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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
reflective
slow-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
i can't believe it was the last book where i was finally like omg excellent twists and turns like yueh accidentally destroying the leto ghola and the face dancers on the no-ship
but yeah even though i've pretty much just been Fine on the series (i think a lot of it was just too long for my preferences) i love how it all truly came together in the end even without the original author being able to finish it off
had to laugh at the end when jessica said something about how the house of atreides have always been great leaders like bestie. your son and grandson particularly the later majorly fucked stuff up again i guess it was all leading to this ending so in a way it was like. supposed to happen like that and it apparently is gonna be a better world with duncan as the kwisatz haderach but yeah like. they did horrible things! you can't deny that!
and though i liked having the originals brought back it did feel silly to have THAT many gholas and why did some of those cells exist in the first place like bringing back important figures like paul makes sense but some of them i just don't get how or why they had these cells from thousands of years ago at all.
the very last scene though was soooo perfect to me as a romantic lmao like i know it's different bc they're gholas but they finally get the life they deserve together i love it
but yeah even though i've pretty much just been Fine on the series (i think a lot of it was just too long for my preferences) i love how it all truly came together in the end even without the original author being able to finish it off
had to laugh at the end when jessica said something about how the house of atreides have always been great leaders like bestie. your son and grandson particularly the later majorly fucked stuff up again i guess it was all leading to this ending so in a way it was like. supposed to happen like that and it apparently is gonna be a better world with duncan as the kwisatz haderach but yeah like. they did horrible things! you can't deny that!
and though i liked having the originals brought back it did feel silly to have THAT many gholas and why did some of those cells exist in the first place like bringing back important figures like paul makes sense but some of them i just don't get how or why they had these cells from thousands of years ago at all.
the very last scene though was soooo perfect to me as a romantic lmao like i know it's different bc they're gholas but they finally get the life they deserve together i love it
Aunque prefiero la forma de escribir de Frank Herbert en la saga original, este final me ha gustado mucho
Ça fait maintenant 25 ans que le non-vaissaux de Duncan Idaho fuit l'ennemi mystérieux. Un saboteur vient briser les plans de nos héros. Le seul espoir de la troupe est qu'un des gholas soit vraiment le Kwisatz Haderach ultime qui sauvera toute l'humanité de l'ennemi.
J'ai eu beaucoup de difficulté à faire ce petit résumé sans ne rien révéler de l'histoire. Cette histoire est bien plus complexe que ce que j'en ai écrit. Dans ce dernier tome de la série de Dune, j'ai eu l'impression que les auteurs avaient fait l'effort de faire un livre plus digne de Frank Herbert que le précédent.
Personnellement, j'aurais fait une seul livre avec les deux dernier et coupé quelques bouts qui se répétaient. Le livre aurait été plus consistant et les longueurs auraient été éliminées. Sans être en extase de cette fin de la saga, je dois dire que j'ai quand même apprécié.
J'ai eu beaucoup de difficulté à faire ce petit résumé sans ne rien révéler de l'histoire. Cette histoire est bien plus complexe que ce que j'en ai écrit. Dans ce dernier tome de la série de Dune, j'ai eu l'impression que les auteurs avaient fait l'effort de faire un livre plus digne de Frank Herbert que le précédent.
Personnellement, j'aurais fait une seul livre avec les deux dernier et coupé quelques bouts qui se répétaient. Le livre aurait été plus consistant et les longueurs auraient été éliminées. Sans être en extase de cette fin de la saga, je dois dire que j'ai quand même apprécié.
This is the end of the series, the conclusion to thousands of pages, to 8 books, this is it. It is a lukewarm ending at best. The idea that Duncan is the final Kwisatz Haderach because he has lived all of these lives is believable, yes, but contrived. That sentiment honestly describes most of the book. It felt that the Frank Herbert dune books were all about pushing humanity away from this reliance on a messiah or god, that humanity must find its own way to survive and thrive, and to end it all with Duncan becoming God Emperor 2.0 works, but feels disingenuous to the rest of the series.
My two biggest issues with this book are the complete lack of subtext, which contributes to the feeling of plot contrivances that occurred many time in this book. Comparing Hunters and Sandworms to the Frank books, all subtly and subtext is gone, replaced by something being either impossible for the reader to guess or so blindingly obvious as to be insulting. The face dancers was where this was most evident, with almost every plot convivence stemming from their abilities. Need to sabotage the ship to get Duncan somewhere? Face dancers. Need to make it so that all of Murabella's work and effort into saving humanity are meaningless, so that Duncan can swoop in and save the day? Face dancers. Having them appear in one of the major plot threads would of been okay, but it felt like there was an overreliance on them as a way to get out of plot holes created by poor writing.
