Hunters of Dune

I find the writing style of BH and KJA to be … hmmm… everything they describe in their writing is the greatest, the largest, the mostest… when everything’s great everything becomes mundane and boring. It lacks nuance. Also, there are passages where I wonder how did they know that? For example on page 482 of the hardcover “Within the hour, Waff flew up to orbit, where the Heighliner waited for the return of the Valkyrie attack force. The immense black vessel, larger than most cities, shimmered with reflected sunlight. Another Guildship, one obviously equipped with a no-field, circled the planet in a lower orbit.” What made it obvious that it was equipped with a no-field? Little things like that drove me nuts.

Contrary to the opinion of most Dune purists, I absolutely loved this book. True, it's written in a very different voice (quite unavoidably), but is certainly action-packed and quite intense. It feels like it's about two or three of Frank Herbert's books condensed into one. While I missed Frank Herbert's philosophical, ruminating, rather lugubrious style, I truly appreciated the exhilarating pace and straight-forward nature of this novel. I wasn't sure if I'd like the spin-off series, since most spin-offs written by different authors are atrociously bad, but this has been a pleasant surprise indeed!

This was a read for a RL book group, otherwise I would never have picked it up. I really dislike the mediocrity that is Brian and Kevin. Their writing is poor, and their characterizations are simplistic. They are nothing like Frank Herbert and they should have left the Dune series alone.

That said, I didn't hate this book, as I expected I would. Their writing has improved since the House series, which I couldn't finish. They still have problems with the depth and complexity of the characters and stories that are the hallmark of real Dune , but I don't feel like I am reading something canned and plastic and one size fits all.

This book is supposed to be the ending of the six book original series that Frank wrote. He died before show more completing it, and they found outlines and are trying to complete it in his absence. Brian and Kevin, with the prompting of TOR I am sure, have split the last book into 2 parts. So there is no real conclusion in this book.

This book looks at the chaos and war that was flourishing as the various groups from the human scattering returned to the old empire. There are 2 main groups that are fighting for control of humanity. The Bene Gesserit Sisters and the Honored Matres, who were a damaged offshoot developed in the scattering. They brought an un-named enemy back with them and now humanity must band together and fight or die.

One of the themes of the book is also the war between the sexes. Many of the organizations in Dune are single sex, and they have a contempt for the worth of the other sex. It is really dated, and frankly offensive.

I know the war still goes on, but not in this manner anymore. If it had been published when it was supposed to, it probably would have been fine. But its 20 years out of date. They refer to one whole group of women as the 'Whores'. Even other women adopt it. The whole aspect of sex and religion are handled in a manner that is dated and sad.

I have the second book, Sandworms of Dune and have even started it. I was hoping the momentum of book 1 would carry me through. It is also bringing back a lot of the main characters from the first 3 books as Gholas, thousands of years after they died. show less

These last two Dune books are so hard to rate. In the one hand I'm thrilled to get the end of the saga, but the quality of the writing is a pale shadow of what Frank Herbert gave us. Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson are not great at this. They were the ones that got ahold of the notes and made it happen, though, and for that I'm grateful.

Chapterhouse ends in a mighty cliffhanger and these books do resolve that, but they do it sloppily. This story is by turns boringly drawn out, painfully on-the-nose, and filled with exposition. In this way, Hunters is like a lot of modern science fiction, more concerned with the things thought up than the story being told.

There are some revelations that strike at irregular intervals, like the show more footsteps of a Fremen Frank Herbert across the otherwise barren landscape of these pages. Or perhaps his notes are like the waters of Dune, rare and treasured, and just plentiful enough for us to survive.

If you are not a giant fan of Dune, do not bother with these books. If your interest waned in books 5 and 6, don't continue on. If you are just dying to know the end so you can close that door in your mind, maybe you should read the Wikipedia page instead. If you do read it, expect a story from a lesser storyteller, an echo of the original like a Ghola unawakened. show less

When I first heard that BH/KJA were writing Dune 7 based off some notes they claim to have found, I was all excited. Like any Dune fan after reading 'Chapterhouse Dune', I was left wanting more. I patiently read the Butlerian Jihad and Royal House trilogies, feeling disappointed in both and impatient for them to write Dune 7 already.

Alas, this book was better off not written at all. I slogged through it, patiently reading about the struggle between the Bene Gesserit and the Honored Matres, the drama between the gholas on the Ithaca, Duncan Idaho struggling with his addiction, Sheeana trying to figure out her destiny, some drama from the Face Dancers, and a whole bunch of other junk. And then I came to the end of this book. What? After show more all that drama and meaningless action I have to wait for another book? I was hoping that Dune 7 would be better than the two trilogies penned by Brian and Kevin, but alas. This book holds NOTHING of the essence of Frank Herbert's Dune. show less

This is part one of a two part conclusion to the main Dune series based on notes and an outline by Frank Herbert. I've heard and experienced much trepidation regarding this, but thankfully, as long as I'm mostly focused on the ideas rather than the writing, I got through it without any wounds. :)

This is the continuation of the epic struggle between the Honored Matres and the Face Dancers and the Bene Gesserit and an even greater foe that implacably hunts all of them down. And when I mean "They", I mean all of humanity.

