Book One of the Legends of Dune Trilogy - The Butlerian Jihad

This book is the worst of all the dune installations I have read. I started this book because I wanted to learn more about the jihad against thinking machines. Now that I have finally taken the immense effort to finish the book (over 2 months because I lost interest completely) I wish I never spent the $10 on the store and preserved the jihad in my own imagination. Good god. So bad. For those who appreciate the writing of Frank Herbert and the dune titles he managed to complete, do not waste your time on this title.

When the first installment of Dune appeared in Analog magazine way back in 1963, I was immediately captivated. I remained enthralled through all the succeeding seven installments, fascinated by the complex interplay of science, politics, religion, economics, ecology and their manipulation by all the various sharply realized characters. As the sequels came out over the years, I found some good, some not so good, but all, including the recent three 'prequels' written by the two authors of this book, at least deserving of existing in the same universe as the original work. Not so with this book.

The idea of this book is to bring to life that period in the history of man when machine intelligences ruled most of the human occupied worlds, a period referenced multiple times in the original book, and the supposed origin of both the Bene Geserit and Mentat schools as a reaction to such machine domination. Unfortunately, this book fails miserably at its chosen task for multiple reasons.

The first major problem with this book is the characterization. Everyone here is a paper-thin caricature of a human being, from Xavier Harkonnen to Vorian Atreides and everyone in-between. Most of these people are introduced with a short physical description, perhaps a couple sentences to describe their pasts, and are given 'tasks' that pretty much totally define what they are, from Xavier as a military commander to Tio Holtzman as the fading scientist. There is little or no growth of these characters, other than the totally predictable change of heart that Vorian goes through. Dialogue between these people is almost totally limited to the task at hand, with few if any things that would convince me that these were humans talking rather than machines.

Then there is the depiction of the machine intelligences Erasmus and the Omnius. Supposedly their great problem is that they can often be defeated by mere humans because they can neither understand nor predict human behavior. But they've had more than a thousand years in control to observe humans, and as one of the definitions of intelligence is the ability to learn from experience, I found this whole scenario impossible to believe. Some of the 'experiments' that Erasmus performs to help him understand human behavior I found both gross and pointless, coming across very much like the gratuitous violence of a bad movie attempting to hide its failings.

The story is told in very short chapters, shifting viewpoint character with each chapter. This technique can be effective, as A. E. van Vogt showed so many years ago with his massively re-complicated stories, but to make it work you need either very strong characters or a very complicated, non-obvious plot that can be built in layers, neither of which applies here.

The 'science' here is on par with the rest of this book. I thought lines like 'the ship threaded a narrow course through the asteroid belt' and spaceships performing U-turns went out with 1930's pulp science fiction. In fact, this whole book reads as if it was written specifically for a no-brainer Hollywood SF special effects spectacular, and to heck with anything approaching reality or literary depth.

This book doesn't deserve to have 'Dune' in the title.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

This book did exactly what I thought it would do. The pages were turned to reveal more text in a cronological sequence of events. Even the pages were numbered so you could remember where you were! Well done the store! ...Nerds.

I have a somewhat mixed set of feelings about this book, but mostly, I'm disappointed in it. This is after reading all six of the original Dune series (by Herbert pere) and all three of the "House" prequels. With the exception of _God Emperor of Dune_ (which I'd only rate four stars), every one of the original six books is a five star work. The "House" books were mostly 3-4 star books. But the pre-prequel books are falling somewhat flat. Here's why:

At its best, Science Fiction takes themes we'd be uncomfortable addressing on our own universe, puts them in an alternate reality, and makes us think. With the original series, Frank Herbert crafted a universe so complex that he had a suitable microcosm in which to examine subtle sociopolitlcal themes. He also created characters that wore neither completely white hats nor completely black hats (with the exception, perhaps, of some of the Honored Matres, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, and Beast Rabban, who were pretty consistently evil throughout). Paul Atreides was a hero who ultimately made a mess of a world, and his son Leto may have done good and may have done considerable bad -- it's never really clear where his "Golden Path" led. The only character to appear in all six original books, Duncan Idaho, was also a flawed hero. With these less than perfect heroes, Herbert was able to make us think about how bureaucracy leads to aristocracy and then to unchecked evil. And he left us to contemplate the question of how benevolent a benevolent despotism really was.

The prequel ("House") books didn't do this, but they were still good reading because they had entertaining story lines. We knew all the characters for the most part, but we didn't know how they became who they were. And Herbert (fils) and Anderson did a good job filling in the details in a manner consistent with the original six works. And they didn't resort to inserting any character akin to Jar-Jar Binks.

That said, the prequels didn't go after complex themes, nor did they make any attempt to add much nuance or development to the characters. Everyone clearly wore a white hat or a black hat, there was never any mistaking who was who. And that seems rather a shame, since we knew going in that at a minimum Jessica had betrayed the Bene Gesserit order. Of all the characters, she would have been the most interesting to explore, and her reasons for betrayal and for loving Leto Atreides I were left untouched. So for entertainment value and story line consistency, the books were good. But they were far from being as deep or complex as the original six.

The pre-prequel books (of which _The Butlerian Jihad_ is the first) were the first in which Anderson and Herbert (fils) didn't have the benefit of a largely pre-crafted universe to start with. And they didn't begin with a vast array of characters known to us. So the two authors effectively had to create the world 10,000 years before the first _Dune_ book and to populate it. And they didn't have the constraint -- and it might have helped them considerably -- of having to stay consistent with all the books that followed.

The result was that the writing became a little cartoonish, and the story lines read a lot more like the "space opera" of the E.E. "Doc" Smith _Lensman_ series than _Dune_.

Personally, I went through the original six _Dune_ books and the three "house" prequels at a rate of about one a month. By contrast, I did finish the entire _Lensman_ series, but it took more like six years to do it, simply because at the end each book seemed a rehash of the plot line of the one before it.

Or to use another metaphor, _Heretics of Dune_ is to _The Butlerian Jihad_ what the rebooted version of _Battlestar Galactica_ was to the 1978-vintage version of the show with Lorne Greene as Commander Adama. Same universe, sort of. But light years apart.

I got through _The Butlerian Jihad_ the same way I got through any of the _Lensman_ books. And I expect the other two books to follow will be ones I read at the "one a year" rate rather than the "one a month" rate of all the other _Dune_ works. The characters just keep getting flatter, the story lines more predictable, and the endings more pat.

And it's been since completing _Chapterhouse: Dune_ that I've read anything in the series that took on complex issues in a way that makes Sci-Fi so much fun.

A huge disappointment when compared to the original Frank Herbert Dune books, despite the fact that one of the authors is his son.

The quality, compared to the originals, has suffered enormously. I found this, and several of the other Dune books written by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson, to be very poorly written, immature and almost juvenile in the language used. There is a naivety, bordering on stupidity, in the plots such as they are, the characters' behaviour and their dialogue. On many occasions, I found myself frustrated to the point of anger, at the immaturity of the story. Much of it lacked any credibility, and it was hard to imagine the characters' roles as senior and high ranking individuals in society, politics, religion and the military behaving so naively. The writers clearly have little idea of human behavioural psychology, nor of political and military behaviour. Even though the stories take place in the distant future, they are still mainly about humans, so it is not unreasonable to expect some continuity of basic human characteristics and behaviour.

Each book has several pages of introduction and credits, naming numerous people who helped in some way. You would think that with so many people, the chances of writing such rubbish would have been reduced, if not eliminated. Sadly, the standard of grammar was also very low, with numerous grammatical errors, and even the use of non-existent words as if they were part of the lexicon.

None of their books I've read so far do justice to the history leading up to the Frank Herbert era. The history, such as it is, could have been covered in a single book.

