Hunters of Dune

Many people believe that sequels and prequels and additonal novels to an established series are just an attempt to make money. Nothing is further from the truth with the writings of Kevin Herbert and Kevin Anderson as it pertains to the Dune series. Everything that they have written has added extra levels of depth to an already fanatastical and mythically epic universe. If you have not read all of their additions you should.

While the quality of the plotting and writing varies from book to book, I hate to disappoint the elitists here, but Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson are the legitimate heirs to Frank Herbert. They are competent and interesting writers in their own right, and their work on this series has been a gift to Dune fans. I am sick and tired of all the snobbish naysayers who denigrate these books.... I'd like to see them create ANYTHING as big, bold, detailed, and expansive as what Brian and Kevin have done. The sheer hard work these two writers have demonstrated over the years, and their obvious love of Dune and Frank Herbert, mitigates any faults. Of course, it is more than evident that Herbert Jr. and Anderson don't have the amazing talents for intricate psychological plotting of Frank Sr., but then, how many authors working in sci-fi do? Science fiction is 99.9999% schlock. Herbert Jr. and Anderson are real craftsmen, true creators, and they've brought the psychologically-driven universe of Herbert Sr. "down to earth" by grounding it in the realities of the lived human experience. And they have built upon that. The Dunivere would not be as authentic or as compelling if the Machine Intelligences hadn't turned out to be the eternal enemy of humankind to which Frank Herbert alluded so many times in the original series. To realize this, it was absolutely necessary for any prequel- and sequel-writers to construct an authentic, detailed history of how this AI nemesis was born and evolved, and why and how it became so tyrannical. Thus Omnius, Erasmus, the Syncrhonized Worlds, and human slavery to machines were ABSOLUTELY necessary, and those details had to be expounded in very concrete terms. And Brian and Kevin did exactly that! They fleshed out the Dune universe and created an authentic and believable backstory, with the Titans, Omnius, etc. These books are a total triumph, they are absolute canon, they are wonderful works, and anyone who dismisses them are elitist snobs and cultists. Frank Herbert would absolutely have backed his son's efforts, period, full stop. The end.

first of all im aware of the negative reviews fellow dune fans have given this book along with the prequels. i understand its not the same as Frank Herbert but this book is still a great read. I'm a fan of classic Dune but i respect all the Dune books. This novel was very informative and answered many questions.

I have read the original Dune series three times over the years. I had to put this book down because it was ruining my experience of Frank Herbert's books by its mere association with them. It took me 10 or 15 pages to realize Brian Herbert has no gift for writing. I pressed on, hoping for a conclusion to the story line. By page 100 I actually felt angry. Out of respect for the original series, this could at least have been ghostwritten by someone willing to make an effort. Sloppy, careless and shallow, this book is an offensive stain on a masterwork.

Another book that I really wanted to love, but it's just okay. I did not go back and read Chapterhouse first, since even though this is based on Frank's outline, the writing style is totally different.
I read this quickly, partly because I could skim over parts. As other reviews have pointed out, there is repetition, such as New Sisterhood fights with the Honored Matres. If this were acting, there would have been a lot of chewed up scenery. Seriously, I don't need a recap every couple of chapters.

Frank was able to convey some subtle nuances and let people draw their own conclusions. I do not see that here. It was almost like the authors thought 'why settle for a sentence when we can write a paragraph'. It's basic writing-does this further the story, or is it fluff?
I was able to talk myself around some of the personality changes of persons and groups by mentally attributing them to the natural evolution over time and space.

I did enjoy reading about the origin of the Honored Matres. I also liked the bonus short at the end (and found myself hearing Seven of Nine's voice for the CHOAM rep).

There were several points where I was thinking, "really, so and so is actually going to make this incredibly dumb choice?"

If you think about very long, you can probably figure out who the enemy is. I chose not to think about it very hard, but I wasn't totally surprised.

With the number of deaths, I got to wondering if someone had been reading George R. R. Martin. <grin> Of course it is about war, so deaths are to be expected, and some are well deserved.

I've had mixed experiences with the Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson Dune novels. Unfortunately, Hunters of Dune falls on the lower end. In the interests of full disclosure, I was never a big fan of Frank Herbert's Heretics and Chapterhouse, but I was curious to see if and how the story ended.

Hunters generally lacks a story. There are a lot of little subplots and characters moving around but, aside from the general threat of Face Dancers and the mysterious old man and woman, not much happens. Except for the fact that the crew of the Ithaca and the Face Dancers both decide to grow Gholas of historical figures, including Paul, Alia, Jessica, and just about everybody who had more than a cameo in the original Dune novel.

This could have been a great idea if it led to an exploration of the characters. Instead, if feels like the authors thought it would be neat to see the old gang back together again, but didn't know what to do with them. For the most part, the Gholas act just like their old selves. That 9-year-old Baron Harkonnen just loves to torture. Moreover, the book jumps ahead years with little development, either character or plotwise, in between. I got the sense that the only reason the story progressed so far ahead in time was to give the Gholas time to grow up.

The subplot with Mother Commander Murbella had some potential. Unlike the Honored Matres, she actually seems to have half a brain. The book follows her attempts to unify the sisterhood against the ominous threat. Unfortunately, her story is undercut by the fact that she conveniently doesn't remember what the threat actually is. So as readers it's tough to care or sympathize with her sense of dread.

Here's hoping the conclusion to the series, Sandworms of Dune, at least manages to move the plot along.

After finishing Chapter House Dune, I was longing so badly for a conclusion to the series that I turned to this book. I have not liked other Brian Herbert Dune books before. But this one, based on Frank Herbert's notes and outline for the book that he died before he could write, is a satisfying conclusion to this series, for me. Of course it is not Frank Herbert. But we no longer have Frank. I am glad Brian wrote this book, and I have to say I think Frank would be proud.

Hello. How U Doin' ? Still looking forward to reading this book as I am still working my way through this series. Just wish I had more time but the short chapters makes it easy to read at least one or two a night.

I know that Brian Herbert is not Frank Herbert. With that said I cannot forgive the butchering this book gives to the Dune universe. Not only is the writing dumbed down to a 6th grade level, the characters do things completely against their nature, it takes a VERY long time to explain what is going on where Frank Herbert could do it with a sentence and the characters are just DUMB. I'm sorry that is the only way to explain it. Mentats asking things like "what is the significance" when the very point of a mentat is to figure out the significance of information and quite quickly really sunk this novel right from the start for me.

I really wish I had not read this, I can't help but feeling like my view of argueably the greatest science fiction series of all time is a bit tarnished now. I will not buy Sandworms and will for sure not read anything else these two put out about Dune. I don't really even consider Hunters canon after reading it. Again, way too many things are just polar opposite of what they were in Frank Herbert's orginal 6 books not to mention huge plot holes, shoddy character development and the complete lack of the deep political/philosophical undertones of Frank Herberts works.

I could nitpick all day about what I really found wrong with this book. I'm going to go and try to forget I ever read this and leave of my Dune experience with book 6. Honestly the ending to Chapterhouse was not that bad of an ending for the series. At any rate it is light years better to end there than ruin your Dune experience with these other books. I think another reviewer said it best when they mentioned that this book is basically like a big fanfic that actually had proper grammar and got published.