The other issue with this book is the idea of Gholas. This book uses Gholas to their full potential, to the detriment of the story, in my opinion. Seeing Duncan as a Ghola because of his special significance to Paul and then his son Leto II made sense, but now it just feels like the most important and impactful people in this universe was this group of live 10 people from this 100 year span in history, and no one before or after can measure up to them. In addition, it seems that the authors were unsure of what to do with all of the ghoals, leaving Keynes and Stilgar on the desert plan, killing off several. It made the book feel messy and felt like a lot of nostalgia pandering.
For all of the flaws here, there are good parts of the book.
The standout character of the last 2 novels for me is Murabella. She feels like the logical conclusion of the Bene Gesserit and Honored Matres fully realized, and her growth and development make her feel like a character from the original dune books. He desperate attempt to save humanity and appeal to the humanity of all her allies, as well as her dogged determination to give humanity as much of a chance that she can is great. While it felt that she had the rug pulled out under her by the face dancers, that does not dimmish the amazing character that she is, and her reunion with Duncan at the end, with both of them maturing past their old relationship that was defined by its overattachment was great to see.
Sheeana also stood out in this novel, with her leadership of the fractured Bene Gesserits feeling like the witches of old. Her character has one of the strongest voices in the series, and she felt like that last tie to old dune, and seeing her finally being able to return somewhat to dune, to see the worms back, was a standout moment.
There were several standout scenes as well. Miles Teg rushing to save the ship, dying in the process, and it not being enough was a powerfully moving scene, a fitting sendoff for one of the best characters of the franchise. Erasmus asking Duncan for death, while cliche, was genuinely a touching moment, seeing this machine embracing what truly defines humanity and wanting to be human was very well done. Murabella's combat challenge was a brutal, personal fight that harkens back to the combat from the original, rather than the galactic-scale battles that dominate the latter half of the series. Murabella's conviction breaking after seeing her daughter's death was heartbreaking, seeing the cracks in the Bene Gesserit Shell made me like her character even more. The Yueh ghola's conflict at his past life, and the repeating of his mistake as well as his redemption in the eyes of Jessica were all very well done, beautiful character moments.
Overall, this book is a mixed bag. I found Hunters more compelling, but neither of these books stand up to Frank Herbert's original works. I wouldn't say that I'm happy with the ending, just okay with it, but I'm glad to have gone on this journey. 3.5 stars.
My two biggest issues with this book are the complete lack of subtext, which contributes to the feeling of plot contrivances that occurred many time in this book. Comparing Hunters and Sandworms to the Frank books, all subtly and subtext is gone, replaced by something being either impossible for the reader to guess or so blindingly obvious as to be insulting. The face dancers was where this was most evident, with almost every plot convivence stemming from their abilities. Need to sabotage the ship to get Duncan somewhere? Face dancers. Need to make it so that all of Murabella's work and effort into saving humanity are meaningless, so that Duncan can swoop in and save the day? Face dancers. Having them appear in one of the major plot threads would of been okay, but it felt like there was an overreliance on them as a way to get out of plot holes created by poor writing.
The other issue with this book is the idea of Gholas. This book uses Gholas to their full potential, to the detriment of the story, in my opinion. Seeing Duncan as a Ghola because of his special significance to Paul and then his son Leto II made sense, but now it just feels like the most important and impactful people in this universe was this group of live 10 people from this 100 year span in history, and no one before or after can measure up to them. In addition, it seems that the authors were unsure of what to do with all of the ghoals, leaving Keynes and Stilgar on the desert plan, killing off several. It made the book feel messy and felt like a lot of nostalgia pandering.
For all of the flaws here, there are good parts of the book.
The standout character of the last 2 novels for me is Murabella. She feels like the logical conclusion of the Bene Gesserit and Honored Matres fully realized, and her growth and development make her feel like a character from the original dune books. He desperate attempt to save humanity and appeal to the humanity of all her allies, as well as her dogged determination to give humanity as much of a chance that she can is great. While it felt that she had the rug pulled out under her by the face dancers, that does not dimmish the amazing character that she is, and her reunion with Duncan at the end, with both of them maturing past their old relationship that was defined by its overattachment was great to see.
Sheeana also stood out in this novel, with her leadership of the fractured Bene Gesserits feeling like the witches of old. Her character has one of the strongest voices in the series, and she felt like that last tie to old dune, and seeing her finally being able to return somewhat to dune, to see the worms back, was a standout moment.
There were several standout scenes as well. Miles Teg rushing to save the ship, dying in the process, and it not being enough was a powerfully moving scene, a fitting sendoff for one of the best characters of the franchise. Erasmus asking Duncan for death, while cliche, was genuinely a touching moment, seeing this machine embracing what truly defines humanity and wanting to be human was very well done. Murabella's combat challenge was a brutal, personal fight that harkens back to the combat from the original, rather than the galactic-scale battles that dominate the latter half of the series. Murabella's conviction breaking after seeing her daughter's death was heartbreaking, seeing the cracks in the Bene Gesserit Shell made me like her character even more. The Yueh ghola's conflict at his past life, and the repeating of his mistake as well as his redemption in the eyes of Jessica were all very well done, beautiful character moments.
