Book Three of the Legends of Dune Trilogy - The Battle of Corrin

These books written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson are good books. Unfortunately, they just don't resonate on the deeper level like the Frank Herbert books. But, that being said I enjoy them and I like to see how all the pieces fit together and try and believe that on the big points it is based on Frank's notes. It is as good as any other sci-fi out there, so to be afraid to buy it and read, especially if you love the Dune universe like I do.

The original Dune is arguably the greatest science fiction novel ever written; Lotus magazine readers voted it the greatest work of imaginative literature of all time. This being said, it is nothing but a pity that Battle of Corrin was ever written.

Let me start out by saying that describing a planet-wide space battle does not make the said space battle exciting. The original Herbert didn't have to rely on cheap attention-grabbing ploys; he was so good at capturing attention that he even left much of the 'action' offstage.

Ok, so Frank Herbert is dead and there is no one even remotely like him left in the world of sci-fi literature. It would be selfish and even downright idiotic to asume that his son and Kevin J. Anderson could come anywhere close to him in terms of writing. That does not mean, however, that they should not be exempt from two glaring faults:

1. A ridiculous premise that comes very close to flatly contradicting the original Dune material. The Butlerian Jihad, from my understanding, was NOT a literal struggle between humanity and sentient, malicious machines. It was instead a semi-religious movement that purged computers from society. Making the Jihad into a literal war is blatant and cliche; I could have re-watched the Matrix if I'd wanted to experience that. The original Herbert was all about subtelties and hidden meanings, of which there are none in Battle of Corrin.

2. A shameless set-up to the likewise awful 'Hunters of Dune.' So Omnius sends out probes and a mysterious 'signal' into the unknown universe, does he? As I read that, I groaned. The simple plotline of Humanity vs. Omnius carelessly tosses the six originals to the wind. The dune universe is about the Atreides and the spice, NOT thinking machines that could have come from B-movies.

If you're a fan of the six original Dunes, I'd recommend not buying this one. In all likelihood, you'll be disappointed.

Much like I thought for the first prequel triology, the Legends of Dune series concludes with a third story that doesn't quite wrap up the story, leaving large, vital chunks of the story in limbo.

This series, however, ends on a worse note than the first. Unlike the first series, few of the characters here have shown any development, expect for the robot Erasmus. Second, almost all of the plot follows a confining, this, then that format, allowing for very little natural flow to the story or suspense.

I found the Battle of Corrin to be another major disappointment, especially the supposed cowardice of Abulurd Harkonnen. Instead of a coward, he comes off as a tragic hero, and his hatred of the Atriedes seems justified.

I suppose now Herbert and Anderson will work on the alleged Dune 7 found in the notes belonging to Frank Herbert. I can only hope they'll do better.

I reviewed the first book in this series and really pounded it! The second wasn't really any better.

This book was actually bearable though! Don't get me wrong, this is no Frank Herbert. The characters aren't developed nearly to the degree his father did but there has been some growth noticible. Erasmus actually developed by the end of this book. If anything I would say Erasmus is the only character to have had significant growth at all in the entire series. As evil as he could be I was actually concerned when it appeared his end was near. Most of the other characters were still pretty wooden.

The danger of unchecked hipocritical extremist religion is also accurately portrayed, and how it can brush asiide all reason and social order. The Cult of Serena was well handled by the authors.

The depiction of the duplicitous natures of politicians and religious leaders was well described. It was also interesting to see how these leaders became what they were. Truly power corrupts.

I find it hard to believe that Abulurd Harkonnen would have done what he did, but somehow the fued needed to start. This could have been done better and more believably. After seeing 2/3 of the human population eliminated by the machines I doubt he would have hesitated at sacraficing 2 million slaves to forever eliminate the threat of Omnius.

Omnius will be back in the end, that seems clear. The Thinking Machines are chasing the Honored Matres, or at least that is what happears to be implied by the end of this book and the end of the original series. The method by which Omnius saved itself was pretty good. I wonder though if that was really Frank Herbert's intent...

Too many things were tied up with a neat bow by the end of the book. The formation of the Guild, Mentats, Bene Gesserit, etc. Not everything from the original series needed to be esatblished in the course of the 100 years coverred in this series.

Overall the book and its writing is an improvement on the previous ones. It is passable sci-fi and makes attempts to cover the deeper issues of the originals. In that it is lacking, but judged on its own it was a good read.

Like several other reviews for this product, this review is more a review for the entire trilogy than for the Battle of Corrin in particular.

I like the Dune series a lot. The first book by Frank Herbert is one of the greatest sci-fi/fantasy novels of all time. I say "fantasy" because as a work of "soft" sci-fi, Dune displays many characteristics of fantasy.

Although I contend that Frank Herbert never managed to recapture the greatness of the original in the later books, there is no doubt that he was a tremendously intelligent and skilled writer. His talent still shines in Dune Messiah through Chapterhouse.

The Butlerian Jihad had a lot of potential to be made into a great story. I do not pretend to know how Frank Herbert would have handled this subject matter if at all so I'll try to critique this series on its own merits. Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson are NOT good writers. The writing throughout this trilogy is very, very bland. The characters are numerous but the characterisation falls flat (in part because of a very detached narrative style that doesn't allow the reader to peer into the characters' heads).

