Book Three of the Schools of Dune Trilogy - Navigators of Dune

Navigators of Dune wraps up the Schools of Dune trilogy with both a bang and a hush. The fate of the future of humankind falls into three camps, all of them vying for power and control: The Imperial Court of the Emperor, Roderick Corrino who ascended the throne upon the death of his inept and destructive brother, Salvadore; Butlerian anti-technology fanatic Manford Torondo, who'd see the universe torn apart rather than allow for any opposing viewpoint to his own; and Josef Venport, whose vision of galactic commerce and technological achievements is endangered by both the Butlerians and the Emperor's desire for supreme control. In the background but no less volatile is the ongoing feud between houses Harkonnen and Atreides, the ofttimes covert machinations of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, the rise of the Spacing Guild, the influence of the Mentats, and even the Thinking Machine threat which refuses to fade quietly into history after the Battle of Corrin. Like the other prequel series, these are interesting backstory tales of how the Dune story universe came to be. I believe that, of the prequels before Dune, I like this trilogy the best! Please consider giving it a try and see if you agree...

It takes forever to get another DUNE book delivered, because of all the research that goes into assembling a story with all correct details and historical precedents. FOUNDATION doesn't even come close.

This book has detailed information about human beings who ascribe to becoming celestial navigators for the Spacing Guild.

Suspended in antigravity chambers filled with concentrated Spice Gas, these beings soon lose touch with the mundane, and they must make the transition to an evolved condition, resembling Shai Hulud, in a way, back on Arrakis.

It's the kind of book you would want to either open and finish in one sitting, or read bits and pieces regularly, to preserve the yarn.

A lot of Frank Herbert purists rag on Brian/Kevin, but personally I'm glad for the expanded the story. Can't have enough Dune as far as I'm concerned!

As far as the story, stays moving and interesting most of the time. Some of Vorian's side trips got a little boring for me, but as a whole, I thought the book concluded this chapter of the Dune Universe quite nicely. No spoilers, but I was damn happy to learn of Manford's fate.

Definitely recommend if you've gotten this far. No brainer.

Loved all the Frank Herbert Dune series, and the series cowritten by Brian Herbert (Frank's son) and Kevin J. Anderson. They've kept me entertained over the years. This book's main plot is to tell how the imperial Spacing Guild was formed from the remnants of the capitalistic Venhold Corp. that preceeded it. Another main plot was to defuse the Butlerians. There were a lot of subplots like all of these books that make the book very interesting with lots of surprises. I loved it! I usually don't buy books when they're first released (I wait for the mass-market paperback release), but I make an exception for Dune books because they're so good!!

the Dune Saga is now 15 or more books. they are expertly coordinated from the first to the last book. they are highly interesting and well schemed from the first book, called Dune, to the current book . anyone will be able to follow these books and be interested in the continued story, even if they absolutely hate Sci-fi books. one of the books is too long [ god emperor of dune] but still well worth reading. Frank Herbert is the original author of the series, after his passing, his son and Kevin Anderson are working together to keep the series moving. the only thing I don't enjoy from these two authors, is that there are too many chapters in their books that are 1 ro 3 pages in length, which sometimes makes the story a little too dysfunctional and this is my opinion only. they need to fill in more information to complete an idea rather than creating suspense at times. I would highly recommend these books to everyone, even teenagers as that is when I started reading these books and I am in my 70's now

Was simply rushed and poorly written. With a whole universe in which to take this story and practically unlimited possibilities, this ended up being the most predictable novel of the entire series so far, not surprising as they have all steadily lowered the bar. Save your money and time on this one and use your own imagination for the pre Frank Herbert Dune universe, your version will be much more satisfying.

Excellent continuation of the saga. I personally prefer Kevin Anderson and Brian Herbert's style over Frank Herbert's style, but they have truly captured the flavor and passion of the original series.

This book continues one of the best science fiction series. For that alone it gets five stars. It allows me to keep reading new books in my favorite series. Keep writing and I will keep buying. My other two favorite sci-fi series are the Wheel of Time and Sword of Truth. I think it might be a tie for Dune and WoT, with SoT a close third. Except for the audio books, SoT is a far third because they really messed those up.

