Herbert, Frank: How do the newer Dune series books compare with the Originals?

They get hate on every message board, I swear. I would absolutely not read 8 books by Brian & Kevin if I didn't like the first one I read. Why do you people torture yourselves??
 
I've yet to read the new Dune books, so I really hope that they ARE as good as the first books. I must admit they have been on my 'to read' list for ages and I was looking forward to getting them. :(
 
Spade said:
Why do you people torture yourselves??
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Some of us learn fast, Spade - I read, with a struggle, House Atreides, and then about a third of House Harkonnen, then gave up....

​
 
Well, they're written by different people. I enjoy the House prequels. I was 16 or so when I read them, and I highly enjoyed them. I wasn't looking for anything deep or rewarding - just some fun escapism. They're definitely a lot better than Tess of the d'Urbervilles or Jane Eyre or some of that other crap I was supposed to be reading.

My patience started wearing thin around the Battle of Corrin, and I haven't read Heretics or Chapterhouse (I own them though), so I'm a long way from finishing up this series. I will in fact, though, check out Paul of Dune when it is released.
 
Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune were written by Frank Herbert. And anything written by him is orders of magnitude better than those written by his son and Kevin J Anderson.
 
This is a very long-running thread. My assumption has to be that there is really some interest in the stories being generated or there would be no reason for discussion, except to bash them.

I've read all 6 of the original Dune books (long ago) and finally was intrigued enough by the prospect of delving into supposed prior events leading to mentats, the Bene Tleilax, Guild navigators, etc. that I read "The Machine Crusade". And I stopped right there. The story and characters were so juvenile and melodramatic that there was no semblance of "revelation" to anything contained therein. In other words, I was not at all enlightened and, worse, wasn't entertained either.

Are any of the others any good? Or is that too much to hope for?

Jim
 
Short answer: no. And yes.

To be fair, the House trilogy are slightly better than the Legends trilogy. The two Dune sequels - Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune - are worse. And Road to Dune, the fix-up, might only appeal to fans of the books but I found it quite an interesting read.
 
My polcy on reading books or series is dont critisze that which I've not at least attempted to read. I attempted to read the machine crusade as like most of the posters here I liked the idea of finding out how it all started, god was I disapointed :mad: I think Kevin J Andersons should stick to star wars novelisations as that's what the preqel I read felt like!
 
I have read ALL of the Dune books (except for Sandworms of Dune) more than once and I liked them all. Yes Brian and Kevin's style is different from Frank's. That doesn't make the books bad, they just have a different flow. I thought the prequels did a good and enternaning job with the origins of everything. And the continuation of the orig. Dune series was something I've been waiting on for years, ever since I finished Chapterhouse Dune. When I read Hunters of Dune, I was a little suprised about the way the story was going, but I still liked it. But IMO, if you haven't read the Legends Trilogy, then you might have a hard time linking or should I say understanding the events in these new set of books.
 
*zzzz*

No, not really... (just finished Sandworms and need time for the brain-ache to go away)
 
Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune are a good wrap up to the entire saga (apparantly based on Frank Herberts unfinished notes), neatly combining the original story lines from Frank Herberts series (which was left incomplete after Chapterhouse Dune) and the new information unveiled in the prequels and the Butlerian Jihad era novels.
 
There's a great deal of dispute just how much they "wrap up" Frank Herbert's Dune books. It seems unlikely that FH himself would have come up with Omnius, Erasmus or the Synchronized Worlds. Not to mention the deus ex machina to end all dei ex machina Oracle of Time....
 
I am an avid Dune fan I have read all books to date and am awaiting next book in "Heroes" trilogy. I personaly think that the new Dune books are nowhere near as good as the old ones. They are good but do not have the story depth of the originals:(
 
Aside from the bad writing the originals have something extra.

He was writing this stuff befor the computer age really got rolling, that's what they are really about.

The pain gives you genetic memories, a huge database about how humans act and interact.

The spice gives you awareness about what is going on all around you.

The superman mentat can use this to extrapolate future events.

The Emperor book was boring but look at the basic plot. The baseline ghola is prodded again and again untill he tries to kill leto. This is the same as running a computer model over and over with slightly different parameters each time.

Then you have the extra things like the fuel supply all being in one spot in a desert surrounded by fanatics(sound familier?)
 
I sort of agree, I'm in the middle of Paul of Dune and i have found these books to be typical of Kevin J. Anderson's style. They are quite simplistic with no real ideas or plots. They're nowhere near as complex and well written as the original, but i do find them very enjoyable as they're easy to read on the train.
 
Tabitha said:
How do the newer Dune series books compare with the Originals?

I am a big fan of the original Dune books - I think the first one is the book that I have read most often - and I re-read books a lot

I haven't read any of the more recent Dune books - but I was wondering if anyone that has would like to share their opinions on them.
Do they compare well with Herbert's originals? Do the stories fit well with what has already been told? When are they set?

Should I run out and buy them right now? ;)
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I've read read 3 or four. They are good for laying the foundation for how the science and religion developed for Dune. He also explores the the mayor families and how their disfunctional relationships happened. Once you read these, all is clear as to what and why happens in Dune and Frank Herbert's sequels, in some of them.
 
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