Frank & Brian Herbert

[Prover of Life]

Since no one else has mentioned this......

Love the Dune books. Brian is doing a pretty decent job of continuing the story. Just wish he would hurry up and release the conclusion following Chapterhouse.

If not mistaken, the soon coming books are:

Book of Dune {short stories}

Hunters of Dune {immediately following Chapterhouse}

Sandworms of Dune {conclusion of saga}

Paul of Dune trilogy {gap betwn House Corrino & Dune Messiah}


Brian is not as deep as his father, but overall does well.

[Avatar]

Haven't tried the "prequels" yet, but will as soon as I get a chance (read can buy them cheap), but the originals, especially the first one, were amazing.

Never really got into the sequels, until I read them all one after the other, from Dune to Chapter House Dune, a long epic spanning tens of thousands of years.

But let us never forget that Dune wasn't the only books he was known for. My absolute personal favourite of all his other books was Hellstrom's Hive, a truly awesome look at a human society that based itself on insects. If you've never read it, I heartily recommend it.

Soul Catcher was pretty good as well.

--Avatar

[Prover of Life]

Haven't read that one, but have read several others. Dune just really captivated me. My other favorite is THE WHITE PLAGUE. A dereanged scientist looses a global catastrophe that only kills women. Manner of contact was ingenious, yet simple.

I noticed on Amazon UK the sequel to Chapterhouse is due in Oct 2006. Dune and possibly Covenant the same time. Great.

[Avatar]

aah, yes, enjoyed White Plague as well. Infectious agent placed on money by the IRA, IIRC, and sent to people around the world? Pretty good.

Do yourself a favour and find Hellstrom's Hive. One of his best I think.

--Avatar

[lhaughlhann]

Im a huge fan of Dune and its sequels. But mainly the first three books by Frank. Brian's stuff im not so hot on though, i dl'd the preview chapters of his Dune books and wasnt all that taken.

Frank's Dosadi Experiment wasnt too bad either.

[Ainulindale]

I love Dune, it's a timeless classic by an absolute master Frank Herbert. That said, I absolutely think the prequels by Kevin J. Anderson and the boy Herbert are an absolute mockery. If it was just shabby writing I could probably look past it, but there constant retooling of their own sophmoric storyline that doesn't corelate with the mythos and established canon is just to much for a continuity freak like me. I think they are an abomination (in terms of Dune, not on any personal level).

That said I am hooked to Dune, and I kept buying all the Dune prequel no matter how dire each and every one were, and I will continue to buy Dune novels, more out of morbid curiosity than anything else I am afraid.

[Lady Revel]

Don't shoot me, but I really liked the prequels. No, they aren't Frank Herbert's Dune, but that doesn't make them bad, in my opinion, just different.

I've gotten as far as the Butlerian Jihad, and that one isn't really drawing me in, but House Atreides, Harkonen and Corrinno I really enjoyed. Enough to reread.

[FizbansTalking_Hat]

Original Dune series is one of my favorites of all times. And anyone who has read all the way through to Chapterhouse understands that when you get to the end of the book, you're kind of going WHAT, what happens next, well his DEATH happened. But he had a few rough drafts of the completed saga already done before his death and his son will simply edit and help finish the story. Which I am eagerly looking forward to finishing the complete saga.

That being said I've read all of the Preludes to Dune (House Books) as well as the Legends of Dune (Jihad, Corrin War), and they were awesome to me. I loved them, full of action and adventure. Sure they didn't have the same political sociological satire that Herbert had with the original story, but Brian and Kevin, have done the best that they can to make the story their own, yet still capturing the essence of Frank's vision.

The thing is, hardcore fans, which I consider myself one, many like myself are pissed off at his son, for not writing like his father, but I never expected that. Thats unfair to the son, he can't and never will write like Frank did, he can simply try to make his own mark to his father's legacy, and I think he has in his own way by realizing the stories that his father only vaguely referred to.

But to each their own. I am looking forward to the Road to Dune which has lost chapters of the original Dune an Dune Messiah(<-- My personal favorite) as well as the final Duology of Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune, we see the story going in the direction it was meant to, a full circle, a cycle of the spice cycle and the worms. Wahooo, it sbeen a long wait, I might have to go back and re-read soon, cheers.

[Iryssa]

I still haven't read the prequels, but I'm gonna start on House Atreides as soon as I'm done reading Heretics of Dune (so in a couple nights )
I'm absolutely adoring this series!! I said on my blog that I'm gonna have to read it twice, and that still holds true (not that I'm complaining or anything ).
I'm the kind of person that reads faster than I probably should, so I've been getting lots of plot but I'm not processing as much of the philosophy of it as I'd like (not to say I haven't been doing it at all...)

[Avatar]

Twice for the original series is not going to be nearly enough. I guarantee it.

--A

[Fist and Faith]

Indeed, twice won't do it.

The original Dune is, imo, among the best books ever written in any genre. Mindboggling.

Frank's next five books are certainly great, but, for me, too far-reaching and confusing to rank with the original. I hope to read them again, but I can't imagine when I'll get the chance.

I've only read the first four prequels so far. I loved the first trilogy - the Houses. Yeah, some things were changed, but there was still some great stuff. The dirty Tleilaxu and Duncan's graduation stand out in my mind, and my favorite part of all was Margot meeting the Fremen. It was also nice to see Leto grow up. He's very cool.

[Avatar]

Aah, I must get hold of the prequels. And I agree again. The first book is still far and away the best.

I didn't really appreciate the others until several re-reads later, and even then, not fully until I'd re-read them all again, one after the other, and I suddenly got the whole concept of this awesome, galaxy-spanning empire that Leto II had created, for a very specific, and completely un-understood, purpose.

(It's sort of like returning to the Land in the 2nd Chrons. Everything is so different, but there is the strong hint of familiarity, the strange changes, the almost recognisable ideas.)

--A

[Loredoctor]

My absolute personal favourite of all his other books was Hellstrom's Hive, a truly awesome look at a human society that based itself on insects. If you've never read it, I heartily recommend it.

Must buy!

[Prover of Life]

Road To Dune should be out in a couple of months. Anyone read the ARC yet?

[Dragonlily]

No, who is publishing it?

[Prover of Life]

No, who is publishing it?

Tor. There are some on ebay going for upwards of $20. Cant really see the use of paying as much for an ARC as for a new HB.

[Dragonlily]

Cant really see the use of paying as much for an ARC as for a new HB.

You'd have to be a dedicated collector, wouldn't you.

[taraswizard]

Dosadi Experiment. Was good, and I read the three part Amazing serialization and not the novel version.

[Prover of Life]

Cant really see the use of paying as much for an ARC as for a new HB.

You'd have to be a dedicated collector, wouldn't you.

Or have more money than sense!