Very disappointed... the title has little to do with the content of the novel... the authors really dropped the ball on this one. I have read the entire Dune saga and the earlier Dune novels from these authors actually delved into the subjects of the various titles, like The Sisterhood of Dune, but this one really fell flat. I feel ripped off...

We know how it will end. Papa Frank set that table long ago. Now what remains is the execution. So Brian and bud volunteered put the pieces in place. It's not neat, not pretty, and by the end of the book, not there yet. A lot of the journey is impossibly contrived and almost mechanical. The plot twists are predictable and often lame. But, it's what I expected. So, 4 stars.....on to the next!!

This final installment of the Schools of Dune trilogy brings readers through the last major trials humanity in the Dune universe before ten thousand years of relative stability. The numerous plot lines established in the two prior novels, Sisterhood of Dune and Mentats of Dune, all come to their various conclusions in very satisfying ways. Several characters shine in the novel, particularly Valya Harkonnen, Roderick Corrino, and my personal favorite from all of Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson’s books, Norma Cenva (Love her and her Navigators - most interesting creatures in the Dune universe to me). These characters grow in powerful ways and their personal stamp is borne by the universe ever after because of who they are and what they do. Navigators of Dune also has several heart-wrenching moments: some very sad, others so beautiful that I had to read them several times just to savor them.
Stylistically, Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson are not of the same mold as Frank Herbert, but there is a joy and delight in reading their work because it isn’t weighed down by hundreds of pages of murky backstory, allusion, and myth. Fortunately for the authors, Frank Herbert already established the rich Dune universe, and the authors get to help us explore new parts of it without drowning us in lore.
Like all other books that bring things to an end, some folks will not like Navigators of Dune, but I am so glad that the tension built by the first two books is finally replaced with a future we can all be excited about. Helps that it's a future we're all nostalgic about: the original Dune book.

This book would appear to be the end of this most popular " space opera" series. The first book was written by Brian's father and introduced the wide group of participants that make up this complex universe. All of the earlier factors are present here. The imperial lords, the witches, the robots, mentants as well as the sand worms.

A new reader to this series will not appreciate the complexity of the scope without beginning with "Dune" the first of the series

I read Dune about twenty years ago and have read the entire series, those by Frank Herbert and now those by his son Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson. The books by Hebert and Anderson provide the background to the Dune story and answer a lot of questions that were raised by the original books as well as complete the Dune saga with a satisfying ending. The latest one tells the story of how the Navigators' Guild came into existence, but, while each book can be read separately, they are all part of a larger story.

Navigators of Dune was a fitting, albeit predictable, conclusion to the trilogy that started with Sisterhood of Dune. Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson succeeded in providing us with a more in-depth glimpse into the origins of three of the most important groups present at the start of the masterpiece that was Dune...a better and more comprehensive origin story than was provided by the earlier Butlerian Jihad trilogy.
Not only did this trilogy delve into the early years of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, the Mentat school, and the transition from a corporate entity to the independent Spacing Guild, but it also set the stage for CHOAM to arise from the dissolving of that same corporate entity.
This book, and this whole trilogy, is essential for any Dune completionist...though it does suffer from the same stylistic and literary absence that was present back when Frank Herbert was the sole originator of Dune related tales.
I still enjoy it though, as much as I wish that the two authors had the ability to channel Frank's literary style and depth in writing all of this supplemental material.

Excellent storyline as it remained faithful to Frank Herbert's Dune Novels. It also provided a myriad of backstories with so much peculiarities of the Dune universe. I am in awe of the depth and breadth of the imagination of the authors. As such I am excited of the many more novels that will connect to the first Dune book.

If you're one of those people who regard the Herbert-Anderson books "McDune" skip this review. I am giving the novel five stars because I am comparing it with the other H-A books, and not with the original Frank Herbert work.

