The Butlerian Jihad (Legends of Dune, Book 1) (Hardcover)

by Brian Herbert (Author), Kevin J. Anderson (Author), Stephen Youll (Illustrator) "Any true student must realize that History has no beginning..." (more)
Key Phrases: scrambler shields, preservation canister, brain canister, Giedi Prime, Dream Voyager, Serena Butler (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
The sands of time have not diminished the impact Dune has had on the evolution of SF, and this new prequel by Frank Herbert's son and bestseller Anderson, following 2001's Dune: House Corrino (the concluding volume of their "House" trilogy), offers the kind of intricate plotting and philosophical musings that would make the elder Herbert proud. Reaching back into the beginnings of Arrakis, the authors show us Selim, a boy cast out by his tribe who discovers how to ride the fearsome giant sandworms. Selim tastes and learns the visionary power of the magical spice, melange, and how the future of Arrakis hinges on who controls it. At the same time, on planets far removed from the desolate dunes of Arrakis, others are involved in a Great Revolt. Free League World humans, led by Tercero Xavier Harkonnen and Serena Butler of Salusa Secundus, battle Omnius, a computer "evermind" intent on extending its dominion. The ominous Omnius seeks to conquer all planets not yet incorporated into his Synchronized Worlds system with the help of servile robotic extensions and colleagues, including Erasmus, a Thinking Machine "Hannibal Lecter" whose whimsical Mr. Spock-ish meditations enliven the proceedings immeasurably. Throughout, key revelations regarding the Zensunni Wanderers and their fight for freedom and other historical Dune elements lend an air of discovery to this fast-paced tale.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Ten thousand years before the fall of the Imperial House Corrino, two grand interplanetary organizations ruled the known universe: the Synchronized Worlds, presided over by thinking machines led by the evermind called Omnius, and the League of Nobles, beleaguered survivors of the machines' revolt against the Old Empire. In this era, a few individuals determined to overturn the rule of the machines sought every opportunity to gain insights into ways to defeat the human race's most intractable enemy. Herbert and Anderson (Dune: House Atreides; Dune: House Harkonnen; Dune: House Corrino) continue their prehistory of Frank Herbert's "Dune" series with a new trilogy opener set in the distant past of Herbert's galactic saga. The authors reveal the origins of the Spacing Guild and the Bene Gesserit, as well as the root of the ancient feud between Houses Atreides and Harkonnen. This compelling saga of men and women struggling for their freedom is required reading for Dune fans and an essential purchase for libraries.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 624 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1 edition (September 17, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765301571
• ISBN-13: 978-0765301574
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.6 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (262 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #465,050 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

86 of 94 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Classic Dune it ain't but...., October 16, 2002

By	Steven G. Harms (Austin, Tejas, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

First things first let's level with each other. The fact that you're reading reviews probably means you're like me: You loved the original series, want to know about the Dune Universe pre-Great House Era, but are unsure if you really want to wade through this book.

OK, so let's level.

1. No, this in no way compares to Herbert the elder. Sorry.

The style of writing is much more short and episodic, it lacks that sort of motif based symphony Frank used. This is much more for a generation of Tv watchers and writers. Mini episodes cut between points of action (The Free Worlds, Earth, on a Ship, Arrakis, rinse repeat).

As such you don't have that feeling you had in dune where rising actions continued and then reached a few critical climaxes and faded away.

2. You really want to know what the Butlerian Jihad is. It's a great complling force in Frank's books and you want to know what happened. This book definitely moves in the direction of filling in those gaps.

In all truth, however, i think that most of us would have been satified with a Princess Irulan book: "The history of Pre-Great House Dune." I mean, had it narrated the facts of this book, it would have been *equally* as entertaining. In fact, this book is really a high school science fair 'play-dress-up' of actual interesting events.

3. It does cater to stereotypes and safe political waters. Urge for freedom, that humans are creative an passionate while machines are cold, etc. is familiar ground. Some interesting points were brought up: where do a mechanized human's loyalies lie - man or machine, body mind dichotomies. While Frank H. would have explored these interesting issues, the more pulp style of this series goes the safe route.

A few thoughts I have about Dune and allegory on my web site draws a steady stream of hits day in and day out. There is no possible allegory here. Furthermore, Frank wrote a great deal about the power of numbers, how fanaticism and fundamentalism can be harnessed -- things that made one think months afterward -- I'm not going to think about this book again (likely).

Consider how many sci-fi books have been written about when the machines take over. The authors of the Butlerian Jihad could have written one as well. Frank Herbert had the amazing vision to ask -- OK what would happen /after that/. That's the difference between just a couple of guys who wrote a story and a master.