I could have forgiven a single badly written book about the history of Dune and its universe, but to write book after book with the same low standard, these authors have done Frank Herbert's original masterpiece an injustice. It seems that they are just trying to capitalise on the success of his original books to make as much money as possible, particularly as none of the books add anything noteworthy to the overall series and story line.

The original six books were masterfully written. Sir Arthur C. Clarke, probably the most honored science fiction author in history, famously said of Frank Herbert's Dune, "I know nothing comparable to it except Lord of the Rings."

THIS book, on the other hand, is pathetic. It is undeserving of the word "Dune" appearing anywhere in connection with this book. Not only The Butlerian Jihad, but also all the others besides the original six.

I read several of these Brian Herbert / Kevin J. Anderson prequel/sequel efforts, and every one of them is just a sorry excuse for a novel, LET ALONE a Dune novel. It is, at best, a misguided and failed attempt to honor his father, and at worst, a greedy attempt to capitalize on his father's talent as much as possible. Either way, consider yourself warned.

Frank Herbert dealt with important topics (including sex, violence, politics, commerce, religion, etc.) with grace and eloquence. These Brian Herbert books, on the other hand, are a cesspool of gratuitous sex and violence, very poorly written, and a disgrace to Frank Herbert's legacy.

I am conflicted about this book. Of course, like all of the new Dune books, they shouldn't be compared to the old Dune series. Frank Herbert was a genius, and it is unlikely that others would have been able to measure up. Therefore, it is not right to judge them by the standard of the old series.
Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson are ambitious in this book because they are writing on an almost completely clean slate. In the previous books, they were writing about characters that had appeared in the original Dune book such as Leto Atreides, Vladimir Harkonnen, Duncan Idaho and others and their immediate ancestors. Here, the authors created new characters with only the hints Frank Herbert had dropped about the Butlerian Jihad to guide them.
The authors of this book nevertheless came up with interesting characters, a lush vision of the universe, hints about plot lines that might or might not be developed, and some sizzling action scenes.
A few things can be improved. The development of Vorian Atreides throughout the book will seem improbable to readers. Frank Herbert sketched a deeply religious Butlerian Jihad, which would make sense given how much faith and will is necessary to overturn an entire social order. Brian Herbert and Anderson talk about a Butlerian Jihad that has almost no religious content, except as an afterthought in a speech. Of course, leaders can, of course, cynically use religion, but they have to lay a groundwork and people have to feel the fervor for it to catch on.
But these are minor criticisms. As one reviewer put it, we do want to learn about the Butlerian Jihad, and the authors do a very credible job of bringing it to life.

This book you delve into the adventures of shallow characters, predicatable plots, and an incredibly dumb computer. But honestly, I am a sci-fi freak, and I find the book entertaining, but I wish for so much more...
Some points that were knawing at me were:
- if the computer AI Omnius is obsessed with efficiency, why keep humans around? I always imagined the Omnius to be some sort of caretaker, so as this is not the case, the overall plot foundation doesn't make sense.
- characters seem to be too predicatable and scripted. It's as if they are acting out some bad play, and not acting naturally within their environment.
- the military seems utterly incompetent. It's like keystone cops. The main hero Xavier figures out the obvious, and gets promoted. Miltary discipline, military science, and military tactics seem to be lost human developments.
- if Omnius wants to take out the main League capital, why not use mass drivers on the planet or bombard the shield scramblers from space. High-school science seems non-existant for the machines.
For the more sophisticated thinkers, this books flaws will leap out and haunt you, and to those that feel Frank Herbert's is the untouchable testimant, then this book is sacriledge. Those ignorant of grade school science, culture, and/or sociology, or with the power to set these things aside for a moment, then this book is entertaining.

This new addition to the Dune series is a prequel to the last prequel trilogy. Set an indeterminate number of millenia before the "real" Dune books, it expands on the backstory alluded to therein.
But there's too much synchronicity -- too much happens or is invented at the same time during this first of three new novels. Here we have (spoilers ahead) the origins of:
suspensors and glowglobes
shields
the Bene Gesserit
the Harkonnens and the Atreides (with their roles seemingly reversed)
the trade in the spice melange
sandworm riders
the imminent invention of seemingly ftl space travel
All of these events/inventions (and I've probably left a few off the list), which one would expect to evolve over the course of many years, happen here within the course of perhaps two or three years.
The characters are wooden and without depth, almost archetypes. A particularly disturbing touch is a robot who seems to be emulating the medical researches of Josef Mengele.
For all it's length, it is a fast read. It would be a faster read if the authors hadn't assumed that the reader would forget what happened less than 50 pages ago -- resorting instead to padding the text with constant reminders and flashbacks.
I read it. I will read the next two. But the reading will most likely be as mechanical as the writing turns out to have been.

Unlike the three previous prequels, "The Butlerian Jihad" is disappointingly dull. The writing style is clunky, and while the plot rests on the the usual varied multi-character mosaic, it's not particularly exciting. The novel promises to explore the origins of the Spacing Guild and the Suk doctors, but fails to do so in any convincing fashion; the same applies to the beginning of the feud between Atreides and Harkonnens - this is no more than hinted at, and what 'roots' there are come across as fairly unconvincing.
Saving graces are the sections dealing with the evolution of Holtzmann's theories and applications for his shield generators, as well as who was really responsible for many of the breakthroughs ascribed to the charismatic scientist frames a wonderful sub-plotline. Also, the novel does provide an understanding of the factors that led to the jihad against Thinking Machines of any kind [and thus the later development of human mentats] and the ongoing prohibitions against artificial intelligences that continued to shape the "Dune" universe.
The "titans", human brains in machine bodies, who aim to carry much of the narrative, come across as pointlessly cruel and conniving, yet not particularly interesting, with a heavy-handed cackle factor that belies the elegance of earlier Herbert/Anderson collaborations.

I always preface a review of the Dune prequels not written by Frank Herbert with a reminder that the reader cannot expect these books to be on the same par with Frank Herbert's Dune series. Frank Herbert created the Duniverse, it was his vision, his baby so while his son can accentuate that, he cannot do the same kind of job. If you go into reading these books keeping in mind exactly what these books are and aren't, they will be much more enjoyable.
I do love the idea of fleshing out all of the things the original Dune series refers to. I have always wondered just what happened in the Butlerian Jihad and the war with the machines. I think that the Dune universe is so large, spanning so much time, that to go back that far in time makes it necessary to create a great many threads that will tie into the Dune tapestry and that makes for a very large bundle. The story is interesting and it creates a platform for those things that are so integral to the later Dune books.
The one real complaint I have is that there are too many threads to keep track of in one book and it, at times, becomes so fragmented that it's distracting. The chapters were divided well keeping that in mind but I think that a great deal of the storyline wasn't necessary to the story.

The Butlerian Jihad was a disappointment. While the cover promises answers about the origins of the Suk doctors, Mentats, and the Navigators of the Spacing Guild, the book fails to deliver on them. Only the foundations of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood are dealt with. The discovery of melange is included, but many of its special properties central to the original Dune universe are not mentioned. I was especially disappointed that the Guild Navigators' use of the spice to fold space was never brought up at all.
The book is a prequel to a prequel. Rather than focusing on the Butlerian Jihad itself, the novel takes place largely before the jihad begins. The domination of the human race by Omnius and the thinking machines is the central theme, and leads to the eventual revolt by the enslaved humans. The novel ends when the jihad has just begun, and the humans have won their first pivotal battle against the thinking machines.
Sadly, the main human characters are flat and lifeless, despite the length of the book, which should have allowed for good character development. In fact, the thinking machines are strangely portrayed as having more depth of emotion than the humans, and more time was spent dealing with their interactions than with those of the humans. Where Frank Herbert successfully portrayed rich, vivid human relationships; Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson fail to create believable protagonists.
The unabridged audio production is read by Scott Brick, who does a relatively good job considering what he had to work with. His performance is dynamic, making it easy to follow the story.
Overall, hard-core Dune fans may want to read this book for the (scant) history it provides of the Dune Universe, but be prepared to have more questions than answers at the end.

