Prelude to Dune: House Atreides = RUBBISH

Yo Mamma

The late Mr. Frank Herbert must be doing cosmic revolutions with an angular velocity near infinity at the sight of this novel, Prelude to Dune: House Atreides.

It is a disgrace to the glorious name of Dune. It is the destruction of a world that has been for so long one of the shining exemplars of science-fiction, and indeed, of modern literature.

Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson have created nothing less than a total farce in this work. With careless, clumsy hands and feet they have torn, trampled, battered and otherwise brutally ripped apart the fabric of a work that deserved fully to stand beside the old masters of literature as a work destined to last through the centuries.

The plot, such as it is, is uninspiring at best. It lacks the multiple layers that characterized all of Frank Herbert's Dune series. The characters are at best cardboard cutouts without much substance, the contrast between House Atreides and the others is taken to a ridiculous extent, to the point where it becomes farcical.

The plotting of the Bene Gesserit lacks in the subtlety of the prior works, and indeed, in every scene that the Bene Gesserit appeared I had to force myself not to cringe. They were portrayed with the typical heavy handedness Mr. Anderson brings to practically every work of his I have ever read.

The Spacing Guild has suffered the same fate. Transformed from a majestic force, one of the mysterious pillars of the Imperium, into a bumbling cadre of fools and incompetents.

Indeed, everything that was brilliant in the Dune series has been reduced in stature, much as if in the process of being transferred from Frank Herbert's hands to that of his self-appointed successors, a form of lossy compression was employed, stripping away much of the character from all these events, these locations and these people.

The premise awkwardly juggles four main plot lines. The pathetic plotting of Prince Shaddam Corino and Hasimir Fenring comprises one. The infantile attempts of the Bene Gesserit to obtain an infant daughter descended of Baron Harkonnen gives birth to the next. The exploits of Leto Atreides first as a guest on Ix and then as a refuge from Ix attempts vainly to fill a third. The fourth and final plot centers on one Pardot Kynes, the Imperial Planetologist who goes native on Arrakis.

The connectivity between events is rarely clear, the actions of individuals seem to hardly have any emotional or physical impact, and at long last, having exhausted the reader for 600 pages, the book winds down to an unsatisfactory ending.

At the end of the 600 pages, one is left with one burning question:

"..Why the hell did they do it in the first damned place?"

?????????????

Unfortunately, it's question I don't have an answer for.

Trojan

I'm afraid to say that I didn't analyse it to quite this degree.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Disclaimer: I'm not hitting out at you in particular Yo Mamma, but...

I notice that people who tend to analyse books and films this closely don't usually enjoy them. Maybe I'm just not a good critic, I am just a sci fi fan.

Al.

Greenbean

Perhaps they clearly defined things were herbert had previously left to the imagination and thus removed the mystery. They tried to get to the guts of the subject matter? To be called a farce?

Trojan

Hey dude, story? Got a response? I am actually interested in finding out what you think here...

Al.

Yo Mamma

Sorry m8 I didn’t check this one for a while.

When I was about 13-14 I read the Dune series, it was one of the first in-depth sci-fi novels I had ever read! I mean these books opened all sorts of wonders to my young mind, and if truth be told, started my love for science fiction in a big way!

The Dune series meant a lot to me for nostalgic purposes and all the rest, and to have the Prelude to Dune series come out is like a kick in the teeth for my memories of the original ! It would be like Christopher Tolkien trying to write a prelude to The Lord Of The Rings !! I know that Christopher Tolkien did release loads of his dad’s notes and unfinished stories but at least he didn’t try and write another book and add it to the series !

With classics like Dune they should, imo, be left well alone! This was a sad attempt on behalf of Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson to cash in on the phenomenal success of the original series; they should never have tried to tac their ramblings on to the Dune series at all!!

I'm not saying it was badly written, in fact it was written very well, its just that all the characters are paper thin, and the people who rocked in the first series are here portrayed an bumbling idiots !

I may just be attaching too much emotion to my review there, but that’s just the way I feel, it has nothing to do with looking in too much analytical detail at the book!

Trojan

Cool, nice one. Thought you weren't going to answer there

It's both one of my favorite books and (film ppl are going to shoot me for saying this) favorite films of all time (I've watched it about 18 times when they did all those repeats on Sci-fi chan ).

I don't think that the new book damages my own concept of the Dune story, in fact it adds to the story by giving a background off where these characters came from, why the Atreides are so proud, how you had characters like Duncan Idaho and why he was willing to do anything for the old Duke, etc. I didn't notice the book being badly written either, so it must be at least "alright" by most peoples standards (I'm not a critic, but I read a fair bit so I probably should notice that).

Anyone else read it?

What dyis think?

Al.

Digi_Tilmitt

I must read the Dune books, if they are half as good as the game I'd say I'd like em!

I hope the Atreides book isn't as bad as you say cause dune really rulez.