Besides being boring, the writing also comes off as lazy. The authors use vague adjectives rather than vivid imagery. They use too many similes that start with "like..." I felt that certain descriptions that would have been interesting to the reader if done in-depth were glossed over because an in-depth job would have required more effort. There are also a number of questionable plot elements. Omnius, a supreme AI that exists thousands of years in the future, is more an example of artificial stupidity than anything else. Instead of being a sprawling, non-tangible network, Omnius conveniently has a nexus housed in a few buildings ready to be blown up. Humans employ swordmasters who use "pulse swords" (the weapons are only vaguely described) to fight war mechs in melee combat. Even assuming that the robots are not armed with rapid-fire ranged weaponry, this idea is just plain idiotic. Sadly a number of scenes from the series are corny or unintentionally funny, a few examples: the way Vorian kills Agamemnon undermines the latter's status as the leader of the "Titans" (who might as well be re-named the Morons). The death of Beowulf is similarly comical. Xavier and Serena's outdoor love scene is weird and unneccessary, etc.

I give the series one star because the store doesn't allow 0 stars and because it might provide popcorn entertainment to some readers (though I personally found the series to be terribly boring).

Let's all be honest: The Butlerian Jihad could have been better written by a high-school drop-out with a vauge knoweledge of Dune. The Machine Crusade at last shed itself of at least half its cliches and made itself almost worth the time it took to read. The Battle of Corrin, then, is so amazingly better than the frist two that I could sing for joy. Granted, it was bad enough that I had to interupt it with a spurt of corny young adult romance novels to keep interested, but in that light the novel shown as interesting, exciting, unexpected, and generally almost worth the time.

The long and the short of it is that Omnius gets impatient, uses human inginuity (from captive humans) to attack the League with various forms of danger (super-plague, flesh-eating paranas) while the League ends up loosing atomics on most the syncronized worlds and declaring the jihad over while the last Omnius is trapped on Corrin and the Titans decide to take over what they can in their wake. But the passions behind the people (for instance, the captive humans who innovate the deadly scurge) are exciting, and far from commonplace. Erasmus himself may have at last understod what it means to be human, while Vorian has learned, by the end of the novel, that he is an Atredies - a son of Agamemnon - and that, however much we may lie to ourselves, we cannot fully escape our parentage or our patronage. I actually couldn't see the end of the novel, but again the corny young adult novels I was reading in between might have something to do with that. Still, the best of the Legends of Dune triolgy, which is enough to make me happy that I stuck through it.

Simply put, there are too many plot lines in this trilogy that don't make sense. For example, what is the purpose of Hecate? She comes back to fight for the humans, only to have her brain fried by a human (in a misunderstanding). Worse, not only does Hecate get fried, by The Sorceress, Venkee, and Noret all get killed at the same time. For what? What is the point? Frankly, it seems like the author was planning to jump ahead in time in book three and needed to quickly resolve the lives of many characters. That is likely why Xavier, Serena, and Ginjo all get smoked at about the same time as well.

Also, what about how Omnius uses the technology of Gedei Prime to launch those probes in to space? They were never mentioned again, but the purpose was to create new sychronized words far out in the galaxy. What ever happened to that plot line? Also, why couldn't the machines figure it out themselves? Why did they need human technology. The whole thing seems silly.

Another source of annoyance was the authors apparent insistance on approaching these books from the perspective of moral relativism. The thinking machines keep humans as slaves, but so do the humans. Gee... the humans are no better than the machines. In case you don't get the point yourself, the author takes numerous opportunities in each book to beat it in to you.

Oh, and lets not forget the outrageously stupid military blunder that dooms the thinking machines. Omnius pulls practically ALL machines away from every planet and collects them all at Corrin. Then Omius launches them toward Salusa, leaving the entire sychronized empire wide open to attack for a period of months. Given, Omnius apparently did not know about the human's space folding technology, but come on!!! Are you kidding me?

These books are the literary equivalent of fast food: sometimes tasty and filling, but not of high quality. The writing continues to be terrible, with its hop-scotch short chapters, trite similes (some of which should be on those internet lists of examples from bad high school papers), deadening repetition, impoverished descriptive abilities, and rudimentary, shallow characterization. On the other hand, the stories themselves are actually quite good, for the most part; although about half of the sub-plots could have been jettisoned to the benefit of the series. The books have a relatively high entertainment value, which makes them worth a read notwithstanding the lousy writing. They are what I would call a "good airport read."

WARNING - SPOILER: The machines, "Evermind" Omnius and his "independent robot" sidekick Erasmus, are the weakest part of the series. Omnius in particular is almost comically inept, which reduces his stature as a lethal cosmic villain. And Erasmus, with his attempts to understand humans and his mimicry of human attributes, comes across as an unlikable derivative of Lieutenant Data from "Star Trek: TNG." Alas, these feeble villains reappear in the final books of the Herbert/Anderson series, about 13,000 years later. They do not improve with time.

I have to say I was somewhat disappointed with the whole book. Don't get me wrong, it was a huge effort to get the stories right and to take over Frank Herbert's Dune story, however, something was lacking. I felt like I was being led blindfolded through a maze of stitched up brainstormed ideas. Caution though, SPOILERS BELOW (sorry!).

1. The characters were too shallow and 2 dimensional with colorfully added titles like Supreme Bashar, Primero, Viceroy etc. Do we really need all that? It makes the whole book almost (God Forbid!) Star Wars-like! I could even start drawing parallels, Omnius is to Emperor Palpatine as Vorian Atreides is to Luke Skywalker?

2. The House Harkonnen/Atreides feud started like that? Gee, and I thought my cats and dogs had better fights! A minor military disagreement that ended up as a murderous feud between the bloodlines? This was the feud that I was actually looking forward to finding out how it started. It ended up as rumors, gossips, myths and fables handed down through generations. Romeo and Juliet anyone? A plague on both their houses literally!

3. The plague was only scratching the surface of the story. If Omnius wanted the humans wiped out, it would have been 100% mortality not just 43% +/-! I would have thought something more devious, like a gene-select bioweapon that targets selective genes like good eyesight, intelligence, body mass etc. Or something that targetted and killed off the females, so the males wouldn't have breeding partners and would die off naturally. But I guess the Dune universe had to survive somehow. The pirahna mites were a huge joke, I think they ran out of ideas.