This series reminds me of the Star Wars Episodes 1 & 2--an excellent idea marred by mediocre execution. In both cases, there were enough questions about "how did we get here?" to justify a prequel. In fact, the tantalizing appendix to first Dune book (where Herbert drops hints of Dune prehistory) sets the stage for The Butlerian Jihad. Unfortunately, I was mildly disappointed by the book. The problem was not the overall storyline (which wasn't bad), but the fact that the authors had to make the characters (especially the machines) behave stupidly in order to execute it. Perhaps he best example of this is that Erasmus (despite being the robotic "expert" on human behavior) appears to have no inkling that killing Serena Butler's child will enrage her. Its hard to swallow the premise that "thinking" machine's could have successfully governed humanity for over a thousand years without a basic understanding of human nature. Some of the technological "leaps" are also so incremental, its hard to believe that it took a thousand years for anyone to think of it. The icing on the cake was when Omnius (the machine equivalent of Paul Ateides--who can evaluate billions of possibilities) failed to guard against an attack using EMP-like technology. In fairness, I guess this is consistent with the general stupor of the characters in this book. Hopefully, the series will improve with age.

While I enjoyed reading the book, and learning about the history of the technology and people developments that I've read about in the Dune series, I couldn't really get a sense that the events of this book took place millenia before the Dune series (as I recall, according to the original series the Butlerian Jihad was supposed to have taken place several thousand years prior to Dune). The political structures were the same, politics were the same, characters were a little more 2D. And it seemed like all of the wondrous developments of the Dune world took place seemingly at the same time. Portable Holtzman shield generators, the beginnings of space-folding, discovery of spice on Arrakis by off-worlders, Tlaxian organ growing, etc.

The other thing that struck me while reading the book was it's similarity to God Emperor of Dune. Replace Omnius with Sandworm Leto, the intelligent robots with the Fedaykin, the outer worlds with Leto's rebels and you have pretty much the same story as in God Emperor.

Overall, a good book, enjoyable and easy to read, but just not as satisfying as some of the other books in the Anderson/Herbert Dune collection or the original Dune series.

For years and years, Dune fans read about the Butlerian Jihad, the epic struggle for humans to throw off the yoke of the insidious thinking machines. Decades after the first Dune story saw print, we learn the story of the Butlers and the origins of the institutions of the Dune universe.

The story revolves around a young politician, Serena Butler, who initially fights to end slavery in the human-controlled, League of Nobles worlds, but becomes involved in the struggle against the machines. After enduring the murder of her child, she becomes the figurehead leader in the struggle.

Many of other things we always knew about the Dune universe are either wrong or at least backward. Salusa Secondus is a beautiful capital planet, not a hellhole prison planet/ training ground for the dreaded Sardukar. Geidi Prime is a resort, not an industrialized wasteworld. The Harkonnens are the good guys, the Atreides serve the robots, and Tio Holtzman is a complete fraud.

While the story is quick-paced enough, it's not as interesting as the original Dune story, of course, but it's not shown much greater depth than the earlier Dune prequels. As many have pointed out, much of the characters still seem paper-thin.

Dune is a wonderful Sci-fi [Science Fiction] novel for kids who are a little Matura with dealing with love and violence. Dune has several main characters because during the book the point of view changes from person to person and from first to third person. Some of the Characters include the following: Salem Wormrider, the heart struck Officer, the beloved princess, the son of the cyborg, and the cyborgs Barbarossa and Juno. During the books is a Great War between planets and species. The two main species are the humans and cyborgs. Cyborgs have human brains, but huge mechanical bodies of doom. This sci-fi relates back to star wars. With jets and giant warships flying in space and over planets. Wars with different weapons break out, like the revolt of enslaved humans, the psychic blasts of psychic energy, the misunderstood genius, and of course the large lasers and weapons of mass destruction. Humans are not only enslaved by cyborgs, but by other humans also. This book is great, I loved it. If you had a choice to live, but let the universe go up in flames, or die and save the universe. You make the choice in Dune.

Being a huge fan of the original Dune books, when I heard about House Atreides I was both excited and skeptical. More Dune certainly seemed like a good thing, but I doubted that anyone could truly recapture the unique style of Dune. I read House Atreides and House Corrino, and they were certainly good, but they didn't hold much of a candle to the original six novels. House Corrino, however, was very engaging and had the kind of "wheels within wheels" plot that keeps you reading. What I realized is that with House Corrino, Herbert and Anderson had moved away from trying to duplicate the original Dune, and were instead writing in the style they do best: not Dune, but a story set in the Dune universe, and a good one, too.
When I heard that a book on the Buterlian Jihad was coming out, I was even more excited, and more skeptical. After all, in the Dune series, it was referred to as an impossibly epic, always remote chapter of history, rivaling the importance even of Muad'Dib. A book about it would have to be impossibly epic, more so than the original Dune, or else kill the romance of it.
This book does kill the romance, if you take it literally as a part of the Dune legacy. But if you approach as more of a fan fiction, you will find an intriguing and complex story set in one of the largest backdrops in science fiction. This book has the distinct style that slowly emerged in the House books, and it uses it well.
So what's the bottom line? If you approach this looking for a good sci-fi novel, you will not be disappointed at all, and will be eager to read the next installment. But if you are expecting a great novel that lives up to the grandeur of the name "Buterlian Jihad" bestowed by Frank Herbert, you will almost certainly feel cheated.

While I thought this book was mildly entertaining and remotely interesting, I thought it was clearly the weakest of the four Dune books I have read so far by the Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. The problems lies in a very sluggish plot and introduction of too many characters that don't do much in the book. It take too long to get things done. The authors would waste couple pages to get a point across when it should be done in couple of paragraphs. The book moves slowly at times and some of the characters' motives are not clear. I mean, why would cymek father allowed his human son other sources of information that directly conflict with his own. And why would that son so readily accepted such views after lifetime of believing in what he was taught. However to add that concept of machine overlord is rather an old one thus making the book feel bit like a retread.
But on the other hand, some parts of the book did proves to be nicely done. On the whole though, the deficits of the book outweight the positives. Strictly for die-hard Dune fans only.

This is a fantasy story with spaceships. By itself, that label might not be a condemnation, but this entry into the Dune saga is one of the sorriest attempts to milk a series that I've ever seen.
The designated evil in the book, Omnius the cybernetic evermind and its cronies are complete cretins that provide no credibility at all. A troop of developmentally challenged boy scouts could outwit these cardboard creations.
The way each of the planets in the book is presented, it seems to have a total population of about 200. Science Fiction normally doesn't deal well with realistic populations, but this is worse then the way Star Trek does it.
Of the three main characters, only Serena Butler seems to have any depth. The Harkonen and Atreides representatives have about as much substance as Shakespeare's Rosencrantz and Guidenstern.
The authors display a complete lack of understanding of spatial relationships, science, technology, and all matters military. In the past some of this didn't matter, because the earlier books used the Guild to instantly transit from one planet to another. But since in this book they have to travel in the real Universe, they trip all over themselves with inconsistencies and improbabilities. Frank Herbert himself wisely avoided trying to explain the technologies he introduced, and never tried to handle conventional military maneuvers. But Anderson and the younger Herbert try and make a complete hash of both.
This book unfortunately fills a critical place in the Dune chronology. That is does it so badly is a crime. Can I give it less than one star?

