They delete reviews with fewer stars

books:


	• Sandworms of Dune Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson Tor Books, 2007 - 496 pages average customer review:based on 126 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

The Enemy Closes In

Sandworms of Dune (2007) is the second SF novel in the sequel duology, following Hunters of Dune. In the previous volume, on the no-ship Ithaca, the ghola of Paul Atreides stole a wafer of melange and initiated a bit of prescience. The other gholas continued to form close relationships. Duncan Idaho dumped all reminders of Murbella out the airlock.

On Caladan, the ghola of Paul Atreides was kept separate from the ghola of Vladimir Harkonnen for his own safety. On Chapterhouse, the Mother Commander realized the extent of the ruin left by the Honored Matres and the Great Enemy. Elsewhere, the Enemy unleashed its endless fleets of warships.

In this novel, twenty-one years after the escape from Chapterhouse, Jessica witnesses the birth of the Alia ghola onboard no-ship Ithaca. Alia is the first of the new series of gholas to be born. Forthcoming are Gurney Halleck, Serena Butler and Xavier Harkonnen.

The Rabbi chastises Sheena for the new gholas. Althought Sheena had stopped the production of gholas from the axlotl tanks after an ominous dream, she had recently restarted the practice. The more conservative Bene Gesserits tried to convince her to totally discontinue these births, but near capture by Enemy Handlers had persuaded her otherwise.

The Enemy is still looking for the no-ship. Omnius and Erasmus have widened their tachyon nets and monitor them attentively. Duncan Idaho has always slipped through their nets, but the thinking machines don't give up easily.

On Chapterhouse, Murbella installs a disabled combat robot within her council chambers. The machine is harmless in itself, but reminds her of the relentless Enemy. It helps motivate the New Sisterhood in its plans to resist the machines.

Murbella always finds someone who wants to flee the Enemy or cut deals with it. The deactivated robot reminds them that the Enemy cannot be outrun, outbreed or bribed. Nothing stops the ponderous approach of the Enemy ships.

In this story, the Face Dancers infiltrate the personnel of the Ixians, the CHOAM merchants and even the New Sisterhood. Gradually the Sisters learn to identify the new Face Dancers, but Face Dancers replace the testers and continue undermining the resistance. Murbella thinks that the New Sisterhood is preparing to meet the Enemy, but the Face Dancers are making a mockery out of her efforts.

Meanwhile, the Ithaca suffers from onboard saboteurs. Bene Gesserit truthtrancers question everyone onboard, but find nothing. Remote monitors are installed throughout the ship, but only infrequent glimpses of disguised saboteurs are produced. Then eight of the mines kept in the armory are found to be missing.

This story keeps looking worse for those resisting the Enemy. The Face Dancers have produced their own gholas of Baron Harkonnen and Paul Atreides. The machine ships are overwhelming world after world. The Guild Navigators are dying and being replaced by computers under the control of Omnius. What else could go wrong?

Well ... the efforts by a Tleilaxu Master to save the sandworms has resulted in armored predators that devastate the soostone beds on Buzzell. The warships and weapons being produced by the Guild are being sabotaged by Face Dancers. A ghola on the Ithaca is found to be a Face Dancer. Then the Enemy releases plagues on Chapterhouse.

How can the thinking machines and Face Dancer be stopped? Will the old Empire be destroyed by the Enemy? Who IS the ultimate Kwisatz Haderach being sought by the Enemy and the Oracle of Time?

This novel is filled with death and despair. Yet the conclusion is just a little too pat. Not quite as good as the originals.

Recommended for Herbert fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of interdimensional pursuits, deadly sisterhoods, and pompous thinking machines.

-Arthur W. Jordin

for more information click here

They delete reviews with fewer stars

Well now that the pleasantries are concluded let me warn not to buy this after all because this is the most dreadful piece of writing that could ever come out of a computer printer. It is simply ghastly. I would recommend that even if you get this from someone as a gift you skimp on toilet paper and use this book instead.
To be fair, I actually thought Legends of Dune was entertaining, and even Hunters wasn't too bad, it was actually decent B sci-fi writing- if you have nothing better to do than turn the pages and turn your brain off you will enjoy it. This book was different, this book made me want to vomit. The characters do asinine things far too often that are not only destructive but totally out of character. Even a poorly trained lab rat would make better decisions than the characters in this book: "There is a spy on the no ship, his name is the Rabbi go stop him" Duncan: "uh, whats a spy? What a rabbi? Oh no, owe owe, help I have been betrayed." Please. Not only is the writing bland and predictable, with a dreadful ending, you will be lost while walking through the novel. Honestly, Waterworms? Magical Norma? Paulo Paul fights normal Paul? Mighty morphing power worms? A paranoid prophecy seeking robot bent on destruction through not using destructive weapons? 8 different Deus Ex Machinas? Good Lord, you can't even imagine how horrible this book is. The great themes of dune are spat on, plot lines truncate suddenly, characters are badly mismatched not only from Frank's Dune, the last book, and even earlier in this book! The authors did no rereading of lore and didn't bounce a single idea of anyone else, instead one afternoon they sat down and plungered this book through the literary pipeline to a store near you. Don't read this book, don't buy this book and don't support this book. Go buy the original and send a message that you wont tolerate cheap literary diarrhea!

for more information click here

awesome

brian herbert ended the story of all sci-fi stories in the world created by his father frank herbert. i absolutely loved this book though i thought the ending could hav had a different end to it, but nevertheless the story was as gripping as reading the original dune. so indepth w/ the continuing story left off from chapterhouse and hunters of dune. any sci-fi fan who has never read a single dune book has to absolutely read this series, the prequels give the reader so much more detail of who the characters are and how they became who they are.

Quantity, Baby

I never really had much of an opinion about these Herbert-Anderson books until now.

It took me FOREVER to finish this book--I was bored to tears 3/4 of way through. This begs the question: Why two volumes?

The problem with so many characters is that they ultimately become disposable. Moreover, there is not a whole lot of emotional investment in the Herbert-Anderson writing style, which is a very bad thing considering all the emotionally-charged situations that occur in the Dune universe.

I big thing missing (for me) was a description of how the characters are thinking and feeling in very specific situations. Instead it's all very watery, often delivered with a single low-calorie paragraph before moving on.

The ending was pretty satisfying, if a bit rushed. It confirmed a suspicion I had about a major character. The writing definitely improved towards the end, which makes me suspect it was based more on Frank Herbert's original outline (if that makes sense).

Reduce it to a single volume, drastically reduce the number of characters, and add some emotional punch. That, I believe, would be a more satisfying read.

Found only one typo.

for more information click here

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, page 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

hot

not?

What's your opinion?

Write a review and share your thoughts!

recommendations

Best Science Fiction Novels of 2007
Alien.Otherworldly Fiction Favs
Good books to get lost in!
Pulse Pounding Adventure
Amazing action

search for books
sandworms of dune, dune, sandworms

Impressum / about us