"Navigators of Dune," which completes the Great Schools trilogy, picks up with Roderick Corrino succeeding his shallow, cowardly brother as Emperor; Valya Harkonen in firm control of the Sisterhood; and Manfred Torondo still leading the Butlerians. The plot -- only tangentially about the Navigators -- proceeds along a familiar Dune theme: rebalancing the forces in the universe. The writing really rollicks along, with short, punchy chapters building to a suspenseful, fast-moving finish.

Two things puzzle me about this novel: (1) the secret -- beyond spice gas -- of making Navigators was alluded to but never revealed (at least I couldn't find it); and (2) the Erasmus plotline was resolved in a head-scratching way. (When you're in the last chapters you'll see what I mean).

But, on the whole, "Navigators of Dune" is very satisfying. I hope Herbert-Anderson are planning another novel so I can read what happens next. That's how good this H-A Dune book is.

After reading all the other comments I can only add that I thought from the description of the book on the store that we were to get close to "Dune" Not so! We are still a long way away! Also in another book that they wrote where all the people are in a space ship for years (can't remember the title) a voice come and it turns out to be Erasmus. Then Norma comes and stops him! Well in this book Herbert kills off Erasmus ? ? ? How did he come back. We know Norma can do all kinds of tricks. One has to wonder who wrote the books! Oh well I'd read more, but hurry up as I'm 85 and you have a lot of time to cover until you get the people back to Earth were it all started. Gosh we are not up to Dune yet!

The premise and story telling is great. What I found wrong with this was they made out like Vorian was raised and lived on Corrin when he was still a trustee for Omnius, and that is not the case. He only ever went to Corrin on update runs. The rest of the time he lived on Earth.

Being a long time massive fan of the series (Vorian, Norma, Erasmus, the mentants, sisterhood, the code of honor that the Freeman have, etc) this was the epitome disappointment.

The holes is the story are so large, you could fly a fleet of navigators through them. It's almost as if they started with the space guild as a final destination & proceeded to work backwards with a box of crayons, moonshine & LSD.

Characters, habits, principles & story lines that were built up so well in the previous series of books all fall apart.

All of a sudden mentats cannot extrapolate their way out of a bathroom if you left the door open.

Josef Venport - who becomes The Galaxy Tycoon Extrodinaire over several books - goes from fumble to fumble, to a string of 'bad luck' & closed circuit thinking that took a previously highly complex & evolved character to a linear whiner.

Meanwhile 'rational' Emperor Corrino let's the whole empire surfer because of the death of a brother he knows was an incompent buffon... Sure makes perfect sense...

Vorian basically gets his tail kicked by magical sisters... & tries to commit suicide in combat... Let's just casually forget the +2centuries he has lived & the various other atrocities he has endured... & The fact that he is/or was one of the smartest characters in the series...

Don't get me started on Norma who basically seems to sabotage her own navigators & Venport's interests...

And it's goes on... Seriously, I sometimes wonder if Brian & Kevin really wrote this...

