffered, and might even have been strengthened, had he published Dune and then never written another word--but the latter books were much better-written and intriguing than I remembered.
Intriguing enough, in fact, that I felt a small surge of interest when I found that Herbert's son, Brian, and another author had used Herbert's notes to conclude the series with Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune. I was leery of the new books, because I couldn't think of many cases where something great (or close to it) can be taken over by somebody else and still maintain its greatness (Tim Burton's Batman movies in comparison to Joel Schumacher's Batman movies, for example). But nevertheless I checked both books out from the library, expecting to be moderately disappointed.
As it turns out, moderate disappointment would have been great news. I thought both of these books were awful. One of the things that intrigued me most about Frank Herbert's books is his dealing with characters that, while human, are exceptional not only physically but also mentally--even the ones not gifted with prescience are brilliant, far-seeing, controlled, and clever, their dialogue oblique, clever, and packed with meaning that it takes the average dope like myself hard work and some time to follow.
The characters in Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune have none of this. Characters that, in previous Dune novels, have represented the not just physically but also mentally advanced products of thousands of years of crafty genetic planning, are reduced to shrill, irrational, over-emotional children.
Herbert (the younger) and Anderson also seem to have no concept of many of their characters' basic motivations--motivations that have been well established over the couple thousand pages of previous novels. In Frank's hands, characters' decisions were usually made (or forced) based on a clear vision of their futures, and both their successes and their failures, their glory and their dooms, are accepted either nobly or shamefully; in Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune, decisions are made by whatever headless chicken is currently running around at the front of the pack, while the rest are often frozen by fear of the unknown.
My arguments might stand up better if I could quote specific instances of these complaints, but that'd require re-reading the books, and it's not worth it. I should have stopped with Chapterhouse: Dune and its cliffhanger ending.
[...]
Book Review: If you like the previous Dune Prequels, than you'll probably like this, too
Summary: 4 Stars
I am quite torn when it comes to comparing the expanded Dune Universe as imagined by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson...on the one hand, taken entirely alone without comparing the books to the incomparable Frank Herberts works, they are actually entertaining and worthwhile reads...I believe, and I could be wrong here, but it seems to me that for a large number of reviewers, they simply cannot separate these new novels with the writing style of Frank. Let me be honest, when the first expanded novel came out, I was pretty harsh--at first. I can't say what it was that helped me to come around, but somehow I did.
Now that ISN'T saying that I consider Brian and Kevin the Second Coming of Sci Fi greatness--nope. I'm just trying my best to give an honest review, based on how I view the storylines. It's similar to comparing the late Robert Ludlum to Eric Van Lustbader who has started writing Jason Bourne novels--when compared directly with Ludlum's novels, they fall rather flat...however, when taken individually on their own merits, I found that I enjoyed them much more.
The additions of Dune Characters from old was a bit of a surprise for me, and I have to admit that I enjoyed their inclusion quite a bit more by the end of the novel than I at first thought I would. I can see some VERY valid points regarding plot holes (some large enough for a Sandworm to slither through...) identified by some reviewers, as well. My problem is that with some sci fi series, if the plot doesn't hold water, I get mighty upset--and yet with others, I don't seem to care nearly as much--if at all. Can't say why, either. I think that these new Dune novels bring out the part of me that doesn't care as much--again, don't know why, but I just can't invest that much of my time worrying about stuff like this (and yet I lose sleep over the dumbest things, so take it for what its worth).
I have to say that overall, in the novels I have read by Kevin J. Anderson, with the possible exception of his Star Wars books, I've found his writing to be decent enough, and I don't think I've read anything by Brian (other than these Dune prequels) so I can't comment much on his talent, other than to say, for MY money, I found myself thrilled at re-entering the world so incredibly created by Frank Herbert all those years ago. I also agree with one reviewer who lost more interest with each of Franks Dune releases...I just kept hoping that he'd re-capture the magic of the original 1st three books, and in my opinion, it just never happened. That isn't to say that I didn't enjoy them, just not as much. Let's face it, Franks worst writing is better than the vast majority of the best works by most Sci Fi authors--and that includes ALL of them (just MY opinion).
Suffice it to say that if you did not enjoy the other KJA and BH expanded Dune novels, you simply will not like this one--however, if you DID like them, I honestly believe you will find a lot to enjoy here as well. Take that into consideration, and I think you will be a little better off. Hope this helps!
