Customer Reviews

Dune - House Harkonnen

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(57)
3 star:		(32)
2 star:		(30)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Perusing the reviews for both House Atreides and House Harkonnen it is easy to find a common current of disatisfaction. It has in fact been noted by all of the great Frank Herbert's readership that with his passing, so to went the genius behind the most imaginative and captivating science fiction series of all time. But isn't it lovely that Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson have accepted the all but impossible task of finishing the story? While neither H.A. or H.H. approach the mastery of the original Dune (deserving of 10 stars) or the philisophical complexity of God Emperor Dune (simply brilliant), they serve the story and the readers admirably by simply giving us a window into the Pre-Paul world of Arrakis. With familiar characters, explained mysteries, and a fast paced, entertaining gait, House Harkonnen is cause for the true Dune afficianado to give cheer. What's more, I recently read Dune again, and found that my further understadning of the characters gave the original series an additional depth which certainly isn't necessary, but nonetheless entirely pleasing. Naysayers will paint this book and H.A. as borrowed and simple, but in truth they reframe and carry on with all the reverenance and stylistic approximation they could possibly muster.

The biggest problem with the Dune prequels is that they do not have the engaging writing style of the originals. Of course, Frank Herbert is dead, but his son is not completely incompetant. He knows how to tell a story, and that's what "House Harkonnen" does well. You have to read "House Atreides" to understand what's going on. This book ties up some loose ends left by that book, but leaves just as many. These, I presume, will be tied up in the third prequel "House Corrino". The plot is very complicated and jumps around from character to character, but it is also engaging. You get to find out some interesting history about some of the best characters from the original series, such as the Emporer's aide Count Fenring.

"House Harkonnen" reads like one of those Star Wars novels. This makes sense, because co-author Kevin Anderson has written several Star Wars novels. His writing style (along with Brian Herbert) just doesn't fit in well with the other Dune novels, which were known for their rich style. My other big complaint with this book is that it is chock-full of torture scenes. Why? I mean, we get it - the Harkonnens are evil. Is it necessary to give all the grisly details? Frank Herbert was far more subtle and effective in portraying good vs. evil. He did not have to resort to shock value.

Still, this book is interesting, at least for its storyline and its insights into Dune's history. I think it's a worthy read for hardcore Dune fans

I gave this book two stars based on its own merits plus one for the attempt. In all fairness, I don’t think anyone could continue Frank Herbert’s work with his expertise, and I’m impressed that someone tried. Were I to compare this with Frank Herbert’s work it would receive half a star. This was a quick, easy read that provided entertainment for a few hours and let me again enjoy the world of Caladan, Dune and the Atreides dukedom.

Unfortunately, the characters were shallow and the short chapters, which bounced from subplot to subplot (in fact, I don’t think there really was a plot, just lots of subplots), became tedious. Some themes, such as Duke Leto’s concubine’s disgruntlement with her status and plotting for marriage so she could be a duke’s wife and attend high court functions in full regal costume and ensure her son the dukedom (breath) were [not very good]. C’tair’s efforts to free the planet Ix from the Tleilaxu were irrelevant. I mean, who cares about Ix? The Harkonnens were well represented as a disgusting house of animals but lacked the scheming trickery for which the Baron is so well known.

I did not find the depth, political maneuvering, and religious genius here that Frank Herbert gave us. With Herbert’s books my mind was able to see everything he wrote; but with this book it was often just words and no internal pictures. There are too many discrepancies in characters and times between this book and Frank’s books.

Please, if you intend on reading Frank Herbert’s Dune series, start with Dune. Let Frank fill your mind with pictures and let him show you the harsh world of Dune and the honorable Fremen people and especially the ever-conniving Bene Gesserit. You’ll better understand the Atreides power at acquiring loyalty. Don’t go into Frank Herbert’s books with the characterizations given by this book. Come back to this later, if you like.

It's almost infinitely hard to match the talent of Herbert the elder; however, Brian Herbert does a good job in trying. "House Harkonnen" fills in some of those missing gaps and provides additional info that you're left wondering about if you truly love the book "Dune." It provides additional traits about the Atreides impending rise to power and offers an intensely in-depth look at some of the main characters, and also the smaller ones, like Hasimir Fenring, which are never entirely explained in the original Frank Herbert series. The series is about as addictive as melange. Although true Dune fans will certainly be disappointed, they should recognize that nothing comes close to the Elder Herbert. It's still a stimulating fast read for those that want to be labeled as true addicts.

I'm a big fan of the Dune series, like most folks seem to be who've written reviews here. I was prepared to like this trilogy by Herbert's son, and really gave it the old college try.

I didn't expect the writing to be up to Herbert's standard, but even with that said, the whole book is in serious need of a firm editor's hand.

What killed it for me was finding the word "muscular" used three times on a single page to describe the same person. I suddenly realized that I couldn't waste any more time on something written this badly.