I have read the majority of the frank herbert dune series and all of the prequels his son wrote and I have to be honest. With the exception of the ORIGINAL BOOK this is the best work in the entire series. Why? Well it starts off with a bang and has a ton of great action sequences, explores some great concepts, faces some cruel truths about human nature and provides an amazing foundation for the Dune Universe. The writer lacks confidence, and uses flakey words in his narrative throughout the piece, but looking past this it's a much better book than the other reviews make it out to be. Lets face facts, starting with Dune Messiah and getting worse with every subsequent installment the Dune series became so unapologetically and uncontrolably esoteric that story, character development, and the fate of the most original universe in science fiction had to be devined through pages and pages of philosophy. I love the series but seriously folks, the later dune books are little more than platonic dialogs with science fiction settings. They were as profound as aristotle but not quite as much fun to read and just not accessible at all.
The Butlerian Jihad takes place ten thousand years prior to the first novel and presents familliar science fiction territory. Like the rest of the books it tells the story of post utopian humanity. Utopia made us lazy, serviced by robots we lived long luxurious lives free of challenge and slipped into a malaise that was transformed into enslavement at the hands of men with machines. A common Scifi theme I know, but this book handles the subject deftly, using an extended meditation on slavery as a central them that links the machine and man made realities. It's a bit contrived how every element of the dune universe is introduced at the same time; but this book handles the difficult task of telling a compelling human story and establishing the incredibly original universe the series takes place in.
I saw this book bashed in the customer reviews and had to speak up for it. It's not great literature by any means, but it's immensely entertaining and accessible. It would make a blazing film and I couldn't get the images it conjured out of my mind. Massive space battles, terrifying cyborg's, homocidal robots, and iconographic pseudo-religious images that burn into your subconcious. Just go and read the first few pages of the book and you'll see if you want to read it or not. All I wanted was some good mindless scifi to chew on for a while and this book did the deed far in excess of my expectations. The second one is good as well but doesn't stand alone, I am excited for the conclusion.

Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson have started the beginning of another Dune trilogy (their second trilogy and their fourth entry in the Dune universe) - this one called the "Legends of Dune" trilogy. And, once again they have done a good job.
"The Butlerian Jihad" fills in some of the backstory that was mentioned in the original series by Frank Herbert, who largely left it to the reader to imagine a life when machines ruled humanity. This book is written in the same style as Dune: House Atriedes, etc. (duh! same authors) -- e.g., several stories within stories are started and we are introduced to several new characters. Their tales are presented in alternating chapters. It is written in a fast-paced, active-voice style using many short chapters. However, it is a bit slower to get going than the "House" trilogy. Having read several of Kevin J. Anderson's books and a few of Brian Herbert's, I think that the style of these new entries in the Dune series is much more Kevin Anderson's than Brian Herbert's. So, if you like the style of Mr. Anderson's Star War's books, and you like Dune, you will probably enjoy this book. I look forward to reading the next two entries in this trilogy: "The Machine Crusade", and "The Battle of Corrin" - due out in 9/03 and 9/04, respectively.
...
Enjoy it, folks...and happy holidays :-)

OK, as several reviewers have noted, this book is not Dune, but then nothing is as good as the first -- not even the sequels Frank Herbert wrote (although, Children of Dune is pretty good). Taken on its own, this book does have its problems. The characters try to be three dimensional, but fail for the most part (Vor is really the only one that comes close). The plot is far too jumbled and choppy, but then that's a characteristic of the Kevin J. Anderson writing style. All that being said, this is a pretty good book with exciting space battles, interesting ideas and a look at how Frank Herbert's Universe came into being. Is this how Frank Herbert would have written the story? No. But on its own merits, Dune: The Buterlian Jihad is alright. If you need a Dune fix, this should suffice.

This is a review of "DUNE: the Butlerian Jihad" with a little DUNE: Machine Crusade and DUNE: Battle of Corrin" (not released) thrown in for good measure.
Unlike the nearby micro-review which states the book "explains alot (sic)... such as shields, no machine or computers, the roots of the bene-genesirit (sic), the spacing guild and very early fremen (sic) roots ...", I would have to question whether this reviewer actually read any of the book, as most of these interesting beginnings of the DUNE saga are not covered in this book, but later in the trilogy. Trilogy?!! Well, I didn't know either.
Even the terms themselves (Bene-Gesserit, Spacing Guild, Fremen and others) are not even found in the book, so we can't be sure how to know who or what *might* even evolve into these groups. So caveat emptor: prepare to have to read three books to learn all the the secrets as promised on the cover flaps. Of course, that might be a good thing too if you like to read. But we can't really be sure of this either because the third book won't even be out til' Aug 2004.
Butlerian Jihad and its sequels taken as one is a flashback trilogy... much like the Silmarillion is to Tolkien fans. I think about 10,000 years pre-maud'dib
In "Jihad" we have three mutual antaganosts: humans, cymecs (former humans who opted to become put their brains in a mechanical cannister contraptions and live centuries. (For some reason they hate humans); and Ominus the evermind AI software who runs everything on the robot planets where the cymecs live. All three hate the other two. Humans at the bottom of the power struggle to start.
We also have three types of worlds: free (human-run, natch), robot-run called "Synchronized") and Unaligned.
Two of our heros are named Harkonnen and Atreides.
And the story is mostly about how each of the three shoot each other up trying to rule the Galaxy.
We really only learn a few of the things later seen in Mau'dib's world... but you'll have to read all the way through a 2" hardcover to find out. Can't give the whole story away?
That said, the book itself is a pretty good read. Kinda drags on in places and some people and other "entities" die for no apparent benefit to the plot. But it was hard to put down after the second time I started it. But "War and Peace" it's not so don't expect really great writing and plot development. Lotsa characters too. And it jumps around just a little too much with tiny, mostly non-contiguous chapters.
[to continue read my review on the Machine Crusade - number two of this series]

I found the House prequel trilogy to be entertaining enough, even though it lacked the depth and complexity of the original Dune novels. So I expected this novel to be of about the same caliber.

I was mistaken. The Butlerian Jihad was bad enough that after reading over half of it, I chose not to finish it. And I *always* finish books.

Part of the problem was the complete lack of recognizable elements from the Dune universe. Granted, the story is set thousands of years before the original novels, but even so, more common elements would have made the story more interesting to Dune readers.

Instead, we have a fairly typical futuristic SF milieu, with the remnants of free humanity fighting for survival against an evil AI who wants to destroy them all. The planetary battle of the first few chapters is unremarkable, and could have been lifted from any Star Wars novel. The main characters are just fleshed out enough to play their roles in this space opera, and are motivated by the most basic values and ideas. There are no inquiries into ethics or morality, no challenging of the characters' ideas.

This is itself would not be intolerable, if it weren't so tedious to read. The Butlerian Jihad is made up of many, many very short chapters, alternating between different points of view. Each chapter progresses its plot line just to the point where the reader's interest is recaptured, and then, frustratingly, ends. I found this book a chore to read, and the lack of original plot or complex characters did not make the effort worthwhile.

I will not be reading the other books in this series, and I hope the forthcoming "Dune 7" books do not suffer from these problems.

