Customer Reviews

Sandworms of Dune

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(29)
2 star:		(20)
1 star:		(47)

 

 

Brian Herbert is not his father. With that in mind, I read this book, not expecting him or Kevin to write exactly like Frank. But even with NOT expecting Brian to write just like his father, this book SUCKED. There were SO many things wrong with this book. It was full of unnecessary, plodding details. Alia and Serena Butler acting as Other Memory even though neither of them had surviving descendants, is utter ridiculousness. The Baron-ghola and Erasmus commented on Alia and Serena in Other Memory respectively, wondering how they could be there (just like us readers) yet Brian and Kevin never offer a explanation for this. It's like they're saying 'Well, we're the ghostwriters, so we'll rewrite FH's canon however we want, and you can suck it!'

I was also VERY disappointed in the fact that nothing is revealed of Gilbertus Alban's fate. Erasmus thinks a lot about Serena, but you'd think that he'd have some thoughts about his ward, because out of the entire population of humankind, Serena and Gilbertus are both undeniably very important to Erasmus.

The thing with Norma Cenva and Omnius was one of the most ill-thought out ways to wrap up things, and the fate of some of the gholas, Leto II, Sheeana, etc, was all one HUGE disaster. The ending left me feeling unfulfilled and frustrated. I plodded through what, over 1000 pages (Hunters/Sandworms) only to see this crappy ending that RAPED my fond memories of Dune to the fiber of their very being.

One of the central themes to Frank's Dune books was that we must free ourselves of any one guiding force - hence Leto II Atreides' Golden Path to force the Famine Times and the Scattering, so that humankind would not be united under one ruler and become diversified, finding new ways to survive and learning how to adapt. And this was all RUINED when Duncan Idaho merged with Erasmus to become the Ultimate Kwisatz Haderach. This goes against the very message that Frank Herbet - through his characters Paul Muad'Dib and Leto II - was trying to teach us. Sure, we can assume that Frank had some big plans for Sheeana. After all, she is the descendant of Siona and she was able to control the worms. But I doubt that she would have become a ultimate Kwisatz Haderach. Rather, I feel that Herbert had planned for her to become the next 'example' of the Golden Path, a key figure to ensure humankind's survival after Paul, Leto II, and Siona.

And I was VERY disappointed in the lack of Darwi Odrade's Other Memory in Dune 7. She was so important in Chapterhouse Dune, and Kevin and Brian have all but thrown her aside and concentrated on some storyline concentrating on the gholas aboard the Ithaca and other crap that is really irrelevant to the whole scheme of Dune. Hunters/Sandworms concentrated on the gholas, personal drama, some bull about sea-worms (WTF???) while ignoring main characters that had been vital in previous books.

It would have been far more conceivable for the Other Enemy to be Erasmus himself rather than Omnius, or some rogue Face Dancers or renegade Tleilaxu or a female group more sinister than the Honored Matres, or some twisted male version of the Bene Gesserit or Mentats.

The very ending, with the Paul and Chani gholas just cheesed me off. Everything was wrapped up far too neatly, which is something Herbert would never have done. Leto II fought to keep mankind from stagnating, at personal cost to himself and his reputation, so to ensure its survival in the Scattering. By having Duncan Idaho become the OMG ULTIMATE KWISATZ HADERACH!!!!!!! is bringing humankind under one ruler again and will lead to eventual stagnation again.

And so many details were unnecessary - all the subplots in Dune 7, oy! The House trilogy wasn't such a bad read, but in the grand scheme of the Dune universe was really unnecessary. Frank Herbert was a master of concentrating on the big picture, and painting a grand image with but a few words. He left mentions here and there of history - Butlerian Jihad, Paul's jihad, and what have you. The details of such things is not needed in the grand scheme of the Duneverse. We Dune fans aren't retards who need every single detail expanded on. That's why we liked Frank Herbert. The Duneverse is different from the more familiar and popular sci-fi universes - Star Trek, Star Wars, what have you. Mind you, I'm not badmouthing George Lucas or whatever, but Dune was different and we liked it for that. Brian and Kevin just ruined it for us.

