All of these things are true in my opinion: people are too hard on the Brian Herbert Dune books (aka, "McDune"), the books are nowhere near as good as Frank Herbert's originals, I enjoy the McDune books the same way that I sometimes enjoy McDonald's (or really Taco Bell for me) even though I know it's not good, and it's fun to learn what happened immediately after the last Frank Herbert book even if I know it's neither the same nor as good as what Frank would have written.

I'm not sure I can awaken my ghola memories enough to write a full review of the plot, but I will say that the more I think about this book, the less I like it. I still think it's fine for what it is. As long as you're not expecting Frank Herbert, you'll be fine. I always appreciate a trip to the Dune universe and there are some interesting ideas (the genesis of the Honored Matres, more clues about what happened in the Scattering, etc.), but it does drag on. How many gholas do they need, anyway?

The difference in writing style is even more noticeable when they're writing a direct continuation of Frank Herbert's story. Frank's writing is introspective in a way that gets the reader thinking, while Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson write in a more marketable, action-based style (yes, Frank worried about entertaining the reader, but he didn't prioritize selling books over his artistic and philosophical explorations). Imagine if someone tried to write Dune, but without any of the philosophical interrogations of politics, religion, ecology, mysticism, and human nature... and just sort of turned it into a mindless sci-fi action blockbuster. None of this is unique to this particular McDune book (they're all like this), but it's hard to imagine this is much like anything Frank would have written even if it's based on his notes. Of course, I wasn't expecting Frank, but it's just a bit more noticeable when it's the same characters directly following Frank's last book.

But I think my biggest disappointment requires a spoiler. Sorry.  The big reveal at the end is that the mysterious couple at the end of Chapterhouse is actually two of the AIs going 15,000 years back to the Butlerian Jihad. Obviously this fits in nicely with the McDune prequels about the Butlerian Jihad (I read one of them many years ago and it was okay). But it's less obvious it fits with what Frank wrote in the last pages of Chapterhouse, where it's hinted that that they're some sort of advanced Facedancer. Of course, Frank may have meant for them to be the AIs from the Butlerian Jihad. But my problem is that the McDune version of this becomes standard "robots are going to kill us" fare à la Terminator or The Matrix, which makes for good sci-fi military stories, but doesn't say much about the deeper themes explored in the original Dune books that reliance on thinking machines did not allow humans to realize their full potential of what I've called "expanding human nature." I find this to be a much more interesting idea than "robots are going to kill us!", but I seriously doubt this is the direction that will be taken in Sandworms of Dune, which I will probably end up reading, anyway, because I crave McDune every so often as much as I crave Taco Bell. I should probably just re-read the original series again when I need a Dune fix, but I can't help myself.

In the end I think I agree with Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson in their Authors' Note when they write, "We wish Frank Herbert could have been here to write this book."

Check out my blog review here: https://examinedworlds.blogspot.com/2...

*wails in frustration* I'M NOT AN IDIOT. YOUR FATHER DIDN'T TREAT ME LIKE AN IDIOT. I got 3 chapters in and returned it in disgust. Don't bother.

I've been rereading the Dune series. I started with Frank Herbert's original six books. "Hunters of Dune" would be the 7th book of that story. Brian Herbert uses his father's copious notes to finish the story set out in the original series.

This story takes place directly after the events of "ChapterHouse Dune". The no-ship that left at the end of the novel becomes the focus of the story. Inside is Duncan Idaho and a Telilaxu Master named Scytale. Using Scytale's null-entropy cells they generate gholas of famous people from the past-including Bashar Miles Teg. Duncan and the renegade Bene Gesserit, Sheena, they will use these gholas to find out who and what the "Great Enemy" is.

Meanwhile, Murabella is now Mother Commander of the unified Bene Gesserit-Honored Matres organization now called The New Sisterhood, seeking to rally the human populations to fight against the hold-outs among the Honored Matres. The New Sisterhood is also trying to recreate Dune on Chapterhouse and once again have spice and sandworms.

This was a really interesting and good story. Perhaps not to the level of Frank Herbert's masterwork, this is still a really fun read. It not only answers a lot of questions but brings the story back in full circle to the Butlerian Jihad. The story was broken into two parts with this being the first and the second will be told in "Sandworms of Dune" or Book 8.