Overall, this book is a mixed bag. I found Hunters more compelling, but neither of these books stand up to Frank Herbert's original works. I wouldn't say that I'm happy with the ending, just okay with it, but I'm glad to have gone on this journey. 3.5 stars.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
As with every book in the Duniverse this is long and can be arduous at times. The majority of the book is setting a scene before that last quarter really ramps up and finallly you have a book you don't find a chore to read.
Mine seems to be an unpopular opinion in that I refer the writing style of Brian over his father Frankm maybe because by starting at the beggining I was familiar with Brians work and found Franks when I got to the most famous of all the books (Dune) was not in keeping with what I was use to.
This is the final book, and it has taken me years to reach this point. The book is set millenia after Dune and longer still (over 15,000 years) from the humble beginnings in the short story "Hunting Harkonnens" A time when the Atreides, Harkonnens and Corrino's were friends and the thinking machines were the enemy of all humanity. The death of Serena Butler's baby at the hands of one of these machine Erasmus started the Butlerian Jihad which although it rid the universe of these machines also started the beginning of the end for the great houses working as one.
This book with the help of ghola technology bring back all the names you know, centuries after their original death. As the universe comes full circle and old enemies reappear, can humanity once again learn to work together to destroy the undestroyable. The rise of a new Kwisatz Haderach, better than any before may be the key.
This book is a fitting end to an epic set of books, bringing back memories of long long ago character together with those you will know from Dune itself and some from the later books. It rounded everything off very well.
Mine seems to be an unpopular opinion in that I refer the writing style of Brian over his father Frankm maybe because by starting at the beggining I was familiar with Brians work and found Franks when I got to the most famous of all the books (Dune) was not in keeping with what I was use to.
This is the final book, and it has taken me years to reach this point. The book is set millenia after Dune and longer still (over 15,000 years) from the humble beginnings in the short story "Hunting Harkonnens" A time when the Atreides, Harkonnens and Corrino's were friends and the thinking machines were the enemy of all humanity. The death of Serena Butler's baby at the hands of one of these machine Erasmus started the Butlerian Jihad which although it rid the universe of these machines also started the beginning of the end for the great houses working as one.
This book with the help of ghola technology bring back all the names you know, centuries after their original death. As the universe comes full circle and old enemies reappear, can humanity once again learn to work together to destroy the undestroyable. The rise of a new Kwisatz Haderach, better than any before may be the key.
This book is a fitting end to an epic set of books, bringing back memories of long long ago character together with those you will know from Dune itself and some from the later books. It rounded everything off very well.
My first reaction upon finishing this book is that at least it had a plot, unlike "Hunters of Dune." The Gholas are all grown up and they actually do something. Unfortunately, most of them don't do anything particularly interesting. Why were all of these Gholas resurrected? Sheeana claims it's to help the coming battle with the Enemy. Yet, do they really play a role?
Admittedly, there are some nice character moments. I loved seeing Dr. Wellington Yueh struggle with guilt for past actions. Again, nothing to do with the larger plot, but it gives us insight into the Yueh character, which I at least appreciated.
As for the larger plot itself... Readers of "Hunters of Dune" know that the Enemy ls the Thinking Machines. I haven't read Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's "Butlerian Jihad" trilogy so I'm probably missing some context, but for me this came out of nowhere. The struggle between man and machine is a classic sci-fi trope, but it's not a theme that appeared at the forefront of the Dune saga. I'd associated Dune with religion, charismatic leadership, social movements, etc.
For me to really buy into "Sandworms of Dune," I felt like the book really needed to do more to show me how the "man vs. machine" thread fit into the Dune universe. Otherwise, the Thinking Machines become just another villain.
Overall, I guess I'm glad that I know how the story ends. It ends on a whimper, but it's not the travesty some reviewers make it out to be. I guess my expectations were already so low after having read "Hunters of Dune." If you go through that book, you might as well go all the way.
Admittedly, there are some nice character moments. I loved seeing Dr. Wellington Yueh struggle with guilt for past actions. Again, nothing to do with the larger plot, but it gives us insight into the Yueh character, which I at least appreciated.
As for the larger plot itself... Readers of "Hunters of Dune" know that the Enemy ls the Thinking Machines. I haven't read Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's "Butlerian Jihad" trilogy so I'm probably missing some context, but for me this came out of nowhere. The struggle between man and machine is a classic sci-fi trope, but it's not a theme that appeared at the forefront of the Dune saga. I'd associated Dune with religion, charismatic leadership, social movements, etc.
For me to really buy into "Sandworms of Dune," I felt like the book really needed to do more to show me how the "man vs. machine" thread fit into the Dune universe. Otherwise, the Thinking Machines become just another villain.
Overall, I guess I'm glad that I know how the story ends. It ends on a whimper, but it's not the travesty some reviewers make it out to be. I guess my expectations were already so low after having read "Hunters of Dune." If you go through that book, you might as well go all the way.