4. 20 years and the machines couldn't find a way to destroy the Holtzmann satellites that imprisoned them? Come on! What about some new faster than fold space ships? Omnius couldn't even develop that? If the Ixians could build no-ships, and Omnius couldn't, then it isn't as smart a thinking machine as we think it is! No wonder humanity destroyed it!(or did they? hmm...)

5. Agamemnon was foolish enough to trust Vorian to remove his brain canister from his walker body? I really find that very, very hard to believe, seriously!

Well, I guess through all that, we find out the origins of the Spacing Guild. How the Mentats were founded, although it was too convenient! The beginnings of the Bene Gesserit. And how Corrinos and Harkonnens are actually the same bloodline!

Still, I'm looking forward to BH & KJA ending our eternal wait (torment) for Dune 7. I pray it will have more depth and surprises than these prequels.

(This is basically a review of the entire 2nd trilogy.)

I didn't like this 2nd trilogy nearly as much as the first trilogy these 2 guys wrote. It wasn't just that the subject matter, now being displaced 1000 of years before the original Dune book, isn't connected nearly as intimately to the original books (there are none of the characters from the original books in these), but I also think the 2 writers just laxed up on the writing: parts of this seem more amateurish and stylized than the first trilogy, and some of the writing is just not good.

There are a lot of other problems, too, both big and small: 1)Just some things that were hard to buy, or didn't make sense, like: Why didn't the machines use atomics (they do give some non-persuasive reasons for this at one point)? Was it really possible that the machine could never get around their "gelcircuitry" -- was there no way else for them to construct an artificial brain? What exactly happened to Rayna in the 3rd book, or Raquella for that matter? Why did the Sorceresses have the powers that they did -- the Reverend Mothers of the later books didn't even have those powers? Omnius couldn't come up with a way to kill the humans better than an old fashioned plague with just a 40+% kill rate? 2) Some things were just stupid, and seemed to be put in just to add a "neat" factor (the little pirahna mites, for ex, are just silly). 3) The whole series was just too long, with too many characters and threads that didn't have to be followed at all, because they lead to nothing, or that were just followed in too much detail. These 1900 pages probably could have been cut to 1000 or so. It's suppose to be an epic, yes, but you don't make a good epic just by bloading it with boring and unnecessary content (the thread with the long-lost Titan Hecate could have been so good, but it led to almost nothing and was dull; and did we have to follow the sword fighters in the 3rd book at all?) 4) It didn't keep the same human characters thru the 3 books, and so it didn't have as strong of a thread as the first series.

The first book in this trilogy (The Butlerian Jihad) was enjoyable, but then everything just got old, and the 2nd and 3rd books got boring, and I even skimmed some story lines. But... you do get to see if how Mentats, the Guild navigators, the Bene Gesserit, the Atreides/Harkonnen fued, etc., all got started, even if a couple of their beginnings seem contrived.

Like so many others, I did not expect this series to equal or surpass the original Dune series.

I have been quite pleased with this series until now, enjoying the opportunity to view the world of Dune from a new perspective. Watching Herbert's universe take shape has actually been quite entertaining.

This particular book, however, falls short. The writing feels forced and rushed, the dialog completely inane, the characters stripped of any complexity. The villians are stupid and easily manipulated. The characters make rash decisions with vast, universe-shattering consequences but do not even pause to do a bit of soul-searching for the benefit of the by now befuddled reader.

The sentences are often redundant and obviously barely edited, if at all. The book is readable, but the poor writing intrudes constantly.

If you're a follower of the series, you might rent it from the library to find out how the conflict ends, but I'm not sure it's worth the 7.99. (To add insult to injury, my copy, at least, is poorly printed.)

As the Legends of Dune trilogy concludes, authors Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson tie up numerous plot threads and clarify the origins of many elements of Frank Herbert's Dune universe, such as humanity's revulsion of "thinking machines," the Atreides/Harkonnen rivalry, the Fremen, the Spacing Guild, and the Bene Gesserit.

This is a very polarizing series. The number of votes for each of the store's five star ratings is nearly equal, which I have seen very rarely. I remain steadfast in my opinion that this is a cracking good space opera epic that is less serious thought and more delirious plot than the elder Herbert's version. At this point, I think anyone reading this review already knows whether it has any chance of winning them over.

This is a very contrived, unimaginative book. That's actually being mild and properly describes the first two books in this trilogy; this last book is just a total mess.

First, the notion that every societal theme in the classic novel Dune started at the same time is preposterous. That's not how social evolution works--it isn't so neat and tidy.

Second, the plot holes are enormous. As has been mentioned, the hero, Vorian Atreides is completely estranged from his sons yet somehow they carry on his name with pride along with his antipathy toward the Harkonnen. What's even more bizarre is it's only at the end of the book that Vorian adopts the hawk as his family symbol. But by that point, his descendents would easly be on their fourth or fifth generation and would number in the hundreds, if not thousands. Why would they adopt the symbol of a man who killed billions, even if against an equally deadly foe?

And why, when Paul experiences his visions of the past, he doesn't remember the wars that killed billions and his own ancestral involvement? Wouldn't this have made him quite likely to accept the Golden Path Leto II later embarks on? (It also makes what Leto II did look simply tame by comparison.)

The holes that really annoyed me, however, were about Omnius, the supposed genius thinking machine. Even with the folding ships, it still takes time to kill hundreds of planets and billions of people yet the main Omnius doesn't know about it? Exactly, what kind of idiotic system did he set up? Well, one that only a rather dense writer could invent. Here's the killer part; we have more fault tolerant computer systems today than Omnius. (We even have what are called rad-hardened chips which aren't susceptible to EM pulse.)

