Frank Herbert's Dune

"I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain."

Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear - From Frank Herbert's Dune Book Series

It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the juice of sapho that thoughts acquire speed,
the lips acquire stains.
The stains become a warning.
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.

Mentat Piter de Vries (Brad Dourif) recites this litany in the movie version of Dune, and Mentat Hayt de Vries (Robert Carin) repeats it in Westwood's computer game Dune 2000. It does not appear anywhere in the books, but is a movie construct from the mind of David Lynch.

This mantra has been adapted by many computer geeks and caffeine junkies to read as:

"It is caffeine alone that sets my mind in motion. It is through beans of java that thoughts acquire speed, that hands acquire shakes, that shakes become a warning... I am... IN CONTROL... OF MY ADDICTION!" -- From the Minicon Graffiti Wall, 1989

The Legends of Dune Trilogy covers a time 10,000 years before the first book published, "Dune." This series covers some areas mentioned in the earlier (written not timeline) books.

In their mission to explain some of the mythos created by Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson have created a great set of prequals to the Dune Universe in the 3 "Legends of Dune" books. There is some great science-fiction writing in these books. Some "Dune"/Frank Herbert fans have been upset by the addition of robots into the Dune Universe by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson, but if you really read into the books the hints have been there that there is something more to the thinking machines and I think with the "Legends of Dune" Series they have explained enough to still fit in with Frank Herbert's philosophy.

Now you could read the books in any order you would like, but for fun, and since I've already read a couple of the Frank Herbert Books, I'm going in the order of timeline not in order of publication date. It seems more fun this way.

With the books of the "Legends of Dune" a lot has been explained, maybe or maybe not in the way Frank Herbert would have, but definitely these Legends become more understandable and actually more realistic. Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson have kept to the Middle eastern religious symbology, and even building on that.

As it stands in this book there are 3 factions of planets: the Synchronized worlds (run by thinking machines & Cymeks), The League of Nobles (the humans), and the unallied planets (which consists of Arrakis or Dune).

As is learned in "Dune: The Butlerian Jihad," published in 2002, The empire had grown "lazy and complacent." A group of humans decided to overthrow the empire and started calling themselves "the Titans." These Titans have enhanced their bodies to live for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. This is not enough, they then find a way to remove their brains from their bodies and place them into "robot" bodies. Now called Cymeks they take over the empire. After enslaving man the Cymeks then allow the thinking machines to work for them, even giving the thinking machines human traits. One such trait, the need to conquer goes too far. The thinking machines then take over, enslaving the human race and creating the Synchronized worlds. Worlds that are all linked to the great evermind "Omnius." Omnius keeps the Cymeks for his dirty work and because deep in the programming the evermind cannot bring harm to the Cymeks.

There are the Synchronized worlds, ruled by Omnius, and the League of Nobles, a democratic form of planet alliances, that pretty much get by without harming each other, but then the Cymeks and the Thinking machines attack, forcing intergalactic war. During this war heroes and martyrs are made. If you have read the other books and wondered why there are no computers, how the Fremen got their start, why Spice Melange is so vital or how the 3 main houses (Harkkonen, Atreides and Corrino) came to be in power. This book is a must read.

The authors create and build on the mythos which include the same ideals created by Frank Herbert. In this first book we learn how Tio Holtzmann created the personal shields and the shield technology (which I thought was so cool in the series). The beginnings of the Bene Gesserit witches are also discussed and why they came to be. So basically this book (along with the other 2 "Legends" books) tells the whys of the mythos created in one of the best epic Sci-Fi series ever.

If you have not ever read any of the Frank Herbert's Dune series, it won't hurt to start out with this introductory book. It is written with the same passion as all the others and besides, it's always good to start at the "beginning."