Frank Herbert is without a doubt spinning in his grave. How dare you besmirch his memory by planning to write even MOAR Dune books! We don't need 'Paul of Dune' and whatever else you have planned. Just stop writing, seriously. Haven't you raped Frank Herbert's legacy up the wazoo for long enough? People didn't like the books you wrote, and for good reason. For the sake of Frank Herbert's legacy, just stop.

The book directly contradicts facts established in Frank Herberts originals. Not trivial bits, but major plot points such as who and what important characters are, rewriting the background for the universe, etc.

What is worse is that it makes a mockery of the themes Frank Herbert explored in his originals: Where they discussed the problems of handing over decision-making to mechanical things and power structures, the new books talk of an evil robot trying to eradicate mankind for no apparent reason.
After Frank spent 6 books demolishing the hero archetype, charismatic leaders and our dependency on them and warning us about 'putting all our eggs in one basket' as a species, this book applauds religious fervor to incite mankind to band together under a single leader.

If you liked Frank Herbert's work for the multilayered plotting, believable characters, well crafted universe and themes of humanity, politics and overall philosophical approach to science fiction - you will feel your fond memories violated.

If you thought Dune was an action novel with a few draggy bits but a lot of lasers, giant worms and über-cool heroes and villains - then you might enjoy this and other KJA&BH work. You would also be wrong...

Wow. This novel (along with Hunters) was simply awful, plagued by a childish writing style and uninteresting plot developments. I was very disappointed with this work.

Seaworms? Honestly? You mean to tell me that after thousands of years of experimentation in sandworm propagation, that a half-baked Tlielaxu was the first to think of such a thing? What was the point in doing this? the seaworm plotline was unnecessary for this tale, and does much to diminish the worm mythology.

The rest of the story reads like an unbearably protracted curtain call for all the most famous characters of the Dune universe. The re-introduction of many of these characters was pointless, and contributed little to the development of the story. Such extreme disappointment. I would have preferred a beautifully illustrated coffee table book, containing prints of Herbert's actual notes. Harumph. I would wager that they wouldn't have much in common with this novel as it was published.

Stop milking the cash cow, at let the beauty of the original Dune novels stand on their own. Fellow readers, avoid the temptation to buy this book just to satisfy your craving for a hint of melange. Instead, find an old, beat-up copy of God-Emperor somewhere, and reacquaint yourself with the real deal.

Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson's Dune books have been the source of much controversy. Bringing a vastly different narrative style to the late Frank Herbert's sprawling saga has both introduced the series to new readers while simultaneously alienating fans of the original works. The result has been a schism among the fanbase that Herbert himself would have probably found interesting if not outright amusing. Sandworms is the final chapter which brings to a close the Dune saga and resolves events and situations first introduced in Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune. It also ties in directly to the authors' prequel Dune books that chronicled the human/machine conflict.

I've always been a casual fan of the Dune books. I've read them all and enjoyed them quite a bit but the elder Herbert's style never fully resonated with me (I'm more of an Arthur C. Clarke devotee myself). As such, I was able to view the Brian Herbert/Kevin Anderson collaborations with a more neutral eye. I've found all of their books to be good reads yet not particularly memorable. Their style of prose often comes across more as an outline of a novel than an actual novel. Sandworms follows this particular pattern. For the most part, the prose lacked a dramatic edge and climactic and often cataclysmic events were conveyed with a clinical coldness that sometimes robbed them of their power. Many characters were introduced yet turned out to play minor roles given their seeming importance. Others underwent fundamental and sometimes odd shifts in their personality. Still, the whole outweighed the sum of its parts and when all was said and done I found the book to be sufficiently entertaining and the conclusion to be both hopeful and satisfying, even if it flies in the face of Herbert's oft-repeated mantra that we can't place our blind faith in the hands of one person.