Brian & KJA got out from their feverish imagination that they are the thinking machines: "Omnius" & "Erasmus":

From Chapterhouse Dune:
"You deliberately let them get away, Daniel!"

The old woman rubbed her hands down the stained front of her garden apron. It was a summer morning around her, flowers blooming, birds calling from nearby trees. There was a misty look to the sky, a yellow radiance near the horizon.

"Now, Marty, it was not deliberate," Daniel said. He took off his porkpie hat and rubbed the bushy stubble of gray hair before replacing the hat. "He surprised me. I knew he saw us but I didn't suspect he saw the net."

"And I had such a nice planet picked out for them," Marty said. "One of the best. A real test of their abilities."

"No use moaning about it," Daniel said. "They're where we can't touch them now. He was spread so thin, though, I expected to catch him easy."

"They had a Tleilaxu Master, too," Marty said. "I saw him when they went under the net. I would have so liked to study another Master."

"Don't see why. Always whistling at us, always making it necessary to stomp them down. I don't like treating Masters that way and you know it! If it weren't for them . . ."

"They're not gods, Daniel."

"Neither are we."

"I still think you let them escape. You're so anxious to prune your roses!"

"What would you have said to the Master, anyway?" Daniel asked.

"I was going to joke when he asked who we were. They always ask that. I was going to say: 'What did you expect, God Himself with a flowing beard?' "

Daniel chuckled. "That would've been funny. They have such a hard time accepting that Face Dancers can be independent of them."

"I don't see why. It's a natural consequence. They gave us the power to absorb the memories and experiences of other people. Gather enough of those and . . ."

"It's personas we take, Marty."

"Whatever. The Masters should've known we would gather enough of them one day to make our own decisions about our own future."

"And theirs?"

"Oh, I'd have apologized to him after putting him in his place. You can do just so much managing of others, isn't that right, Daniel?"

"When you get that look on your face, Marty, I go prune my roses." He went back to a line of bushes with verdant leaves and black blooms as large as his head.

Marty called after him: "Gather up enough people and you get a big ball of knowledge, Daniel! That's what I'd have told him. And those Bene Gesserit in that ship! I'd have told them how many of them I have. Ever notice how alienated they feel when we peek at them?"

Daniel bent to his black roses.

She stared after him, hands on her hips.

"Not to mention Mentats," he said. "There were two of them on that ship-both gholas. You want to play with them?"

"The Masters always try to control them, too," she said.

"That Master is going to have trouble if he tries to mess with that big one," Daniel said, snipping off a ground shoot from the root stock of his roses. "My, this is a pretty one."

"Mentats, too!" Marty called. "I'd have told them. Dime a dozen, they are."

"Dimes? I don't think they'd have understood that, Marty. The Reverend Mothers, yes, but not that big Mentat. He didn't thin out that far back."

"You know what you let get away, Daniel?" she demanded, coming up beside him. "That Master had a nullentropy tube in his chest. Full of ghola cells, too!"

"I saw it."

"That's why you let them get away!"

"Didn't let them." His pruning shears went snick-snick. "Gholas. He's welcome to them."

And apparently not his father either, and thats a bad thing.

Its not that the writing is that horrible, its just that it is a very pale shadow of the real thing. The real thing being Frank Herbert. It reads like a good episode of Star Trek or Stargate. I gave it two stars for that reason alone. I am cutting Brian some slack by conceding that it would be difficult for anyone to follow in Frank Herbert's footsteps.

There are isolated spots where I got a Frank-esque tingle (there are scenes where Murbella asserts her control over the Honored Maters that are really good), but they are few and far between. Mostly the writing is shallow and heavy handed. It completely lacks the subtlety and polished nuance that made Frank Herbert's writing feel so...epic.

It doesn't help that Brian Herbert seems bound and determined show he is in charge now by ignoring and retconning the established canon. He seems to go out of his way to prove he is in control now by blatantly contradicting the Dune encyclopedia and even the original six novels. It is ironic that the Dune Encyclopedia, now considered "officially" non-canon (and remaining out of print for that very reason), feels way more like Dune than the new novels which are to be considered "official" canon now.

It is supposedly based on some of Frank's actual notes though, so if you really have a burning desire to tie up all the loose ends of Chapterhouse, it might be worth enduring.

The first lesson in writing sequels is to read the original work carefully. I get no sense that Herbert and Anderson understood what Frank Herbert said and so his notebooks didn't do them much good.

I am glad I borrowed Hunters and Sandworms from the library instead of buying them. That's mostly because in God Emperor of Dune, Heretics and Chapterhouse, Frank Herbert emphasized lessons to learn, one of which was interdependence and another of which, in Odrade's time, was that the Bene Gesserit had much left to learn. Plus the message that she found about alliances. There is no sense of that in the Brian Herbert books, in fact, Odrade is painfully missing from Murbella's consciousness when in Chapterhouse she was so important. The Bellonda/Doria thing could have expressed the interdependence issue but failed to do so. So could the Sheeana/Idaho connection. So could the Handlers/Futars. And so on.

The other problem was definitely the language. OK I write and I tend to try to find the "mot juste" and so I have a different style. But sometimes the wording was just painful in its wrongness in these two books.

So I definitely won't read the prequels at all.

These Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson novels are only worth reading if you loved the original Dune series. I loved the original Dune and then Chapterhouse was definitely my second favorite. It re-introduced the mysteriousness, fantasticness, unpredictability, philosophical, and religious aspects that were sorely missing from all the other books, except perhaps the God Emperor. Because I thought Chapterhouse was such a great novel, when I heard that Frank Herbert had left behind an outline for where the series was meant to go, I couldn't wait to pick up Hunters of Dune. I was sorely disappointed, and I'll tell you why, right after I address something I saw in another review.

Another reviewer has said that the first three novels were the best and the rest of Frank Herbert's work was too dense, uninteresting, and bogged down by philosophy, chalking up the simplistic writing style of the Brian/Anderson duo to a concerted attempt to be more interesting. Anyone who has read Dune Messiah knows this is untrue; the second book in the series is a poor follow-up to the incredible original Dune and leaves much to be desired. Frank eventually fills the readers' hunger for another intriguing Dune book with Children of Dune. But Chapterhouse is definitely one of his best works, reminiscent of the original in its science fiction and religious aspects, but introducing new elements with the Miles Teg ghola and the Honored Matres. I think Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson simply can't write well and are not doing so on purpose.

That said, I would have rather read the Frank Herbert outline. Brian and Kevin deliver all of Frank's ingenious and dramatic ideas without the pomp, buildup, and awe-inspiring prose that Frank used in all his books. The summary gives something away that Frank would have used to utterly shock and probably would have been the climax of his next book: the resurrection of historical figures as gholas. Brian and Kevin give it away in the book summary. While reading the novel, the writing style is so bad that I wish I could re-write the novel myself so I could enjoy it more thoroughly. The only enjoyment I got out of this novel (which got the rating to 3 stars) was the utter genious of Frank's outline that you see unfold throughout the novel, albeit completely hampered by the infantile writing style of the son and the inept sci fi writer he picked up along the way. Considering that Brian's inability to live up to his father's legacy was clear from the other Dune books he had published (all prequels to the original Dune series), I wish someone could have convinced him to let a real writer carry on the great Dune saga.