This book takes part 10,000 years before the original book and 20 years after the first in the series "The Butlerian Jihad." The Jihad against the thinking machines is 20 years in force and neither side can claim any victory. The rise of power of former slave to the machines, Iblis Ginjo, has created a monster. After discovering human spies for the machines Ginjo, the Grand Patriarch of the Jihad, has created the JiPol, Jihad Police. The JiPol are used to round up spies, but they are also used to do Ginjo's bidding, when a noble crosses paths with Ginjo and goes against his plans they are soon "discovered" to be spies for the thinking machines. Very similar to jack-booted thugs during world war II or even closer to home much like the McCarthyism of discovering Communists.

Serena Butler the Priestess of the Jihad spends most of her time in mourning for the loss of her son Manion, the start of the whole Jihad. This seclusion is after an attempted assassination on her. Which was planned and put into motion by Ginjo, so that he may hold more power.

Many battles over planets are waged against the thinking machines meaning the loss of millions of lives of humans. This creates the need for more recruits in the war and for body parts for the injured soldiers. Tluaxan slavers are known to sweep through un-allied planets and take slaves for the planets that do support slavery. They are also known for their ability to clone body parts for the soldiers of the Jihad. But, they are also harboring a secret that could destroy Iblis Ginjo. To recruit more soldiers a planet of mercenaries, Ginaz, led by Jool Noret, become the warrior fighting class.

In the meantime the Cimeks, human brains in robot forms, led by General Agamemnon, grow weary of being under the Omnius and the thinking machines rule and plan a revolt by recruiting many humans that were slaves on synchronized worlds the cimeks have invaded.

Another Cimek, Hecate, makes an appearance after going into hiding for hundreds of years. She claims to be fighting the other Cimeks and Thinking machines to help the Jihad. Ginjo does not pass on this opportunity for more help in winning this what seems to be an un-winnable war.

Meanwhile on planet Arrakis, Salim Wormrider is making a name for himself and his group of bandits raiding all people involved in the mining of Spice Melange and selling to offworlders.

Norma Cenva has created the technology to fold space. Creating a means to travel to any point in the universe in the blink of an eye. But just as she is getting this started a human slave revolt destroys the planet Poritrin and soem Zensunni slaves escape in a space-folding ship to Arrakis. On Arrakis Salim Wormrider has died a Martyr, leaving the "bandits" with no leader. The leader of the Zensunnis, Ishmail, becomes leader of what will be forever known as the Fremen.

While this may seem like a lot to read, the authors keep it interesting with battles, loves, and conspiracies. Great formula for sci-fi.

This book takes place 100 years after the beginning of the Butlerian Jihad and about 100 years before the forming of the Guilds, and is separated into 2 parts. Basically the Jihad is still going on but this time the thinking machines with some help from some human traitors, develop a biological weapon to destroy humanity. This scourge is a virus that can wipe out at least 50% of a planets population within a couple of weeks. Once the humans find out that the source of the virus is the evermind Omnious and the thinking machines, it is too late. However a miracle prevention and almost cure exists within the Spice Melange. Now with humanity spending all it's efforts on healing, Omnious gathers all his warships to the planet Corrin for one final attack to destroy all humans. This plan is found out just in time and while all the ships are gathering on Corrin preparing for launch. Jumping to action, Vorian Atraides uses what few (still unreliable) space-folding ships are available and begins nuking all the unprotected synchronized worlds, destroying all but Corrin. At Corrin rather, than destroying the planet the Jihadi warships put a scrambler field around the planet which destroys all gel circuitry machines entering or leaving the planet. Thinking this puts an end to the thinking machines reign of terror, the Jihad is considered over and won by the humans.

However, this still leaves 2 enemies of humanity the thinking machines on the planet and the Cimeks. Although the cimeks numbers are dwindling and are only down to 3 of the original Titans, they are finding new recruits for the new-cimeks.

