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3.38 AVERAGE
3.38 AVERAGE
Stop with Chapterhouse, yes it's the same series and built off Frank's notes, but Brian and Kevin just don't know how to use the unknowns that Frank used.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don’t understand why people hate this novel. Having been on this journey through the Dune Saga and knowing it’s based off of Frank Herbert’s outline, this novel is a logical part 1 to the conclusion of the story. One con I would say is 100% Scytale having the DNA cashe. It’s kind of just revealed with no explanation, but from that the story becomes even more interesting. You find out who the enemy is that the Honor Matres were fleeing from. You get Miles Teg being the goat as usual. An insane Face Dance conspiracy. The double return of the OG goat. Well written action. Decent enough prose to Frank. What more can you ask for?
This book was bad in most of the ways a book can be bad.
Pure inertia will bring me to read book 8 at this point. That and some curiosity about what the resurrected Dune Kids will contribute to the conclusion.
Pure inertia will bring me to read book 8 at this point. That and some curiosity about what the resurrected Dune Kids will contribute to the conclusion.
I had heard nothing but bad things about this and I went in with low expectations. Hence, I'm pleased to say I really really enjoyed this. The main criticism I've heard is that it is extremely exposition heavy. Indeed, this is the case. It assumes you don't really remember or understand the last 6 books. But given that this came out two decades after book 6 and that Frank's writing style is extremely dense, this isn't a bad assumption.
Overall I enjoyed this a lot, and found it much easier to read than the previous two books in the Dune universe. I look forward to reading book 8!
Overall I enjoyed this a lot, and found it much easier to read than the previous two books in the Dune universe. I look forward to reading book 8!
Ugh.
This book is terrible. It's not just terrible in the context of the Dune series overall -- it is simply a terrible book, period. I do not begrudge the authors the challenge of finishing off Frank Herbert's legacy, particularly because the series itself had already become ungainly and unfocused. But what they came up with is...real bad.
First and foremost, the writing reminds you at every turn, "Hey, remember this part in the series? That was a thing that happened." Every fucking page there's a summary of something that anyone who read the series already knows. And no one, absolutely no one, should be coming to this book if they've not read the first six books. It is disruptive and comes across as a reminder to the authors about what the hell is going on just as much as anything.
The book is divided into a million small chapters, with like sixteen narrators, some of whom are absolutely dreadful both as characters and individuals. The perspective of the Tleiaxu character in particular is so whiny and over the top that I spent the book hoping for his death repeatedly. And while Frank Herbert may have made a mistake, IMO, with the axlotl tanks, this error is dialed up to 11 with the other Herbert's descriptions of it through the world's most annoying character.
Apart from the writing, which has all the subtlety of Michael Bay and treats its readers like idiots, the plot itself is just waaaaaay too slow in developing. This book and the following could have been a single book, as originally envisioned. It might have been long, and if written as a single book could not have worked as the self-promoting pile of shit that this one attempts to be with its references to side-arcs developed in their own Dune splinter series, but it at least would have had a tighter narrative driving home. This book suffers from series bloat and repetition and tons of chapters that just serve no real purpose in the grand scheme of things.
Worst of all, this book ret-cons characters to fit within the splinter series written by the authors. It's unforgivable, IMO, to outright alter the characters at the heart of a 20+ year cliffhanger just because you want to wedge your new book into an advertisement for your other books. It's awful, and because of this, no matter what happens in Sandworms I would recommend absolutely no one read these two books, least of all anyone hoping to see where Frank Herbert's vision would resolve. Because the Enemy has been reconfigured for Brian Herbert's own ends, a shameful take on his father's legacy.
This book is terrible. It's not just terrible in the context of the Dune series overall -- it is simply a terrible book, period. I do not begrudge the authors the challenge of finishing off Frank Herbert's legacy, particularly because the series itself had already become ungainly and unfocused. But what they came up with is...real bad.
First and foremost, the writing reminds you at every turn, "Hey, remember this part in the series? That was a thing that happened." Every fucking page there's a summary of something that anyone who read the series already knows. And no one, absolutely no one, should be coming to this book if they've not read the first six books. It is disruptive and comes across as a reminder to the authors about what the hell is going on just as much as anything.
The book is divided into a million small chapters, with like sixteen narrators, some of whom are absolutely dreadful both as characters and individuals. The perspective of the Tleiaxu character in particular is so whiny and over the top that I spent the book hoping for his death repeatedly. And while Frank Herbert may have made a mistake, IMO, with the axlotl tanks, this error is dialed up to 11 with the other Herbert's descriptions of it through the world's most annoying character.
Apart from the writing, which has all the subtlety of Michael Bay and treats its readers like idiots, the plot itself is just waaaaaay too slow in developing. This book and the following could have been a single book, as originally envisioned. It might have been long, and if written as a single book could not have worked as the self-promoting pile of shit that this one attempts to be with its references to side-arcs developed in their own Dune splinter series, but it at least would have had a tighter narrative driving home. This book suffers from series bloat and repetition and tons of chapters that just serve no real purpose in the grand scheme of things.
Worst of all, this book ret-cons characters to fit within the splinter series written by the authors. It's unforgivable, IMO, to outright alter the characters at the heart of a 20+ year cliffhanger just because you want to wedge your new book into an advertisement for your other books. It's awful, and because of this, no matter what happens in Sandworms I would recommend absolutely no one read these two books, least of all anyone hoping to see where Frank Herbert's vision would resolve. Because the Enemy has been reconfigured for Brian Herbert's own ends, a shameful take on his father's legacy.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Overall, I was content with the Brian/Kevin transition. Their style is different from Frank, but I think it's better that they didn't try to mimic him. I of course question the content. How much of this came from Frank's notes? I found the Richese (terrible name, like Unobtanium) terribly convenient. We're on book seven of this series that spans millennia and we just now hear about this main Ix competition? I can't decide how I feel about the big bad guys being computers. I already read the Hyperion Cantos, and this feels like it could be a rehash. I'll have to wait entirely to pass judgement on the entire cast of the first book being resurrected as they do very little in this novel. All that being pointed out, the story and subplots are solid. I was engaged and I even got emotional at times. It was a fun read and a worthy addition to the Dune saga.