Hunters of Dune
Book 7 of the Dune Saga (Dune 7 Book 1)
By Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
Based on an outline left by Frank Herbert

A Dune Retrospective by Eric Allen

Beginning with Heretics of Dune, Frank Herbert set out to bring an end to his Dune saga with a trilogy of books detailing the end of times for the Dune Universe. Unfortunately, he died before he was able to complete the final volume. We were left with a cliffhanger ending in Chapterhouse Dune for quite a number of years. Unsatisfied with the open ending, his son Brian Herbert wanted to write an ending to the series, but as Frank Herbert had left little in the way of notes for the final book, he was hesitant. Anything that he wrote would be more what he thought should happen, and less what his father envisioned. Several years later, he discovered two safe deposit boxes that his father had left no reference to behind. Inside he found a twenty page outline for “Dune 7” along with a large gathering of notes having to do with the back story of Dune, things that happened between books, and character profiles, as well as a number of unused chapter epigraphs. Enlisting the help of his friend Kevin J. Anderson, a relatively well established and respected science fiction writer, they set to work on completing Frank Herbert’s Dune saga.

They ran into some problems along the way, mostly that what the outline called for were events that had no explanation for in any of the previous books, and by this time, interest in the Dune Saga had fallen off and it was in danger of being forgotten. No one would have a chance to read the end if no one remembered. And so they wrote several prequel books to Dune to serve the dual purpose of reminding people that Dune exists and was unfinished, and to delve into the back story of the series to better set the stage for the final volume. The most notable of these is the House Trilogy, which was rather entertaining if you’ve got the time to sit down and read, but I will not be reviewing it in this retrospective. At last, with the stage set, and interest in the Dune series coming to an all-time high, they set to work on Dune 7. Unfortunately, the scope of the story was such that it could not be finished in a single volume, and so it was split into Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune.

At the end of Chapterhouse Dune, Duncan Idaho, sensing the trap of an unknown enemy tightening around him, destroyed the navigation computers of the ship that he and the Bene Gesserit refugees were fleeing the new unified sisterhood in, sending them out of control into the vast, unknown reaches of unexplored space.

With enemies on every side, unsure how to continue onward, and a looming threat to all of humanity on the horizon the refugees aboard the now dubbed Ithaca, set a plan into motion that they hope will bring options to a vague and hopeless future. They begin resurrecting figures from the past, in hopes that together these minds will be able to see the path through to the future.

Meanwhile Morbella, having united the Honored Matres and Bene Gesserit into one sisterhood begins building an army the likes of which has never before been seen by humanity. First she crushes the remnants of rebel Honored Matres and then sets to the task of readying and unifying humanity against the coming threat of the unknown enemy. Ghosts from the past even older than the Kwisatz Haderach have been growing and festering beyond the reach of human occupied space for fifteen thousand years, awaiting the chance to strike and lay waste to those that cast them out, bringing many startling revelations with them out of the murky past of the old Empire.

The Good? Okay, at the risk of inviting nerd rage the likes of which even God has never seen (see what I did thar) I’m going to say that Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson are much better storytellers than Frank Herbert was. And before you start mailing me envelops of anthrax and setting bombs on my car let me explain. Frank Herbert was, generally, an excellent writer. He was good with words, and poetry. He had excellent prose and a vast and interesting imagination for coming up with great stories. He also sucked at telling them. There is a difference between being a good writer, and being a good storyteller. It’s a distinction that few people care to make, but it does exist. Let me give you an example. Throughout Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune Frank Herbert was building up the final epic confrontation at the end of the Dune Saga. By the end of the final book he was able to complete I still had no idea what was going on, who any of the characters were, what motivated any of them, or why I should care. Two books and I still couldn’t tell you what the story was about, or why any of the characters were doing anything that they did.

Within the first ten to fifteen pages Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson accomplished what Frank Herbert could not in two entire novels. Within the first chapter I knew what was going on, who the good guys were, what motivated them, who the bad guys were, what motivated them, and why I should give a crap about any of them. And honestly, that was really all I was looking for. I just wanted to know what was going on and who to care about. Frank Herbert never gave me these things. Frank Herbert was the better writer, the better visionary mind, but Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson were the better storytellers BY FAR. I like to think of it like this. George Lucas had great ideas with Star Wars, but the best films in the franchise were the ones where he gave the ideas over to others and stood back to supervise while they handled the scripting, direction and generally everything else story related.