The Army of the Jihad is renamed the Army of Humanity and once again the League of nobles become complacent. Vorian Atreides is constantly warning the league of problems that could come but he is ignored. Also the Xavier Harkkonen is still viewed as cowardice and as a traitor, for his assassination of the Patriarch of the Jihad, Iblis Ginjo. Vorian is the only one that knows the truth and tells Xavier's grandson, Abulurd Butler the true story. Abulurd takes on the name Harkkonen and starts a committe to reinstate the name.

With 2 enemies and the humans once again becoming lazy, you know the battles aren't over. Instead of giving away too much by only talking about fighting, let's talk about some of the many sub-plots throughout this book. In the Dune Universe, pretty much all the books there are lots of things going on that in order to catch them all sometimes it takes re-reading the book, and, trust me, that's where the fun lies in these books.

The space-folding is still dangerous and not fully acceptable to all as a legitimate means of space travel. Many ships have folded into stars, asteroids or other celestial bodies or have just plainly disappeared. Norma Cenva soon discovers that the Spice Melange holds the key to navigating the space-folders, by opening the human brain potential...but in the process the human doing the guiding loses their humanity...especially with their physical bodies.

The Sorceresses of Rossak are cateloging the bloodlines of humanity in order to keep the human genes "clean." But a mutated form of the virus has hit Rossak, threatening to destroy all they have worked for. Vorian Atreides' grand-daughter, Raquella Berto-Anirul, becomes miraculously healed of the scourge and during the process has visions and her mind alters to that of a sorceress, and she forms what will become the Bene-Gesserit in which the human bloodlines will be kept going.

We can't leave out the Fremen on the planet Arrakis (Dune). They become split and some want to start selling all the spice to offworlders while some still hold to the visions of Salim Wormrider, that the spice is the life of Arrakis. So the actual Fremen become more militant while some Zensunnis set up commerce with offworlders.

The robot Erasmus has trained Gilbertus Albans to use his brain as a machine would. In the process Erasmus has discovered what the love of a parent must feel. In the training of Gilbertus, Erasmus has created the first Mentat. What will later become the human computers.

Yes, all this in this final book in the series, but, it is such a great read that to become immersed in this universe it creates the urge for more.

In their mission to explain some of the mythos created by Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson have created a great set of prequals to the Dune Universe in the 3 "Legends of Dune" books. There is some great science-fiction writing in these books. Some "Dune"/Frank Herbert fans have been upset by the addition of robots into the Dune Universe by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson, but if you really read into the books the hints have been there that there is something more to the thinking machines and I think with the "Legends of Dune" Series they have explained enough to still fit in with Frank Herbert's philosophy.

So, after reading the 3 Legends of Dune books, you then have 3 Prequals to Dune, 6 Frank Herbert novels, then two more books, "Hunters of Dune" and "Sandworms of Dune" written by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson, these take place after the 6th Frank Herbert Novel, "Chapterhouse: Dune."

There are also rumors of Herbert & Anderson teaming up to do 3 more books that cover the lives of Paul Maud'dib, Lady Jessica and Princess Irulan.

Prelude to Dune is one of the first sets of Dune novels written by Herbert (Brian) and Anderson and takes place 35 years prior to the original "Dune". The three prelude novels, House Atreides, House Harkonnen, and House Corrino cover the rise of the houses to the powers held in "Dune."

An aging tyrant emperor rules the known universe, Emperor Elrood Corrino IX, and his son Shaddam IV, cannot wait for him to die, so that Shaddam may become emperor. He and his minion, Hasimir Fenrig devise a slow poison to kill off the old man so Shaddam may sit in the "Golden Lion Throne."

While this is going on Elrood has some schemes going that could change the universe. Spice Melange, only found on Arrakis (Dune), is needed for the Space Guild to fold space, it prolongs life, and is highly addictive. "He who controls the spice, controls the Universe." So Elrood has set out to devise an alternative to spice. Teaming up with the genetic scientist race of the Tleilaxu, Elrood has commissioned them to develop the newly engineered spice. As payment to the Tleilaxu, Elrood plans a takeover of the machine planet IX, where in place are the facilities to for such a genetic engineering feat. To do this the House Vernius must be defeated. Instead of being defeated the house goes renegade, meaning they are no longer supported or recognized by the league and are criminals. The children are sent to Calidan to live with Duke Paulus Atreides. They are raised along with the Duke's son, Leto Atreides.

