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Liked It “a great sequel. learned many sound writing tactics. tough to decide which was better of the two.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “Well, as I indicated in my review of The Butlerian Jihad, this book is where the series tends to spiral downward for me. A lot of that spiraling occurs when the authors are trying hard to link events in the past to the lore of the original Dune series. It just kind of teeters between quite good...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Newest Reviews
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“sorta frustrating for me. ”
Kelly B wrote this review Thursday, October 15 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“a great sequel. learned many sound writing tactics. tough to decide which was better of the two. ”
Tim W wrote this review Saturday, September 5 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“listened to audio book, this "prequel" triliogy was the best of the chronicals”
Eric wrote this review Thursday, August 6 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Great series. This trilogy may have been drawn out a little too long, but does enlighten its fans with great insight into the series”
David S wrote this review Tuesday, April 21 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Not as great as the first (which I gave 5 stars), but still a great read that any dune fan will enjoy. There did seem to be a lot of time wasted in trying to tie things into the original series, but at the same time, it was kind of cool to know how those things came to be. It just seemed like they could have told the same story in 60% of the length :). All in all, I really liked this book and am excited to see how the series ends with Battle For Corrin. (mostly I want to get through this series so I can start reading Paul of Dune). ”
Daniel Callister wrote this review Friday, October 10 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Second in the prequel trilogy, this one is (again) just okay. The story is just too disjointed, the characters just a bit too black/white for it to be more than an interesting foray into someone's idea of how Herbert's DUNE got its start.”
muque and shylock tomes wrote this review Friday, October 10 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“i have been on a steady diet of dune books all year. i find them to be a thoughtful and amusing way to pass the time. i don't feel as guilty as if i was watching TV. that said, i find the brian herbert version of dune to be much lighter than the work of his dad. frank herbert made me think, as much of his writing was dense and almost incomprehensible at first reading. this version of dune isn't nearly so dark and dense. especially this trilogy, since you know at the outset that the humans will win. as usual, i found the sadism to be disturbing and a bit over the top and wonder how folks can find it entertaining.”
Jon D wrote this review Tuesday, June 24 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Well, as I indicated in my review of The Butlerian Jihad, this book is where the series tends to spiral downward for me. A lot of that spiraling occurs when the authors are trying hard to link events in the past to the lore of the original Dune series. It just kind of teeters between quite good and nearly awful for me. The pacing is bizarre. A chapter would end, and then they had to make it clear that maybe one year, or three years had suddenly passed, or even 15 years would suddenly pass. This kind of bothers me. I think if the story had been more carefully constructed, it would not be necessary to occasionally jump ahead a few years just so certain plot elements would make more sense. This book is just an example of one that I think could've been a lot better if they had gone back to the revision board a few more times.
Gregory wrote this review Friday, March 14 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I was extremely disappointed in the fate of Hecate. A character that was being totally hyped up since the first book in the series, only to have an anti-climatic end with no real impact on the events of the story. It left me with some kind of reader's blue balls. I was like, "And that's that? What was the point of all that?"
There are still many interesting plot developments that do not feel as contrived as others. For these moments, I did enjoy The Machine Crusade. But when it was all over, I was left with this overwhelming feeling of cabin fever. As I've also stated before, I think it can be quite challenging to write the thoughts and/or psyche of sentient machines. And the way it is mused over in this book sometimes made me feel like I needed to step out for fresh air because it just wasn't doing anything for me.
Nevertheless, if you've become vested in this series with the first book, I recommend finishing it up anyway. ”
“I think the artwork was my favorite part of this book. I'm just kidding. It's been a while since I've read these and I don't remember every detail. I love the characters and the flow of the story.”
Jason Roy wrote this review Wednesday, March 12 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This second part of the Legends of Dune trilogy was definitely better than the first although not necessarily a great book on its own. Given it was no longer burdened with the task of establishing the characters and the completely different universe that is the setting of this books so far back in Dune's past, it did manage to focus more on plot development and such.
rOckY wrote this review Saturday, January 12 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Okay, perhaps it may be more accurate to say that it had the opportunity to devote more time to plot development and such but frankly I felt in many places it got lost.
As with pretty much all of Brian Herbert's prequel books, I tend to find his interpretation of the Dune Universe somehow not precisely in-synch with the rest of the realm. His explanations for certain events just don't always make sense in the greater scheme of things and for me brings into question his understand of his father's works.”
