(hb; 2003: second book in the Legends of Dune series)
From
the back cover
“More
than two decades have passed since the events chronicled in Dune: The Butlerian Jihad. The crusade
against thinking robots has ground on for years; the human worlds have grown
weary of war, of the bloody inconclusive swing from victory to defeat.
“The
fearsome cymeks, led by Agamemnon, hatch new plots to regain their lost power
from Omnius. Aurelius Venport and Norma Cenva are on the verge of the most
important discovery in human history─a way to ‘fold’ space and travel
instantaneously to any place in the galaxy.
“And on
the faraway, nearby worthless planet of Arrakis, Selim Wormrider and his band
of outlaws take the first steps toward making themselves the feared fighters
who will change the course of mankind: the Fremen.”
Review
Crusade, like its prequel Butlerian, is a good, action-packed read
by sometimes-excellent authors, a solid─if unnecessary and overlong─addition to
the extended Dune series. Set twenty years after the events of Butlerian, this is a more
reader-involving work, largely because Machine
is not a set-up novel. Rather, it is a deepening-of-characters work. The
authors sometimes overwrite, especially when they repeatedly and unnecessarily
recap characters’ histories. That said, it is worth reading, though not a vital-to-the-Dune-storyline
offering. Pick up an inexpensive copy or borrow it from the library before
committing serious cash to it.
Followed
by Dune: The Battle of Corrin.
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