The dumbest single thing, though, is what Omnius does once surrounded. He creates little robot destroyers straight out of the B movie Runaway. The smarter move would be to build robots with discrete circuits to A) manufacture new gel circuit brains and B) the knowledge to plant in those brains. At the very least, they would be smart enough to attack the shield around Corrin, rather than waste time killing people on distant worlds.

Finally, the chapters on Arrakis make no sense and apparently exist solely to offer some connection to Dune.

Do yourself a favor and skip this book. I'd even go so far as to suggest skipping all the books outside the original trilogy. But, if you haven't read any of them, at the very least read the original Dune--it is a true masterpiece.

The last two current Dune trilogies are much more beach novels than the hardcore philosophical based science fiction of Frank Herbert's Dune. This is fine by me, and I think once you can get over it and accept it for something completely different, then you can enjoy it (note - I understand people who can't read it - I love Asimov's Foundation series, but I can't stand the prequels). So, assuming that you've read the other two novels in the Butlerian Jihad series, then you'll get what you expected out of this finale.

First off, the main problem is the structure of the book. Each chapter is something like four pages and each one deals with a different subplot. Fine - except for the fact that the story will be built up, then you won't hear anything about that story for another thirty pages. By the time you get back to that part of story, you really don't care anymore.

This is made worse by the fact that pages 250-500 are really dull as you have to wait for the inevitable conclusion by dealing with random people or plots that you really can't care about.

The book suffers from some horrible structure and waiting that just makes it a pain to read.

There are also some problems with whole Robots torturing people or arguing with each other, along with other things that just make no sense.

Now for the good stuff (skip this paragraph if you want to avoid possible spoilers). You get the final battles that you wanted. You get to see the beginning of Atriedes - Harkonnen feud. You get the first Space Guild Navigator. You get to witness the start of Bene Gesserit. You get to see that start of the Suk doctors. You get the beginning of the Corrino dynasty. You get to see the first Mentat. All in all, this is what I wanted all along. You've heard about these topics from the original Dune novels, and it's really satisfying to know the origins. I guess the only problem I had with it was that everything was wrapped up too conveniently.

Also, the writing style of the authors is fluid and interesting, and if they could have just structured it better, would have made for a book that would have been impossible to put down.

So, if you want to know more about the Dune elements and don't have the "this is not Frank Herbert" hang ups, this is your book.

The century long war between the human Army of the Jihad and the thinking machine robots of the Synchronized Empire has surprisingly gone very well for the carbon based people. Machine leader Ominius concludes that if current trends continue the humans will prove victorious as they keep recruiting new members with ease. Ominus needs a new weapon of mass destruction to change the tide so he introduces pandemic plagues to eradicate the enemy.

The virus work extremely well. The machines feel victory is eminent. The humans make a last stand at Corrin, but they are not only reeling from the plague infested deaths, they are divided weakening them further. Jihad leader Varian Atreides claims rival Abulurd Harkonnen acted cowardly; thus both major houses are ready to battle one another at a time when unity is the only hope. Others have split apart seeking solace in enclaves by forming a sorceress based sisterhood and the Freemen of Dune. The future looks bleak for mankind.

Dune fans will appreciate the final tale in the Legends of Dune trilogy (see THE BUTLERIAN JIHAD and THE MACHINE CRUSADE) that is based on references from Frank Herbert's original 1960s novels. The story line is relatively fast-paced (at least for a Dune tale), but also contains the typical mythos-religious blending that is a series trademark). The cast seems two dimensional whether they are human or machine (no Johnny Five is alive amongst this crowd) except perhaps the heated rivalry that adds depth to Varian and Abulurd, but only when they are together in some context. Still readers will enjoy the final act of survival prequels to the Dune dynasty.

Harriet Klausner

This is the final installament of the Legends of Dune prequels?

I was not too impressed with the House Trilogy Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert did that ends about 15 years before the original Dune. I liked the first 2 books well enough, but the third book just really disappointed me. The inconsistancies with Frank Herberts Dune were glaring for me. For example, Gurney Halleck owes his loyalty to Duke Leto Atreides because Leto saves his life in the Harkonnen slave mines/pits-in the House Trilogy Gurney hides in a shipment of glass that inadvertently ends up on Caladan. Gurney did not even know who Leto was nor did Leto know who Gurney was. They actually meet through a mutual friend. Which is fine, but kills the relationship for the first 3 original Dune novels. Stupid little slips like that made me dislike the House Trilogy novels.

In the Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert novels much detail is given, but no suspense is built, everything is spelled out for you-no thinking required. It is the spirit of how Frank Herbert wrote and it is unfair to expect K.J.A and B.H. to be able to copy that-but I am disappointed none the less. It is difficult to write in a well known world and not make errors-especially when it is not the world you created.

When I heard that Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert were doing Dune novels set during the time of the Butlerian Jihad I was very excited. I figured with them going so far into the past it would not matter that much if the story had alot of inconsistancies-many records were lost from that time period anyway. I figured I would be able to enjoy novels set in the Dune universe and, since I am not attached to any of the characters in the novel, who cares how K.J.A. and B.H. portray them. Plus many questions could be answered:

How did the feud begin between House Atreides and House Harrkonen?

How did the Spacing Guild get its beginning?

How did the Bene Gesserit begin?

How was the first Mentat developed?

The ground work for all of those questions to be answered was laid out splendidly in the first book-The Butlerian Jihad. The groundwork was being laid for the answers to the questions I had about the Spacing Guild, the Butlerian Jihad, The Fremen, the Bene Gesserit, the strict ban on thinking machines. Sadly, the second and third book focused mostly on wars and fighting. It did answer the questions but in a very unsatisfactory way-I was hoping for brie and wine followed by prime rib and chocolate mousse and instead got cheese whiz on ritz crackers with Boones Farm followed by salisbury steak and instant jello pudding.