This book completes the Dune schools trilogy, beginning with “Sisterhood of Dune” and continuing to “Mentats of Dune.” This takes place after the Butlerian Jihad, chronicled in another trilogy preceding this one.
This trilogy explains the origins of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, the Mentats, the Spacing Guild, the Combined Merchantiles, later to be known as CHOAM, who are the merchants of spice or melange, and the navigators themselves, who need this spice for their minds to fold space and pilot their ships through other dimensions. These pilots are permanently enclosed in a tank filled with spice gas.
The lead navigator is a woman, Norma Cenva. Norma has unique powers of being able to fold space and transport just herself in her container, to any part of the universe without using a space ship. This is vital because she transports herself in and out of battles to either save her spice on Arrakis while it is being sabotaged, and rescues her great grandson, Josef Venport, head of Venport Holdings.
This is where the story begins. The imperial empire, recovering from the great war against cymeks and other thinking machines (The Butlerian Jihad), but is not yet united into one great system of government, interstellar transportation, and spice trade as you read in the classic DUNE. There are three factions fighting against each other, two for dominance of the galaxy and one to hold a monopoly on spice trade.
The imperium is dominated by Roderick Corrino, who is struggling to unite the empire under his rule of stability. Two obstacles stand in his way. The first are the remnants of the Butlerian Jihad, once the hero of the first trilogy but then turns evil. It is led by Manfred Torondo and his faithful servant Anari Idaho. They’re turn to evil is complete when they use atomic warfare to destroy a planet, an act strictly forbidden by the Imperium.
The second faction is led by Josef Venport, head of Venport Holdings, who tries to form a spice monopoly of melange, on Arrakis, also known as DUNE. He tries to quash all competition and is protected by his great grandmother, Norma Cenva. Center is now morphed into a guppy like creature in a tank permanently filled with spice gas. Others pilots are in training on the planet Kor, and they are occupied with the universe under the influence of the spice. “The universe is ours,” states Norma.
Venport, who killed the emperor’s brother, also uses Cymeks left over from the Jihad, meaning that the war against the machines isn’t quite over. In any war, factions are always left over on the losing side believing they will rise again.
The Butlerians and Venport Holdings fight and try to win over the emperor, but he has plans against both sides, hoping to destroy them both.
This book would not be complete without the ongoing Harkonnen-Atredies feud, with Valya, head of the sister but also a Harkonnen, fighting agains Vorian Arteries, now old and maintaining his age of 200 years quite well. Valya accuses Vorian of disgracing the Harkonnens, and her younger sister Tula marries Orry Atredies and killed him on their wedding night. Orry’s brother Willem, with Vorian, sets out to kill Tula for revenge, thus setting the conflict that continues to the classic DUNE novel. Tula, however, surprises everyone in the end.
The chapters are short, to get the story moving, but the book is a good 400 pages, and in the last quarter is where the real action takes place, with the the three-way war and the two-family conflict. All these books leads you to understand the original DUNE book better by telling the history of Dune, constantly referred to in the original novel.
The ending insures that the Atredies-Harkonnen war will continue.
Ten thousand years will pass before the events of Dune: House Atredies take place, but to the characters of the Dune universe, this amount of time passes like nothing.

You'd have to start with "Butlerian Jihad" and read from there to get the full story but this was probably my favorite Brian Herbert/KJA book so far.

On a side note you will always come across people who don't like the newer dune books. From what I can tell they just want to read the original Dune again, or they complain about character arcs/ development because they want another "chosen one" or "messiah" story line. The newer books don't really deal with that as much as they deal with the larger interplanetary story.

What a Great story to finish of the Great Houses of Dune series. Kevin Anderson and Brian Herbert have weaved a story that has you entranced from beginning to end. Finished reading the book quickly and it usually takes me a LONG time to read a book. Could not put it down. Highly Recommend reading for the sci-fi/fantasy lover or a lover of Frank Herbert work. A Great continuation of the ever growing saga of Dune. Just wish they would make a tv series out of this. A movie can not do the material justice. Here's hoping that Kevin Anderson and Brian Herbert have more stories to tell in this Great epic series.

Being a long time massive fan of the series (Vorian, Norma, Erasmus, the mentants, sisterhood, the code of honor that the Freeman have, etc) this was the epitome disappointment.

The holes is the story are so large, you could fly a fleet of navigators through them. It's almost as if they started with the space guild as a final destination & proceeded to work backwards with a box of crayons, moonshine & LSD.

Characters, habits, principles & story lines that were built up so well in the previous series of books all fall apart.

All of a sudden mentats cannot extrapolate their way out of a bathroom if you left the door open.

Josef Venport - who becomes The Galaxy Tycoon Extrodinaire over several books - goes from fumble to fumble, to a string of 'bad luck' & closed circuit thinking that took a previously highly complex & evolved character to a linear whiner.

Meanwhile 'rational' Emperor Corrino let's the whole empire surfer because of the death of a brother he knows was an incompent buffon... Sure makes perfect sense...

Vorian basically gets his tail kicked by magical sisters... & tries to commit suicide in combat... Let's just casually forget the +2centuries he has lived & the various other atrocities he has endured... & The fact that he is/or was one of the smartest characters in the series...