Sandworms is allegedly based on a final outline prepared by Frank Herbert before his passing. I'm sure such an outline exists and I'm sure the authors mined what they could from it. I'm also sure they added a lot of their own original ideas that the elder Herbert would probably have never pursued. I have a sneaking feeling that the final revelation about Duncan Idaho was Herbert's idea. On the other hand, I doubt seriously he would have resurrected any characters from previous entries in the saga. I also doubt seriously that Omnius, Erasmus or their machine empire were a part of any such outline.

The controversial resurrection of key characters like Paul, Chani, Baron Harkonnen and Dr. Yueh (among others) was something of a mixed bag. Many turned out to be red herrings or poorly defined. But I thought the authors handled Dr. Yueh and Leto II, arguably two of the most tragic characters in the entire saga, very very well. Yueh's spiritual journey and attempts at redemption was probably the highlight of the book for me. Leto II's brief return to his full former self was also an entertaining section and one that I re-read several times. Less satisfying was Paul's contribution to the story. Given how little he had to do, it might have been better to simply leave him out of it. Still, the hopeful conclusion to the series and the restoration of so many characters to their former glory brought a smile to my face. For me each of Frank Herbert's Dune books was less satisfying than the last. The further he moved away from Arrakis, the Fremen and the Atreides family, the less I was able to relate with the universe. By Heretics, the series felt like a total stranger to me. As such, it did feel good to revisit some of those old characters again, like catching up with old friends after a long long time and realizing that they hadn't changed as much as you feared they would.

I'm a little dismayed and surprised at all the furious recriminations and the "disappointed" reactions of readers. Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson have been writing Dune books for almost a decade now. At this point, anyone even peripherally familiar with their style and previous works should already have a good clue as to what to expect from Sandworms. To have them suddenly adopt Frank Herbert's style and jettison their own storylines is simply an unrealistic expectation.

If you derived any enjoyment from Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson's previous collaborations then you'll probably get some mileage out of Sandworms. If you've been disappointed by what you've read so far, then my advice would be to stay away. As for me, I read it all the way thru and am glad I did.

Sandworms of Dune has been the worst and most horribly written novel of the Dune series. And what's more, it was the grand finale. Even the Harry Potter series ended with much better expectations than this.

The House trilogies were still readable because they were a "reverse engineering" of Frank Herbert's original 6 books, the Butlerian Jihad trilogy (the pre-prequels) was pure fantasy mixed with guess-work, dropping little clues here and there to make us Dune fans go, wow, here's another clue!

The 2-book finale, was nothing from Frank Herbert's outline. Having an outline and actually writing it out properly are 2 completely different things. These 2 authors have NOT done Frank Herbert justice and I'm sorry to say, it was just another sad attempt to boost sales with an epic franchise. If they had an outline to the Dune finale, why did they need to write prequels and pre-prequels, just write the finale already. Or perhaps it was because with the way they wrote, nobody could understand the ending?

There seems to be another set of trilogy in the works, but I guess, after this novel, they won't see the light of day, I hope!

I don't know what is wrong with [...] or whether or not there's a delete rat in the listing getting good, honest reviews of this book deleted. They claim that it doesn't follow guidelines, but guess what, there are plenty of reviews in this list that don't follow guidelines and are still here.

This past weekend has seen a mass deletion of 1 star reviews which have been truthful, honest, forthcoming and played a part in helping many readers avoid a tragic waste of time to reading this book.

Perhaps [...] has some kind of status quo of how many 1 star reviews a certain item can have. Or perhaps, someone from the Herbert family, be it, immediate or extended or relative or whatever, threatened [...] with a lawsuit. Of course, these are all speculations, but justified ones.

Dune was the most brilliant science fiction novel ever written. It transcended and reinvented the genre. The entire series written by Frank Herbert was fun and intelligent. I picked up this and Hunters at the same time with the understanding that they were an attempt at continuing the series. Dune 7 and 8. Well, simply put, they're not. The idea that this garbage was based on some secret manuscript left behind by Frank Herbert is a joke. It's one thing that the writing is embarassingly bad. But the main ideas simply don't adhere to the world created by Frank Herbert. There are probably thousands of genuine Dune fans in the world who could have written a better finish to the series. It's a shame that Frank's son hired such an awful writer to milk his father's talent and legend. This stuff is shamefully bad.