General comments:
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Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson are not the best authors or the worst authors in the world. The prose is not innovative, moving but more of a utilitarian approach focused for young readers with a short attention span and limited logical ability. The subtly, intelligence and well defined characters of Frank Herbert's Dune novels are not in this story. The book seems to be trying to compress a lot of things into book, yet the items which are detailed seem not so important and out of character for the Dune universe.

I read the book seeking to find out what was in the "lost" outline left by Frank Herbert -- hoping for gems of insight as was in the original Dune novel. The unfortunate thing is that if the contents of the outline were found and acted on shortly after Frank's death -- the content might be the touchstone for man vs. machines, not a rehash of Matrix or Terminator.

I really do miss the complexity of Frank Herbert's writing and story telling style. A key part of any good mystery is not explaining too much of what is actually happening with the bad guy...the "Enemy" is not very scary, especially to anyone that has read the prequels will know immediatly who/what the "Enemy" is going to be. You will not need to read this book again as you will not get anything new out of it unlike the original Dune series.

I am not sure if I am going to read the final book -- "Sandworms of Dune". I think I can pretty much guess what is going to happen.

To Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson: you should be ashamed to be using plot tricks from day time soap operas -- dopplegangers of Paul one of which using an evil laugh in a dream of the "good" Paul ghola....oh please!

Summary:
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Characters: 2 stars -- paper thin and why bring back all the old characters yet not do anything novel with them. The authors could have done a nice bit in working free will into the story vs. being trapped by prophesy. The strength, ethics and likeability of characters from original Dune series is not present.

Plot: 4 stars -- the plots moves along fairly well and does a good job of tying up loose ends...a bit too neatly actually. There is little room for your imagination on what is going to happen next.

Writing: 1 star -- the style is the same high-school level writing for the attention span impaired.

Action: 2 stars -- the action sequences were fairly predictable and with little tension in them.

Overall: 2.5 stars -- I was along for the ride to see how the Dune universe ends but the scenery was not very pretty; normally, the journey is important not the destination...do not expect much from the journey here.

This review is only concerned with the narration of the Audio.

If I were to rate to the story it would be a 1 star. The deficiencies in the book are pointed out by other reviewers and I feel that I have nothing to add.

The narration is by Scott Brick. Scott has a pleasant sounding voice and at first I thought he would do a fine job of narrating the book.

Scott's style is simple. He reads the book.

When the character's are speaking in the book, Scott will slightly alter his voice.

With the male character's it becomes annoying that Scott was the only narrator. When Scott tried to alter his voice for the female characters, I had enough.

Rather than try pathetically to sound female, Scott should have just kept his normal voice.

Absolutely horrible.

*SPOILERS are included in this review*

By recommendation from a friend, I sat down at read this book though I had zero expectations (after tromping through all of the Bulterian Jihad trilogy). Unfortunately, this novel is by far the worst BH/JKA material out there--except for the next in the series. My problems:

1.) All old characters from Frank Herbert and BH/JKA novels are resurrected because they couldn't think of anything else to do. They're also all flat, undeveloped, and thrown out as if necessary to get the plot rolling. I guess they thought old friend Atreides were quick fixes.
2.) There is absolutely no deep philosophical reading in this. Okay, Frank Herbert's novels after God Emperor were a little tedious with philosophy, but you can't have a Dune book without some universal truths being discussed in religion, politics, life, etc. There would at least be some meat in the book.
3.) The writing style was horrible. It was stilted, stiff, and flat. If this book went through the reading systems, it would probably crank out at 4th-5th grade level language-wise.
4.) No plot. No plot. No plot. People talk, some things happen, but there's no plot. Okay, so we get to meet our great adversaries finally, but when I realized who they were, I was floored by how horribly predictable it turned out to be and BH/KJA's audacity to incorporate those characters as antagonists.
5.) Everything else that was wrong. Which was a lot. Really.

There is only one highlight in this novel, and it's a Leto II/worm reference. I actually smiled when I read it.

If you loved Frank Herbert's Dune series, don't pick this up. It'll put a bad taste in your mouth. If you aren't a big Dune fanatic, you probably won't want to read this anyway because Frank Herbert's implied attachment to the novel is its only selling point.

Warning: spoilers ahead.

Well, this is not a new book, but I'm just reading it. I'm a fan of the original Dune series, and I must say that the Prelude to Dune has dissapointed me, from a literary point of view. So many incoherencies, so many repeated phrases and words, just to fill pages, the style, well, like if the books were for dummies, while the original books were so complex and interesting. And, well, tons of inconsistencies, of course. Then I read the books devoted to the Butlerian Jihad. Slightly better style, but still many, many inconsistencies and simplistic writting.

Ok, I thought these books by Brian and Kevin should be seen as a separated work *based* on the Dune universe, but not inside that universe, and decided to finish reading them all, despite of reading the reviews and spoilers (yes, I knew the "identity" of Daniel and Marty). So I bought Hunters. The style is a bit better. I must say "a bit", because it's still like a children's book , and they still repeat phrases and words all over the place. The character development is not as good as with Frank Herbert. The heroes are plastic ones. But at least it is better than the "House"'s series. But, come on, why to say that Daniel, Marty and the enemies were robots, when Frank Herbert stated they were perfect Face Dancers. Why to say the no-ships didn't work without Space Guild navigators, when they have worked like that for the last 1500 years! That was the purpose of the Golden Path, which Kevin and Brian dismissed saying it was the wrong path, nullifying God Emperor in one single phrase. They were helped by a researcher, as I understand, so they could minimize the inconsistencies. But they seem to show little knowledge of the original series.

I give 3 stars (they should be 2.5 stars) because this book is better than previous series, but it's not on par with Frank Herbert's work. It should be considered a separated work.

"I hope they do better ..." Read all my previous "prequel" Dune reviews, and you detect my wish, expressed or implied.

I realize now, they will not.

When I read the first, "Dune: House Atreides," I didn't expect a Frank Herbert novel. But when I kept reading BH/ KA novels, I expected to see more complex, developed stories. I especially hoped Hunters would harken back to the FH originals, because this was the one based on his own notes. This was a failure. Apparently the clarity of these notes was overstated.

There were some things I just didn't understand.

Hold on, spoilers here.

OK, how does one scan a planet for life signs if it doesn't run with the aid of "thinking machines?" When the story begins, we read the Ithaca's crew was so small, and the ship so big its population barely had an impact on the ship's environmental system, but the population grew, and to the discovery of the Handler's planet, it's a problem? They couldn't have added more than 20 kids at one time, not even counting the gholas! How does Richese, the weapon mass-manufacturer of the Duniverse get wiped out, and doesn't have a single vessel of their own fire as much as a stray round?

