Princess of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

 

(hb; 2023: twenty-fourth book in the Dune series)

 

From the inside flap

“Two years for Dune: The never-before-told story of two key women in the life of Paul Muad’Dib—Princess Irulan, his wife in name only, and Paul’s true love, the Fremen Chani. Both women become central to Paul’s galaxy-spanning Imperial reign.

“Raise in the Imperial court and born to be a political bargaining chip, Irulan was sent at an early age to be trained as a Bene Gesserit Sister. As Princess Royal, she also learned important lessons from her father—the Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV. Now of marriageable age, Princess Irulan sees the machinations of the many factions vying for power—the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, the Spacing Guild, the Imperial throne, and a ruthless rebellion in the Imperial military. The young woman has a wise and independent streak and is determined to become much more than a pawn to be moved about on anyone’s gameboard.

“Meanwhile, on Arrakis, Chani—the daughter of Liet-Kynes, the Imperial Planetologist who serves under the harsh rule of House Harkonnen—is trained in the Fremen mystical ways by an ancient Reverend Mother. Brought up to believe in her father’s ecological dream of a green Arrakis, she follows Liet around to Imperial testing stations, surviving the many hazards of desert life. Chani soon learns the harsh cost of Fremen dreams and obligations under the oppressive bootheel of the long Harkonnen occupation.”

 

Review

Princess, like many of the Dune books, is a slick, often hard-to-set-down (especially in the last third) science fiction tale with plenty of action, drama and series-recurring characters—while Princess is not a vital entry in the series it, set two years before the events of the original Dune novel (1965), is a welcome addition to the series, further explaining some of the relations between certain characters and organizations (e.g. CHOAM and the Tleilaxu). I especially enjoyed Wensicia's story arc as well as her relationship with her oldest sister, Irulan.

Dune: The Heir of Caladan by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

 

(hb; 2022: third novel in the Caladan trilogy. Twenty-third book in the Dune series.)

From the inside flap

“In Dune: The Heir of Caladan, the climactic novel in the Caladan trilogy. . . we step into the shoes of Paul Atreides. Not yet a man in years, he is about to enter a world he could never have imagined.

“The story that began with Duke Leto’s rise to power, then continued with the consequences of Lady Jessica’s betrayal, will now conclude with Paul becoming the leader that he needs to be on the way to his pivotal role as Muad’Dib.”

 

Review

 The third and final entry in the Caladan trilogy is a slick, well-edited action/adventure space opera, an entertaining, direct lead-up to Frank Herbert’s original Dune (1965). In Heir, readers can see the seeds that come to character- and event-based fruition in Frank Herbert’s Dune (1965). While not vital to the Dune timeline—it’s been a while since any Dune book has been—Heir, like most post-God Emperor of Dune (1981) books, is a thrilling, steady-build and twist-effective ride by excellent writers, with recurring, beloved and beloathed characters. Worth seeking out, this.

Sands of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

 

(hb; 2022: story/novella anthology. Twenty-second book in the Dune series.)

From the inside flap

“. . . The stories: A young firebrand Fremen woman, a guerilla fighter against the ruthless Harkonnens, who will one day become Shadout mapes; inside the ranks of the Sardaukar is the child of a betrayed nobleman who becomes one of the Emperor’s most ruthless fighters; the lost years of Gurney Halleck as he works with smugglers on Arrakis in a deadly gambit for revenge; and an early tale of the blood feud of Atreides and Harkonnen ancestors, whose vendetta will rock the Imperial court.”

 

Review

The four stories that comprise this short story anthology—“The Edge of the Crysknife,” “Blood of the Sardaukar,” “The Waters of Kanly” and “Imperial Court”—fill in some of the character-focused and mentioned-in-passing gaps in the epic Dune stories and novels. All, like Herbert and Anderson’s usual work, are well-written, entertaining and further the overall excellence of the series, and serve as warm-up for the upcoming third entry in The Caladan Trilogy, Dune: The Heir of Dune, scheduled for November 22, 2022 publication. Sands is worth reading for new-to-the-series readers and ongoing Dune fans (who’ll likely get more out of the stories), with good endings that hint at what follows each of the four tales.

