Chapterhouse: Dune

Chapterhouse Dune is the last in the Dune series by Frank Herbert.

It’s really hard for me to make a judgement about Chapterhouse: Dune. On the one hand there are some excellent characters and the general story line is great. On the other, there are parts I found really boring. I got a bit sick of the teasers without any explanation. At first is was intriguing, but as they continued I just got a bit fed up with them and decided to stop second guessing the outcome and just let it happen. I think there are two ways an author can play this game:

1) Make the outcome fairly obvious from the start, but make the journey to get there exciting. Kind of like The Dresden Files.
2) Make the outcome a mystery, but subtly lead you in the right direction.

I think this book is trying to do the latter, but is quite clumsy about it. Having said all that, I’m glad I read it. The overall outcome is more than satisfactory.

I’m not going to read the books by Frank Herbert’s son. I’ve been told they are not good, and the brief snippets I’ve read seem to reinforce that.

I guess the end of a series of books like this needs a bit of a summary. I think the first book is a total classic. The rest you can take or leave. There are definitely interesting elements to all of them, but they are not nearly as accomplished as the first.

Cheers

Tim…

Heretics of Dune

Heretics of Dune is the fifth book in the Dune series by Frank Herbert.

This book picks up the story 1,500 years after the last one ended. The descendants of Siona had scattered throughout the universe, hidden from prescient minds by their unique genetics traits. Now some of them return from the scattering, but for what purpose?

The first book in the series is what drew me in. The next couple of books were not great. The fourth was a lot better. This one continues the upward trend. The intensity builds pretty much from the start all the way through, but the ending is a little weak. The next book starts where this one left off, so I guess that’s the reason for the week ending in this case.

As with the previous books, there are some fantastic sound bites. When you are reading the books on a Kindle you can see the pages littered with other people’s highlights. I could list hundreds, but here are just a few.

 

“Quite naturally, holders of power wish to suppress “wild” research. Unrestricted questing after knowledge has a long history of producing unwanted competition.”

“Bureaucracy destroys initiative. There is little that bureaucrats hate more than innovation, especially innovation that produces better results than the old routines. Improvements always make those at the top of the heap look inept. Who enjoys appearing inept?”

“… we only hate what’s really dangerous to us.”

Cheers

Tim…

God Emperor of Dune…

God Emperor of Dune is the fourth book in the Dune series by Frank Herbert.

After the randomness of the previous book, this fourth one was a lot more on-the-money. There are a number of scenes in the book I really hooked into, including one I blogged about a few days ago. It’s far from perfect, but it kept me interested. Probably the worst part of the book was then ending, which was rather lackluster.

I’m looking forward to see if this direction continues into the next book.

Cheers

Tim…

Children of Dune…

Children of Dune is the third book in the Dune series written by Frank Herbert.

As I suspected, Children of Dune is a bit random. In summarised form the story would sound quite good, but the books rambles on a lot. I found myself wishing for chapters to end. I’m told by a few people things pick up from here. I’ve already started the next book and so far it sounds pretty promising… 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Dune Messiah…

Dune Messiah is the second in the Dune series written by Frank Herbert.

I got a few warnings from people that the sequels to the original book were not so good. I have to admit it lacks the direction and thrust of the first book, but it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. In fact I actually quite enjoyed it. It does ramble a bit at times, but it was nice to see some of the other characters getting fleshed out a bit.

This book and the next book, Children of Dune, were combined into the Children of Dune TV mini series. Having seen that, I’m expecting Children of Dune to be a bit random. We shall see. 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Dune…

I’ve been a fan of the film Dune for ages. I also liked the TV mini series. The Children of Dune TV mini series was a bit too random for me. A remake of Dune is in the offing. With that in mind it is a little surprising to me that I’ve never got round to reading the book until now.

I think it’s safe to say I loved it. It’s one of the coolest things I’ve read in ages. Watching the film and TV series did not spoil it for me in the slightest, and quite unusually, reading the book has not lessened my love of the film.

The characters are brilliant. There is a lot of wisdom in the book too. In a previous post I mentioned one quote. I could pick out loads that are incredibly well observed and interesting. It ticks so many of the boxes for me I’m just sad there are not more of the same quality. Having discussed this book with some of the Oakies, they’ve advised me the rest in the series are pretty bad and the books written by his son are terrible. I’m not sure if I will read more, because I’m not sure I want to risk the disappointment. I’ll think on it.

I’m moving on to Cold Days now. Go Harry!

Cheers

Tim…