All in all I highly reccomend reading it for any fan of the Dune novels. I am still looking forward to book 7 which they will supposedly start now. I am sure they will botch the attempt but supposedly Frank Herbert left a rough draft and perhaps they will gently change that.

I would compare the Butlerian Jihad Dune prequels with some of the Harry Turtledove series like the World War and Great War Alternate Histories. Lots of characters and subplots but only one or two that really matter. Probably the entire trilogy could have been done in one book that concentrated on Vor, Serena, the Valiant Harkonnens, Erasmus, and Agamemnon. The Guild, Bene Gesserit, and Fremen subplots didn't really work.

The end of "Battle of Corrin" seems to be setting us up for yet another prequel trilogy documenting the birth of the Guild, the Landsraad, the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood and the Mentats. I hope not, but I will probably read them anyway.

Its a shame that Herbert died before we could get his entire vision though these books aren't as hard to follow as those by Chris Tolkien.

I don't understand the negative reviews of this book. Anybody who reads this has already read the first two books in this series so should already know what he or she will find here. Sure, the characters are one-dimensional and the dialogue wooden, but you knew that already. The situations are moderately interesting and the writing competent, if uninspired. And, as far as new Dune books go, this is as good as it gets. Literally. Unlike other science fiction franchises such as Star Wars, where there are a large number of writers of variable talent at work, Anderson and Herbert are it as far as the Dune universe goes. It's them or nothing.

So, take this book for what it is, a moderately entertaining addition to a once-great series. Try not to think too much about what might have been and enjoy what we have.

Admittedly, it's been about twenty years since I read Dune, and I haven't read the first two volumes in this trilogy. So I don't have the same basis for criticism as some other reviewers. (Some of whom seem to have a screen saver of the Herbert universe on their minds.) But I greatly enjoyed this book. (Or series of tapes, I should say.) I often found myself leaving the car running after I'd arrived at my destination, to hear more. The worlds were perhaps unimaginative -- no local color, really -- but this is a story about people and machines, not a galactic tour. But I still found myself drawn into this strange, yet familiar, alternate world. I don't recall that Dune was THAT much better. Maybe some of the other reviewers are just burned out.

[ NOTE: possible spoilers below}

-- the use of computers: HUGE flaw in the entire story, from the beginning. Computers are outright banned. Obviously, ships controls, communications, industry, and everything else requires complex computations only a computer could do. Yet technology that could ONLY be computer-aided/controlled is used throughout the entire set of books.

-- The "satellite network" - what a joke! I think the writers had a brain failure during this entire concept. If the fleet knew of technology that could wipe out gelcircuitry, why wouldn't they use that technology at ground level to wipe them out there!? Use that technology at ground level instead of having it just sitting idle in space!

-- If the network only destroyed gelcircuitry, why didn't the thinking machines just fire projectile explosives and destroy the satellites???

-- the fact that THOUSANDS of millions of humans had been sacrificed before in the extermination of the machine worlds, yet the most IMPORTANT battle of all came to a halt because of THREE million? Billions of innocents were killed in less significant Synchronized Worlds before, but at the end, before the extermination of the most important world, the "command world" of the entire machine empire, humanity was going to stop their war because of 3 million innocents. The writers try to say that that final situation was different, but didn't explain why. Doesn't make sense!

-- the fact that they were willing to risk all of humanity's future existance because they didn't want to kill the Serena clone and her child (although they ignorantly believed they were the real people) - when their ENTIRE LEGACY of Serena was that she was a martyr! ** someone who WILLINGLY sacrificed herself so that humanity could be free! If they truly believed this, they would have KNOWN that Serena would have DEMANDED her sacrifice by the fleet in order to destroy the machines, and that by risking humanity's future by not killing her along with the machines would have been something she would have UTTERLY opposed! It's like, they all revered her because she sacrificed herself for the future survival of her people, now they are risking EVERYTHING to allow that not to happen! ARRRR!!! For decades they worshipped her as someone who gave her life for them - but when given the chance to allow her death to ensure the final destruction of Omnius they don't take it!
-- although the writers DO hint to something related to this by saying "If Rayna truly believed that the spirit of Saint Serena had appeared to her in a fever vision, then how could she believe the real Serena was still alive? It made no sense." But the writers just leave it at that!

.. these are just a small sample of the huge number of holes in the story. I make it a personal point to read EVERY word in a book, and to go back and re-read a page if I found that by the end of it I didn't absorb it well enough, but this was the first book in the series I found myself skimming though parts. I'm very disappointed that I read the entire series to have it the story fall apart at the end. Mind you, the previous books in this series were not on the same level as Brian Herbert's writings - but I accepted that before I began them. Basically I finished this book just so I could complete the series, put the dust cover back on, and have the full series looking nice on my bookshelf.

Maybe they'll make for better movies...

This was a great ending to the Butlerian Jihad! Herbert and Anderson do an excellent job of weaving the lives of the characters and their stories into grand tapestry of adventure, intrigue, love, hate and survival while connecting them to the original Dune. A welcome addition to the Dune universe!

It was entertaining, and fun to read. However, I found the origin of the Atreides-Harkonnen feud somewhat lacking. I think the problem the authors ran into was making the Harkonnens so honorable that they couldn't think up a good way to start the feud, so we are left with a sub-average explanation. Another quibble I have is that they do not do a good enough job of tying up all the loose ends.

*SPOILERS*

For example, in the earlier books, one of the Omniuses (Omnii?) had sent copies of itself to as many unallied and unexplored plantes as it could think of. What happens to these probes, except the one that landed on Arakkis, is never explained.