And don't get me started on the "true" identities of Daniel and Marty. A previous reviewer was right, it should have been Laurel and Hardy.

OK, I'll read Sandworms, just to see the end. But know this, the Dune novels truly ended at the end of Chapterhouse Dune. Not with the images of Daniel and Marty, but with FH's moving eulogy to Bev.

To be fair, the first three "sequexploitations" were not that bad. After all, Kevin J. Anderson, a mediocre author at best (I very much doubt that Herbert's son has anything to do with actually putting words on paper) did not veer far from the great Man's shadow. Small tentative steps around allready well-created characters functioning in a rich world. We, the fans of the original DUNE series, thirsty for more, we followed them. So, the more they sold, the more bold they became. Finally, they shrugged the last stitch of dignity. Do they actually think anyone bought the "in a long-forgotten vault we found my father's notes - for (an UNSPECIFIED NUMBER!!!) of new books"?

Standing on a giant's shoulders they first decided to create a protoDune World. Their next Trilogy introduced or "explained" tiresome Cymecs, a flaccid jihad, shallow characters, all with a simplified repetitive narrative. What is this? DUNE FOR DUMMIES?
Salivating over a larger audience, they decided their readers are barely intelligent enough to function by themselves. Hence, the vapid prose.

Now this one...Ah, it takes the cake. One of the appealing points of the Original Dune universe was its retro novelty. No races, no religions, no nationalities from old Earth. Yet, on the Dune canvas the timeless human psyche was projected in a virtuoso way. The same fears and desires, the same virtues and cardinal sins - all in worlds of sand, worms, Sardaukar, personal shields. And Spice.

Rabbis celebrating passover in Dune? What 's next? A Richard Simmons ghola promoting the new Ixian Thigh-master? Every other religion evolved (remember the Buddislamists?). What do they imply is wrong with Jews? What kind of half-baked racism is this? Not to mention a continuity blunder.
In the Dune prequels, Jews were the precursors of Fremen. Well, were they or were they not?

And something else: from the hot-air balloons to F35 it took us less than 200 years. Ornithopters made their appearance in the original Dune. Don't you THINK that in the following 5,000 years someone might, just MIGHT, have come up with something NEW?

Then again, that's the main problem with this book: wherever there is something new, it flops miserably. They do realize this themselves of course, hence the "new-spice", the "new-facedancers", the "new-BeneGeserits". There is NOTHING new about any of them.

Pass. Let's not encourage them any more.

The first Dune book from the vexing Herbert-Anderson (HA) duo that wasn't a huge pile of stinking fertilizer. At least not initially. Constrained by the plot, technology, and culture already laid out by the real Herbert, HA manage to keep the book on a fairly Dune-ish keel for about the first half of the book. They almost fooled me into thinking they could pull it off.

The problem with all the prequels was HA had to imagine a pre-Dune universe, pre-spice universe. They had to think up a whole bunch of clever ideas on their very own and it was clear from the get go they weren't up to the job. I think after the first Robots of Dune book, HA realized they better rush back all the familiar Dune things (Bene Gesserit, Mentats, etc.). We were forced to accept that "Rome" was built in a day. Every important facet of the Dune universe was gestated in the course of couple decades.

The book does manage to go off the rails at about the half way mark, when they start to resurrect the Dune book characters. Someone needs to sit HA down and carefully explain to them that they're incapable of writing children characters. HA also resurrect all their tired old literary devices. Bad characters commit unspeakable acts of violence and we're given page after page of lurid details. We're reminded constantly of the characters personality traits. We're reminded constantly that there's some evil threat out there and reminded constantly of the unbelievable notion none of the Honored Matres knows what they were actually running from (WTF?). We're reminded constantly of the characters' back story. We get it. HA wouldn't have had to split the story into two novels if they just got rid of all the repetition and lurid pre-teen fantasy violence.

***warning for spoilers!***

I originally had no intention of reading this book with all the bad reviews, but I was at the library, saw it and thought I'd at least give it a try. Part of me wishes I had heeded the advice of not even bothering with it!

I wanted to enjoy this book and at when I got through two-thirds I was going to give it an ok rating, but the last 70 pages seriously and disturbing change my mind! This is not a Dune book, it doesn't feel like it, read like one or show itself like one. The writing is simplistic, though they like to use big words just cause they can, its more of "telling" events, not "showing". The entire novel takes place within 19+ years, jumping from one character to the other and giving you just enough information to jump to the next point. There are no real main characters, it's just a bunch of people in different places, the rebirthing previous characters didn't seem logical and they appear only briefly!

The ending 70 pages is the most graphic, disgusting and offensive material in the book and it doesn't come slowly, it's like a slap in the face. I attempted to skip in order to find out how it ends but it didn't stop, one graphic disturbance after another. Frank Herbert was able to express dark material without it getting gross or graphic, these guys don't know crap how to write good dark materal, which only shows how amateurish and perverted they are. And it adds nothing to the story, the characters or the ridiculous plot that made no scene!

I didn't understand what the Face Dances even wanted, why where they infiltrating all these groups??? And the climactic finally fight between the two head women was so short, pathetic, pointless and disappointing. It ends just when it starts and you're like "wait a minute?" And then turns out the higher Honored Matre isn't even an Matre, but a Face Dancer, so there was no show off! When I read that Murbella had decided to make a final strike I was like "yes! it will be epic" NOT!

The ghola kids got like zip time in the book, brief appearances. Leto II got one very short epic moment, which had major potential and then that never got explained. Paul has one dream, which intrigued me a bit. I loved the part where Alia comes back through the reborn Baron and that got what, like 4 pages of time! I was expecting to get a "Dune Messiah" feel but didn't.

This book was, without a doubt, horrible and I have no desire or intention of reading the second final book Sandworms of Dune. I'm sure it's just as much crap and I'm seriously pissed off with the graphic imagery I read and won't be able to remove from my brain for weeks, if not months! We need to have on books a list of content/material to give the person a heads up, not just to protect one kids but out of respect for a person's morals! I felt seriously violated when I read those ending, "rape scenes"! I want to be able to enjoy myself and relax when I read, not feel creeped out or disturbed!!!

Heed my advice, as I didn't others, do not read this book, even if you are a fan or not of the original Dune novels. This book ruined the original 5th and 6th book for me. I won't be able to read them without being reminded of how graphic the conclusion was. I'm sticking with just the first 4 books!

I started reading the Dune Chronicles about 15 years ago due to the advice of a friend. Like so many, I fell in love with the way Herbert managed to weave a plethora of thematic elements into a single piece. By God Emperor, my reading hard slowed down to a crawl (Sorry, I just hate it when I invest so much time in characters just to see them all gone). I managed to dredge through and move to Heretics and Chapterhouse which refocused my interest.

First of all, let me say, I read the prequel House books and thought they were fair, with the exception of House Corrino. With the books just being fair, I decided to skip the Legend books. And now we have Hunters.