Dune: The Lady of Caladan by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

 

(hb; 2021: second novel in the Caladan Trilogy. Twenty-first novel in the Dune series.)

From the inside flap

“Lady Jessica, mother of Paul and consort to Duke Leto Atreides. The choices she made shaped an empire, but first the Lady of Caladan must reckon with her own betrayal of the Bene Gesserit. She has already betrayed her ancient order, but now she must decide if her loyalty to the Sisterhood is more important than her love of her own family.

“Meanwhile, events in the greater empire are accelerating beyond the control of even the Reverend Mother, and Lady Jessica’s family is on a collision course with destiny.”

 

Review

Lady picks up immediately after the cliffhanger-ish, events of Dune: The Duke of Caladan. Like many of the second books in Herbert and Anderson’s Dune trilogies, it warmed me toward many of the characters introduced in their preceding, first-in-the-trilogies books. Also typical─in the best way possible─of other Dune books, Herbert and Anderson masterfully weave complex, galaxy-altering storylines and character relationships while penning well-written space soap-operatic action and scheming, all of which deepens characters and cleverly fills in the time gaps existing within the Dune timeline. Streamlined (by Dune-series standards) and smartly riveting, this is an excellent mainstream science fiction novel that made me wish that the third entry in the Caladan Trilogy, Dune:The Heir of Caladan, was already published so I could immediately read it.

Dune: The Duke of Caladan by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

 

(hb; 2020: first book in the Caladan Trilogy. Twentieth novel in the Dune series.)

From the inside flap

“Lord Atreides, Duke of Caladan and father of Muad’Dib. While all know of his fall and the rise of his son, little is known about the quiet ruler of Caladan and his partner, Jessica. Or how a Duke of an inconsequential planet earned an emperor’s favor and the ire of House Harkonnen to set himself on a collision course with his own death. This is the story.

“Through patience and loyalty, Leto serves the Golden Lion Throne. Where others scheme, the Duke of Caladan acts. But Leto’s powerful enemies are starting to feel that he is rising beyond his station., and House Atreides rises too high. With unseen enemies circling, Leto must decide if the twin burdens of duty and honor are worth the price of his life, family, and love.”

 

Review

Duke is a well-written, solid entry in the Dune series, with plenty of science fiction drama, action, and familiar characters from the source Dune novel as well as mentions of events and characters from Dune-centric prequels and sequels. In it, Paul Atreides, fourteen years old, struggles with his sense of advanced self and his boyish emotions while his father and mother, also caught between real-world concerns and their desires and fears, struggle with theirs. Meanwhile, others scheme around them (including Baron Harkonnen and his sly, treacherous brood), a new synthetic drug (ailar)─sourced from Caladan─causes empire-wide overdoses, and another terrorist element threatens the foundation of the Corrino rule.

While not a necessary story in the Dune-verse, Duke is fun, relatively light, and small in scale compared to other Dune works (even though it leads to the social upheaval shown in the original Dune), and worth reading. Might be worth owning for Dune completists.

Followed by Dune: The Lady of Caladan.

Navigators of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

 

(hb; 2016: third book in the Great Schools of Dune trilogy)

From the inside flap

“Navigators, mutated by spice into beings far superior to normal humans, make space travel possible across the burgeoning Imperium. Their prescient awareness allows them to foresee safe paths through the universe as starship engines ‘fold’ space. Only industrial magnate Josef Venport knows the secret of creating Navigators, and he intends to build a commercial empire to span the galaxy.

“ But at every turn Josef is embattled by the forces of antitechnology fanaticism, ‘Butlerian’ zealots led by the charismatic and dangerous Manford Toronado. They aim to turn back humanity’s new renaissance and drive the Imperium into a dark age. And between these titanic forces stands the uncertain new emperor, Roderick Corrino, forced to take the throne after the assassination of his brother. The Navigators are the key to claiming a glorious future for humanity. . . or the end of civilization.”

