Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $7.37 You Save: $20.58 (74%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.36 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Sandworms of Dune
Book Review: Sandworms of Dune
Summary: 4 Stars
Having read Hunters of Dune I was very anxious to read the conclusion. I enjoyed it, but I needed more. More details about certain characters agendas and motivation, certainly more details about space flight and ship to ship battles. The series was unpredictable the whole way through, which is a big part of its appeal to me and then the ending arrived suddenly and the "revelations" were anticlimactic. Loved the characters though. I would definitely recommend this book to fans of the series.Book Review: The Dunes Creep
Summary: 3 Stars
Afer awhile, the story begins to drag and tries to throw everything in but the kitchen sink. Frank Herbert's Dune (The original Novel) was so much more than the sum of all its parts. Here, the story meanders aimlessly onward, trying to serve up a big whopping finale, trying to appease those fans whose imagination have gone lacking. The finesse of government, religion, industry, Machiavelli intrigues and the slavish addiction to a rare commodity has never been equaled or surpassed. Sooner or later, all things end. it is time to let go before this series is ran into the ground.Book Review: The original vision for Dune is now complete
Summary: 5 Stars
This book Sandworms of Dune, coupled with Hunters of Dune were based on an outline left in a safe desposit box by Frank Herbert before he died. Two decades later, his son Brian and author Kevin J Anderson take this outline and produce a fantastic, stunning, and at times mindblowing conclusion to Frank Herbert's original Dune storyline. Like all Dune fans, the ending of Chapterhouse left me scratching my head saying 'is this all?', knowing full well that the author had passed away. Being able to read this book and see the series concluded in such a profound way was exciting to say the least. Many have criticized Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson for falling short of the prosaic vision and authorship of the original Herbert. I for one am glad to see the series finished and done well. Consider this a necessary read for all Dune fans, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.Book Review: This book should have been called Quagmire of Dune
Summary: 2 Stars
Let me begin by saying I've only read one of their prequel so I basically knew who the villian was in the end. If I hadnt I would have had no clue about the thinking machines and their history. The ghola aspects were interesting but totally boring. Maybe bringing back Jessica, Paul, Leto II, Alia and Chani but they did not need to bring back Yueh, Stilgar, and Chani's father. They should have included Ghanima since she was just an aside character in Children of Dune and rarely mention in God Emperor. They could have brought back Siona now that would have addded some conflict aboard the Ithaca. Frank Herbert was definitely an expert in personal conflicts and crises of faith. There were hardly any crises at all between these characters.
Norma was a stupid character with that whole Oracle of Time crapola. The villians did not produce any real fear or shock. It was mentioned that the Honored Matre were originally rebel Tleilaxu women enraged at their treatment, Bene Gesserits and Fish Speakers. Wouldnt it have been better to have the main villian be those TLeilaxu women who created a new race of face dancers and merged with them to become a new race. Turning the face dancers mules into being able to reproduce. Now they are bent on taking over the universe. Instead we are treated to Ultraspice even more concentrated than melange because it comes from the ocean world of Buzzell! As religious as Waff was why would he recreate the worms and adapt them to live in oceans? He would not have it is a plot element that makes no sense at all. We get a Mother Commander Murbella who is so dumb she never even expects to be betrayed so follows blindly. All the Bene Gesserit skills of manipulation and empire building are tossed aside for I am guessing Honored Matre aggression. As a character she never really develops or shows she is capable of rational thought. Sheeana miraculously can channel Serena Butler even thought Serena had no descendents its just magic I guess.
Dune made me think. When I was a teenager and read it for the first time I felt awe and inspired. When I read these I just feel sad because they have no lessons to teach. Frank Herbert was trying to spread a message about how religion, politics, society, and economics are consistant facts of our lives. There are no lessons to be learned in the new books. They feel and read as thin stretches. Too many times I have noticed that when the author dies someone feels the need to step in and "recreate" their vision or discovers "the lost manuscripts". If they wanted to continue the story they should have went out into the Scattering and started from scratch with their own vision. Anyway enough of the rant and rave.
Book Review: This can't be what Frank had in mind.
Summary: 2 Stars
"Sandworms of Dune" (SoD) is such a mess it's hard to know where to begin.
Billed as the second half of "Dune 7," Frank Herbert's proposed final novel of the classic Dune series, SoD picks up after "Hunters of Dune" with the passengers of the no-ship Ithaca looking for a new homeworld while evading Marty and Daniel -- the elderly couple who were revealed to be the artificial intelligence Omnius and the cross-dressing thinking machine Erasmus. So yes, to understand who Marty and Daniel are, you have to have read Kevin J. Anderson's Legends of Dune prequel books, because they were never mentioned in Frank Herbert's original series.
After a series of meaningless events, which includes the complete waste of the original series gholas, the novel ends with the defeat of the thinking machines, the realization of the Ultimate Kwisatz Haderach, the disappearance of Omnius and the Oracle of Time, and the death of anything remotely resembling Frank Herbert's themes.
As you can tell, I'm not a fan of SoD. I think Anderson and Brian Herbert totally misinterpreted the themes that Frank Herbert had written about in the original Dune series.
For one, Frank Herbert showed in "Dune Messiah" how charismatic leaders and supermen can be detrimental to a society. He also wrote about how humanity being ruled by one force could face extinction in "God Emperor of Dune." Yet, Anderson and Brian Herbert chose to end the Dune series with humanity and the thinking machines united under the Ultimate Super-Duper Kwisatz Haderach/Evermind.
Another issue is that of the Golden Path. According to the original books, the Golden Path was the centuries-long plan that led to the Scattering, an explosion of humanity throughout the universe. The God Emperor believed such a spreading of human beings throughout multiple galaxies -- in addition to genes that make people "invisible" to prescient visions -- would insure the survival of humanity. However, in SoD, we learn that the God Emperor was a fool. The Scattering, according to the new books, was a failure because the thinking machines had humanity surrounded and it took the Oracle of Time (an Anderson and Brian Herbert character from the Legends of Dune series) to save humanity.
In the end, SoD fails on so many levels I could write a 10-page review. Instead, I will just say that fans of Frank Herbert's original books will not enjoy this book. It lacks the intelligence of Frank Herbert's novels and turns the Dune universe upside down.
It's unfortunate that a ghola of Frank Herbert can't be made to finish the Dune series.