Lame

This book read nothing like a Frank Herbert “Dune” novel. Where are the supposed notes found by his son written by Frank and how on earth are they integrated into this book? I don’t see it. Terribly disappointed and quite frankly disgusted. It’s pretty obvious these books were written only to be cash cows. Also just a terrible read in general.

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More weird sex stuff. Space Jews, but this time with diet Zionism. But it’s much more coherent than chapterhouse. At least this one had a plot that made sense.

I thought this had potential but then I just got bored pretty quickly. The only good thing is that there's only one more book left in this series. Legoo.

What a waste of perfectly good hours. Only herculean effort can make Frank Herbert's Dune universe this mundane and banal. It's like somebody stole the Mona Lisa and drew over it in crayon.

What it’s got going for it
- much easier to read (although not really in its favour, because the first 6 were great because of the compelling writing, my brain has just become tired from all the deep talking and ideas and is appreciating an easier read)
- I like Murbella in this one still
- origins of the Honoured Matres felt like the best sort of revenge
- handlers part was enjoyable, glad that Hrrm broke his conditioning for Sheeana

Things I didn’t like
- writing nowhere near as good as Frank’s books
- way too long, and too many small time jumps (would have been better as a couple of big ones and some exposition)
- hate that they went more into the “tanks”. This was my least favourite part of this series’ worldbuilding, and I wish they hadn’t gone into more detail/utilised them here
- too much gross stuff. Really didn’t like Uxtal, and he never became sympathetic.

Hoping that the machines’ motivations have more substance in the finale

The best word I can think of to describe it as is 'profane'

Anyone who has read Frank Herbert's Dune masterpieces will be sorely disappointed by Brian Herbert's weak attempt at furthering his father's legacy. Brian's apology (I am not my father and will not endeavor to write like him) is a pitiful attempt to absolve himself of the culpability of writing such pathetic drivel. I read the final two Dune books because I wanted to know how the story ended. I knew that Brian had taken his father's notes, and I hoped some portion of the master's ability has rubbed off on his progeny. Unfortunately, this was far from the case.

The true Dune devotee will be better served reading Frank's notes, if they can be had, than slogging through this noisome tome. We would have all been better served if Brian had assigned the task to a second-year English major instead of fumbling with the attempt as he did. Be warned - if you've read the first six Dune novels, you will almost certainly be woefully dissatisfied by the final two.

"In light of the no-ship's endless wanderings, the name Ithaca seemed appropriate. Ithaca, a small island in ancient Greece, had been the home of Odysseus, who had spent ten years wandering after the end of the Trojan War, trying to find his way back home. Similarly, Duncan and his companions needed a place to call home, a safe haven. These people were on their own great odyssey, and without so much as a map or a star chart, Duncan was as lost as age-old Odysseus."

Artless.

Also, we know this isn't Frank's intended plot because of the ties to the Brian Herbert prequels.

Also, I don't like any of the hinted-at prequel history. The Oracle of Time could be interesting but apparently has a dumb origin story. The reason given for the Butlerian Jihad is hackneyed and directly contradicts Dune.

It also makes me second-guess Frank. Richese is a dumb name for the new rich manufacturing planet. That's a Brian Herbert name, right? Or were some of Frank's names dumb too? *Is* Duncan Idaho a dumb name? Hwi Noree? Chairdog? This book is too long for too little plot...like the first five sequels?

On the other hand, we can blame everything bad on prolific hack Kevin J. Anderson and credit anything good to Frank Herbert's mysterious found-in-a-safety-deposit-box outline. In that way, Brian Herbert did preserve his father's legacy.

After trudging my way through this bloated, poorly-paced book, I can definitively state that writing ability is not hereditary. A few random thoughts:

Chapter lengths are far too short, especially when a lot of them include time breaks. This, combined with Brian milking one planned book into two and the frequent time skips, makes the pacing feel incredibly odd. Frank's books really allowed you to get into the minds of all of his complex characters, whereas the chapters in Hunters feel like Brian is racing through each one, but still not advancing the story.

This brings me to the ghola characters which, so far, have been a massive waste of potential. With all of the legendary historic personas being revived, we hardly got into the minds of any of them. This is even more frustrating as the Ithaca has been farting around in space for two decades (it felt like that irl); this would have been an excellent avenue to explore if Brian was adamant on stretching the source material. Regardless, the sheer amount of gholas resurrected felt like a check-box exercise in fan service. Miles Teg awakening Duncan Idaho's memories and then Duncan doing the same for Miles in Heretics/Chapterhouse was perfect; anything related to gholas in the series following this was inevitably going to fall flat.

Another problem I had with the book (and this all comes down to pacing), were the battles. Enormous battles that make Stalingrad look like a street brawl take place pretty regularly throughout the entire series, however they are often off-page. I thought this worked really well for the story Frank was trying to tell, but there are several battles that we actually get to see in Hunters and they all feel very rushed, I would rather they weren't included at all. Compared to previous action like the Battle of Junction in Chapterhouse, these chapters in Hunters are real wasted potential (though I still stan Murbella).

Throughout the series, the evil mythos of the thinking machines is legendary. In a universe so factionalised, almost everyone is terrified of this 15,000 year old spectre. It's so seldom touched upon in any amount of detail yet such a pivotal cornerstone of the universe, I imagine every reader has a different picture of thinking machines in their heads. So when they are introduced onto the page, it feels incredibly underwhelming. I know that this was probably Frank's plan all along as Marty and Daniel were introduced in Chapterhouse, but teaming up to fight a cataclysmic enemy feels like such a genre shift, and not in good way (like Attack on Titan). And don't get me started on the Oracle of Time, she feels like the most un-Dunelike thing imaginable.

Hunters of Dune (Dune Chronicles #7), Brian Herbert

For three years, the no-ship (named the Ithaca by its passengers) has been in an alternate universe, carrying the gholas of Duncan Idaho and the famous military commander Miles Teg as well as the Bene Gesserit Sheeana, who has the mysterious power to control sandworms. Other passengers include the last Bene Tleilax Master Scytale, some Bene Gesserits, a group of Jews saved from Honored Matre oppression on the planet Gammu, seven small sandworms that can produce spice, and four captive Futars, fierce half-man/half-cat creatures bred to hunt Honored Matres. The mysterious Oracle of Time speaks to Duncan and brings the no-ship back into the 'regular' universe. However, it is soon discovered by the mysterious "old man and old woman", Daniel and Marty, first mentioned at the end of Chapterhouse Dune, who have unknown designs on the Ithaca and its passengers. The no-ship is nearly caught in their tachyon net, but escapes using the space-folding Holtzman engines. ...

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز دهم ماه آوریل سال 2019 میلادی

ا. شربیانی

4 stars
I had heard quite a lot of negative things about these last 2 books completing the Dune series, especially about the writing. If you really like stories with a heavy political focus and very dense and philosophical writing, then yes, you are going to miss Frank's writing and maybe therefore like this book less. I, however, am the opposite. I loved Dune, gave it 5 stars, and though the writing is a bit dense and philosophical in that book too, I felt it was in balance with the plot, intrigues and character development, with clear characters and storylines. As the series progressed for me it felt like the focus shifted away from the characters and the plot towards politics and philosophy, making it increasingly hard reads for me, cause I just didn't get the chance to care about the characters and what happened to them. I'm happy Brian brought that back to me. Looking forward to the next book, especially since the plot twist/reveal at the end of this book, though I will be glad when I've finally finished this series (and most of the other series in the Dune Universe).

Characters 8
Atmosphere 9
Writing Style 8
Premise/Plot 8
Execution/Setup 8
Enjoyment/Engrossment 8