The first bone I have to pick with Hunters is the elementary way in which it is written. I think it is rather sad to see an author dumb down characters for the sake the reader. I don't know about anyone else, but I like it when an author makes me think. I loved the social intricacies of the original series. Hunters gives us nothing more than idiots that need the obvious stated to them, enter Miles Teg and Duncan Idaho (mentats, the human computers, ironically enough).

To the next subject. I just really want to know, did anyone spot how different the characters were in Hunters as compared to Chapterhouse: Murabella seems to have become a psychopath, Miles Teg is an idiot, Duncan Idaho wavers in his loyalty to the Atreides (Sheena, of course), and the wild Reverend Mother (I am using "wild" as an adjective outside the scope of the story) Sheena becoming utterly predictable when no one knew what she was up to in Chapterhouse prior to the great sharing. What happened? Where are the characters I remember.

Due to these problems alone, it's nearly impossible to get into the disjointed plot. Poor characterization keeps the reader from feeling any empathy toward the characters. Without proper characterization you can't depend upon it to move the plot. Just like the second Matrix movie everything you need to know is in the very last portion, the last twenty pages or so.

Skip this book if you can and save a few hours of your life. You could obtain all the information you need for Sandworms from a spoiler from anyone who has read Hunters.

Just one last question: how long will a bank hold onto a safety deposit box before they destroy the contents. Surely not a decade, I would think.

I started reading the Dune Chronicles about 15 years ago due to the advice of a friend. Like so many, I fell in love with the way Herbert managed to weave a plethora of thematic elements into a single piece. By God Emperor, my reading hard slowed down to a crawl (Sorry, I just hate it when I invest so much time in characters just to see them all gone). I managed to dredge through and move to Heretics and Chapterhouse which refocused my interest.

First of all, let me say, I read the prequel House books and thought they were fair, with the exception of House Corrino. With the books just being fair, I decided to skip the Legend books. And now we have Hunters.

The first bone I have to pick with Hunters is the elementary way in which it is written. I think it is rather sad to see an author dumb down characters for the sake the reader. I don't know about anyone else, but I like it when an author makes me think. I loved the social intricacies of the original series. Hunters gives us nothing more than idiots that need the obvious stated to them, enter Miles Teg and Duncan Idaho (mentats, the human computers, ironically enough).

To the next subject. I just really want to know, did anyone spot how different the characters were in Hunters as compared to Chapterhouse: Murabella seems to have become a psychopath, Miles Teg is an idiot, Duncan Idaho wavers in his loyalty to the Atreides (Sheena, of course), and the wild Reverend Mother (I am using "wild" as an adjective outside the scope of the story) Sheena becoming utterly predictable when no one knew what she was up to in Chapterhouse prior to the great sharing. What happened? Where are the characters I remember.

Due to these problems alone, it's nearly impossible to get into the disjointed plot. Poor characterization keeps the reader from feeling any empathy toward the characters. Without proper characterization you can't depend upon it to move the plot. Just like the second Matrix movie everything you need to know is in the very last portion, the last twenty pages or so.

Skip this book if you can and save a few hours of your life. You could obtain all the information you need for Sandworms from a spoiler from anyone who has read Hunters.

Just one last question: how long will a bank hold onto a safety deposit box before they destroy the contents. Surely not a decade, I would think.

I am usually willing to give the author the benefit of the doubt, but this book is unbelievably bad. The characters are flat, the plot is predictable, the dialogue is juvenile and the pace of the book is slow. While I admire Brian and Kevin for attempting to continue the Dune saga, it is truly astounding that they and the publisher felt this volume does so satisfactorily. I don't recommend this book, even for fans of the series. I refuse to spend any more time on such horrible writing, so I am planning to read an online plot summary for the final installment ("Sandworms of Dune") and recommend you do the same for this book. Thoroughly disappointing.

I suffered through the six prequels, each time wondering why in the world I keep subjecting myself to such utter crap. I guess I was thinking even badly written Dune is better than no Dune.

I had vowed never to throw more of my hard earned money at these two clowns after Battle of Corrin. But, alas, I saw Hunters in the used books bin at the local library for 50 cents, and in a moment of weakness, I picked it up..I wanted to kick myself for buying it, because I fully expected yet another disappointing read.

So with those thoughts in mind, I cracked open Hunters and soon realized.... I LIKED it!!!! They must have truly been following Frank Herbert's original manuscripts, because the writing style was much closer to that of the original novels. The introspective writing gave the characters the depth I so missed from the originals, the storyline was plausible, tightly written and kept me turning the pages. It was refreshing to not have to read endless pages of graphic violence that seemed to be there simply for it's own sake.

This felt like a Dune novel, what I've been waiting for for over 20 years.

The book isn't without flaws, it was fairly easy to tell when BH and KJA wandered off the path and injected their own plot elements. The abrupt way that Murbella discovered the origins of the Honored Matres was a bit clumsy, and the Handlers seemed a little hokey to me. But overall it was a pretty good read.

Like the Dune prequels put together by this team, "Hunters of Dune" lacks the special something that Frank Herbert breathed into his works. Granted, the authors acknowledge they they do not try to imitate Mr. Herbert, but the books are just weak. It was great to see the continuation of the second trilogy from where "Chapterhouse: Dune" left off, but most of the surprise revalations were fairly obviously at least a few chapters in advance. The other major problem (many other sci-fi novels seem to suffer this as well) is that the characters appear to be mere mouths for the plot; any "character" to them is conveyed nearly exclusively through their choice of words in dialogs. The only characters who seem to stand apart are the Rabbi, and Scytale, neither of whom were ever interesting or likable characters.

Overall, from someone who has read every book in the Dune series, as well as every book that Frank Herbert ever wrote, I can say that like the prequels, this book is worth a read to find out what Frank intended for the series, but the writing is merely generic sci-fi. If you are looking for a true successor to the "Dune" series, this is not it.

This book is terrible. thankfully I got it on loan from the library.
I've only had the stomach to read a few of the reviews, I must agree with the negative ones.

One stark point I thought needs harping on is how storyline from Chapterhouse Dune and the original Dune universe is broken in Hunters of Dune. The behavior of Rev. Mothers for one (for instance the funeral on the no ship) and this idea that Honored Matres can't access their other memory is completely foolish since Murbella did it in Chapterhouse and since that what other memory and being a rev mother is all about.

Every chapter I ask myself how long ago the authors read the last 2 real dune books before writing this trash. And who were their editors??? Did their editors ever read an original dune book? I seriously doubt it.

Its as if BH and KA thought FHs work wasn't very good, that they saw a lot of room for improvement and felt they were the ones to do so. FHs is great and these two interlopers have no talent. I don't care if BH is the son (adopted or otherwise) this book is cr@p and dosn't deserve to be read or published. I am fully confident that I could write better. If BH were respectful to his fathers legacy he'd have recognized his ineptitude and hire someone else to do all the writing in a FH style.

Hunters of Dune is a work of fiction obviously based only loosely on the Dune series by FH. It is laboured and poorly written. I feel so bad for FH. Maybe some day someone will write a real piece of fan fiction to continue where FH left off.