Reverend Mothers endure the Spice Agony. But at least if they survive, they inherit the memories of countless others. I have just endured the Agony of reading 'Sandworms of Dune' and what do I get? Feelings of rage and frustration. This book is a true Abomination. The writing is inept, the narrative awkward and rushed, the characters one-dimensional and the overall style reminiscent of a fifth-grader. Frank Herbert's 'Dune' series was one of literature's great achievements of the 20th century. It was prescient and evocative. This latest drivel is fiction's version of very bad fast food. A spell in the Harkonnen slave pits is too good for all those responsible for this travesty.

This book is horrid. There were a few great ideas-- probably those actually in Frank Herbert's notes-- but they were utilized poorly.

Unless you have the self-control to keep yourself from reading this (which I didn't, despite the previous disappointment and the bad reviews), get it from the library-- don't throw any money at this. Re-read the original series, as I have done countless times.

God Emperor has something new each time. =P

(Amazon deleted this post, amongst many others. My respect for Amazon is diminishing...)

How could a series with so much potential and brilliance turn out so horribly?

The lack of Frank Herbert's brilliance isn't hard to miss: the studies of the inter-workings of ecology and economy, religion and politics, humanity and technology... all these things receive typical pimple-faced science fiction thoughtless application.

Take maybe the most obvious example: Qelso. Herbert the elder studied and made supreme efforts to map the fantastic Dune universe naturally to it's human history, giving it a fascinating realism by thoughtfully incorporating language relevant to the histories that characters and cultures were derived from... the Bene Gesserit and Bene Tleilaxu for instance... where as Herbert the younger seems to grab random letters from a scrabble bag to create 'science fictiony' names like Qelso. I couldn't read it without thinking of that 70's show the whole time.

I read these last two books longing at least to see Frank Herbert's vision seen through, if not through thought provoking writing, at least through the closing of the plot line - they couldn't have ruined the basic plot line, even with trite writing, could they?

I'm convinced this was not Frank Herbert's vision. The ending was absolutely sexist which is particularly disgusting, and it completely diminished all the careful work Frank Herbert had put into developing this intricate world, to have everything turn out rosy in a couple blinkings of the eyes.

And nobody learned anything. The horrifying sexist practices of the Tleilaxu Axlotl tanks continued - but now they're willing volunteers. Ecological devastation continued with exhaustive mining and manipulation of limited natural resources - but now there is a diversified portfolio. Abuse of 'lower class' citizens (the machines) continued - but now they're willing workers. Dependence on an ultimate dictator continues - but this dictator is noble and well meaning.

The one small shining light of the book - the noble work of the Qelsans (embarrassed of that name yet?)- was totally condescended and made light of when our new dictator heroically swoops in and takes them under his wing, ending their silly quest for independence and a return to ecological balance.

This ending is just insulting. I feel compelled to steal Herbert's original outline, gather together some other Dune followers who have real integrity, and humbly write and release a rogue novel that hopefully can approach the wonder of Herbert's original vision.

Although I enjoyed Herbert/Anderson's other Dune spin-offs, Dune 7 and 8 are simply trash. These 2 books fail on so many levels that I wouldn't know where to start: lack of any characterization, repititious, hurried, just awful.
Although I believe that Frank Herbert left an outline for sequels to Dune 6, that doesn't necessarily mean Brian Herbert and Anderson used it. Frank Herbert wasn't the kind of writer to have giant robots marching around smashing humanity and I believe the Butlerian Jihad was a revolt against computers on a cerebral/philosophical level and not literally evil robots. Siona's rite of passage in the desert with Leto in Dune 6 suggest otherwise and it is far from clear. Maybe Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and the Fantastic Four would have created such monsters but not Frank Herbert. These books are a mess; even comic books have more nuance.
Bringing back the panoply of characters from the first 6 Dune books served no purpose whatsoever. They are ill-done as characters with no depth whatsoever or purpose to fulfill.