Also, near the end of The Battle of Corrin, Omnius broadcasts a copy of himself into deep space looking for something that would receive the signal, download him, and allow him to start anew. Again, we are never told what happens with this.

Also, when Gilbertus Albans escapes Corrin with Erasmus's memory core, we are never told what happens to him or the core, beyond the obvious implication that he begins the schools of mentats.

Much of the Cult of Serena's anti-technology fanaticism is ultimately not adopted, as we see from the later books where there is a substantial amount of technology. How does this jive with the apparent total victory of Rayna and her cult?

Finally, what on earth happens to Vor? The man must have had centuries left to live, and we are left with the idea that he simply spends the rest of his days traveling the galaxy? How does he establish the Atreides as a powerful family with rule over Caladan? How do the Harkonnen take control over Geidi Prime and become the powerful and violent scourge they were in Paul's day?

I suppose we'll have to be content not knowing the answers, unless, of course, the duo intends to write another series of prequels.

The book and plot were reasonably well-written and well-developed. However, nothing can comparable with Dune itself. I read the book at my local Barnes and Noble. The one thing I was disappointed with was the 'betrayal' of Abulurd Harkonnen---this was poorly characterzied. What exactly motivated Abulurd to betray ideals and values that he had shared with Vorian for the better part of the preceding 2 decades? However, that said, it is always a treat to re-enter the Dune universe, however fleetingly...

I just finished reading this "Dune" book and I have to say I am perplexed. It was mindless entertainment, but I can't count it as good for that very reason. Dune fans have grown up with a series that is steeped in complexities and three dimmensional characters and this is the very thing that keeps us coming back to the series. The original Dune books, while entertaining, all had meaning. This book doesn't. It seems to squander all its potentiality to create real people by limiting their appearences to mere soundbites. In fact the only characters who seem to have been well developed are the robots, simply because there isn't really that much to them. Overall, if you're a Dune fan, you'l act exactly like me. You'll rush out and buy the book, excitedly start to read it-grasping for the sparks of the original series- and ultimatly walk away dissatisfied.

AD

The first 2 books of the series were decent reads and could have still built up to a killer climax. The first half is actually about on par with the first two, but after reading a good 3/4 of the way in you start wondering just when the authors are going to start tying things up. Finally after reading almost the entire novel (well over 90% of the entire series), the authors decide to start tying together a thousand loose ends within just a few pages. Monumental series of events are continually glossed over in just a few sentences, useless characters are introduced and go nowhere. Existing characters behave consistently out of character. Character behavior even becomes utterly unbelievable at parts. Meanwhile, pointless side stories go on and on. I would expect it to be almost impossible to screw up such an easy subject. The entire book could have been just about the "Battle of Corrin" and still be exciting. The second half was so bad I honestly think I could have done a better job myself. This book was an utter disappointment. If you read the first two, just leave it at that. 3 stars for the first half, but 1 star overall because the second half is inexcusably awful.

This book is a culimnation of a spectacularly awful series. Unbelievably, the downward trend started in the first book of the series continued and provided the world with this drivel. I am simply amazed that the powerhouse science fiction classic "Dune" could be so bastardized and beaten down by the creators own son. If I could give this series 0/5 stars I would (but can't find a way to do so).

I struggled for months simply to get through this book because I thought it might reveal SOMETHING about the main power players in the classic series. Suffice to say, the explanations provided are juvenile, idiotic, and worthless.

Take the money you'd spend on these books and start a small fire with it. At least you'd get a modicum of worth and good feeling... hmm.. that gives me an idea.. I can still burn these books and use them as cheap fuel!

The Battle of Corrin is well written and entertaining. It also contains the birth, if you will, of the world order found in the original Dune series. It leaves a few large-ish questions unanswered, presumably to leave the door open to more prequels. The biggest questions posed in the first installment of Legends of Dune are answered but some of those answers feel anticlimactic and clumsy in their execution. The resolution of the Harkonnen/Atreides question felt especially unconvincing.

The one thing I found interesting in the book is its criticism of democracy, i.e. its inherent lack of long term determination and unwillingness to face critical problems if they have high-cost solutions. This idea is not new, though, and proof of the problem can be found in today's Afghanistan, among other places.

I've completed the Battle of Corrin and was pretty dissapointed. This really should have been two books. In fact, fundamental questions about the spacing guild, congress of royal houses, the benejeserit, really take a back seat what seems like a schedule of events that unfold. Character development is almost completely abandoned in the entire 2nd half of the book. Erasmus for example, a robot whose purpose is to provide an unimpeded methodical and amoral examination of human behavior begins to and does act in a radical and emotional way. However, no reflection is given to why this transformation takes place.

Two elements of the original Dune works stand out as missing in most all of the prequels. The first is the element of mysticism. Poisons, institutions, assumptions, and "plans within plans" are all a part of the Dune world created by Frank Herbert. Those unknows forced the reader to reflect on the situations created by the interactions of individuals confident in their own agendas and beliefs. A second element missing is the depth of character. In fact, what a person really believes in the prequels are summed up in the brief snipets from other works at the beginning of each chapter. This attempt at character development is more form than function. The entire origin of the conflict between the houses of Atraides and Harkonnen are relegated to an afterthought of a few pages and no sympathy is given to the position of Abulerd Harkonnen. It's like the whole reason for the original Dune series is based on just a misunderstanding.

The Battle of Corrin definitely follows an action genre type of formula in that introspective examination is almost null. The condition of humanity is never examined. There are no mantras, no internal conflicts, and no characters undergo personal revelations or growth. Each character tends to follow their own roles and therefore, the book is somewhat predictible.

Overall I gave it a 2.