I'm only about 2/5 through this book and I throw it down in disgust so often I doubt I'll finish yet I still want to how it ends. This books is much worse than the pre dune books. Since its building directly off FHs work it falls so much harder and lower.

Don't buy this book! loan it from a friend or library if need be.

sorry for my poor writing in this review, I'm pretty emotional right now after having just put down this work of cr@p.

Herbert and Anderson know how to develop a plot to keep the reader going. However, having run out of plot, they have brought back all the old dead characters from the past to keep their franchise going. The most irritating aspect of the book is the constant recalling of past events to refresh old readers' memory and educate new readers. It wastes a lot of space and detracts from the pace. Even though I have the next three volumes in my library, having purchased them as hard cover over stocks at bargain prices, I am looking for a new series to read when I want to read science fiction, which brings up a second point. The series has mostly frozen science and is almost as much fantasy as science fiction. If you enjoy getting your exercise from riding on a stationary bike, this is the thing for you.

The prequels of Herbert and Anderson are truly an abomination in the Dune universe. They remind me of the start of the movie "The Player" where the camera is panning around a film studio listening in at potentai movie pitches and you hear stuff like "The Graduate...Part2" - because true Art can't be improved on - especially by men of lesser abilities.

The sweep and grandure of the original Dune novel is utterly lost in the terrible writing style of Herbert and Anderson. And their most unforgivable sin ( amongst many ) is the relentless repetion of the plot lines because they assume their readers are stupid.

Frank never assumed that. And that's why Dune and Dune Messiah endure and all the post Frank Herbert sequels pale under any comparision.

Not sure what happened to my earlier reviews of this book and of House Atriedes, so I am putting in my two cents worth again, back on the side of the real fans.

Brian Herbert claims to have based the plot of this book on notes that his father left behind about how he planned to conclude the series. I read this book hoping to see a rough outline of Frank's plan. I don't recommend trying to do the same. Look up a plot synopsis and consider the ideas without wasting time on this painful book. I don't believe Brian has any notes from his father.

Frank Herbert's Dune books are masterpieces. Frank Herbert's Dune books are bad fan fiction written by someone lucky enough to inherit the intellectual property.

This spells out the outline given by Frank Herbert and unfortunately reads that way. What I mean is things happen just like they are planned every time! Not a single battle won by the underdog or a single plan surprisingly thwarted. I guess the authors are trying to stay loyal to whatever outline they have. But I wish they would ahve more fun with it and do more with the meat they need to put on the bones.

It also goes into too much lengthy explanations of the dune world. Have fun with the novels guys! If purists want just what Frank Herbert wrote then publish the exact outline later. I get the sense Frank did allot of innovating after the outline was done. I hope these guys do too in the next book.

I give it three stars because 1)I am glad they wrote it and fill us in what Frank had in mind. and 2) they aren't all bad, and I can sort of understand why they are not going to far out of bounds from the outline - even though I disagree with that decision.

Neither language nor ingenuity of story telling impresses me, having read the original master of the saga. This book seems to be less more than a way to reek in on a franchise. Thus, is this literature or, the book industry's version of McDonald's?

.....This is not Frank Herberts writing style and I can think of several who could have done better but few who would have been commited to all the prequals and sequals to lay the "foundation" for all of this. Even if you had your wish list fulfilled on substitute writers how many of them would have even dared to face the inevitible kvetching that would come with even just doing hunters and sandworms of dune?
.....That said, I have waited for years for answers to the mysterious new face dancers, the Honored Matre and why they were running as well as to whom those two old people were who are trying to catch duncan Idaho and now I have a answers to those questions.
.....I like the reason the Honored Matres have no real other memory and why they are so damned brutal.
.....EVEN IF IT IS BASED ON DAD'S NOTES, ITS BEEN TWEAKED SO THAT ALL THE PREQUELS ARE SOMEWHAT NECESSARY TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING ON. ITS KIND OF A CHEAT THAT ALL OF THAT HAD TO BE BUILT IN WHEN THEY SHOULD HAVE REWORKED HUNTERS TO NOT NEED THAT.
.....In the end its a let down from Frank but Kevin is a servicable writer and things are getting toward being tied up by this next to last novel.

The urge to read Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson's continuation of Frank Herbert's Dune series is a bit like the urge to purchase a lottery ticket. Buying the ticket makes sense because what you're gaining is the thrill of anticipation. What makes very little sense is checking your numbers as your chance of being disappointed is infinitely greater than your chance of actually winning. Checking your numbers is frankly a complete waste of time.

Almost.

Frank Herbert died in 1986, one year after his sixth novel in the outstanding Dune series, Chapterhouse Dune, was published. Chapterhouse ends with a cliff hanger - it's clearly not intended as the end of the series but death has a way of stuffing up good intentions. Twenty years later Herbert Jnr and Anderson's Hunters of Dune picks up where Herbert Snr left off.

In the Authors' Note to Hunters of Dune we're told that in 1997 Brian and Kevin had discussed writing the fabled Dune 7 but that with no extant notes by Frank they would need to base the work solely on their own imaginations. For a number of reasons they decided to write a three book prequel to the series - House Atreides, House Harkonnen and House Corinno. Somewhere along the way, we're told, they made the serendipitous discovery of two safe-deposit boxes containing notes by Frank Herbert for Dune 7. And thus from the master's notes we have Hunters of Dune and its companion Sandworms of Dune (due out in August 2007).

I doubt whether Tor's marketing division could come up with a better idea than the serendipitous discovery of the note books, an implausible (but not impossible) story: in an infinite universe I'm sure there are several good reasons why an author would keep the notes for what was presumably a work in progress in a safe-deposit box with not even a single copy around the house in case he had a desire to do some writing.

Hmmm.

Hunters of Dune was released in August 2006 and for several reasons it's taken me almost a year to get around to reading it. For a start I hadn't read the Dune series for more than a decade and I was keen to read the whole thing from beginning to end. And the verdict: the whole series stands up extremely well. Dune itself really does deserve its ranking as the greatest SF novel of all time.

That was one reason it took me a while to pick up Hunters of Dune.

Another is that I'd already been burned reading House Atreides, the writing duo's first offering and one that I'd read with great anticipation on its release in 1999. And the verdict: I haven't been game to read House Harkonnen and House Corinno or, until now, anything else the duo has done in the Dune universe. To be fair to Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson, it's a tough task to pick up where the master left off, particularly as there are so many devotees of the master's work. Expectations are high and perhaps unrealisable even if you do a good job.

Unfortunately they don't even do a good job. Their writing is often poor and the complexity of plot, of ideas and of character that typified Frank Herbert's work and made the reading experience so satisfying is, frankly, absent. This is not the criticism of a Dune purist or conservative fan, jealous of Frank Herbert's legacy: if the new works were good, I'd be delighted.

My hope was that after honing their skills on six prequels (the three in the Prelude to Dune series and three others in the Legends of Dune series) Brian and Kevin would have improved enough to produce a worthy conclusion to the series. And there is definite improvement but in the end there really is only one thing to recommend Hunters of Dune and its companion Sandworms of Dune. I'll get to that one thing in a moment. In Hunters of Dune the prose is often flat, frequently reading like a stilted report about the protagonists. We're not invited to get inside these characters, and in any case they'd need to have an inside first: these characters might have the same names as they had in Chapterhouse, but they've lost the immense depth that Frank Herbert had bequeathed them and there's only surface left.

