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Liked It “listened to audio book, "Prequal" triliogy best of chronicals” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “Agreed with Hotel. Beware of my spoilers ahead.... |
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“listened to audio book, "Prequal" triliogy best of chronicals”
Eric wrote this review Thursday, August 6 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This is my favorite of the trilogy because we start to see some familiar aspects of the Duniverse that Frank Herbert wrote about. The situation between the Atreides and Harkonnens is not as clear as it could be. The path from virtue to vice in the Harkonnens is rushed at the end. Also, the biggest hole in all the Duniverse novels is found between this book and House Atreides, the next in the timeline. I'd like to know what happened to Vorian since he had already been subjected to the life-lengthening treatment that kept him so young. Also, I've noticed that Brian Herbert and KJA tend more toward the violent and gory than Frank did. Some of it borders on gratuitous. I think the writing is gifted just the same. Not the work of amateurs.
Rose D wrote this review Friday, July 3 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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“This book, the third and last novel of the 'Legends of Dune' trilogy, neatly details the final years of the Butlerian Jihad and the defeat of mankind's worst enemies. In comparison to the previous novels, the pacing is quicker, with events occurring seemingly at random. The vast cast of characters that were a hallmark of the previous books have been winnowed down to only a few. As a result, the novel has none of the padded feeling of the first two books and the plot moves along quite well (ironically, the only areas the novel seems to drag are during the Fremen scenes on Dune--these seem to come off as painful afterthoughts on Herbert and Anderson's part.) While the ending is somewhat pat in setting up ideas and organizations that will be a big part of the Dune universe later on, it is still satisfying to see the payoff. Being a prequel, it falls into the trap of being a pale reflection of that which has come before--while there are no direct similarities between this book and the original Dune novel, some of that book's scenes and situations are quietly echoed here. Still, this series as a whole seemed more accessible and readable than Frank Herbert's classic novel and while some readers have viewed that as a detriment, I view it as strength. Overall, this was a great ending to great trilogy and Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson have done a great job in fleshing out the Dune universe. If you are a fan of Dune, I can't promise that you will love this book; however, if you keep an open mind, you will find a lot to like here. ”
DOC-209 wrote this review Wednesday, May 13 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I enjoyed the rest of this series, but I really got bogged down in this one. I never did complete it, it seemed to be a little too predictable. I decided my time was better spent elsewhere.”
Aaron B wrote this review Wednesday, April 29 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
“This book was a great conclusion to the legends of dune series. It did not disappoint. I really liked how the book flowed, there was never any real down time and it kept me interested throughout the book (which is hard to do). I think my favorite was the 1st book (butlerian jihad) but this is right up there with it. Great read, I'd love to read the series again some day!”
Daniel Callister wrote this review Tuesday, November 25 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Third in an interesting prequelish series, but on the whole not as satisfying as Brian Herbert's DUNE itself.”
muque and shylock tomes wrote this review Friday, October 10 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This was a fantastic conclusion to the three book series that tied up all the loose ends. What amazed me about this book and about the entire series was the wonderful intricate plotting. The authors did a great job of tying together all of the characters and presenting new twists and turns. I frequently failed to anticipate where the story would go. They kept me guessing all the way up to the last exciting conclusion - the battle of Corrin. I am left wanting more of Dune, which is the best compliment I can give the authors. ”
Jon D wrote this review Tuesday, July 8 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Agreed with Hotel. Beware of my spoilers ahead....
Gregory wrote this review Friday, March 14 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
But I just thought it was funny that toward the end that woman who was in love with that doctor was like, "Well, I'm off to found a special school that will train women to use their bodies and minds to their fullest potential." And the doctor was like, "Yeah, you do that. Myself, I'm off to found a school of doctors who will be the best doctors in the universe." Same thing with Erasmus' human protege, "Well, I guess I'll go start a school of Mentats and train other people to think like computers and stuff."
Literally! As the book was coming to the end, they just started throwing all this stuff in there that was already obvious anyway, but B. Herbert and Anderson just thought they would sort of underestimate their audience and assume we wouldn't be able to figure out that those people were the ones to go off and do those things.
And the transformation of Norma really bothered me as well. That just doesn't seem Frank Herbert's style of story element. Frank Herbert liked ugly dwarfish characters. He emphasized almost more on people's ugly features with characters than their beautiful ones. And the way she just turned from an ugly duck to a beautiful women....it was too fantastical. It reminded me of something bullshit you'd see in Star Wars. I didn't have a problem with how she began transforming into the mutated form of Guild Navigators we know of in the original Dune series. But the way she coalesced between some kind of energy form and brought herself back to a physical form, only to turn herself into a hot chick, that just didn't seem like her character and the whole transformation was far too of a stretch for the Dune universe.
The only real interesting parts in this book for me were the ones between the Atreides and Harkonnens. But with the previous books, the parts about the thinking machines and Erasmus' quest to learn more about human nature was just either not well developed still, or became too conventional and overplayed that I just wanted to skip those parts.
As I've said before, I loved the House prequels, but I feel the content of this series deviated way too far from what Frank Herbert's notes supposedly dictated. I'll even restate that I admire the efforts of the authors of these books to take on such a magnificent and mythical time period as the Butlerian Jihad. However, the ending of this book filled me with dread as I sensed ulterior motives in the way the ending was constructed. As if this book was written specifically to lay in the plot elements of future projects. If you wish to know what I suspect those are, feel free to message me cause I will not discuss it here. ”
“The thing I didn't like about this book is that toward the ending the authors must have been like, "hey we better hurry and tie things together before this chapters done." For example, the dwarf lady Norma, her transformation was too sudden. I think that should have taken the entire novel. Take the house novels for example, when the one brother transformed into a guild navigator it took about the same amount of time. However, they had it down to a science and it wasn't an experiment or accidental.”
Jason Roy wrote this review Wednesday, March 12 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