Where others have attacked this series of books for not living up to the original Dune, I've tried to give them the benefit of the doubt. Sure, they don't compare with Frank Herberet's masterpiece, but then I never expected them to. On their own, the first two novels were good "Star Wars"-style space opera; however, this book was just not as good. It was almost as if the authors wanted to get the series done and over with so they could move on to other ideas. I think it also lacks in continuity between the other novels. The first two books featured the same characters and followed within several years of the Jihad timeline. This book jumps ahead several decades and introduces and entirely new cast of characters, with the exception of Vorien Atreides who survives because he received life extending treatments from his father. Near the end, the book seems rushed and falls flat. What started out as an OK continuation of the Dune saga fell flat with this novel.

Having gone through 5 prequel books I wanted to read this volume. Unfortunately, it is exceedingly difficult to get through.

Plot and characterization are extremely shallow. Many things are repetitious. Not only the story and explanations, but even choice of words. For instance, if you see the word javelin, you just now that it's going to be paired with balista.

As it is, apart from subject-matter, to me it has very little to do with the original series. And although it was never to be expected that it would, considering the sheer genius of the original series, it could have had such better treatment than it has got here.

Viewed for and by itself as a book of science ficton, it just does not come up to par.

If you enjoyed the previous prequels, you'll probably find little issue with this book. The language is still stilted, the plot is sexist, and the use of names suspect (is Ticia pronounced Tisha or Teecha?--is one of many examples). If you were looking for ways in the which the authors would tie up loose ends so that we had a clear understanding of the roots of folding space, the Bene Gesserit, and other terms unique to Dune, they were done. Unfortunately, they were done either in the last 100 pages or spelled out so clearly that you didn't have to read ahead. A strong action story shouldn't be one where we know a forgone conclusion, but how we reach that point.

Here are some specific concerns:

*Erasmus, whose deeds were needlessly spelled out in gore, and who was the reason for the Jihad, died quietly. Dissapointing.

*Abulrud, for no reason, changes his attitude as the good soldier. This was clearly not strong writing

*The use of 2004 news and philosophy disturbed me the most. Human sheilds and religious zealots were not original.

*The passion of Herbert's fremen was much stronger than Rayna, who the authors reminded us was "conflicted". If she was so conflicted and the conflict not resolved, she wasn't needed.

If you're a Dune fan, like myself, the book does give us dreams of the future.

Finally, thanks to the authors: They didn't use the word FERAL on every other page as they had previously done!

Brian Herbert tries. He really does try. The Butlerian Jihad trilogy must be read together as a set. These books don't really stand alone. If you love Dune and want a history lesson in how much of the back story got started, this is your trilogy. Start with Butlerian Jihad, then Machine Crusade, then this one.

There seem to be alot of complaints from serious Dune fans, that Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson are ruining Frank Herbert's vision of the Dune universe. I will agree to a certain extent that these works are nowhere near as complex and well written as the original Dune series, and that Brian and Kevin seem to have taken certain liberites with Frank Herbert's vision of the Dune universe; changing certain aspects to fit into their storyline. That being said however, these works are an enjoyable read. As I said, these books cannot, and should not be compared to the original works, which are truly great works of LITERATURE, for these are not works of literature, but rather, serial novels designed more to entertain than enlighten. These books admirably accomplish this goal, and when viewed in this light, and taken for what they are, one can appreciate what Brian and Kevin are trying to accomplish. As a huge fan of Frank Herbert's original series, I for one welcome any continuation of the Dune universe, so long as the continuation keeps me entertained.

Rather than nit-pick and scream that these books do a disservice to the original series, I would encourage all fans Frank Herbert's Dune to view these books for their entertainment value, rather than their literary value, and simply enjoy them for what they are.

The Legends of Dune trilogy is absolutely a great trilogy. I found it a little faster read than the original series, but this series still has its twists and provokes deep thinking as much as its founding series. The authors do an astounding job in showing the basis and beginnings of virtually everything in the original Dune series; from the founding of the Guild and the Sisterhood to the significance of the Atreides' hawk. This trilogy is a must read for any science fiction reader, and even more so for the Dune fan. I am not a big reader by any means, but this trilogy kept me turning pages. I am challenged to say that I enjoyed the Legends of Dune trilogy more than the original books.

If you have ever had that feeling after watching a movie, where you tell yourself,i cannot believe i watched the entire movie.That is how i felt after i completed reading this novel. I kept hoping the plot would improve, and it never did. I get the impression the authors struggled for material for this third edition. The focus of the story seemed disconnected at times from the true plot of Dune.

One steps into this series not expecting the achievement of Dune, an unfairly high standard, but a good read with maybe some flashes of Dune's complexity of character, plot, and philosophy. The first book of this trilogy, the Butlerian Jihad, failed in the latter two areas but the plot was a good enough read to overcome those flaws. The second book was a step backward, with the same weak characterization, but this time not balanced by a strongly told story. The Battle of Corrin, unfortunately, continues the downward trend. As in the other books, characterization is almost uniformly shallow, which is tough to do since some of these characters we've seen over the course of several long books now. Those characters we've seen in prior books don't seem to have developed much and the new characters are mostly two-dimensional. The plot is weak, mostly an episodic narrative of battles among the three major groups at war (the humans, the cymeks, the robots). The weakness of the plot is exacerbated by the "been there, done that" sense of repetition. It seems the three books could easily have been combined into two, making for a more streamlined, less repetitive narrative. Not everything needs to be a trilogy (Tolkien be damned). Another flaw affecting involving both plot and character is that too many actions seem arbitrary or contrived, done more for a plotline than developing out of character. Some, in fact, seem wholly out of character or simply unbelievable. Finally, whereas the first book mostly avoided the prequel problem of rote action meant to connect the dots of later books, this one is rolling in it, filled with awkwardly introduced or clumsily handled events/phrases written in so the reader can go "ahh, so that's why they call them xxxxxxxx in Dune". Admittedly, it's a tough problem to overcome for any prequel, but seldom have I seen it so poorly handled.

