Dune

Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 1) Frank Herbert Date: 01 February, 1996   —   $7.19   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

Ah, the book that started it all. Dune is a love it or hate it kind of a series; Herbert's style is remarkably different from his son's, and is skewed heavily toward the mysticism. The Dune prequel books that Brian Herbert has co-authored with Kevin J. Anderson are crystal clear in their happenings and motivations; by contrast, Frank Herbert's writing is murky and dangerous. One might get a sense of something about to happen without having a clear sense of why, and the novel plays with this sense of menace, of being a small part in a grand design and being entirely unable to see the greater picture - except that you must take on faith that one person can.

This book centers on young Paul Atreides, who might be the end product of centuries of Bene Gesserit breeding. His family has taken over stewardship of Arrakis, home to the substance spice, which enables the Spacing Guild to operate, the nobility to have extended life, and the Bene Gesserit to connect with their ancestors. The spice must flow is the dictate, and the Atreides know how perilous their position is. The stewadship previously belonged to the Harkonnen, sworn enemies of the Atreides, and the Atreides know that such a profitable operation is not given up lightly.

However, by looking at the wrong things, the Atreides are overthrown; Duke Leto is slain, and Lady Jessica and their son, Paul, escape into the desert. What he learns there ignites a fire that spreads across the empire, as the force of prescience comes into play, wielded by someone born to see the possibilities.

Many people like this first novel and disregard the rest of the series as it gets increasingly bizarre and philosophical. Dune focuses on the action taken with the help of prescience and not its consequences; its consequences are dealt with in the next novels.

The Machine Crusade

The Machine Crusade (Legends of Dune, Book 2) Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson Date: 03 August, 2004   —   $7.19   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

Continuing the story of humanity against the machines, The Machine Crusade begins several decades after the events in the Butlerian Jihad. Once again, the war is stagnating, which distresses Serena Butler, Priestess of the Jihad, but it distresses Iblis Ginjo, leader of the Jihad, even more. He has seen where his power lies, and his goal is to prolong the conflict as long as possible while isolating Serena.

Much like the previous novel, this is an action sequence that fill in the history before Dune. The threads of multiple lives take on a significance in the wider scheme, especially as events heat up on Arrakis, newly discovered source of spice. The balkiness of the slave population and the villages that are raided for slaves increases as the League Worlds reach a crisis point, and threatens to completely sabotage the war effort. And Xavier Harkonnen and Vorian Atreides, the leaders of the war effort, struggle to find a winning strategy in the face of predictable but increasingly steep odds. I am looking forward to the third, when a number of questions will finally be answered.

The Butlerian Jihad

The Butlerian Jihad (Legends of Dune, Book 1) Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson Date: 02 September, 2003   —   $7.19   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

Now we delve into the distant history of the Dune series. Thousands of years before the events in Dune, the battle is on to rid humanity of the rule of thinking machines. Of course, the battle isn't always on; a stalemate of sorts has developed between the Synchronized Worlds ruled by the computer Omnius and the League of Nobles planets; the latter are tired of war and feel that accomodations can be reached. Serena Butler does not believe that humanity can co-exist with the machines, and her abduction at their hands only proves her point.

While she is learning about the levels of perfidy that her robot masters can create, we are learning things about the League Worlds that show that Herbert and Anderson are not going to let us choose good guys quite so easily. Slavery is well established on League Worlds, with all its attendant ills; its primary victims are the Zensunni and Zenshiite pacifists, who then attempt to cripple the war efforts. (Their religion does, indeed, feature a Buddhallah, and is contrasted with a Novachristianity.) Of course, this then causes the soldiers to curse the 'sub-humans' who don't want to win their freedom from the machines. They never question the fact that these people are already enslaved and perhaps cannot see beyond that.

We meet many new characters in these novels, including some who have been hinted at in the Frank Herbert Dune novels. Norma Cenva is a reclusive genius who is easily exploited by Tio Holtzmann, creator of the shields which feature so prominently; Aurelius Venport is her mother's lover, and the one who will eventually see her true potential. Vorian Atreides is the son of one of the cymek rulers; his interactions with Serena Butler set the stage for the explosive jihad that takes place in her name.

Dune: House Corrino

Dune: House Corrino Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson Date: 2001   —   $4.99   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

The events of the two previous novels are coming to a head in this one. A spice substitute has been created... but it is possibly not quite right, and even deadly. Rebellion on the subjugated Ix is still continuing, despite years of oppression; Rhombur Vernius is working to finally free his planet. The Harkonnen are looking for any advantage, as they sense a disruption in their spice monopoly. And plots within plots abound, as everyone is looking out for themselves.

Read it. You know you want to.

Now who did I give my copy of Dune to?...

Dune: House Harkonnen

Dune: House Harkonnen Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson Date: 2000   —   $4.99   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

The tension accelerates in this novel. The Tleilax have control of Ix and are attempting to manufacture a spice substitute; the Emperor Shaddam IV is becoming increasingly difficult to deal with; on Caladan, Kailea Vernius is still hoping for redemption for her house, and a return to power. The Bene Gesserit are preparing for the birth of the Kwisatz Haderach within two generations, and House Harkonnen is completing its slide into deliberate degeneracy.

What can I say, except that you should continue the series if you liked the first?

Dune: House Atreides

Dune: House Atreides Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson Date: 1999   —   $4.99   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

Frank Herbert died shortly after completing the sixth book in what was planned to be a seven-book series. For years his son considered working on the last book, but felt inadequate to the task. When Kevin J. Anderson wrote to say he was interested in assisting, Brian Herbert went back to the idea. To make sure that they got the tone right, he proposed that they first write prequels set in the years leading up to Dune.

And then they had a stroke of luck - they were called by an auditor who had found the location of some previously unsuspected safe deposit boxes of Frank Herbert. These boxes held everything - the outline, plot sketches, and background for the seventh novel. With an idea of where they would end up, Herbert and Anderson now felt ready to write the decades before Dune.

This is seriously addictive writing. The reader has presumably read the Dune novels, and so knows the implications of certain actions, as well as the true origins of spice, the substance which runs the Imperium. It is also interesting to see the origins of certain characters, because they are not always expected; Baron Harkonnen, for example, is fit and healthy, a far cry from the overweight blob of the Dune novels. Leto Atreides is young and still learning. And some characters we've never seen before, such as the house Vernius, from Ix, take center stage in the turmoil leading up to the years of Dune.

This is indeed part of a triology, and one should read the books as a whole.

Night Train To Memphis

Night Train to Memphis Elizabeth Peters Date: 1994   —   used only   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Mystery

Vicki Bliss is suspicious when she's asked to go on an Egyptian cruise to identify a potential thief. But while she is prepared for the thief to be her lover "Sir John Smythe," she isn't prepared for him to show up on the cruise - with his new wife. In a barely contained fury, she misses several clues that could keep her out of danger, because it turns out that in this case, she is not the detective, nor is she the target - she is the hostage in a game she doesn't know exists.

"Sir John" is, as I suspected, featured prominently in another of Peterson's works, a mystery that predates the Vicki Bliss novels. Likewise, I figured out at least one of the characters to be on the side of the bad guys - but I missed others, because much of the cruise can be divided up into camps. (Isn't anyone just along for the ride?) There's even a nod to Peterson's most famous detective, Amelia Peabody, and the fictional tomb she helped to excavate. All in all, it's a very entertaining book.