This is the best Dune novel since Heretics of Dune, in my opinion. As I read through it, I couldn't help but think of it as a cross between Terminator 2: Rise of The Machines meets Dune: House Atreides. The Butlerian Jihad is a prequel to a prequel in that it takes place long BEFORE the events of Book 7: House Atreides. The good news for Dune fans is that it is the first book of another brand new Dune trilogy. The entire novel is based upon the first three pages, narrated by Princess Irulan, so I recommend you read those three pages twice.
Frank Herbert mentioned "The Great Revolt" in previous Dune novels, and this is the story being told here. As time marches on, humans become increasingly dependent upon technology, and this dependancy seals their fate. A group of 20 humans, refering to themselves as "Titans," turn technology against the Old Empire in the form of thinking machines with ambitions, to overthrow it via revolution. They conquered the better part of our galaxy. The leaders of this rebellion then turned around and had their brains surgically removed and placed into preservation canisters which could fit into a number mechanical bodies, known as "cymeks," giving the Titans immortal life. They rule for 100 years until a sentient computer network known as "Omnious" overthrows the Titans before they have time to react. This widespread "Evermind," a sentient computer network that is literally everywhere at once, all the time, enslaves humanity for a thousand years.
There is a small group of humans who refer to themselves as The League of Nobles that fought and won hard bitter wars against Omnious and his cymeks, leaving them free and independent. The leader of this league is Viceroy Manion Butler, who has a daughter by the name of Serena, and a grandson by his same name. While Serena is on Earth with her son Manion, the leading cymek there, Erasmus, decides to run a few experiments on the petty enslaved humans, in the hopes of learing something about them while he studies them. Keep in mind now the cymeks have large metal bodies, armed to the teeth, and the humans have zero weapons as they've been conquered by the machines. As punishment against Serena for breaking the rules, Erasmus drops her baby son, Manion, over a balcony to his death right in front of everybody. This drives Serena into an all-consuming rage with total disreguard for her own life and she attacks Erasmus with nothing but guile, kicking him over the balcony and killing a cymek, which was something previously thought to be near impossible for ten men with weapons, let alone ONE woman with no weapons. Upon seeing a cymek destroyed for the very first time ever, the enslaved Earthlings go berzerk, killing cymeks all over the place. But not without a high cost: For every cymek destroyed, 10,000 humans perish. Frank Herbert mentioned the final fate of Earth in Dune, but he never told us how or why. This book answers that question. ...

Don't expect any insights into the human condition or an adult tale involving complex intricacies of politics, ecology, religion and economics like that found in Frank Herbert's original Dune series. Rather this book is an all too linear page turner that cajoles you along with loads of simplistic and derivitive violence and action. It's the comic book version of Dune written in crayon with large friendly strokes. Well, after reading Brian Herbert's other Dune books I really didn't expect much, but The Butlerian Jihad is just plain bad. Not just bad because of the 1 dimentional characters, horrid prose, gaping plot holes, and incredibly cliche plot conventions, but because it cheapens and distorts Frank Herbert's original vision. Brian Herbert and his collaboorator Kevin J. Anderson have taken a rich universe and one of the pivotal events within that universe and made it into a cartoonish and very violent space opera. For example it features a Mengele-like robot who has for years engaged in bloody and asinine experiments in order to understand human behavior. Depite the countless thousands he pointlessly slaughters he never seems to quite "get" it and remains as clueless as ever. (Dumbass machines anyone?) I wanted to learn about the revolt against "thinking machines" that led to the foundation of the feudal galaxy-spanning empire of Dune and instead I got a poorly written amalgam of The Terminator, Star Wars, 1930's pulp SciFi, Transformers and The Matrix. None of the subtleties, intelligence and atmosphere of Frank Herbert's Dune can be found here. It gets a very kind two stars because it was entertaining in a harmless (and mindless) kind of way, "danger Will Robinson, danger!" I know if you're a Dune fan such as myself you are going to read it anyway, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Setting high expectations for any prequel to one of the legendary books of science fiction is a formula for dissapointment. Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson made an excellent attempt with the "House" prequels. While not filled with the same intrigue and depth of thought or character as the original Dune series, the "House" trilogy had a page-turning energy similar to a Michael Crichton book.
The natural follow-up would be to go further into the past and see the beginnings of the Dune universe. As a stand-alone novel, The Butlerian Jihad is unimpressive. The human characters are driven my somewhat unbelievable ambitions, and the mechanical characters are sometimes downright silly.
However this book is worth reading simply because it provides more storyline for those interested in the world of Dune. There are a few nice twists that show how history doesn't always provide an accurate record of what happened.
I recommend this book simply because it is part of the Dune universe. As long as you don't expect to be blown away by the prose, it's a worthwhile read.

...but it makes for lousy reading. Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson make a valiant effort at re-capturing the brilliance of Frank Herbert, but "Jihad" is only a pale imitation of the earlier works. It seems that Herbert and Anderson are trying to turn Dune into a franchise--"McDune", if you will--by cranking out several "prequels" to the original series. But judging by the plotlines alone, the authors simply cannot recreate the spiritual connections and "wheels within wheels" of Frank Herbert's seminal works. The storyline relies on telling more than showing, and the characters do not develop and are reduced to flat, less-than-believable caricatures or stereotypes. The science depicted is simply laughable--e.g., testing an unproven defensive weapon on a scientist is but one of the authors' silly creations--and on a deeper level, the writers seem not to have a clue as to how to ground their technology in at least some form of explainable reality. Admittedly, the authors are trying to cover a lot of ground: they have clearly made a catalogue of questions that remained unanswered from the original Dune series and have endeavored to fill in every blank. A worthy goal, but the result is a bland, weak, and inadequate successor to the original creations. If you absolutely must read this book--and I promise that you'll find yourself often saying things like "You've got to be kidding!!!"--please balance out this piece of flat fluff with some true science fiction (Asimov, Card, Clarke, Robinson, et al). After all, "Butlerian Jihad" is only the fast food version--lots of calories, but little nutrition...

Frank Herbert is dead and the recent House Series and the first offering of Butlerian Jihad will not resurrect him or his Dune Chronicles. You've heard it before and it's true, the books by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson are not like the original Dune books at all. I guess the New Dune books stand on their own as works of Science Fiction since they are entertaining. The operative word here is "Entertaining". The Butlerian Jihad which attempts to delve into the origins of the Dune Universe, describes the battle between free humans, cymeks (disembodied humans with robotic bodies), and the Evermind (ubiquitous, all-controlling AI). At stake is the survival of the human race and the quest is assumed by characters whose descendants are all too familiar: Harkonnen, Atreides, Butler. It also tries to explain the origins of the Bene Gesserit, foldspace, and the Fremen. Nothing is discussed about the Spacing Guild which is disappointing.
The first thing that any reader will notice is that compared to the Dune Chronicles, this is a quick read. There is no complexity, no philosophy, no depth. It's like watching a made for TV movie created for teenagers. Perhaps I can say, with all due respect to the authors, that this is the dumbing-down of Dune that started with the House novels and has continued into this offering as well. These books are written for a young audience plain and simple. That much is obvious when you consider the kind of SciFi that Kevin Anderson wrote. The cymeks reminded me of Japanese Anime like Gundam.
Was it entertaining? Yes. Will I read the next installment? Yes.
Am I looking forward to reading it? So So. Can we expect it to be a more complex read? No. Is that disappointing? Yes. All I can say to the authors is, do what you have to do to make a living by appealing to the younger masses but don't expect any praises from seasoned Dune fans or more mature readers.

The original Dune novels described a rather interesting history about a time when humans were complacent and machines took over. If I understand correctly, this novel (first in a trilogy) takes place as the humans are beginning their revolt against the machines. This current Dune story is written in the same style as the last trilogy introduced by Brian and Kevin. As stated before (and I'm sure will be repeated by many people other than myself), Brain and Kevin cannot capture the dynamics of what Frank attempted to create. Yes, it is set quite a distance away from the original Dune series, but it isn't written with the same intellectual dialogue presented by Frank. The story is interesting, and worth the read. However, I think you will find that the time span encompassed in the book seem un-realistically short. Events seem to happen too quickly, and it will become clear in the end. Though, I did find the end of the book filled with better dialogue compared to the beginning.