Also lost is any complexity and intellectual sophistication. Take this example of a discussion between mentat Miles Teg (a human computer) and Garimi, a Bene Gesserit. They've discovered a planet formerly belonging to the Honoured Matres, devoid of life although the infrastructure of civilisation is untouched (except by time). It's known that the Honoured Matres who invaded the Old Empire were fleeing something and that they wanted knowledge from the Bene Gesserit about how to manipulate and control their immune functions. So we have a planet with no living people but no obvious signs of destruction and a people seeking to control their immune functions as the Bene Gesserit do in order to overcome any pathogen:

Garimi held up one finger. "The whores came to the Bene gesserit demanding to know how we control our bodies. They were frantic to understand how Reverend Mothers can manipulate our immune functions, cell by cell. Of course!"

"Speak clearly, Garimi. What do you mean?" Teg's voice was abrupt, the hardened battle commander.

"She turned a sour look on him. "You are a Mentat. Make a prime projection!"

Teg did not bristle at the scolding. Instead, his eyes became glazed for just a moment, and then his expression returned. "Ahh. If the whores wanted to learn how to control immune responses, then perhaps the Enemy attacked them using a biological agent..."

Frank Herbert's Miles Teg was a genius. Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson's Miles Teg is a moron. A Sinclair ZX81 (circa 1981 with a huge 1K of memory!!) could have pulled that one out of the box.

So, the one thing to recommend these books: they are a continuation of Herbert's work, purportedly based on his notes and the loose ends will therefore be tied up. And sadly, that's sufficient reason to read them.

Although some (Leto II for instance) might argue that the uncertainty of non closure is preferable.

(This review first appeared on [...]

I waited until Sandworms came out to read this book so I wouldn't have too long to wait for the end.

In the end did it matter, no.

At 539 pages this book was about 480 pages too long. In the end nothing of benefit happened. How can they write a book this long without any sort of conclusion?

There is nothing in this book that couldn't have been covered by a prologue in the next book. In the last 5 pages they summed up 15000 years of the enemy, had they done this with the other plotlines we would have had a lot more time on our hands to read something with a point, or maybe that was refreshing.

Skip and hope Sandworms references this book, just as this referenced the other 12 at great length.

All the players from the first novel have returned for Hunters of Dune. The revival of the major characters, Paul, Lady Jessica and the rest, make for a compelling novel. Without giving away all the plot details, it does have a lot going for it. It was much faster paced than the original novels. The chapters are short and the dialogue does not drag on for pages. It was written for those of us who grew up from the TV generation. Back in the sixties, science fiction novels weren't as prominent as they are today. Readers are much more familiar with plots and multi part sagas.

As for all the characters, I have to say that both Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert have established ground for future novels. It would have been a mistake if they attempted to duplicate the style of Frank Herbert. I was glad to see that the original saga will conclude in Sandworms. This series won't suffer what I call the never ending saga syndrome.

Fans of the original say the new ones are pale in comparison. However I disagree. To reach a wider audience the action must be backed up with an intelligent reason behind it. I became a fan of the books after the first film. I wanted to see what the movie missed! I would like to see the day when this book is adapted into a film. I have to wonder how the producers will interpret what was presented in Hunters as well as the final volume, Sandworms of Dune.

Dune is a complex story that was originally very cryptic and subtle. Frank Herbert had a gift to hide key story points in fragments hidden in paragraphs, usually when you least expected it, making you go back over what you read several times. His son however lacks that gift and can make the same story take twice as long by explaining everything to the point of retarded children going... OK WE GET IT!!!!

To make my point here is the simple math equation 2+2=4 as done by each author.

Frank herbert: By taking a pair and doubling it, we are given twice as much as what we were blessed with from before.

Brian herbert:
-i got two apples in this buckets.
-Really? I got two apples too!
-No way. If you take your two apples, and I take my two apples, then we would have four apples.
-Four apples is definitely twice as many as our original count of just two apples.
-Agreed. Four apples is my count added to yours.
-I love our four apples
-Me too. Let's go clone that Duncan guy.

I rest my case.
In short. I can see how this could have been a wonderful ending, if the original author tackled it. Instead we are left with an overblown synopsis that merely tells us how it ends, without really giving us the emotion behind it.

Althought I will admit to having a soft spot for the last line of the book. Well played.

While some people worship Frank Herberts entire original saga, I read his first three books with great interest and loved them but had to force myself through the final books in his series. This book does a great job picking up the pieces of series and tying them back together in an enjoyable book. From the time Brian and Kevin wrote the Butlerian Jihad series I had little doubt who the great Enemy was going to be, so I read this book believing I already knew the destination, just not the journey. They did a good job creating mostly enjoyable prequels and now one sequel that are pretty easy reading. While Frank was deep,subtle and philosophical, there is no extra thought required in reading Brian and Kevin's books. Earlier reviews have it right when you find yourself struggling with who to root for. Maybe the outside Enemy will end up being my hero...

There are no words in the English language to describe how bad this book is. Frank Herbert's series is stunning. The only books that compare are Tolkien's. I've seen patterns on toilet paper that were more interesting than Brian Herbert's books. Badly written, boring, at times, stupid. Good lord, I could write a better book myself (I lack the family name to sell them). Partway through, I was hoping an Honored Matre would come and kill me so I wouldn't feel like I had to finish it.

There is too much jumping around, meaning three to seven page segments about a group of characters, then off to another, and then another. It leaves you little time to get interested in the characters themselves.

Next, I'd suggest to the authors that they READ the father's books carefully so they don't screw up as many things as they did. Murbella actually tries to use "voice" on 50 people at once. I laughed out loud.

I loved the original series. I've always wondered where he was going with it. I still don't know, because this book (like all the previous books by Brian Herbert) has nothing to do with Frank Herbert's books.

Now, if you're the type that believes Frank Herbert's Dune series is a marvel of epic proportions and any expansion or alteration should be considered blasphemy, then, well, your decision has already been made on whether you hate this book. For those that read it only out of obligation to the original Dune series will also predictably be disappointed. This review is not for you guys.

For those that can appreciate these books a separate though interesting and compelling sidetrack without any preconceptions, the prequels are quite entertaining. However, this sequel does suffer from a lack of action, one sided characters, and a total lack of summary of the other previous Dune books.

The biggest flaw is that most people don't remember the Dune books, as most people read Chapterhouse years and years ago. I advise everyone to read the summaries of the Dune books on Wikipedia before reading this book. Also, some parts of the story do revolve around what happened in the prequels, so I'd advise that if you haven't read the prequels, you read the summaries from Wikipedia as well.

The story pretty much revolves around a space ship travelling with Gholas searching for a mysterious enemy, the merger of the Honored Matres and the Sisterhood, and a Thliexu master working for Face Dancers. That's pretty much it. Like some of the prequels (though not all), the story just gets bogged down with repetition without the plot moving along at all. The ending, though supposedly a surprise, is quite predictable.