Dune: House Harkonnen is the second installment in the much-anticipated trilogy which serves as prequel to Frank Herbert's all-time classic SF novel Dune. Written by the late Herbert's son Brian Herbert (a successful author in his own right) and Kevin J. Anderson (who has written roughly 70 books in the last ten years - half of them in media-fiction realms like Star Wars and the X-Files), the trilogy covers the decades leading up to the opening events of Dune.

Having accelerated the demise of his father, Emperor Shaddam IV now sits on the throne of a vast galactic empire. A few years ago, the Tlielaxu (a mysteriously religious race who are masters of genetic engineering) subjugated the planet of the Ixians (famous for their advanced machines). The Tleilaxu, in league with the Emperor, are running a huge, secret program on Ix to create an artificial substitute for the spice melange - the most valuable substance in the universe due to its life-extending properties and ability to enhance mental capabilities. Melange can only be found on the desert planet Dune, ruled by Imperial edict by House Harkonnen. The cruel Baron Vladimir Harkonnen seeks to tighten his control over the spice, while at the same time gaining vengeance against his blood enemies House Atreides, and an all-female cult called the Bene Gesserit (who blackmailed the Baron into cooperating in their secret breeding program to create a super-being known as the Kwisatz Haderach, and later infected him with a slowly debilitating illness). The Baron's rival, the young, popular Duke Leto Atreides, having befriended the exiled Prince and Princess of Ix, hopes to help them regain control of their world. Struggling with the grief of losing his father through the treachery of his mother, Leto also tries to find as much normalcy and love as is possible for a duty-bound world leader.

And those are just the highlights! Anderson and Herbert have tackled an ambitious project almost akin to creating a prequel to the Old Testament - and bound to be surrounded by controversy. Frank Herbert's Dune is one of the most complex and richly imagined worlds in all of science fiction, and has been confirmed as the greatest SF novel of all time for over thirty years. It's almost inevitable than any sequel (or in this case, prequel) will fail to measure up to the expectations of some. Anderson and Herbert have done a good job creating several fast-moving tales intertwined throughout these last two novels. It's an easy read for those unfamiliar with Dune, but also interesting for long-time Dune fans who wanted to know more about this wonderful universe. Along the way, the prequel trilogy answers many questions only hinted at in the original novel.

If any criticism could be made about the prequels, it's that they just don't have the Byzantine mystique of Frank Herbert's original novels. The characters within the prequels would fit well within any of the old pulp dramas - driven by vengeance, driven by justice, driven by love - you get the picture. The Harkonnens, for example, are so ridiculously evil it stretches believability that they could control a thriving empire for millennia! Frank Herbert was a master at plunging you into strange, alien worlds of the far-flung future. The prequel novels, while satisfying, will just never attain the artistry of the original. Nonetheless, as stand-alone stories House Atreides and House Harkonnen are enjoyable, page-turning adventures. House Harkonnen ends with many unanswered questions and unfinished plot threads. I for one eagerly await the completion of the trilogy in October 2001 with the publication of Dune: House Corrino.

I think Frank would be upset. As much as I tried to enjoy this book, my frustration increased with every chapterette. It stands upon the shoulders of giants but fails to reach any stature of its own. The comic bookish chapters are irritatingly fragmented & more akin to literary sound-bites than thoughtful character & plot development. For the record: Islam is a theistic religion, Buddhism is a non-theistic religion- a combination would explode in philosophic nonsequitor.

This book lacks the intellectual and emotional complexity of the original Dune books. Instead we are served up the lightest of pulp fictions, seemingly written for a ten-year-old audience. The characters are cardboard cut-outs - the good guys (Leto, Duncan, Gurney, Rhombur, Abulurd) are plucky and loyal but naive, the bad guys (the Baron, Rabban, the Tleilaxu) sadistic and scheming. We even get the staple of juvenile fiction, the arrogant, aristocratic school bully and his henchman (which seems to draw more on Harry Potter than Dune). The subtleties of character, the internal conflicts and uncertainties in the original books are absent.

In addition, the characters are almost without exception irredeemably stupid in the way they conduct their affairs. Characters react to events and act on impulse based on loyalty/frustration/personal malice rather than carefully thinking out the consequences or thinking strategically. The Baron of the original book would have eaten Leto alive by now. Further, because all the dull thoughts and clumsy actions of the major players are described in prosaic detail there is little in the way of dramatic tension or the sense which the original books had of subtle strategies being played out behind the scenes.

Even if the book is read purely as backfill for the original series, the entire Victor, Fenring, Abulurd, Ix/Tleilaxu, Ginaz and Moritani/Ecaz subplots add nothing substantive other than a growing sense of incredulity. The histories of Duncan and Gurney are so thin and unlikely that I would have preferred to remain in ignorance.