This book may not be as well written as Herbert Senior would have given us had he lived to complete it, this is true, and the difference in prose is very noticeable, HOWEVER that does not mean that the book is badly written. In fact, it is really very well written. The narrative flows along at a good pace, and never feels as though it’s moving too slowly or too quickly. The events play out well, building to an excellent climax that leaves me wanting more, and desperate to grab the next and final book to see what happens.

The Bad? There’s just two things I’d like to address in the negative category for this book. The first is this. There are right reasons to finish a series after the original writer has died, and there are wrong reasons. For the most part, Brian Herbert seems genuinely interested in finishing his father’s work and nothing else. However, on the other hand, Frank Herbert’s name does not appear anywhere on the cover or copyright page of my copy of the book. Now, one could make the argument by that fact that he is simply trying to capitalize on his father’s name and work, however, I think the lack of Herbert Senior’s name on the cover was simply a stupid oversight by the publisher and nothing more. Brian Herbert really seems to have a passion and genuine desire to see his father’s epic series come to a satisfying conclusion for all of us fans that were left hanging by Chapterhouse. I’ll leave it to you to decide which it is. I for one, think that he was in it purely to tell the story that his father was unable to tell and for nothing more.

The other thing is not so much a bad thing in my opinion, however, I have seen quite a few fans bemoaning it so I will address it here. Without giving any spoilers, there were two characters introduced in the final chapter of Chapterhouse, an old man and an old woman, the leaders of the unknown enemy that threatens mankind. From the dialog that these characters give, it seems as though they are one thing, but they turn out to be something completely different. In my opinion what they REALLY turn out to be is incredibly epic and even better than what they appeared to be in the first place. It ties things in from the distant past of the Dune Saga, and was, in my opinion, a really mind-blowing plot twist that made the ending all the more awesome. However, a lot of people feel that Brian Herbert cheated them out of what Frank Herbert planned with these two characters, and changed the outline left by his father to make for a better story. I do not believe this is the case. Like I said before, he seems to genuinely want to finish his father’s unfinished work to the best of his abilities. However, just be aware, that where these two characters appeared to be going at the end of Chapterhouse is not where they actually go, and it might seem, to some, as though Brian Herbert meddled in the plotline and changed things around to put his own flair on things.

In conclusion, though this book is not exactly what I would have expected from the original author of the series, it is extraordinarily good. It is one of the best books in the series. Nothing will top the first two, in my opinion, but the two books making up Dune 7 are the next best thing to them. Hunters is perfectly paced, builds to an exciting climax and sets up for an epic conclusion for the series. Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson succeeded in clarifying plot elements and character motivations where Frank Herbert left them far too muddled for me to even really care. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who was a fan of the original six Dune books published by Frank Herbert. I understand the apprehension involved when picking up the end to the series as written by a different author, but the new authors do a very good job of tying things up and explaining things and setting up for a great conclusion. Don’t let the fact that the authors are different keep you from picking this book up, you’re cheating yourself out of an awesome conclusion to a pretty good series.

Check out my other reviews.

P.S. Sorry it took me so long to post this on Goodreads. I meant to get it up two weeks ago, but I completely forgot about it. I hope you enjoy.

Nothing like the books Frank wrote. Everything was very straightforward and explained. Not really worth my time but regardless I read it.

If you are looking for a true sequel to Chapterhouse Dune....this isn't it.

Yes, it is technically a continuation of the original Dune Saga, and picks up where Chapterhouse left off. But Brian Herbert simply cannot fill his father's shoes. It isn't necessarily that he is a horrible writer...he's just a mediocre one. Almost any other writer would pale in comparison to Frank Herbert too.

So instead of feeling like something epic and deep, it feels like something interesting but shallow. Like a really good episode of Star Trek the Next Generation or Babylon 5. He supposedly based it off of his father's notes, so if you are just DYING to know how the Chapterhouse cliffhanger ends, then go ahead and try this book. Just be prepared for a lot of disappointment. Reading the Brian Herbert novels is like reading a cartoon-drama version of the "real" Dune. Its just not the same.