So in sum. Wait for paperback, don't think that this is going to greatly enrich your experience of the Dune universe, simply view it as a pulp story that will give you a bit of back history on the great houses. That said, the House books were a sight better and this series, should it maintain its present course, will merely be an interesting backstory to them.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dune in Name Only, April 30, 2003

By	bsy "bern" (Tokyo Japan) - See all my reviews

Frank Herbert is dead and the recent House Series and the first offering of Butlerian Jihad will not resurrect him or his Dune Chronicles. You've heard it before and it's true, the books by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson are not like the original Dune books at all. I guess the New Dune books stand on their own as works of Science Fiction since they are entertaining. The operative word here is "Entertaining". The Butlerian Jihad which attempts to delve into the origins of the Dune Universe, describes the battle between free humans, cymeks (disembodied humans with robotic bodies), and the Evermind (ubiquitous, all-controlling AI). At stake is the survival of the human race and the quest is assumed by characters whose descendants are all too familiar: Harkonnen, Atreides, Butler. It also tries to explain the origins of the Bene Gesserit, foldspace, and the Fremen. Nothing is discussed about the Spacing Guild which is disappointing.

The first thing that any reader will notice is that compared to the Dune Chronicles, this is a quick read. There is no complexity, no philosophy, no depth. It's like watching a made for TV movie created for teenagers. Perhaps I can say, with all due respect to the authors, that this is the dumbing-down of Dune that started with the House novels and has continued into this offering as well. These books are written for a young audience plain and simple. That much is obvious when you consider the kind of SciFi that Kevin Anderson wrote. The cymeks reminded me of Japanese Anime like Gundam.

Was it entertaining? Yes. Will I read the next installment? Yes.
Am I looking forward to reading it? So So. Can we expect it to be a more complex read? No. Is that disappointing? Yes. All I can say to the authors is, do what you have to do to make a living by appealing to the younger masses but don't expect any praises from seasoned Dune fans or more mature readers.

72 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A History That Shouldn't Have Been Recorded, November 21, 2002

By	Patrick Shepherd "hyperpat" (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

When the first installment of Dune appeared in Analog magazine way back in 1963, I was immediately captivated. I remained enthralled through all the succeeding seven installments, fascinated by the complex interplay of science, politics, religion, economics, ecology and their manipulation by all the various sharply realized characters. As the sequels came out over the years, I found some good, some not so good, but all, including the recent three 'prequels' written by the two authors of this book, at least deserving of existing in the same universe as the original work. Not so with this book.

The idea of this book is to bring to life that period in the history of man when machine intelligences ruled most of the human occupied worlds, a period referenced multiple times in the original book, and the supposed origin of both the Bene Geserit and Mentat schools as a reaction to such machine domination. Unfortunately, this book fails miserably at its chosen task for multiple reasons.

The first major problem with this book is the characterization. Everyone here is a paper-thin caricature of a human being, from Xavier Harkonnen to Vorian Atreides and everyone in-between. Most of these people are introduced with a short physical description, perhaps a couple sentences to describe their pasts, and are given 'tasks' that pretty much totally define what they are, from Xavier as a military commander to Tio Holtzman as the fading scientist. There is little or no growth of these characters, other than the totally predictable change of heart that Vorian goes through. Dialogue between these people is almost totally limited to the task at hand, with few if any things that would convince me that these were humans talking rather than machines.

Then there is the depiction of the machine intelligences Erasmus and the Omnius. Supposedly their great problem is that they can often be defeated by mere humans because they can neither understand nor predict human behavior. But they've had more than a thousand years in control to observe humans, and as one of the definitions of intelligence is the ability to learn from experience, I found this whole scenario impossible to believe. Some of the 'experiments' that Erasmus performs to help him understand human behavior I found both gross and pointless, coming across very much like the gratuitous violence of a bad movie attempting to hide its failings.

The story is told in very short chapters, shifting viewpoint character with each chapter. This technique can be effective, as A. E. van Vogt showed so many years ago with his massively re-complicated stories, but to make it work you need either very strong characters or a very complicated, non-obvious plot that can be built in layers, neither of which applies here.

The 'science' here is on par with the rest of this book. I thought lines like 'the ship threaded a narrow course through the asteroid belt' and spaceships performing U-turns went out with 1930's pulp science fiction. In fact, this whole book reads as if it was written specifically for a no-brainer Hollywood SF special effects spectacular, and to heck with anything approaching reality or literary depth.

This book doesn't deserve to have 'Dune' in the title.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)