House Harkonnen (Dune: House Trilogy, Book 2) by Brian Herbert, Kevin Anderson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of House Harkonnen (Dune: House Trilogy, Book 2)
Book Review: An overlong average.
Summary: 3 Stars
I received House Harkonnen as a Christmas present in 2002 and two years later I finally got around to reading it. It is a brick of a book, which was the main reason for taking so long to get around to it. It looked uncomfortable and unwieldy. It turned out to be far less of a pain than I'd assumed though; and I haven't been working out since I got it.I suppose you'd like to hear about the actual content now, right? Well. In many ways Brian Herbert is rather brave to consider writing the Dune Preludes series as he was bound to come in for a fair bit of criticism. I mean let's face it, Frank Herbert was a genius and the original Dune series are probably the finest Sci-Fi novels of the 20th Century.
The problem with writing prequels to such a masterwork is that surprises are going to be fairly few. You know that Leto, the Baron, Jessica, Idaho, Gurney etc can't die, because you know what happens to them a few years down the road before you even start.
To be honest, I found House Harkonnen to be fairly mundane and pedestrian. It failed to grip me and the writing is nowhere near the level of the originals. It isn't that it's a bad book or badly written really; it's more that it isn't written to the level of detail and intrigue as the originals. I find it hard to believe that the prequels are written to notes and synopses created by Frank Herbert. If this was the case, his notes were few and lacked of detail.
There's something about reading this novel that makes you feel the writers are losing momentum and the ideas aren't there anymore.
Having said all that, I did go through it pretty quickly. The pace is fast and the chapters fairly short, inviting you to read one more before turning out the light.
In summary: A readable book with no real surprises. I would have to say average, especially if you've read the originals.
Book Review: More of the back stories on "Dune"'s secondary characters
Summary: 4 Stars
Not only is it true that if you have not read "Dune: House Atreides" you cannot possibly hope to fathom "Dune: House Harkonen," but if you have not read "Dune" you will be totally unable to enjoy anything in this book as well. Both books by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson suffer from the same set of problems. First, they are prequels, which means we know the fate awaiting most of these characters in Frank Hebert's epic "Dune." Consequently, there is no suspense to the question of whether Gurney Halleck will survive the Harkonen prison camps, whether Duncan Idaho will become a Swordsman, or whether the Lady Jessica will be accepted as the concubine of Duke Leto. What suspense there is involves characters never mentioned in "Dune," such as the members of the renegade House of Vernius.
Second, we are dealing with the secondary characters from "Dune," all of whom pale in comparison to Paul. Besides, in fleshing out the back stories of these characters there are so many plotlines going on that things get a bit jumbled (I am fairly certain the chronology involved does not hold up to scrutiny). At the end, the various threads certainly do not come together to form a coherent tapestry. These stories are interesting, but ultimately not important to either understanding or appreciating the "Dune" series.
Having gone through both books the one thing that stands out is the identity of the Lady Jessica's mother. Everything else is diverting, but not especially memorable. The style is not a bad imitation of the elder Herbert's writing, but it is the content, the way it all fits together in an epic story that is missing. However, these prequels are the best we have for filling up the void left by Frank Herbert's death. Those who love "Dune" will not make this book any more or any less than that.
Book Review: Brillaint
Summary: 5 Stars
Far be it for me, a young Dune reader, to object to the cries of dismay from diehard frank herbert fans, but I think the whole prelude series by his son Brian and Kevin J Anderson (of star wars, X files fame,) is excellent. I'm no writer, and I'm certainly no literary critic, I can't even spell properly 99% of the time. But I loved the original series growing up, and I think these (along with the butlerian Jihad books) perfectly compliment them *as another author*
Keep in mind that this guy is frank herberts son, but he is not frank herbert. Would you even try to emulate your father with a shadow that big?
I think with that pressure they've both done a marvelous job.
As mentioned before, the chapters where quick and involved, forcing you to go that extra chapter before you put it down. It also adds a whole new flesh to characters that were not entirley backround motivated in the original series - duncan idaho (the original duncan idaho) being a noteworthy example, jessica, and the new characters of the mentioned but not explained industry world of Ix.
All in all, I have all of the series bar this one now, and they are all worth a look to appreciate these men and their effort in the presence of the overwhelming shadow of a great, great author.
Book Review: Frank must be turning in his grave
Summary: 1 Stars
As many people have said, these prequels, sequels and other attempts by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson to make a cheap living off Frank Herbert's work are incredibly poor. To be honest, I think if it had been anybody else that had written them, they would probably never have been published. They're that bad. The characters could be out of a poor B movie, they lack depth so badly, the action scenes are luke warm at best and the plot is just appalling. Even the evil Harkonnens are just watered down goons, with about about as much malice as the baddies in some soap opera show. It feels as if Brian and Kevin only read the blurbs on the back of Brian's dad's books and decided, after a few beers, to write some sequels, while watching the superbowl and eating pop-corn.
My tip: In all honesty, use your imagination to complete the Dune series. Don't let these books spoil it for you.
Book Review: Only serves one purpose
Summary: 1 Stars
This book and all of the other Herbert & Anderson penned prequels serve only one purpose. They demonstrate amply that talent is no requirement in getting published. Would be novelists take heart.