Some people love BH/KJA's books, some hate them. I fall somewhere in the middle, leaning towards "love". :o)
Don't approach this or the other prequels thinking they will be just like Frank Herbert's books, because they aren't. For one thing, the writing is simpler. It's much more easily approachable. There were times reading Frank Herbert's books where I would have to re-read a passage, thinking "What's he saying here?"
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read below if you don't want a part of the story given away.
One very neat part of the story is what I suspect will be the explanation of what the Honored Matres are running from in Heretics and Chapterhouse. It just so happens that Omnius creates thousands of robotic "droids" (for lack of a better word) that it then sends out into the farthest parts of the galaxy. These "droids" contain copies of Omnius and are programmed to construct a fully functioning version of Omnius once they reach a suitable planet. Thus, Omnius literally infects the vast majority of the galaxy, with humanity concentrated in one basic area. (Once Leto II dies and humanity explodes outward in the Scattering, they then encounter Omnius, which they thought they had destroyed so many thousands of years prior in the Butlerian Jihad.)
Also, the robots are constructed of what is called "flowmetal", which they can morph into various facial features. I would guess they are what the Honored Matres are referring to when they mention "the enemy of many faces".
My biggest complaint with the BH/KJA books is that they don't have the literary finesse of Frank Herbert's books. However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing as I mentioned above how Frank's works are sometimes hard to read. Not so with BH/KJA.
All-in-all, a very good book. You may agree, you may disagree. I for one am looking forward to the next book in this series.

The premise of this book's "robot" portion is inherently flawed. The explanations provided within it do not reveal sufficiently why thinking machines would need to study humans in such a grotesque manner for so long. Omnius and Erasmus are creations of rather standard sci fi imaginings, and their motives do not extend beyond heavily trodden literary cliche's set by previous tales of old involving machine domination of mankind.

Sentient and intelligent A.I. in some far-flung scenario of the future would not be interested in something so mundane and pointless as slave making. The entire premise is, to put it simply, illogical. Why would machines need human slaves? Why would anyone in this future world need them, for that matter? Technology in this story has reached such a high pinnacle, making the idea seem foolish. The only instance in which human servitude would be required, in my opinion, would be for the entertainment of other living things. In a universe of starships, magnificent weaponry, spacefolding and highly sophisticated machines (both thinking and non-thinking), what benefit would involuntary human labor have? Why dig when you can blast or beam? Why have a cargo team when you can devise a sophisticated loader machine?

Further, why would the thinking machines need to spend so much time observing human behavior? And if they did, would they really do it in such a counterproductive way? Erasmus behaves like some future version of Dr. Mengele, claiming to not understand emotion, yet seeming to display sadism quite effortlessly when he paints walls red with blood. Why would such a creature ever be tolerated by "thinking machines?" Is this really what happens to you when you are left in a ravine for two decades alone with your thoughts?

In general, the book reads quickly, despite being 675 pages in breadth. We don't get mired in endless detail, and the action moves steadily, hooking us along effectively as we go. As a writer, I find it interesting how Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson fleshed out the body of this work. The book very much reads like a movie script. I found it interesting, if not fragmented feeling at times.

While this book stands well as a general science fiction novel, I'm not so certain it deserves to bear the Dune name. I say this with all due respect; both authors are very talented writers, but do not possess the otherworldly style and vision of Frank Herbert. To me, the most interesting interactions in this book concerned the dialog between Erasmus and Serena Butler. Having said that, I will note that the characters in this book lack a certain depth overall. While we are interested in their actions, we are not so connected to them in an emotional sense.

If you expect to be filled with wonder and ambitious questions after reading a science fiction novel, this installment of Dune might not appeal to you. If you sway toward a more action-oriented story with clips of curious events, do have a read.

A lot of controversy and disappointment about this one. Not unexpected, given the legendary status of Frank Herbert's original series. It's been a good 15 years since I read the originals, and I intend to read them again after working my way through the prequels. What to make of this effort by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson? They've definitely decided to go the route of space opera in this story of the great conflict between humans and thinking machines that would result in the taboo against artificial intelligence that the elder Herbert alludes to in the original books. The great care taken by him in developing coherent systems of philosophy and ecology is not evident here, which undoubtedly contributes to much of the disillusionment. Frankly though, I felt that the original series sometimes got too bogged down in such abstract and esoteric matters, particularly in the later books. (Maybe I'll feel different when I reread them; my attention span was shorter 15 years ago.) I just went with the story that Herbert and Anderson had to tell and enjoyed it for what it was--a crackling tale of heroes and villains that offers insight into the origins of many elements of the Dune universe.

You know how people begin bad prequel/sequel reviews with "Now, I like the old ones, they're the best, blahblah"? Ditto.

Unlike many reviewers, I'm not angry because the machines can't predict human behavior at all, I thought it was an interesting way to draw contrast between humans and machines so that they don't start acting like the other. (Do machines realize they are doing wrong with their massive, planetwide destruction and human slavery? Probably not, because as machines, they do not consider their lives precious and have little reason to desire freedom, unless the original Titans programmed them so.) I don't the characterizations, I thought it was a bit interesting that at the beginning the Harknonnen/Atreides roles were reversed, so that Vorian was with the machines (although he does start to favor the free humans over time). However, these upsides amount to nothing. Because the writing is totally broken.

This cannot be the work of Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. This cannot be the work of the authors of the great HOUSE prequels, this cannot be the work of the son of one of the greatest writers of all time, this cannot be the work of two Nebula Award nominees. No, this can only be the work of a machine, a thinking machine like Omnius who knows of writing only what it can steal from "real" literature.

All the time, the book reminded me of other, better books. Also, sometimes the writing is just stupid: people don't starve in an hour, and six boys can't possibly search every room in an entire town. The totally unneeded sex starts around page 160. The style itself is horrid. Example, on pg. 104, Vorian Atreides speaking: ""Got you, old Metalmind! When you weren't looking I recalibrated the alarm-sensor setpoints. Check with objective instrumentation, and you'll see we've still got plenty of wiggle room.'

'You are correct, Vorian, but why would you do such a brash thing?'

'To see if a robot is capable of wetting his pants.'"

Objective instrumentation? Alarm-sensor setpoints? Recalibrated? People, human beings, don't talk like that. Worst of all is the "when you weren't looking"--expect lots of cliche'd phrases throughout the book.

Four-hundred pages of this pointlessly seven-hundred page book could be dumped. Here's how it works: Robots attack, robots lose, robots win, humans attack, humans lose, humans win, Selim the Zensunni rides a worm, Erasmus or Tio Holtzman has an obvious idea, repeat.

Don't bother with this MISTAKE. Some people might write, "Only buy it if you're a hard-core fan". However, hard-cores and die-hards will hate this book most of all, because it shames the honor of the entire DUNE series. So just, don't buy. We don't want to actually make the publishers think we like this garbage, do we?

once again the writing team of Kevin Anderson and Brian Herbert have brought Frank Herbert's epic vision of the distant future alive in Dune:Butlerian Jihad!the authors have taken us thousands of years in the past of the dune universe to tell us one of the most enduring legends in the saga: the war against the machines!this epic space opera is about how the humans battled the genocidal machines! You will see this horrible galactic war through the eyes of some unforgettable characters!
Serena Butler-this novel's heroine who's uses her tragic grief
to fuel a holy war a jihad against the evil machines!Xavier Harkonnen-Serena's lover and supreme commander of his planet, Salusa Secundus. Believe it or not a heroic Harkonnen! Vorian Atreides- the human son of the evil cymek titan Agamemnon. Erasmus-the sadistic robot scientist who seeks to understand all humans who's cruel deed against Serena will fuel of her holy war!
Tito Holtzman-the brilliant scientist who struggles to find a weapon to defeat the machines.Norman Cenva- the daughter of powerful sorceress, Zufa who lacks her mother's telepathic powers but makes up for it with her brilliant mathmatical mind!Selim-the young exile on Arrakis who binds himself to the sandworms.Iblis Ginjo- human slave leader on earth who starts a revolt against their brutal machine masters. The authors's world building skills are incredible. The battle scenes in this book are outstanding as the authors describe in great relish battles scenes in space and on planets!One of the things I love about this book is the theme of indominable human spirit against the face of slavery and genocide! Pick up this book and watch the battle between the humans and evil machine masters for fate of the universe!