Book Review: Entertaining space opera that lacks Frank Herbert's invention as a novelist
Summary: 3 Stars
Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's Dune novels have much more in common with the atmosphere of "Star Wars" than Frank Herbert's Dune novels. Sandworms of Dune like Hunters of Dune its predecessor was based on an outline for the novel to follow Frank Herbert's Chapterhouse novel. Sandworms is certainly entertaining although both books should and could have been condensed into a single compact novel and been much more effective. This is the kind of book you pick up at the airport and use to pass the time--it isn't enlightening nor is it great literature but it is diverting.
Duncan Idaho and the refugees that escaped at the conclusion of Chapterhouse continue to fly into uncharted space attempting to evade the creatures and Honored Matres that are trying to capture Idaho. Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Sheeana has used cells collected from some of the most notable figures in history to clone gholas in aid them in their fight against either of their enemies if needed. This includes Paul Atraides, his mother Lady Jessica, Stilgar, Thufir Hawait and Miles Teg among others.
Meanwhile, the Mother Commander Murabella continues to integrate the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood with factions of the HHonored Matres preparing them for war. Murabella finds her followers fighting among themselves almost as often as they are fighting the Honored Matres who refuse to join them as well as unexpected plagues that begin to ravage the inhabited worlds.
Uxtal one of the last remaining Tlielaxu masters finds himself forced to work undercover for a group of Face Dancers that are infiltrating the humans. Uxtal is forced to recreate one of the old Tlielaxu masters Waff in attempt to discover how to make spice in without sandworms now that the planet of Dune has been destroyed.
The Dune novels that Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson have written are diverting and entertaining but lack the resonance of Frank Herbert's original novels. Frank Herbert's novels examained a number of difficult themes from addiction to humanity's obsession with messiah myths and the political consequences of both. These sequels are like any film franchise--they aren't truly about extending and examining the same themes but about the entertainment value. From that perspective Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson's novels are successful and while they do try to examine many of the same themes from Frank Herbert's novels they aren't quite as successful. Frank Herbert's style could often be stilted. Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson's style veers towards the opposite extreme--it's simplified for folks that love to read Star Wars novels and other franchise fiction. There's nothing wrong with that if that's what you're looking for but fans who read these Dune novels will be disappointed.
Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune are both entertaining diversions and while they lack the invention and serious themes that drove Frank Herbert's novels, they are, at the very least, entertaining space opera.
Book Review: This book should have been called Quagmire of Dune
Summary: 2 Stars
Let me begin by saying I've only read one of their prequel so I basically knew who the villian was in the end. If I hadnt I would have had no clue about the thinking machines and their history. The ghola aspects were interesting but totally boring. Maybe bringing back Jessica, Paul, Leto II, Alia and Chani but they did not need to bring back Yueh, Stilgar, and Chani's father. They should have included Ghanima since she was just an aside character in Children of Dune and rarely mention in God Emperor. They could have brought back Siona now that would have addded some conflict aboard the Ithaca. Frank Herbert was definitely an expert in personal conflicts and crises of faith. There were hardly any crises at all between these characters.
Norma was a stupid character with that whole Oracle of Time crapola. The villians did not produce any real fear or shock. It was mentioned that the Honored Matre were originally rebel Tleilaxu women enraged at their treatment, Bene Gesserits and Fish Speakers. Wouldnt it have been better to have the main villian be those TLeilaxu women who created a new race of face dancers and merged with them to become a new race. Turning the face dancers mules into being able to reproduce. Now they are bent on taking over the universe. Instead we are treated to Ultraspice even more concentrated than melange because it comes from the ocean world of Buzzell! As religious as Waff was why would he recreate the worms and adapt them to live in oceans? He would not have it is a plot element that makes no sense at all. We get a Mother Commander Murbella who is so dumb she never even expects to be betrayed so follows blindly. All the Bene Gesserit skills of manipulation and empire building are tossed aside for I am guessing Honored Matre aggression. As a character she never really develops or shows she is capable of rational thought. Sheeana miraculously can channel Serena Butler even thought Serena had no descendents its just magic I guess.
Dune made me think. When I was a teenager and read it for the first time I felt awe and inspired. When I read these I just feel sad because they have no lessons to teach. Frank Herbert was trying to spread a message about how religion, politics, society, and economics are consistant facts of our lives. There are no lessons to be learned in the new books. They feel and read as thin stretches. Too many times I have noticed that when the author dies someone feels the need to step in and "recreate" their vision or discovers "the lost manuscripts". If they wanted to continue the story they should have went out into the Scattering and started from scratch with their own vision. Anyway enough of the rant and rave.