 

Review

Two months have passed since the events of Mentats of Dune. The verbal and physical skirmishes between Venport, Toronado and Roderick have escalated into be-all-end-all war. The pacing is swift, the characters and the situations are complex, the action is brutal and occasionally gory, and the twists are well-foreshadowed and effective. Navigators, particularly if you’re a Dune fan, is an excellent entry in the Great Schools of Dune trilogy (and the overall series), one that’s not only worth reading but owning.

Mentats of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

 

(pb; 2014: second book in the Great Schools of Dune trilogy)

From the back cover

“Gilbertus Albans has founded the Mentat School, a place where humans can learn the efficient techniques of thinking machines. But Gilbertus walks an uneasy line between his own convictions and compromises in order to survive the antitechnology Butlerian fanatics, led by the madman Manford Torondo and his Swordmaster Anari Idaho. Mother Superior Raquella attempts to rebuild her Sisterhood School on Wallach IX, with her most talented and ambitious student, Valya Harkonnen, who also has another goal─to  exact revenge on Vorian Atreides, the legendary hero of the Jihad, whom she blames for her family’s downfall.

“Meanwhile, Josef Venport conducts his own war against the Butlerians. The VenHold Spacing Fleet controls nearly all commerce, thanks to the superior mutated Navigators the Venport has created, and he places a ruthless embargo on any planet that accepts Manford Torondo’s antitechnology pledge, hoping to starve them into submission. But fanatics rarely surrender easily.

“The Mentats, the Navigators, and the Sisterhood all strive to improve the human race, but each group knows that as Butlerian fanaticism grows stronger, the battle to choose the path of humanity’s future─whether to embrace civilization or to plunge into an endless dark age.”

Review

Set immediately after the events of Sisterhood of Dune, Mentats shows the widespread fallout of the massive conflicts that have begun to tear the Imperium apart. The characters from the first Great Schools of Dune book are back, doubling down on their mixed-solutions resolve to save humanity from its worst aspects, many of which they embody or most touch upon from time to time─few people (human or otherwise) are innocent in Dune books, and Sisterhood is no exception. This is one of the strengths of the series, its relatability.

Like previous Dune books, there’s plenty of storyline/character set-up, drama, references to other Dune events and characters (past and future), dry and sometimes dark humor, and of course sometimes-horrific action, resulting from the clashes of polar-opposite characters and even friends. Mentats jumps into the action quicker than Sisterhood does (the benefits of having everything set up in the first Great Schools novel) and its end-twists are particularly effective, bordering on masterful and shocking. This is an excellent entry in the Dune series, one worth reading.

Followed by Navigators of Dune.

Sisterhood of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

 

(pb; 2011: first book in the Great Schools of Dune trilogy – sequel to Dune: Battle of Corrin. Prequel to Mentats of Dune.)

From the back cover

“It is eighty-three years after the last of the thinking machines were destroyed in the Battle of Corrin, and great changes are brewing that will shape and twist all humankind.

“Raquella Berto-Anirul has formed the Bene Gesserit School on the jungle planet Rossak as the first Reverend Mother. The descendants of Aurelius Venport and Norma Cenva have built Venport Holdings, using mutated, spice-saturated Navigators who fly precursors of Heighliners. Gilbert Albans, the ward of the hated Erasmus, is teaching humans to become Mentats. . . and hiding an unbelievable secret.

“The Butlerian movement, led by Manford Torondo, and rabidly opposed to all forms of ‘dangerous technology,’ begins to sweep across the known universe in mobs, millions strong, destroying everything in its path.

“Every one of these characters, and all these groups, will become enmeshed in the contest between Reason and Faith. All of them will be forced to choose sides in the inevitable crusade that could destroy humankind forever.”

 

Review

Sisterhood is a good, intense, entertaining, character- and plot-twisty and emotionally brutal read. Characters with series-familiar surnames and passions helped this reader be drawn into Sisterhood: Atreides, Harkonnen, Corrino, Idaho, Butler, etc., further linking the historical events of the Dune prequels with its source 1965 novel and the thousands of years that followed.