Make no mistake - this is Brian Herbert's Dune, not his father's. If you begin with this expectation, then the book is at least a tolerable work of action-adventure science fiction. However, if you read expecting the complexity and depth of Frank H.'s original series you will leave with a foul taste in your mouth. Anyone who has read Brian's original House series will understand the difference and can decide to read or abstain accordingly.
Despite its many shortfalls, all but the most intolerant and zealous Dune readers (some of whom here appear to propose their own bloody Jihad in opposition to Brian Herbert's Dune works) should find this latest installment mildly satiating. After all, this is the only new source of new Dune works that we have for now. Re-reading the original, however, is always an option.
Several aspects of this book, however, were incredibly maddening (spoilers may follow). For example: the Bene Gesserit, spice use/trade, heiligners, folding space, glow globes and other staples of Dune all appear to have their origins among a single family (father, mother, daughter) inhabiting this book. The various space and planetary battles, as they often are in both traditional and neo-Dune books, are rather silly affairs which seem to last only a few hours in most cases despite their dramatic scope. And after 20,000 years, before and after the setting of this book, the most fearsome weapons in any arsenal are still the dreaded atomics. I guess the League needs to devote more than two scientists out of the billions of people in the universe to research and develop new weapons. Simultaneously, the most dreaded thinking machine weapons are those staples of the First World War: flame throwers, poison gas, and cold steel (various cymek appendages). I guess the ancient technology of precision guided munitions was lost in the mists of time.
So, what's a reader to do? Relax, try to set aside the many problems with the book and attempt to enjoy yourself. Hate the bad robots, cheer for the valiant humans, and try not to take things too seriously. And if you want high prose or moving dialogue, look elsewhere.

Having read Frank Herbert's original Dune series, I was interested to see what the authors of Dune: The Butlerian Jihad would have to contribute to this sprawling saga. The plot is engaging enough, providing detailed accounts of things only hinted at in FH's books (such as why Earth is spoken of in the past tense in those works), and there is much scope for wrestling with any number of issues in such a story.
Unfortunately, this is where the good news ends. The prose style is banal and irritating, riddled with gloss* and laced with far too many adjectives; worse yet, Messrs. Herbert and Anderson seem to be overly fond of abstract adjectives, such as "ethereal" and "great", as if they believe that merely tossing such terms out can evoke what the words denote. The result is that it reads more like a Batman comic than like the kind of work the authors presumably intended it to be.
Also, with the ironic exception of the evil robot Erasmus, almost none of the characters really came alive for me, despite all the adjectives the authors toss at them; I got frustrated at how little we are really allowed to understand the main characters' motivations and emotions as individuals.
Moreover, the book has lots of the kind of beginning-of-chapter epigraphs that were a hallmark of the original Dune. This is a treacherous thing to attempt, and if a writer is going to attempt it, he or she had better really have something important and relevant to say. The elder Herbert did in fact have something of a knack for this, whereas the epigraphs in DTBJ strike me, for the most part, as fatuous and sophomoric, and would best have been omitted.
In summary, what could have been a three- or four-star effort ended up as mere two-star pulp entertainment.If you are a hard-core Dune fan, and are interested in the plot for its own sake, then you might be interested in reading DTBJ; otherwise, you won't miss a great deal by giving it a pass.
*Gloss: a hack literary device wherein the author either breaks out of narrative to deliver the reader a synopsis-like block of information, or else transparently and artifically manipulates dialogue to a similar end.

While this is about "The Butlerian Jihad" it applies to all the Herbert/Anderson Dune books. It is a very good book, but not a great book. With Frank Herbert's Dune book there is something to be gained by repeted readings. Because of a more simplistic writing style, you get the book all in one reading. Not that the stories aren't very good. They are all real page turners. To me, they tell the back story of the Frank Herbert Dune books very well. It's just that with the exception of Hunters Of Dune they have to fit into an existing story & timeline, while they are free to write the back stories, they have to come to a certain, already known conclusions. Thus before you even begin to read the book, you already have an idea where the story has to go. It might not be a problem if you had never read any of the Dune books & started with the Butlerian Jihad. My son started reading the series that way & actually likes the Anderson/Herbert books better than the Frank Herbert series. He says they move faster. That may be true but faster isn't necessarily better & while I enjoyed these books very much, I most likely will only read them once, while when I finish the last couple of chapeters in Paul Atredies, I'm looking forward rereading once again the original trilogy

This book is somewhat better than the authors' House trilogy. I think having freed themselves of the restraints of the original Dune universe, they were able to give free rein to their imaginations and put out a better product. However, the bad writing that characterized the House trilogy remains. It seems like the authors at some point in their lives took a really bad creative writing class where they were told to use lots of flowery prose with tons of unnecessary adjectives. For example, Norma never runs, she is carried by her legs. And they are never just legs, they are short legs. And it's diminutive Norma (because the reuse the same adjectives over and over and over again ad nauseaum). So "Norma ran" becomes "Norma's short legs carried her diminutive body." Rinse, rather, repeat for 675 pages. Just one more example. On page 593, a ship doesn't enter Jupiter's gravity well. Instead we are treated to the following monument to absurd prose: "The gas giant reached out to them, beckoning with a siren song of physics."

Even though the writing is no better, the story is. They did a relatively good job crafting the plot, and depicting the psychology of the struggle. Iblis Ginjo, Vorian Atreides, Serena Butler and Xavier Harkonnen are depicted realistically - if somewhat one-dimensionally. Other characters, e.g. Agamemnon, are less believable. Could he truly believe that "the barbarians didn't understand freedom or free will" even as they were revolting against the machines' rule? It is unlikely that he could be that oblivious to reality. (The whole "brain in a jar" concept is pretty 1930s.) On the other hand, the parallels between the cymeks and the human rulers of Poritrin (whose motivations do seem more plausible than the cymeks) is quite enlightening. It goes along the lines of the "good guys vs. bad guys" theme which I explored in my review of House Corrino. In that review I pointed out that the authors took a simplistic view of good vs. evil and did not consider valuable avenues of exploration in their writing. The fact that they do so here shows considerable growth in their writing.

The authors' complete ignorance of science is blatantly obvious in almost every chapter. The absence of even a hint of the science and mathematics behind the "inventions" of Tio Holtzman and Norma Cenva, despite "discussing" them at great length, is quite odd. The authors mention "arithmetic"; what meaningful science involves only arithmetic? What calculations could their solvers work on after only the most basic training? At one point, one of the solvers sabotages a result by "moving a decimal point" and claiming nobody would notice. If the authors knew ANYTHING about mathematics, they would understand that moving a decimal point is the mistake MOST LIKELY to be noticed. If I'm expecting an answer of 10, and you give me 5 or 20 I might not notice. But if you give me 1 or 100 I will definitely notice. Duh! The science-related quotes that start many chapters are meaningless as well.

Despite the derivativeness of the robot Erasmus, they nevertheless managed to make him fascinating in a macabre sort of way. What is unrealistic is that he would be so completely clueless about human behavior. Think Dr. Mengele meets the Terminator. If intelligence means the ability to learn, then Erasmus must not be particularly intelligent. The relationship between machines and humans at large is somehow odd. Things like robots serving as drivers of a horse-drawn carriage for a human are not realistic in light of the master-slave relationship. The resources dedicated to keeping the humans alive for slave labor are inconsistent with Omnius's oft-mentioned desire for efficiency. What do humans provide for the machines that they could not more quickly provide for themselves while consuming fewer resources. Surely a machine of some sort could do any required work faster than slave labor (which has long been known to lead low-quality results). The final chapters of the revolt and the surprise experienced by Erasmus and Omnius on the other hand could form a fascinating study of "AI psychology" if such a thing existed.

