Sunday, January 20, 2013

Winds of Dune

Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
Tor, 2009 (my copy is from Tor, 2009)
Size: Average (my hardcover copy has 448 pages)
Theme: Space Opera
Narrative: third-person
Main character: Bronso Vernius, Jessica Atreides
Recommended minimum age: Teenager
Would purchase as a gift to any sci-fi reader: UNLIKELY



Set in Frank Herbert’s Dune universe, this is the second of two midquels, this one bridging the gap between “Dune Messiah” and “Children of Dune”. Whereas its predecessor told of Paul Muad’Dib’s Jihad, this novel covers the history of Bronso Vernius and the events going on in the Dune palace where Alia is the regent of the Empire and Jessica works on her relationship with her daughter while attempting to prevent her from losing her humanity in the difficult role she has been cast.

Bronso has a negligible role in the original Dune series, but in this novel, we are given a detailed look into why he started producing his manifestos against Paul Muad’Dib, and why he is aided several times by Jessica (who even ends up recruiting Gurney Halleck to passively assist Bronso by trying to sabotage the vigorous search efforts of Duncan Idaho). He is cast as one of Paul’s best friends ever. Their early interactions as children were described in “Paul of Dune”. Bronso, who came to be known as Bronso of Ix, was the son of prince Rhombur and Tessia. His quest to spread an accurate history of Paul Muad’Dib, as a man rather than a God, an alternative to the exaggerations that Irulan (incited by Alia) continues releasing, is shown to have been highly assisted by face dancers.

I read this right after “Paul of Dune”. While this book did not annoy me with some terrible writing as the first sub-chapters of the previous one, it also failed to impress me. Not that I was expecting anything with the depth of Frank Herbert’s writing… But this felt even less convincing than Brian’s previous Dune incursions, such as the Prelude to Dune or Legends of Dune trilogies. Both of those series were much more enjoyable. This novel also introduced guiltcasters, such as Reverend Mother Stokiah, who are capable of causing terrible psychological damage, but which is a skill not featured anywhere in the original series. Why introduce this, and not provide a reasonable explanation of why Bene Gesserit stopped using the technique?

Reading a bit more about the Dune universe, and learning about Bronso, a character that had never been explored, was interesting. However, I would not recommend this to anyone but die-hard Dune fans, and definitely only as a follow-up to the previous midquel.
Related work:
Note that this should be read after the previous midquel entitled “Paul of Dune”. These two midquels are collectively called the “Heroes of Dune” series. In addition, there are many other books set in the Dune universe, all of which intrinsically related.


Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Paul of Dune


Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
Tor, 2008 (my copy is from Tor, 2008)
Size: Average (my hardcover copy has 512 pages)
Theme: Space Opera
Narrative: third-person
Main character: Paul Atreides
Recommended minimum age: Teenager
Would purchase as a gift to any sci-fi reader: UNLIKELY



Set in Frank Herbert’s Dune universe, this is a midquel that bridges between the original “Dune” novel and its sequel “Dune Messiah”. It tells the story of how Paul Atreides, or Paul Muad’Dib, set in motion the Jihad that established his rule over the galactic empire. It also covers important events that took place when Paul was young and Leto Atreides was the Duke of Caladan, events that shaped Paul into the leader he would later become.

The book is divided into large chapters for the two key timelines: young Paul Atreides and Emperor Paul Muad’Dib. Narration follows the style of previous novels by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, namely, the storyline switches from character to character, with very short sub-chapters, which for me works very well. I find it makes the story more compelling and that it gives a better global picture of all the intertwined events that are developing simultaneously.

Reading more about the Dune universe is a treat, since it is one of my all-time favorite sagas, but this book has several shortcomings that I was unable to ignore. Although I have previously praised Brian Herbert’s “Legends of Dune” trilogy and also his “House Triology”, which had an entirely different style from Frank Herbert, but worked very well as adventure stories (on a space-opera span), I found “Paul of Dune” to be of poor design and worse implementation. The first two or three sub-chapters were bluntly written, with multiple repetitions nagging the reader about simple things that anyone would have inferred without having to be repeatedly bludgeoned with them. After a few dozen pages, I was half-expecting some side caption in bold red letters making sure we had understood the characters’ feelings (Paul, Irulan, etc). Luckily, the book does improve a bit along its length, and I eventually ended up enjoying the additional bits of story from the fantastic universe created by Frank Herbert. I would not recommend this as a single novel, but many Dune die-hard fans will likely enjoy the opportunity to simply read more about Dune. Although not impressed by the writing style or the lack of depth of the plot, I will go through the next book in the series and hope it improves.

Related work:
Note that another midquel entitled “Winds of Dune” exists to fill in the gap between “Dune Messiah” and “Children of Dune”. These two midquels are collectively called the “Heroes of Dune” series, although I fail to see the point of coming up with a collection title for only two books (originally they were supposed to be 4, but at the time this review was written, recent information indicated the last 2 novels had been indefinitely postponed). In addition, there are many other books set in the Dune universe, all of which intrinsically related.