If this were book one I'd definitely recommend against starting the trilogy. But chances are, if you've reached Battle of Corrin, you're going to read it no matter what just to finish the series and see those connections to later Dune books. So all I can say is don't expect much, don't feel bad about skimming, and have a good book set aside to dive into when you're done; you're going to want to recapture a good read quickly.

I have ripped through all Brian Herbert's and Keviin Anderson's Dune books, I only finish books when they are so good I can't put them down, this is the only series where I had the next book lined up ready to go, so I wouldn't be without the next Dune story. I have read negative reviews and can't understand them. I read all the original Dune books and only loved the first one and "God Emperor of Dune." All the other books I just read hoping they get interesting. This might be my favorite Brian and Kevin book.

That thing is the difference between the old way of doing things and the new way of doing things. The nearest thing I can equate these books to is the difference between the New Star Wars movies and the old. In fact those movies and these books have a lot of things in common. They are both set in the same universe(or so we are told) and both have basically the same charecters.

The old books feel freash and orginal able to inspire the imagination after so many years.

Brian don't you realize that Dune was my introduction to the world of Science Fiction?

Kevin can't you understand that you write better on your own and not when you are butchering some creation of another person?

For love of God as much as I liked the book, and i'm not saying there were not good parts there is just on cmparsion between the different books. You also should be wary of comdeming something out of hand please read this book first(get it from the library)

Overall-I'm going to read the orginal "Dune" agian bye.

Having read the two previous (and all other Dune) books, this was disappointing. The characters were more one-dimensional than in the two previous books, the motivations simplistic, the plot less complex and more obviously contrived and directed toward the needed ending. Perhaps most symbolic, there was an unforgiveable error in the year dating the first part of the book; while it should have been printed as 107 B.G., it was written as 69 B.G. This is representative of the thin, poorly thought out nature of the book.

[...] This trilogy has been an excellant read. These books are also increadibly imagninative and thorogh in explaining how the houses started, evolved, and interacted with each other. Not only is the story of the war of the machines entertaining, the character's are also well developed and interesting, even thought provoking. Without a doubt, these two guys have done an excellant job of continueing Frank Herbert's work, with probably more imagination and creativety than Frank could have produced. It's always difficult to follow a master, especially one of Frank Herbert's calibar and place in Science Fiction history; so I am not surprised the "purest" of his work would find fault or be disatisfied with ANYONE'S attempt at continuing in his footsteps. On the contrary, his son, Brian, and Keven Anerson have hit the mark, if not exceeded it! I have thoroghly enjoyed thier collaboration on ALL of the Dune books and I pray they don't stop!

Unfortunately I cannot type enough to express my thoughts on this book- I am a busy lady, and need to finish reading Paul of Dune =). But, here is goes... This is a wonderful novel in it's self and for any true Dune fan or new Dune fan "Read this book". I love everything about Dune and would not change a thing with any of these novels. My husband is a true Dune fan as well and reads these over and over-as I do.

It has been stated many times that this book lacks any substance in comparrison to any book in the Dune Chronicles, so I find no need to expound on that area. Imagine this though, when all of the books are finally written and this trilogy is seen as the first, how many people are going to just give up reading the series and miss out on the brilliant works of Frank Herbert because of the atrocities found here? The authors should be ashamed of themselves and by looking at their website they probably are. The don't have a "Contact Us" page anywhere. Maybe they have finally realized their folly and will put their noses to the grindstone for the 7th book. We can only hope...

Excellent read. Came upon this book and actually read it first. I have now read the first book "Butlerian Jihad" and am finishing "The Machine Crusade". Superb science fiction and engrossing story. Definitely five stars for this. The authors did an excellent job. By the way I had also read the original Dune and these books lived up to its credibility. There are a lot of extraneous stories that could be taken from these books and written into whole novels themselves. I especially think the formation of the Cymeks was interesting and how they came to be.

Although the earlier books showed promise, this book lacked any real content. It seemed as if the authors had tired of this series, and just wanted to finish it. The plot was predictable and the characters very uni-dimensional with little if any growth from the previous novels. Reading this was a sad conclusion to my DUNE series (father and son) reading journey. For those who have read the other DUNE books, you will probably need to read this one... However don't rush to buy it and I would wait for the paperback version or better yet, borrow a friend's copy...

This final installment in the "Jihad saga" is certainly anything but light teading....and in some ways is more of a horror novel than a sci-fi novel.

It is also filled with surprises.....some of which seem like logical developments....and some that perhaps should have been more carefully explained.

There are so many loose ends in this novel, it leaves me wondering "Is this really the final Dune prequel?"

Herbert and Anderson's Battle of Corrin answered so many questions about how the structure of the Dune universe came about. While they were answering those questions, they told a gripping story in and of itself. A wonderful read!

The only good thing about this book is it represents the last in the trilogy. Consistent with the other two in the series, this one is plain awful. I found the House trilogy silly but entertaining. The House trilogy was worth reading for the fun of visiting familiar characters again; even if the writing was weak. The legends trilogy is so bad, it could have been written by teenagers. I also found the short, meaningless chapters quite distracting. It is as if the story threads were so thin, they could only be explored a few paparagraphs at a time before turning to another thread. The trilogy could have easily been condensed into a single novel. Forget about a comparison with the original Dune books, these books are bad as standalones. The characters are one-dimensional without depth and the plot is as predictable as a cheap B-movie.

I hope they make a better effort if they're going to write the sequel to Chapterhouse. I would hate to see the cliffhanger in Chapterhouse ruined because they believe their readers have the attention span of 10-year olds.