I have to admit that the reveal of the great foe of us all is a rather cool surprise and brings the whole series full circle in chronology in a very nice way. For those of you in the know, I know I just gave it away, and show more for the rest of you, you'll probably never know what I mean, but tough. :) It's a really exciting time for Dune Fans and perhaps a little info will get you guys back in the groove and taste this melange-laden treat.

There's also another tidbit that takes up a huge portion of the text that is pretty much awesome, especially for some fanboy who has, at the time of this writing, read the original Dune 14 times.

Oh, crap. Did I just do it again? It's so hard to say what I love about this novel and what I'm already going to love about the one that completes it because the "big secret" is also an ENORMOUS part of everything in the books. Think Gholas. Think a lot of Gholas. Think about awakening a lot of Gholas from a secret cache of genetic materials stashed away by a Master. And think about using these peeps as the last ditch effort to save the faltering and fractured humanity.

Woah. Serious Woah.

Good conflict, great characters, delicious ideas that tie together the entire franchise in a really big way. That's where this book is.

Now, I do miss Frank's way of writing. It's much denser, much more clever, full of unique insights and wisdoms, and thousands of wonderful idea-laden easter eggs that sometimes never get explored but still make us pause and wonder.

On the other hand, Brian and Kevin do have the whole clarity and pacing thing down pretty good. I can appreciate what they do well even when I miss the old master who did NOT do the whole pacing thing well at all. :) He sacrificed pacing for ideas and I was pretty good with that. :) Alas.

However, this book isn't that much of a stinker if you're focused heavily on getting to the idea reveals and you like good characters and love to see old classic characters interact in fantastic new ways. :)

I do recommend this for all old fans. It's also closure. :) show less

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Title: Hunters of Dune
Series: Dune 7 #1
Author: Brian Herbert & Kevin Anderson
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 644
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Duncan Idaho, Sheena and others escape in the noship Ithaca. They journey in another universe altogether for years before coming back to ours. Once back they have multiple run ins with the Old Couple, who are revealed to be Erasmus and Omnius, who are in control of the new Face Dancers and for some show more reason need a kwisatz haderach of their own to “win” Krazilec. Sheena ends up recovering lots of genetic secrets from their resident Tleixu master, Scytale. She ends up resurrecting many of the Atreides and their retainers “because”. Duncan wants to keep on the move to avoid the Old Couple while other Bene Gesserits on board want to find a planet to settle down on to restart the Bene Gesserit Order without the “impurity” of the Honored Matres that Murbella introduced.

Meanwhile, Murbella has forced her New Sisterhood down the throats of the Bene Gesserit and Honored Matres. Not all Honored Matres submit though and Murbella must subjugate them so as to show a united front for when the Unknown Enemy makes it appearance. She also must contend with the Spacing Guild and Ix and the tech world of Richese. She begins pouring the New Sisterhood's spice reserves into Richese to build a fleet unlike anything the Old Empire has ever seen.

Khrone, the leader of the New Face Dancers, while under the control of the Old Couple, has plans of his own for the Face Dancer Myriad. Using the last Lost Master of the Tliexu, Krone raises a ghola of the old Baron Harkonnen and one of Paul Atreides.

This book ends with the forces of Omnius beginning the invasion of the Old Empire.

My Thoughts:

Ok, this is my 3rd time reading this. What struck me the most was how busy this was while taking 20 years. A lot of hurry up and wait. The second thing that struck me was this book did not fit in with the previous 2 by Frank Herbert. If you hadn't read the Legends and Houses of Dune trilogies by Herbert&Anderson, much of this is inexplicable and makes no sense. Frank Herbert wouldn't have written a book like this. I can see the bare bone ideas that Frank might have used but some of the specifics, not at all. The third issue I had was that in the previous 2 books the Honored Matres were presented as this completely overwhelming force but here they fall before Murbella and the New Sisterhood like a row of dominoes. It didn't scan.

I found that as long as I didn't stop to think too hard about things, I had a better time with this. It's nice to get the final story of Dune but really, it feels as much a sellout as a dedication to a great series. I wasn't sure if how this would turn out after my 2 other times, but it was still decent. Now though, no more re-reads of this. I've still got Sandworms of Dune to finish this duology, but once I'm done with that, I'll stick to just re-reading Dune every decade or so.

I would recommend this for a hardcore Dune completionist and that's about it. If you made it through Heretics and Chapterhouse, then I don't see that kind of person having a hard time with this. They might not like it a lot, but it will scratch the itch of wondering where Frank might have taken us. Consider this authorized Dune fan fiction and you'll have a good grasp of the style and skill.

★★★☆½ show less