Don't get me started on Norma who basically seems to sabotage her own navigators & Venport's interests...

And it's goes on... Seriously, I sometimes wonder if Brian & Kevin really wrote this...

This book completes the Dune schools trilogy, beginning with “Sisterhood of Dune” and continuing to “Mentats of Dune.” This takes place after the Butlerian Jihad, chronicled in another trilogy preceding this one.
This trilogy explains the origins of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, the Mentats, the Spacing Guild, the Combined Merchantiles, later to be known as CHOAM, who are the merchants of spice or melange, and the navigators themselves, who need this spice for their minds to fold space and pilot their ships through other dimensions. These pilots are permanently enclosed in a tank filled with spice gas.
The lead navigator is a woman, Norma Cenva. Norma has unique powers of being able to fold space and transport just herself in her container, to any part of the universe without using a space ship. This is vital because she transports herself in and out of battles to either save her spice on Arrakis while it is being sabotaged, and rescues her great grandson, Josef Venport, head of Venport Holdings.
This is where the story begins. The imperial empire, recovering from the great war against cymeks and other thinking machines (The Butlerian Jihad), but is not yet united into one great system of government, interstellar transportation, and spice trade as you read in the classic DUNE. There are three factions fighting against each other, two for dominance of the galaxy and one to hold a monopoly on spice trade.
The imperium is dominated by Roderick Corrino, who is struggling to unite the empire under his rule of stability. Two obstacles stand in his way. The first are the remnants of the Butlerian Jihad, once the hero of the first trilogy but then turns evil. It is led by Manfred Torondo and his faithful servant Anari Idaho. They’re turn to evil is complete when they use atomic warfare to destroy a planet, an act strictly forbidden by the Imperium.
The second faction is led by Josef Venport, head of Venport Holdings, who tries to form a spice monopoly of melange, on Arrakis, also known as DUNE. He tries to quash all competition and is protected by his great grandmother, Norma Cenva. Center is now morphed into a guppy like creature in a tank permanently filled with spice gas. Others pilots are in training on the planet Kor, and they are occupied with the universe under the influence of the spice. “The universe is ours,” states Norma.
Venport, who killed the emperor’s brother, also uses Cymeks left over from the Jihad, meaning that the war against the machines isn’t quite over. In any war, factions are always left over on the losing side believing they will rise again.
The Butlerians and Venport Holdings fight and try to win over the emperor, but he has plans against both sides, hoping to destroy them both.
This book would not be complete without the ongoing Harkonnen-Atredies feud, with Valya, head of the sister but also a Harkonnen, fighting agains Vorian Arteries, now old and maintaining his age of 200 years quite well. Valya accuses Vorian of disgracing the Harkonnens, and her younger sister Tula marries Orry Atredies and killed him on their wedding night. Orry’s brother Willem, with Vorian, sets out to kill Tula for revenge, thus setting the conflict that continues to the classic DUNE novel. Tula, however, surprises everyone in the end.
The chapters are short, to get the story moving, but the book is a good 400 pages, and in the last quarter is where the real action takes place, with the the three-way war and the two-family conflict. All these books leads you to understand the original DUNE book better by telling the history of Dune, constantly referred to in the original novel.
The ending insures that the Atredies-Harkonnen war will continue.
Ten thousand years will pass before the events of Dune: House Atredies take place, but to the characters of the Dune universe, this amount of time passes like nothing.

You'd have to start with "Butlerian Jihad" and read from there to get the full story but this was probably my favorite Brian Herbert/KJA book so far.

On a side note you will always come across people who don't like the newer dune books. From what I can tell they just want to read the original Dune again, or they complain about character arcs/ development because they want another "chosen one" or "messiah" story line. The newer books don't really deal with that as much as they deal with the larger interplanetary story.

What a Great story to finish of the Great Houses of Dune series. Kevin Anderson and Brian Herbert have weaved a story that has you entranced from beginning to end. Finished reading the book quickly and it usually takes me a LONG time to read a book. Could not put it down. Highly Recommend reading for the sci-fi/fantasy lover or a lover of Frank Herbert work. A Great continuation of the ever growing saga of Dune. Just wish they would make a tv series out of this. A movie can not do the material justice. Here's hoping that Kevin Anderson and Brian Herbert have more stories to tell in this Great epic series.