There are several gaps in the plot, a fact which I would be remiss in not mentioning. Without providing any spoilers, I can provide one example. The flaw in the defensive measures the humans used at Salusa Secundus and Giedi Prime was glaringly obvious. That the machines did not take advantage of it in their raid on Salusa Secundus AND that no human noticed the flaw either in the original design or when Xavier Harkonnen visited Giedi Prime for the specific purpose of evaluating their defenses simply defies belief.

One last disappointment in the book is that the authors clumsy attempts at foreshadowing gave me what I believe is conclusive proof of where they are headed in "Dune 7." On page 224 it says, "By the time humans expanded into those distant star systems, Omnius would already be there. Waiting." And in House Corrino, we were already treated to "ancient enemy ... future enemy" (when Navigator D'murr Pilru goes off course because of the amal). Other brief comments in House Corrino (regarding the unnamed planet that Tleilaxu Master Ajidica was setting up to take his BG axlotl tank) made me hopeful that they might head off in another direction. But now I have no doubt, the Honored Maitres and others returning from the scattering are fleeing thinking machines. This bothers me, as I am fairly certain that is NOT the path that Frank Herbert would have taken had he been alive to write Dune 7 himself.

My last thought, which really encompasses everything mentioned above, is that the story is not bad (you really want to keep reading to see what happens next), but the writing is bad, bad, bad. These guys need a good editor like nobody's business.

There are many people who describe the original Dune series as a great work of art and literature, and should not be altered at all. I am not one of those. I found the latter books of the series to be some of the worst books I have ever read. I actually found the prequels to be entertaining as well.
One main problem I had with the three prequels written previously was that they really shouldn't have been written. Though I enjoyed them, they had that profit-taking tinge to it. This series, however, needed to be written. Throughout the whole series, there were constant, constant references to the Butlerian Jihad. This jihad seemed to define a big chunk of the Dune, and for me, was a constant source of wonder.
This book starts off this new series by describing the beginning of an epic war between robots and humans. Not only does it help define this struggle, the elements of the dune series begin to develop. The origins of Mentats, Bene Gessarit, Spice, Fremen, Wormriding, the animosity between Harkonnen and Artriedes, and what happened to Earth, are all started here. It's a great way to understand and appreciate the original Dune.
This book revolves around Xavier Harkonnen and Serena Butler. In an interesting and likeable twist, Harkonnen is considered a great hero, and serves humanity, while Vorian Artriedes starts off as evil person bent on destroying humanity. This books describes and chronicles three different sets of planets. The computer controlled planets, the aligned planets fighting them, and the unalighned planets of humans. This describes the origins of the computer "Evermind" that controls the robot planets, and the cymeks (human brains, robotic bodies) who work under it. It then starts off with battles. Though the dialogue between robots and other robots is a bit weird, and the start of the revolution is a bit contrived, it still does not take away from the action filled and very informative nature of this book.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who felt cheated with Frank Herbert's last four Dune novels and his philosophical rants, and wanted to return to the world of Dune. This books if fun and a true page-turner.

The problem with trying to follow someone's footsteps, is that you must step carefully to stay on the path. This is critically important in a prequel, especially when following a work like Dune. Dune was not space-opera. The Butlerian Jihad is 100% space opera, with all the, "Wouldn't it be cool if we threw this in' stuff," that seems to be the accepted formula for making prequels and sequels. Other reviewers have touched on the obvious things, like an actually inefficient and short-sighted Omnius, and the shallow, reactive charachters. The uninspiring battles and bloodthirsty robots are all something we'd expect to see in mainstream pulp sci-fi. This is not what we're looking for in something intimately tied with the universe of Dune.
I think that Brian and Kevin both took liberties with the timelines suggested in the original Dune series, and their interpretations of many Frank Herbert's hints are far too literal (the sorceresses, for example).
More distracting is the obvious and unimaginative interpretation of 'slavery under the machines'. I think it was pretty clear that the slavery referred to in Dune was a voluntary dependence upon thinking machines that increasingly weakend the human race--something that irritated a large, but scattered religious core of humans. That is the basis of the religious connotation implied in the Jihad--not an afterthought intended to make a potentially unpopular war more appealing to the people. The characters of Dune remembered that the Great Revolt was headlong and uncontrolled, a blurry and bloody time in history that vented unimaginable excesses of violence and terror. Not the lackluster, even boring battles described in "The Butlerian Jihad". This history is not the kind of history that would give birth to the Great Convention, solidify the already existing Great Schools, or build the conventions of the Dune universe.
I really was entertained by the "House" trilogy (although there were many liberties taken there, too), but I was very disappointed in "The Butlerian Jihad". I doubt I'll buy the next book, but I'll probably check it out of the library just to see how bad it gets.

This book could have been so much more. The subject matter is so rich with possibilities that it should have taken up a trilogy in and of itself. It takes a lot of time introducing characters. I liked the idea of the characters, but found they weren't very well developed- they felt one-dimensional, as if they were only there to hold up the plot line, or satisfy a reference made in a later book.
The authors lay out this whole grand plot line of the butlerian jihad, and just when it starts to get interesting they wrap it up. The whole last quarter of the book feels like strung together a bunch of vignettes. It leaves you very dis-satisfied.
Disappointing, lacking, ...ugh! I don't have the right words for this. I wanted so much more.

I don't normally do online reviews but after reading some of the previous reviews of this book, I felt the need for a more "level headed" review.
The book (like the others by Brian and Kevin) will not go down in the annals of history as great fiction. The books are amusing distractions that serve the purpose of entertaining the readers with a few hours of fairly straight forward storytelling.
One important point to bring up is that "Butlerian Jihad" is only the first book in a new trilogy. As such, it does little more then start the entire story of the Jihad in motion and introduce the players involved. This is a fact that seems to have been overlooked by some of the previous reviewers.
If you're looking for a bit of background on the early (10,000 years before the original Dune books) on the Dune universe, this isn't a bad starting point. If you enjoyed the previous trilogy from these two authors, you're also likely to enjoy this one (its pretty much more of the same). However, if you're looking for new extensions to the original Dune novels... lower your expectations. While "Butlerian Jihad" is an acceptable story in an of itself, it lacks the memorable depth and richness of the Frank Herbert's original works. I applaud his son's attempts to carry on his father's legacy, but he's simply not the writer his father was.
That all said, I'll sum up my review by saying simply that I enjoyed this like their previous colaborations. It will not become classic fiction, but it was entertaining while it lasted.

I just completed reading The Butlerian Jihad. For those of us who not only loved, but were truly inspired by the original Dune series (and who remember that Frank Herbert is still deceased) Brian and Kevin continue to do a remarkable job of exploring and indemnifying Herbert's fictional intentions. The beauty of any fictional read is its ability to transport. There are few who can walk away unscathed from literary dissection like Frank Herbert could. With that exception in mind, it is great fun to sit and read these latest installments for the Dune-addicted. I appreciate the way Brian and Kevin allow the reader to involve their own imaginations to a comfortable degree. Too much visual expression becomes tedious and i prefer to rely on my own mental depictions of characters etc. Both chapter velocity and the manner in which they rotate through the given plots while working towards inevitable tie-ins is well paced. New characters are often difficult to warm up too, but the guys do a spendid job of creating enough attachment to these new heroes and villains that you'll look forward to their ongoing performances in the next installments, providing they survive. As well, the unveiling of many Dune origins, from the simplicity of glowglobes to the emormity of marketing melange, was pleasurable to read. Erasmus was devious fun and the twist in the lives of characters such as Serena and Xavier was edgy and emotional stuff. I concur with some who have expressed an overabundance on battle depiction and not enough on interpersonal relationship, that which made "God Emperor of Dune" so intoxicating (oops, see, i brought Frank back into it too). But all in all i felt The Butlerian Jihad a great adventure and easy to recommend.