Sisterhood is set eighty-three years after the events of Dune: The Battle of Corrin, when the Imperium is still processing the horrors and emotional fallout of Corrin, by becoming philosophers, terrorist fundamentalists, craven politicians, and other roles that flesh out the by-now-familiar dynamics and passionate, violent escalations of the expanded Dune story-cycles. Manford Torondo is an especially vicious, vainglorious, and whinging piece of work, though none of the other characters are entirely virtuous─in short, most of the characters are worth rooting for or hissing at.

If you’re a Dune fan who’s enjoyed most of the other Herbert/Anderson expansion books, there’s a good chance you might enjoy this one, even if it does run a few short chapters too long.

Followed by Mentats of Dune.

Dune: The Battle of Corrin by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

(pb; 2004: third book in the Legends of Dune trilogy)

From the back cover

“It has been fifty-six hard years since the events of the Machine Crusade. Following the death of Serena Butler, Synchronized Worlds and  and Unallied Planet are liberated one by one, and at long last, the human worlds begin to hope that the end of the centuries-long conflict is finally in sight.

“Unfortunately, Omnius have one last, deadly card to play. Virulent plagues are let loose throughout the galaxy, decimating the populations of whole planets. . .and once again, the tide of the titanic struggle shifts against the human race. At last, the war that has lasted many lifetimes will be decided in the apocalyptic Battle of Corrin.”

Review

Battle is an okay-occasionally-intriguing-and-excellent conclusion to the Legends trilogy. While it is not terrible─there are meaningful moments where seemingly small decisions are made by certain characters, decisions will have huge impacts on future generations within the Dune universe. Not only that, there is Herbert and Anderson’s sometimes engaging, action-oriented writing that makes this almost worth reading. That could be said about all the books in the unnecessary Legends trilogy. If you must read this series, borrow them from the library or pay as little as possible for them.

Story- and timeline-wise, Corrin is followed by Sisterhood of Dune, the first book in the Great Schools of Dune trilogy.

Dune: The Machine Crusade by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

(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.

Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

(hb; 2007: eighth book in the Dune series)

From the inside flap

“At the end of Frank Herbert’s Chapterhouse: Dune, the Bene Gesserit sisterhood escapes the destruction and from the monstrous Honored Matres, their counterparts. The fugitives have used genetic technology to revive key figures from Dune’s past─including Paul Maud’Dib and Lady Jessica─strengthen their chances of survival by using their special talents to meet the incredible challenges of the journey.

“Sandworms of Dune will reveal the tantalizing future of the planet Arrakis, the final revelation of the Kwisatz Haderach, and the resolution to the war between man and machine.”

Review

Like its direct prequel, Hunters of Dune, Sandworms is a wild ride through the familiar and the unfamiliar. Many of the legendary gholas (Baron Harkonnen, Lady Jessica, Paul Atreides, Chani, Leto II, etc.) are close to realizing their destinies within the coming apocalypse, Kralizec, engineered by the Machines, led by Erasmus and Omnius (who have not been seen in the Known Galaxy since the Butlerian Jihad, fifteen thousand years prior).

Herbert and Anderson, as they are wont, revel in creating parallel situations for different characters. They also, again, spice up the writing with irony and sudden, sometimes fatal reversals of fortune for said characters. Sandworms is no different, and for the most part it is a wrap-up tale that is as exciting as Hunters. Near the end, specifically when Duncan Idaho and Omnius are talking, the book gets chatty for about twenty pages. Otherwise, this is an excellent read and a satisfying finish to the Dune series.

Hunters of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

(pb; 2006: seventh novel in the Dune series)

From the back cover

“At the end of Frank Herbert’s Chapterhouse:Dune, the Bene Gesserit sisterhood escapes the destruction and from the monstrous Honored Matres, their counterparts. To strengthen [the Bene Gesserit] forces, the fugitives have used genetic technology to revive key figures from Dune’s past─including Paul Maud’Dib, Lady Jessica, Stilgar, Thufir Hawat, and even Dr. Wellington Yueh. Each of these characters will use their special talents to meet the challenges thrown at them.

“Failure is unthinkable─not only is their survival at stake, but they hold the fate of the entire human race in their hands.”