It does have some good spots...there is a point where Murbella confronts an Honored Matre and puts her in her place that literally gave me chills...that feels very much like the Murbella we know from Chapterhouse. But sadly these moments are few and far between. The magic died with Frank Herbert apparently.

a lousy book

You should just stop reading after Chapterhouse. These Brian Herbert books are an abomination. It's not just the writing quality. It seems that the authors just read the wikipedia summary of the originals and created this awful fanfiction.

Honestly this ties in more to the prequels than it does to Frank Herberts originals, and retcons so much of the original work.

I gave up. Brian Herbert's writing is nothing like his father's, and the whole thing just gets riduculous. By the end the whole gang is back together. Silliness and the language is terrible.

I have waited 20 years for this to come out - the conclusion to the Dune saga, written by Frank Herbert's son after he finished the last volume on a cliffhanger and then went and died.

This is the word book I have ever read. It is so bad it is almost indescribable. I want to cry.

Was there really such a thing as the future, or was it just the past, returning over and over?
_______

Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty.

I like this installment better than Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune. I was pleasantly surprised with the direction this story took. Throughout the series, there is the ever-present idea of ancestors being a part of us. Very interesting ideas are explored. Up next, Book #8: Sandworms of Dune.

Favorite Passages:

The future demands your presence.
_______

Legend holds that a pearl of Leto II's awareness remains within each of the sandworms that arose from his divided body. The God Emperor himself said he would henceforth live in an endless dream. But what if he should waken? When he sees what we have done with ourselves, will the Tyrant laugh at us?
_______

Even after so many years, the Ithaca divulged its secrets like old bones rising to the surface of a battlefield after a drenching rain.
_______

Is there a more terrifying sensation than to stand on the brink and peer into the void of an empty future? Extinction not only of your life, but all that has been accomplished by your forefathers? If we Tleilaxu plunge into the abyss of nothingness, does our race's long history signify anything at all?
_______

Illusion, Miles. Illusion is their way. The fashioning of false impressions to achieve real goals, that is how the Tleilaxu work.
_______

The fabric of the universe is connected by threads of thought and tangled alliances. Others may glimpse parts of the pattern, but only we can decipher all of it. We can use that information to form a deadly net in which to trap our enemies.
_______

"He was a good child and a good man," Duncan insisted. "And while he shaped the map of history, Paul was himself shaped by the events around him. Even so, in the end he refused to follow the path that he knew led to so much pain and ruin."
_______

The origins of the Spacing Guild are shrouded in cosmic mists, not unlike the convoluted pathways a Navigator must travel.
_______

"Are you interested in explosives, hand weapons, projectile launchers? We have defensive space mines that can be hidden by no-fields. Please tell me, what is your particular need?"
Murbella met him with a hard gaze. "Everything. We're going to need the whole list."
_______

Muad'Dib could indeed see the Future, but you must understand the limits of this power. Think of sight. You have eyes, yet cannot see without light. If you are on the floor of a valley, you cannot see beyond your valley. Just so, Muad'Dib could not always choose to look across the mysterious terrain. He tells us that a single obscure decision of prophecy, perhaps the choice of one word over another, could change the entire aspect of the future. He tells us "The vision of time is broad, but when you pass through it, time becomes a narrow door." And always, he fought the temptation to choose a clear, safe course, warning "That path leads ever down into stagnation."
________

Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty.
________

Tactile visions encompassed all of her senses, like reality. Had she taken a path to some other place . . . just as the no-ship had once slipped through into an alternative universe?
________

Paul Atreides was a year older than his "mother," his son Leto II was a precocious toddler, and his father Duke Leto had not yet been born. One thing is certain: never in history has there been a family such as this.
_______

The Scattering had broken many threads that bound a multigalactic civilization together, and since Caladan produced little of commercial value, no one wanted to bring the planet back into the overall tapestry.
_______

Simply because something is not seen does not mean it is not there.
_______

A dirty man clad in dirty clothes pushed a dirty cart along the sterile hall, his eyes cast down. "Your delivery of slig meat," called the downtrodden farmer. "Freshly slaughtered, still bloody!"
_______

