Scan barcode
luke_td's review against another edition
In the introductions to the most recent editions of the Frank Herbert Dune novels Brian Herbert has a habit of making grandiose statements about his father's works, which, personally speaking, tend to not comport with my experience with them.
Still, in that respect, I feel comfortable stating that no novel has ever deployed the word 'female' as calamitously as Hunters of Dune.
It is almost impressive how a novel about all female armies clashing against each other (one whose origins are based in rebelling against their own commodification) is never in danger of even accidentally making a feminist statement.
Which is kind of the guiding ethos here. No matter how complicated the politicking gets (mildly) there is no discernable depth.
I grew more and more skeptical with each passing book that Frank Herbert's plot supported his purported themes but there's no proof that someone has a point quite like seeing someone miss it.
Admittedly it's not all bad, there seems to be some desire to tell an actual story here, something that Herbert the elder seemed to largely abdicate from Messiah on, and occasionally Herbert and Anderson land on some sort of political maneuvering or act of space economics that is at least interesting, but again without depth it struggles to amount to much. It was prescient about reverence for source material leading to toothless and self defeating legacy sequels though, and contains the sort of storytelling that loses millions at the box office week after week these days.
I mean they bring back Thufir.
Thufir!
Dune has always been a series where the ideas had to drag along the empty vessels of the characters and here these names I recognize, with personalities I don't, have never had less to do.
I will say that if the writing was 20 percent better it would probably be unreadable, but as is there's at least messiness that proves entertaining when the narrative stagnates or what's more, dead ends.
Heretics and Charterhouse especially could feel like Herbert was caught in a loop, having characters go back and forth on how only libertarian ubermensches could save us from tyrants or whatever, but here the repetition is astounding.
One wonders how co-author duties were shared when page after page (and sometimes paragraph after paragraph) repeat information we just heard and will probably soon hear again.
There's also a weird amount of pages dedicated to wiki style recaps of the first 6 novels, as well as Anderson and Herbert's own prequels (which the introduction assures us were very necessary) sometimes shoehorned right next to each other as if we wouldn't notice.
What I'm getting at is there's a lot of versions of a posthumous Dune sequel that don't posit making a Ghola of Xavier Harkonen is of vital importance to Sheeana's plans and while that novel would probably be better for it we would be worse.
There's also one chapter that starts with a quote about even the strongest tower having a weak point and that proves to be thematically relevant to the text of the chapter where one army destroys a planet from space.
A+ stuff is what I'm getting at.
Still it's a shame there's only one truly great Dune novel (I guess Sandworms could technically prove me wrong), but maybe with the success of the movies the story can get passed on to more than one writer and we can have the first ever fun Dune novel.
At least all the sex stuff is as hilariously deranged and off base as it's ever been.
Still, in that respect, I feel comfortable stating that no novel has ever deployed the word 'female' as calamitously as Hunters of Dune.
It is almost impressive how a novel about all female armies clashing against each other (one whose origins are based in rebelling against their own commodification) is never in danger of even accidentally making a feminist statement.
Which is kind of the guiding ethos here. No matter how complicated the politicking gets (mildly) there is no discernable depth.
I grew more and more skeptical with each passing book that Frank Herbert's plot supported his purported themes but there's no proof that someone has a point quite like seeing someone miss it.
Admittedly it's not all bad, there seems to be some desire to tell an actual story here, something that Herbert the elder seemed to largely abdicate from Messiah on, and occasionally Herbert and Anderson land on some sort of political maneuvering or act of space economics that is at least interesting, but again without depth it struggles to amount to much. It was prescient about reverence for source material leading to toothless and self defeating legacy sequels though, and contains the sort of storytelling that loses millions at the box office week after week these days.
I mean they bring back Thufir.
Thufir!
Dune has always been a series where the ideas had to drag along the empty vessels of the characters and here these names I recognize, with personalities I don't, have never had less to do.
I will say that if the writing was 20 percent better it would probably be unreadable, but as is there's at least messiness that proves entertaining when the narrative stagnates or what's more, dead ends.
Heretics and Charterhouse especially could feel like Herbert was caught in a loop, having characters go back and forth on how only libertarian ubermensches could save us from tyrants or whatever, but here the repetition is astounding.
One wonders how co-author duties were shared when page after page (and sometimes paragraph after paragraph) repeat information we just heard and will probably soon hear again.
There's also a weird amount of pages dedicated to wiki style recaps of the first 6 novels, as well as Anderson and Herbert's own prequels (which the introduction assures us were very necessary) sometimes shoehorned right next to each other as if we wouldn't notice.
What I'm getting at is there's a lot of versions of a posthumous Dune sequel that don't posit making a Ghola of Xavier Harkonen is of vital importance to Sheeana's plans and while that novel would probably be better for it we would be worse.
There's also one chapter that starts with a quote about even the strongest tower having a weak point and that proves to be thematically relevant to the text of the chapter where one army destroys a planet from space.
A+ stuff is what I'm getting at.
Still it's a shame there's only one truly great Dune novel (I guess Sandworms could technically prove me wrong), but maybe with the success of the movies the story can get passed on to more than one writer and we can have the first ever fun Dune novel.
At least all the sex stuff is as hilariously deranged and off base as it's ever been.
nwilliams96's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
kckslider's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
alex_wordweaver's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I forgot how annoying reading the word "females" was in these books since I had such a large break between reading Chapterhouse and reading Hunters. It took me out of the material a bit every time because I kept reading it in the incel voice. Excited to finish the main series in the next book, though. Glad Duncan finally stopped thinking with his dick after 563 pages.
mkot's review against another edition
4.0
This book took some time to get into, and initially I found it frustrating that we would move from one character just as it’s getting interesting, to a character which hasn’t had much development yet or many key events occurring. Definitely a slow burn to begin.
By the time I got to the second chapter, most of these issues were resolved though and I was keen at the end of each character focus to see where the next one would go. By the end, it is so jammed packed with events and drama or action that I struggled to put it down.
I’ll try not to spoil things, but one character did get their just desserts, but I wish they had called a spade a spade if you will (I hate when a character you think is gone comes back books later to fill a plot hole). I’m not holding my breath, but it would be nice to see that chapter close.
By the time I got to the second chapter, most of these issues were resolved though and I was keen at the end of each character focus to see where the next one would go. By the end, it is so jammed packed with events and drama or action that I struggled to put it down.
I’ll try not to spoil things, but one character did get their just desserts, but I wish they had called a spade a spade if you will (I hate when a character you think is gone comes back books later to fill a plot hole). I’m not holding my breath, but it would be nice to see that chapter close.
handhoney's review against another edition
2.0
The drop in the quality of the prose from its predecessors is jarring. After overcoming that and powering through, it's a passable continuation of an absolutely brilliant story, but this series helped me realize that nepotism can produce quality actors and singers, but not writers.
buffmech's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Expanding on the Omnius and Erasmus plot line took way too long in my opinion. Previous books would atleast start the final reveal maybe 50-100 pages before the end, but Hunters of Dune had only the last 10-15 pages as the “big” reveal.
professorchickpea's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
3.75
aevek's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0