A good finishing to the overall story although it didn't seem as intriguing as previous volumes. Can't quite put a finger on what was so different. Overall, the story of Dune through the millennia was well told by all the authors but particularly Brian and Kevin. Their writing style is a little more dynamic that Frank's more obtuse cerebral style. I've read them all. This volume, with it's significant leadership deaths/changes sets the stage very well for Frank's Dune.

This book is mediocre at best.

It almost feels like Brian and Kevin were just tired of writing and were trying to finish the project.
In terms of lore, it does OK in explaining how the Navigator Guild came into existence. And strangely, it gives a weird but effective way of explaining why the Sisterhood is the cutthroat-manipulative-behind the scenes organization it is in the the future.
But characterization and plot development is by far the worst compared to the rest of their works. The "school" trilogy is just not very good writing.
Maybe it's fatigue. Maybe they aren't fact checking their own work. Maybe they just don't care anymore.

If you're really really REALLY deep into the Dune universe, I'd say only read it with some caution.
To a casual reader of the Dune universe, skip it.

Having read all of Frank Herbert's Dune novels and all of the prequels to date, I sincerely hope the co-authors take a long break and concentrate on their solo writing. The prequels have been entertaining on the whole, but the authors seem by now to be grasping for interesting stories and for characters we can care about. I've really, really had enough of Vorian Atreides; let's move on.
It's good that Navigators completes a(nother) trilogy. It wraps up the storyline well enough and shows the door to a couple of obnoxious (IMHO) characters. However, those characters' successors are waiting in the wings.
If the authors can wait more than a year or two before their next Dune opus, maybe I can summon up some genuine enthusiasm for it.

For Dune fans, this is another must read. For everyone else though, it's just an okay story - slow in the beginning, with most of the action taking place in the last third of the book. So averaging it out, I gave it 4 stars.

More dreck from Kevin Hack Anderson and Brian "I'm a parasite of my father's legacy" Herbert. As with all of this duo's horrid work, best used for toilet paper after enjoying the interesting cover illustations. These men are to Frank Herbert's legacy what Jar Jar Binks is to the Star Wars Universe. As ever with these two, avoid the new books and spend time with the original series instead.

Imagine, if you will, a pair of composers digging up notes left behind by a classical master (Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, etc.) They decide to finish the incomplete work by their own "experimental, abstract method" which involves converting it to smooth jazz and adding bongo drums. Then they release this as new Beethoven (or another master)!!!. They declare their absurd, low-quality, formulaic work to be the direct continuation of the original corpus. Not only that, but they refuse to release the notes they worked from, and assign higher prestige to their version than the original, and they keep doing this. Not once, but many times, as people continue to buy their cheap, knock-off work, propelled to success by the original composer's reputation for greatness.

Can you imagine the backlash from the classical music community? They would decry this blatant cash-grab as lacking in integrity and disrespectful to the original works.

Would you call them "Talifans", too?

If Brian & Kevin's novels were set in a different universe, I wouldn't take any offense. I doubt many other fans of the original Dune novels would take offense either. It's the fact that they're using the Dune name to make money, while showing no respect for the quality, ideas, and character of the original books, that leads to strong criticism. When people are passionate about something, they don't like to see their passion get exploited and brought to the lowest common denominator.

Personally, I think Frank Herbert may have had a bit of prescience himself - compare the Fremen to the Museum Fremen, and you have a very apt analogy for the difference between Original Dune and "expanded dune".

The pair of composers would argue that they're continuing a legacy, and that something is always better than nothing. But sometimes it's better for things to end. We're not getting any more Dune for the same reason we're not getting any more Beethoven or Bach. The men who created these works are dead. The honorable thing to do would be to let them rest in peace, and treat their legacy with respect, rather than arrogantly exploiting it.

Sincerely, a Dune fan.