I will die four deaths - the death of the flesh, the death of the soul, the death of the myth, and the death of reason. And all of these deaths contain the seeds of resurrection.
_______

"I am reluctant to call it Zion, but perhaps it is enough to call it home."
_______

Did you miss me, Grandfather?
"Where are you?"
where you won't lose me. I will always be with you now. Just like you were with me, haunting me, appearing in visions, refusing to give me rest. The girl's giggle became more shrill. Now it's my turn.
It was the Abomination, Paul's sister. "Alia? No, no!" His mind must be playing tricks on him. He dug his fingers against his temple, but the voice was inside, unreachable. With time, she would go away.
Don't count on it, Grandfather. I am here to stay.
________

The spice began to work within her. Closing her eyes, she dove inward, following the taste of melange. She could see the sweeping landscape of Bene Gesserit memories extending to an infinite horizon of human history. She seemed to be running down a kaleidoscopic corridor of mirrors, mother to mother to mother. Fear threatened to overwhelm her, but the Sisters within parted and drew her into their midst, absorbing her consciousness.
________

Then, like a traveler emerging from a narrow defile, she beheld a mental clearing, in which shadowy ghost-women helped her forward. They showed her where to look. A crack in the wall, a way through. Deeper shadows, cold . . . and then - I see! The answer made her reel.
________

A choice can be as dangerous as a weapon. Refusing to choose is in itself a choice.
________

The only thing I like better than the smell of spice is the smell of fresh blood.
________

To suspect your own mortality is to know the beginning of terror. To learn irrefutably that you are mortal is to know the end of terror.
_______

"Of all our enemies, secrets could be the most dangerous."
_______

Future history, when looked at from a broad enough perspective, was indeed predetermined.
Trillions of humans over tens of thousands of years had exhibited a latent racial prescient ability. In myths and legends, the same prediction kept cropping up - the End Times, titanic battles that signaled epic changes in history and society.
_______

The future is not for us to see as passive observers, but for us to create.

One of the biggest letdowns I have ever had the displeasure of reading! The story was riddled with the usual weaknesses of KJA and Brian Herbert's writing style, but the content seemed solid. It kept me interested until the end, and then I was so disappointed with how they wrapped it up that I put it down and refused to buy its sequel! But curiosity got the better of me and I read how they concluded things in the second half. Needless to say, my disappointment only deepened.

***(Spoilers!)***

Instead of the enigmatic figures Daniel and Marty (whom we learned were a new type of free Face Dancers), we learn that the two were actually Eramus and Omnius - in DISGUISE! These two are characters that Brian and KJA invented for their Legends of Dune prequels, which focused on the Butlerian Jihad.

The huge threat that Paul and Leto II foresaw - Kralisec - was actually the threat of the old thinking machines returning from exile. Not only did this make no sense in the context of the story - why would the series end with characters Frank didn't even invent? - it directly contradicted Frank Herbert's ending to Chapterhouse: Dune!

The second installment was also riddled with the shoe-horning of characters from the prequels. People who have never before come up in the series - Serena Butler, Norma Cenva - appear out of nowhere and save the day. The entire cast of the originals is also brought back as gholas just so they can all live happily ever after!

And Duncan Idaho, who's now become the "Ultimate Kwizatz Haderach," decides he won't let his newfound powers corrupt him because... he just won't! He also negotiates a truce with the machines because the message of the entire story (apparently) is that humans and machines need to live together. And the worms are now genetically modified to live in any environment and produce the "Ultimate Spice"!

******

In my opinion, this book and its sequel were not about ending the Dune franchise at all. It was all about tying it to their own take on the Dune franchise and establishing themselves as the new masters of the saga. This is certainly demonstrated by the way they keep producing pulp-like sequels, prequels, and "interquels" that do nothing but try and squeeze more money from the original series.

All the while, they keep claiming that they are writing based on Frank Herbert's original notes, but this is clearly a half-truth at best, a lie of omission at worst. It's obvious that they followed Frank's notes for some elements, but the long-awaited ending they had been promising for years was demonstrably made up by them alone (and all about them). Implying that this was the ending Frank had in mind was a ploy to get all the fans to buy their books. And so many of us were terribly disappointed with the result!