Hunters of Dune by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson
2 out of 5 (It was ok)
At the end of Chapterhouse: Dune—Frank Herbert‘s final novel–a ship carrying the ghola of Duncan Idaho, Sheeana, and a crew of various refugees escapes into the uncharted galaxy, fleeing from the monstrous Honored Matres, dark counterparts to the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. The nearly invincible Honored Matres have swarmed into the known universe, driven from their home by a terrifying, mysterious Enemy. As designed by the creative genius of Frank Herbert, the primary story of Hunters and Sandworms is the exotic odyssey of Duncan’s no-ship as it is forced to elude the diabolical traps set by the ferocious, unknown Enemy. To strengthen their forces, the fugitives have used genetic technology from Scytale, the last Tleilaxu Master, to revive key figures from Dune’s past. Each of these characters will use their special talents to meet the challenges thrown at them.
Failure is unthinkable–not only is their survival at stake, but they hold the fate of the entire human race in their hands.
Review:
Hunters of Dune is the first of two novels that attempt to continue/end the main story of Dune, once and for all. I decided to give them a chance because they promised to give answers to a few questions, and supposedly they are from an outline from the original author. However, to me, the final original book, Chapterhouse: Dune, ended well enough and it wasn’t like after completing that one I was saying, “what? That’s it?”, or anything along those lines. Not at all. It had a good science-fiction ending.
Anyway, this book lived up to its poor reputation. Truthfully, the writing was pretty awful. Even after giving the new authors the benefit of the doubt (because of course these are nearly impossible shoes to fill), it was still unacceptable. If this were an independent book I see no way how this would be picked up by a publisher. It was full of tell, with very little show.
The only thing going for it was it did happen to take place in the same Dune universe, and the story picked up where the last original book left off. The characters were back, however they seemed to lack their superior, unemotional intelligence from before. They just weren’t themselves.
There isn’t much more to say about this book. I will still be reading the last book next, if only to find out what the final, final ending is and because this is the last Dune book I will ever be reading, so what the heck.
NEXT BOOK: Sandworms of Dune.
© 2013 FOTS Fantasy
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