Review

A few years after the cataclysmic events of Chapterhouse: Dune, the separated survivors from various groups─the Bene Gesserit, the Richesians, Murbella’s tumultuous Honored Matres-Bene Gesserit hybrid faction, the Tleilaxu, the Face Dancers and others─try to regroup within their territories even as they seek to outwit and outgun their enemies. Their consolidations are complicated by the shadowy threat of a mysterious, seemingly indestructible Enemy. Hunters is an especially thrilling entry in the Dune series, one that feels fresh and wild, within its familiar-gone-topsy-turvy situations: worth purchasing, this, if you are a Dune fan. Followed by Sandworms of Dune.

Dune: House Corrino by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

(pb; 2001: third book in the Prelude to Dune trilogy)

From the back cover

“Fearful of losing his precarious hold on the Golden Lion Throne, Shaddam IV, Emperor of a Million Worlds, has devised a radical scheme to develop an alternative to mélange, the addictive spice that binds the Imperium together and that can be found only on the deser world of Dune. In subterranean labs on the machine planet Ix, cruel Tleilaxu overlords use slaves and prisoners as part of a horric plan to manufacture a synthetic form of mélange known as amal. If amal can supplant the spice from Dune, it will give Shaddam what he seeks: absolute power. 

“But Duke Leto Atreides, grief-stricken yet unbowed by the tragic death of his son Victor and determined to restore the honor and prestige of his House, has his own plans for Ix. He will free the Ixians from their oppressive conquerors and restore his friend Prince Rhombur, injured scion of the disgraced House Vernius, to his rightful place as Ixian ruler. It is a bold and risky venture, for House Atreides has limited military resources and many ruthless enemies, including the sadistic Baron Harkonnen, despotic master of Dune.

“Meanwhile, Duke Leto’s consort, the beautiful Lady Jessica, obeying the orders of her superiors in the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, has conceived a child that the Sisterhood intends to be the penultimate step in the creation of an all-powerful being. Yet what the Sisterhood doesn’t know is that the child Jessica is carrying not the girl they are expecting, but a boy. Jessica’s act of disobedience is an act of love ─ her attempt to provide her Duke with a male heir to House Atreides ─ but an act that, when discovered, could kill mother and baby.

“Like the Bene Gesserit, Shaddam Corrino is also concerned with making a plan for the future-securing his legacy. Blinded by his need for power, the Emperor will launch a plot against Dune, the only natural source of true spice. If he succeeds, his madness will result in a cataclysmic tragedy not even he foresees: the end of space travel, the Imperium, and civilization itself. With Duke Leto and other renegades and revolutionaries fighting to stem the tide of darkness that threatens to engulf their universe, the stage is set for a showdown unlike any seen before.”

Review

Corrino brings explosive, cinematic and brutal fruition to the schemes, characters and plot tendrils that have been building in House Atreides and House Harkonnen. It also sets up the tension and other plot/character situations that lead to the Frank Herbert’s original Dune novel. Like its prequels, this is an excellent, true-to-Dune-feel story, with its Godfather-esque structure and root-worthy or hissable characters: in short, this a book worth owning ─ especially if you are a fan of other books in the series.

Dune: House Harkonnen by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

(pb; 2000: second book in the Prelude to Dune trilogy)

From the back cover

“As Shaddam sits at last on the Golden Lion Throne, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen plots against the new Emperor and House Atreides ─ and against the mysterious Sisterhood of the Bene Gesserit. For Leto Atreides, grown complacent and comfortable as ruler of his House, it is a time of momentous choice between friendship and duty, safety and destiny. But for the survival of House Atreides, there is just one choice ─ strive for greatness or be crushed.”

Review

Harkonnen is an excellent follow-up to House Atreides, a sometimes-literally explosive and character-furthering story that builds on the tensions and events of Atreides. As with that source prequel, there is plenty of suspense, dread, action, politics and plotting that maintains the feel of Frank Herbert’s original Dune series. If you are a fan of the original series, there is a good chance you might enjoy Atreides. Followed by Dune:House Corrino.

