I liked Frank Herbert’s original Dune very much, but didn’t care much at all for the later books in the series.
Now I see that Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson have written a bevy of prequels: House Atreides, House Harkonnen, House Corrino, The Butlerian Jihad, The Machine Crusade, and The Battle of Corrin.
Are any of them any good? Do they emulate Frank Herbert’s writing style at all? Are they consistent with the original author’s “canon” (if there is such a thing)?
Use as many spoilers as you like. The stack of books I wanna read is tall enough that I’ll have forgotten any spoilers by the time I get around to reading any of the Herbert & Anderson books (if you think I even should).
Of the prequels, I enjoyed the Houses most, the Butlerian Jihad series was mostly rubbish in my mind. I don’t know about the writing styles, no differences really jumped out at me - but then I wasn’t looking.
The easiest way to handle it is to put the original Dunes in a box on a shelf and then read those. Keep in mind the same universe, sort of. He explains some things which shouldn’t be known prior to the Dune series and stuff.
I’d say read the House Atreides, House Harkonnen, House Corrino series, one at a time and if you’re happy keep going - but don’t force yourself too.
I also liked the House series, though it is not as good as Dune. Skip the Butlerian Jihad series altogether. Everyone would be better off forgetting that series ever happened.
I haven’t bothered with The Butlerian Jihad, The Machine Crusade or * The Battle of Corrin*.
I have to say I quite liked the others, or at least I didn’t hate them and finished all three, but I’m one of those people who found the last 2 Dune books almost unreadable, and really only enjoyed Dune itself.
The writing style can be clunky at times, but no more so than Frank Herbert at his worst. Come on, a lot of his characters are one-dimensional ciphers by the end.
Herbert and Anderson do their best to try and tie up loose ends- sometimes too neatly, sometimes in ways you’re pretty sure Frank Herbert wouldn’t approve of, but the books have a solid plot and know where they’re going.
OK, they’re not going to win any literary awards, and if you’re an obsessive Dune fanboy you won’t like them, but if you just thought Dune was a good Sci-Fi, but a bit confusing, and want some backstory and more explanation, then you should give them a go.
Try your local library or secondhand book shop and get House Atreides- all you have to lose is an hour or two of your life if you don’t like it!
I read all of them, but didnt spend a dime to do so, just borrowed a copy from a relative.
compared to Dune they are all total fluff, I finish the prequels in a couple days, even rereading Dune takes longer and its a book I have read many times.
I would say its a way to pass the time if you dont have anything better to do but I wouldnt go out of my way to track down a copy. and the Jihad books were definitly the worst of the lot.
Luckily, Christopher Tolkien actually respects his father’s brainchild, unlike some ungrateful, greedy momzers who shall remain nameless…Brian Herbert!
I get so sick of the Brian Herbert bashing. You try and follow up Frank Herbert’s act! I’m grateful that he’s going to finish the series - I’ve been dying to know what happens next ever since I read Chapterhouse. I’m comfortable with the fact that it’s not going to be perfect - it’s the story itself I’m more interested in. Yeah, Kevin’s a bit of a hack and I do wish he was out of the whole business, but I’ve met Brian and he seems like a perfectly good guy. He was lucky enough to inherit his father’s notes and smart enough to use them. The whole Butlerian Jihad series was terrible, I agree. But to characterize Brian as a money-grubbing hack sullying his father’s good name and masterwork is stupid. I’d much rather he wrote the books than keep it all to himself and leave TRUE Dune fans hanging.
Well, if Frank had left about a grillion pages of unpublished manuscripts laying around, then Brian could have spent his time editing it and releasing it a bit at a time, just like CJRT did.
Yes, I’ve read the prequels (not horrible, got worse as they went along) and HOMES too. I’m more grateful for CJRT’s efforts than Brian’s by about 10 orders of magnitude.
The books simply aren’t anything special. They aren’t bad per se, but there’s nothing in them which even momentarily seperates them from the literary mass, except the setting of Dune. So if you go in knowing that it’s not that interesting outside of that, they are alright.