Again, this is seventh book my Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson that extends the Dune series. A few of those books were slow, but those books usually led up to something really good - so I'm going to read on. I'd advise reading it if you really want to know how Frank Herbert ended his Dune series, without the philosophical mumbo-jumbo that plagued the last few Frank Herbert books, this is a worthy, more "entertaining" end to the Dune series.

Earlier novels by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson received postive assessments from this reviewer,despite the authors' poor pacing and wooden writing styles. Not this book. I re-read Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune in anticipation of the release. It is impossible to believe that their interpretation conforms with what Frank Herbert intended. There is little plot interconnection with the earlier novels. Herbert clearly indicated that sometime happened to the human race during the Scattering that followed the reign of the God Emperor. The Honored Matres were running from that. At the same time, they themselves were 'no longer human.' The apocalypse the Golden Path was intended to avoid clearly focused on the potential for humanity to destoy itself, not some alien force. Not a direction for this book. Instead, we have a very bad rip-off of the Gregory Benford Galactic Center series. Worst of all, human evolution has retreated about 50,000 years. Every character was so very, very smart in the earlier novels. Now they are incredibily dumb and cannot see the obvious. Other reviewers, without spoiling the book and the remaining sequel, have pointed out other numerous flaws: bad writing, fragmented chapters, silly plot convolutions, complete distortion of who the mysterious characters at the end of the novel are (everyone knows they're Herbert and his late wife in altered guise -- he knew he would not live to finish the final book). You will do better to remain with the mystery about where Herbert might taken the conclusion. Let your own imagination take you to that unexplored universe. This bad work will not.

How well you regard this book depends on what your expectations are. If your knowledge of Dune is limited to the prequels or if you got bogged down at "Children Of Dune", then you're going to entertained - it's a fast page turner with some much-needed recapping of the baroque Dune storyline. But if you're looking for meat, depth or dignity well - this ain't it! One could go on and on about the oversimplification and reduction going on here, the misapplications of Dune tech and the "superpower inflation" that many of the Dune books fall prey to. Biggest disappointment was bringing Omnius back into the picture - as much as I enjoyed the Atredies prequels, the Butlerian Jihad prequels were simply malevolent in their horribleness. But was it fun? Oh yes, great fun - even if I do feel slightly soiled for enjoying it. 3.5 stars really, but I'll round up simply because many of the reviews seem to be damning it for not being another "Dune", rather than for not holding its own against SF as a category.

This is the continuation of the original Dune saga. Since this title was based off Frank Herbert's outlines, the story flows very similarly to how the original Dune novels flowed. This book, like most of the Dune novels, is not designed to be very action oriented, its story and the way it is presented is supposed to be subtle with moments of action thrown in. In this chapter, we see how the Sisterhood has evolved, what is going on with Chapterhouse, what happened to the no-ship and how its crew is dealing with being on the run, and we discover just who the Outside Enemy is. This book has pieces of the Machine Trilogy thrown in. Serena Butler makes an appearance, as does Omnius, and we see how Norma Cenva has continued to evolve. Purists of the Dune saga may not like this or any other book written by anyone other than Frank Herbert himself. I found Hunters of Dune to be easier to read and follow than the any of the previouis non-original saga novels.

Understandably reviewers are angry over the prequels and sequels to the Dune double-trilogy not being Frank Herbert. Frank Herbert is dead. Brian Herbert is a different person.

If you feel religiously about Dune and can't endure Frank not writing it, I suggest you await whatever future world your theology allows for and reunite with him if possible. In the meantime, in this world, Brian and Kevin write books that happen to align for better or for worse with the Dune universe. On their own merits, these books are entertaining and salve a need some of us have for "more Dune." Dune isn't the only universe where this has happened.

I thank Brian and Kevin for doing a good job of reminding me of Dune, making me think about Dune, making me long for and go back to re-read Dune. And if they've made some good money for the pleasure, then they're welcome to it. I don't begrudge them a single nickel and look forward to any more Dune they can justify coming up with.

God chose Dune to train the faithful, but the faithful do not always agree.

Frank writes at a college level and Brian writes at a middle school level. I was glad the story continued, but if you're looking for the genius of the first 6 books to continue you can forget it. This book is not particularly insightful, philosophical, subtle, clever, or captivating. It's the backup qb that tries to finish the game, or rather not lose it. Things get even more painful in the second book, but all that being said, I'm glad I read them because I love this story more than any other I've ever read.

SPOILERS AHEAD - NOT THAT THEY COME AS ANY SURPRISE

Though the pre-Dune books of BH & KA were badly written and juvenile, I gave them some leeway as they weren't really a continuation/resolution of the original FH Dune series. They tried to create their own Dune universe based on the original characters and though they failed miserably, a line could be drawn in the sand between their Dune and that of FH. Hunters of Dune however is now passed off as part of the original Dune yet nothing from BH & KA has changed. It's repetitive, repugnant, and of course, disappointing. It actually starts off well and initially has FH's feel but quickly deevolves into the standard BH & KA pattern.

Most readers are all too familiar with FH's Dune series, yet BH & KA feel the need to incessantly repeat apsects of the Dune universe and characters over and over. We already know about Duncan's gholas, Teg's abilities, the brutalness of the honored matres. Why do we need to be constantly reminded? Filler? Exercise in verbosity? Perhaps to stretch it into two books instead of one and milk some more money.

It is repugnant for absolutely no reason. How much torture do we need to endure? We don't need bloody, graphic details on killings. FH purposely avoided laboring over such details. This is not how he wanted the Dune universe to be portrayed. He had more class than that. In addition, though many of FH's characters were manipulative and ruthless, they still retained a level of sophistication and pragmatism that helped us appreciate their goals. Here we have Honored Matres, Tleilaxu, Guild, and even Bene Gesserit who come off as continually childish, selfish, and psychotic. The only character worthy would be the Baron yet even his portrayal is insipid and exaggerated.

How much of Hunters and the soon to be released finale, Sandworms of Dune, actually came from FH's notes? Though I guess it is possible that FH saw the final struggle against the machines that prompted the Butlerian Jihad, did he really plan on Daniel & Marty to be Omnius & Erasmus, the leaders of the machines (what a letdown)? Let's say he did. The problem is that Omnius & Erasmus are such innane and ridiculous characters introduced to us in the Pre-Dune books by BH & KA that their being the ultimate nemesis foreseen by Paul & Leto II, becomes anti-climactic and disappointing. All the depth of writing and characterization that FH painstakenly laboured over in the original six Dune books is reduced to these two idiotic machine entities reminiscent of Laurel & Hardy.

I also agree with many of the observations of other reviewers. What took FH one paragraph to write yet contained so much to ponder, now takes a whole page cause BH & KA feel the need to repeat themselves and provide details that are not only unncessary but eliminates any sense of depth and subtleness that were trademarks of FH's writing style. So for those who thought that BH & KA would change their ways and try to present us with the final chapters of the Dune universe worthy of FH, you were wrong and so was I.