Dune: House Atreides by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

(pb; 1999: first novel in the Prelude to Dune trilogy)

From the back cover

“Frank Herbert’s award-winning Dune chronicles captured the imagination of millions of readers worldwide. By his death in 1986, Herbert had completed six novels in the series, but much of his vision remained unwritten. Now, working from his father’s recently discovered files, Brian Herbert and bestselling novelist Kevin J. Anderson collaborate on a new novel, the prelude to Dune ─ where we stop onto planet Arrakis. . . decades before Dune’s hero, Paul Muad’Dib Atreides, walks its sands.

“Here is the rich and complex world that Frank Herbert created, in the time leading up to the momentous events of Dune. As Emperor Elrood’s son plots a subtle regicide, young Leto Atreides leaves for a year’s education on the mechanized world of Ix; a planetologist named Pardot Kynes seeks the secrets of Arrakis; and the eight-year-old slave Duncan Idaho is hunted by his cruel masters in a terrifying game from which he vows escape and vengeance. But none can envision the fate in store for them: one that will make them renegades ─ and shapers of history.”

Review

Atreides is a gripping-from-the-get-go, excellent book that fully captures the spirit, pacing, intrigue and tone of Frank Herbert’s original Dune series. It shows many of the characters from the original novel, Dune, when they are young and less developed: Leto Atreides, Shaddam Corrino, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen and others. If you are a fan of the original series, there is a good chance you might enjoy Atreides. Followed by Dune: House Harkonnen.

Chapterhouse: Dune by Frank Herbert

(pb; 1985: sixth book in the Dune Chronicles)

From the back cover

"The desert planet Arrakis, called Dune, has been destroyed. Now, the Bene Gesserit, heirs to Dune's power, have colonized a green world--and are turning it into a desert, mile by scorched mile."

Review

Chapterhouse is an okay book. Herbert maintains the word sly, character-based pacing of the previous Dune novels -- this time out, though, the slow-build storyline runs a few chapters longer than it should. The power struggles (altered by the events and characters of the previous book, Heretics of Dune) are still intriguing in parts and the finale is thrilling on all levels, but the middle section of Chapterhouse feels like a slog-through read, one that could have been as good as most of the other Dune entries.

This is worth reading if you are a Dune completist. (I would suggest borrowing it from your local library before committing cash to it.) If you are a casual fan, save your time and money for something better.

Followed by the first Prelude to Dune novel, House Atreides, by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.

Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert

(1984: fifth book in the Dune Chronicles)

From the inside flap

". . . the planet Arrakis--now called Rakis--is becoming desert again. The Lost Ones are returning home from the far reaches of space. The great sandworms are dying. And the children of Dune's children awaken from empire as from a dream, wielding the new power of a heresy called love."


Review

Heretics is a good, slow-build read. Leto II has been dead for thousands of years. The Bene Gesserit and the Bene Tleilaxu are still engaged in power struggles with each other whilst squelching insurrection within their own ranks. Other groups, including the wild and sexual Honored Matres, have entered this cautious lead-up to war. (The Honored Matres are intent on supplanting the Gesserit Sisterhood and the Tleilaxu.)

Not only that, a young girl (Sheeana) -- a possible descendant of Siona, who helped bring Leto II down -- and a recent Duncan Idaho ghola are showing signs of rebellion, whom the Gesserit and the other groups must control or kill.

Heretics has some interesting characters, Herbert's usual epic-minded writing and potent, series-changing twists, making this a worthwhile entry in the Dune series. For Dune purists who love the Atreides storyline but not the other group politics, I would suggest borrowing it from your local library first (if you are so inclined).

Followed by Chapterhouse: Dune.

God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert

(pb; 1981: fourth book in the Dune Chronicles)

From the inside flap

"More than three thousand years have passed since the first events recorded in Dune. Only one link survives with those tumultuous times: the grotesque figure of Leto Atreides, son of the prophet Paul Muad'Dib, and now the virtually immortal God Emperor of Dune. He alone understands the future, and he knows with a terrible certainty that the evolution of his race is at an end unless he can breed new qualities into his species. But to achieve his final victory, Leto Atreides must also bring about his own downfall."