When I first picked this up, I was looking forward to it. Dune: House Atreides was not all that great, but let's face it - bad guys are more interesting to read about than good guys, right? Unfortunately, I was disappointed. This book is not awful, but it is slightly worse than the first one. My observations...

Do your thinking for you. This book continues the mistake of Dune: House Atreides in insisting on digesting absolutely everything for you. One particularly blatant example is explaining the true nature of axlotl tanks. This had been hinted at but never spelled out in the original Dune Chronicles; it's better that way.

Bad writing. Not only do they continue to do the reader's thinking, but they do so with annoying repetitiveness. For example, on p. 206, they write, "There was no shame in it for Kailea, either, especially with her lack of prospects." Then on p. 208, they write, "For Kailea there would certainly be no shame in becoming the chosen lover of a Duke." This is just one example; there are dozens. Other Amazon reviewers mention other examples (rugs in Earl Vernius's office, use of "muscular" three times on one page, Kailea's "emerald" eyes ...). The elecran chapter was a complete distraction; what point to introducing such an absurd creature (were they trying to copy Herbert Senior's brilliant conception of the sandworms? if so, they failed!) if it matters not to the rest of the book? Chapter transitions are still choppy and distracting.

Boring Sections. Some of the plot lines are monumentally boring. In particular, Duncan Idaho's 8 years at the Ginaz Swordmaster School (which for some reason I can't quite put my finger on, seems to me to be the chapters the authors would be most proud of) are beyond silly. And when you get the end and witness the Swordmasters' pathetic actions, it truly makes you wish you had skipped all the chapters related to this particular plot line.

Clumsy Politics. The political universe which Frank Herbert created, which we believed had survived for 100 centuries, is shattered by the ridiculously clumsy actions that Herbert Junior & Anderson put their characters through. A universe in which people behaved this way wouldn't last 1 century before cataclysmic war took place.

Contradictions. The book contradicts the original Dune novel in too many places to mention exhaustively (Lady Jessica's mother is a blatant error). They should have gone back and re-read the original before writing this.

Unbelievable Plot. Often the authors rely on lazy and contrived solving of plot lines (some our outright deus ex machina arrangements) just to make everything fit together. The motivations of some characters are even more absurd than Lady Helena's in the first book. Some actions are absurd and do not fit in with anything else we've ever read about the Dune universe (the Bene Gesserit when they are visited by the Baron Harkonnen).

Unlikeable Characters. Even after all of the above, the book would still be above average. Their worst sin, however, is that they simply write many of their characters in such a way that they are downright unlikeable. Abulurd Harkonnen needs to grow a pair. With Rhombur, they seem to be going for the tragic hero, but instead end up depicting an ineffectual buffoon. Most unlikeable of all, Kailea is annoying and petulant (although I think this plot line could have been infinitely improved if the readers -- like the characters -- did not find out what was happening until the end, rather than being told at the beginning).

For all this, if you are a Dune fan, this book is still a somewhat enjoyable read. Herbert Junior & Anderson had the right plot ideas at the "macro" level (again I assume this is the result of Herbert Senior's notes and not their own brilliance) even if they failed to execute them properly at the "micro" level. Again, I would rate this between 2 or 3 stars, although a bit lower than Dune: House Atreides.

As I had mentioned when I reviewed House: Atreides it seems like these books are rushed. Decades of thought were put into Dune before Frank Herbert put pen to paper, and yet Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson seem to crank one out once a year all while writing other books, comic books, book tours, and other distractions.

It seems that this is their specialty. Because after this series they went right into wiping out another trilogy detailing the events of the Butlerian Jihad and now they are writing two more books summing up the events of Frank Herbert's masterpieces.

I did like some of the plot points of House: Atreides and you get a closer look at familiar (and non-familiar) characters from the Dune saga in House: Harkonnen. But in the end, I was left wondering why? Why, why, why??

First, why the name? All three major houses (Atreides, Harkonnen, and Corrin) are featured in all three books. What little extra attention this book gave to the Harkonnen's was hardly worth calling it a book after their name. More focus was given to the Atreides house in all three books.

My other why was why was this series written at all? There really is nothing new here. Everything new is unimportant, with the possible (slight possibility) of the stories of House Vernius. Everything that was important is already already known from the first Dune book.

However, if you are a Dune fan I would still suggest you read this. There is very little depth added to the characters we already know and love, but another visit into the Dune universe is still nice, fun, and comforting. You get a slightly new perspective on the story of Dune.

I think the best thing they did was they didn't change any of the characters to justify their actions in the Dune novel. Not once did I say, "Now, that isn't the Duke Leto I know," for Duke Leto or any other character.

So, if you love Dune, consider this series. Better yet, pick up the Butlerian Jihad trilogy. I'm in the middle of that now. It still lacks of the depth of anything Frank Herbert wrote but you are dealing with Dune long, long before any of this part of the story takes place. We get a good idea of what the Butlerian Jihad was about, but this look into the Dune Universe is much more new than this series ever will be.