IIRC Dune Messiah was originally published incremenally in one of the scifi magazines as more of an episodic novella, it wasn’t until later that Frank re-edited and compiled it into a novel. So, that may explain why the book is somewhat erratic and strangely paced. Things get wonderful from Children and on though, so keep reading…
My favorite is God Emporer, which I reread about once a year. The characters, plotting, intrigue, and philosophy are Herbert at his peak. I consider it to be one of the top 5 scif-/fantasy books ever written.
Well, I agree that the HM/BG union was well delivered, but given that they’d teased us with that old couple and their ‘net’…wtf? Plus, we never get a good read on what the HM are running from.
Anyway, I liked all of the original series, some more than others. I think that Herbert had sort of dug himself too deeply by the end, but had he continued, I’m sure he could have pulled it off.
Kevin J. Anderson (of Star Wars’ Jedi Academy and other infamy) is a hack, and has really butchered the source material. Plus, he falls into what i call the Martin trap…he kills off pretty much everyone.
Yes, in a multi-generational epic, people will die…but it seems that no one dies of natural causes- ever. It gets depressing after a while. Like I said, it’s largely my own reading style- I like characters I can bond with…we are offered none of that in the new series. Every somehwta sympathic character exists to be exploited, murdered, or martyred…those that do find happiness die horribly shortly after.
Plus, my personal beefs- in the House trilogy- it cuts off as soon as paul is born. Frankly, I am more interested in the dynamics leading up to the Arrakis debacle, and we are instead treated to lots of Ix (only mentioned in passing in the originals).
As for the Jihad trilogy…like I said…everyone dies. horribly. It’s very tiring.
Also, it seems that every single time any major character has sex, someone gets pregnant. Very odd.
I totally agree with your opinions of Kevin Anderson. After I read “Dreamer of Dune” I found myself wishing that Brian would just write those last two books by himself…I’m not looking forward to seeing my favorite Chapterhouse characters written as StarWars-esque stereotypes…
And yeah, there is SO much left hanging. I remember when I first finished Chapterhouse and I realized that it was the last book and Frank Herbert was dead and I’d never get to find out what the fuck was going on…well I was pretty upset, let’s put it that way. The guy left his fans with a huge mystery. Thanks to Shai-Hulud that it will finally be resolved 20 years later!!!
Martin trap: From George R.R. Matin, of the Song of Fire and Ice series…basically, nobody gets out alive. Everyone dies horribly- main characters as well as peripheral ones. There’s no reward for being a ‘good’ guy, no punishment for bad guys, etc.
Anyway, the Idaho/lesbian thing bugged me because it seemed like such a random thing to spend time on. And homosexuality was certainly known in his day (a la the Baron), so I can’t see why he was so outraged. By our current standards, the Empire was a pretty decadent place, with every perversion known to man pursued in the public sphere.
There is a steady stream of complaints against Herbert and Anderson for their work continuing the Dune series. Are their books as good as FH’s? No, but I read them anyway because I like the Duniverse and I hope to get some tidbits out of them. Do they adhere to the continuity set out by FH? No, but then again FH couldn’t always keep the continuity straight his ownself. I would like to start a thread and see which follow up series is more messed up, the Dune prequels or the Foundation ones.
FTR, I think that Dune is the best book of the series followed by GEoD, HoD and C:D. DM and CoD are the weak sisters in my opinion.
I think the basic idea behind the Idaho/lesbianism thing was that Idaho represents the “old guard” of a patriarchal system and male-controlled society. Frank is setting us up for the totally female-dominant society that exists in HOD and CD. Leto II deliberately cultivated a female-dominant society, and in GEOD it is a time of transition. Idaho’s repulsion is a measuring stick for Leto II to use to measure his success. The more aversion, the more successful.
(Or maybe Frank just thought lesbians are hot. Nah…)
Speaking of weird and random, what about the cliff-climbing/orgasm thing???