Review

The plot of the fourth Dune book is the simplest thus far, with less major characters than the first three novels. This is not a disappointment, as it allows for the possibility of a leaner, more action-intense novel.

Unfortunately, Herbert lets Leto II ruminate too often. The seemingly contradictory and meant-to-be-meaningful platitude-riddles that were rousing in the first three books come off as hokum here. Herbert has opted for style over substance, and it's a shame, considering that this could've been a spectacular tale.

So-so book, recommended only for die-hard Dune fans.

Followed by Heretics of Dune.

Children of Dune by Frank Herbert

(pb; 1976: third book in the Dune Chronicles)

From the back cover

"The desert planet of Arrakis has begun to grow green and lush. The life-giving spice is abundant. The nine-year-old royal twins, possesing their father's supernatural powers, are being groomed as Messiahs.

"But there are those who think the Imperium does not need messiahs."


Review

Children, like the first two Dune books, is complex, with its interweaving characters and plots -- this makes for an heady, intellectual experience. Sad, cruel ironies continue to be a theme, as do other human frailties and desires (which keeps the Dune books, thus far, from becoming too emotionally-detached to be involving).

Less revelatory than Dune, Children is an estimable read. (Think of Dune like the Big Bang Theory: if Dune was the life-bringing explosion, any sequel that follows it can be defined, at best, as a sorting-out and refining of the initial explosive elements.)

Check it out.

Followed by God Emperor of Dune.

#

Children of Dune began airing stateside as a television miniseries on March 16, 2003 - its plot also incorporated elements from the second Dune novel, Dune Messiah.

Alec Newman reprised his role of Paul Atreides/Muad'dib (he played Paul in the 2000 mini-series, Dune). Julie Cox reprised her role of Irulan Corrino-Atreides. Daniela Amavia played Alia Atreides. Alice Krige played Lady Jessica Atreides.

James McAvoy played Leto Atreides II.  Jessica Brooks played Ghamina Atreides. 

P.H. Moriarty reprised his role of Gurney Halleck.  Edward Atterton played Duncan Idaho.  Susan Sarandon played Princess Wensicia Corrino.  Steven Berkoff played Stilgar.

Ian McNeice reprised his role as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.  Jonathan Bruun played Farad'n Corrino.

Karel Dobrý, who played Dr. Pardot Kynes in the original miniseries, played a different character in this miniseries - this time, his character's name was Korba.

Greg Yaitanes directed the miniseries, from a script by John Harrison (who scripted and helmed the original miniseries).

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

(pb; 1969: second book in the Dune Chronicles)

Review

Twelve years have passed since the battle of Arrakeen (Arrakis), the climactic battle in Dune. Paul Atreides, now called Paul Muad'dib (among other things), rules the Fremen empire through a political marriage to Irulan Corrino (daughter of deposed Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV) – she's a “Princess Consort,” not an Empress – and his tight control of the spice.

Paul's empire is a troubled one, largely because of political infighting between the Bene Gesserit (still smarting from their Kwisatz Haderach backfire), the Spice Guild (who resent Paul's control over the spice, which allows them to travel through, or “fold,” space), and the Tleilaxians (who can change physical form, and manipulate genetic technology).

And now the aforementioned political groups have secretly come together, with the aid of a certain Princess Consort.

A more personal issue haunts Paul. His beloved Fremen consort, Chani, who fought beside him in Dune, is unable to bear the children they want. They are not the only ones who want children; so does Irulan, whose desire is purely political, untempered by love.

Cruel, heart-breaking ironies and intentions dictate the tone and events of Dune Messiah, which is notably shorter than its source novel. The intellectual warmth is still there, with familiar characters mingling with new characters in an interesting fashion. (One of the most fascinating characters is Hayt, a Tleilaxu ghola – a cyborg made from the original flesh and memories of its source person, in this case loyal Atreides follower Duncan Idaho – who's been sent to destroy Paul.)

This is a worthwhile read, followed by Children of Dune.