The Bene Gesserit discover they are only 2 or 3 generations from the Kwisatz Haderach a prophesied messiah figure. But first they must get Baron Vladimir Harkonnen to "donate the genetic material." The first union of a Bene Gesserit sorceress and Harkonnen is deformed and must be repeated. This time Harkonnen violently rapes the sorceress and in the process she curses him with an incurable disease.

Paulus Atreides dies during a bullfight with a drugged Salusan Bull, and Leto becomes Duke. Harkonnen has developed a ship that renders itself invisible. And frames Atreides for an attack on the Tleilaxu.

In the meantime on Arrakis, Dune, Pardot Kynes a planetologist sent by Emperor Elrood, arrives on Arrakis and begins his duties there. He starts to dislike the Harkonnen rule there, and is getting more and more interested in the native Fremen of the desert and the possibility of terraforming the planet. Pardot is discovering more and more proof that some time, long ago, Arrakis was covered with giant oceans, and gets curious about what changed the climate to what it is today.

Once again another book filled with lots of material lots of action and great political interaction. This Dune series just keeps getting better and better.

Once again a Dune prelude book chock full of information leading up to the novel originally written by Frank Herbert. This book takes place approximately 20 years after the Book "House Atreides" and about 30 years prior to the original. I will attempt to summarize the many plotlines with out giving away too much but I do warn you that some spoilers will exist.

Shaddam Corrino IV is the emperor and his Bene Gesserit wife, Anirul produces only daughters, leaving him without an heir to the throne. The emperor is aware of the Bene Gesserit ability to determine the sex of their children and grows annoyed at Anirul for not giving him a son. Along with this stress factor for the Emperor the Tleilaxu have yet to produce a synthetic equal to the Spice Melange. This was the reason the planet of Ix was taken over and House Vernius went renegade.

Dominic Vernius is still in hiding as a renegade but his children, Kailea and Rhombur, are living with Duke Leto Atreides on Caladan. Leto arranges fro Rhombur to take in a concubine from the Bene Gesserit, and Kailea becomes Leto's concubine. Kailea gives birth to Victor the son of Leto and heir to House Atreides, but due to politics and the fact that Kailea is considered renegade Leto cannot marry her. Besides, the Bene Gesserit have other plans with Jessica, the daughter of Vladimer Harkonnen and a Bene Gesserit witch. Leto does arrange to have a lady-in-waiting to help Kailea. Kailea's lady-in-waiting, Chiara, is actually a Harkonnen agent sent to poison Kailea's mind against Leto. Kailea and Chiara scheme to assassinate Leto thus making Victor the Duke and Kailea a Regent. But the plan backfires and the planned explosion kills young Victor and mutilates Rhombur. Kailea then kills Chiara and commits suicide unable to face what she has done.

The Tleilaxu offer to make a ghola,a clone, of Victor in exchange for the barely alive body of Rhombur Vernius. Leto ultimately refuses, after much soul-searching, knowing that the Tleilaxu intend only harm towards House Vernius. Instead, Leto hires Dr. Wellington Yueh, an expert in the field of cybernetics, to fashion a cybernetic replacement body for Rhombur. Leto and Jessica fall deeply in love, leading Jessica to decide to conceive a son for Leto's sake, directly disobeying the Bene Gesserit's order that she have a daughter.

Baron Harkonnen grows weaker due to his disease, but he becomes more vicious, destroying his half-brothers life (figuratively first then literally). A Suk doctor determines the cause of the illness is from the Bene Gesserit he raped. Harkonnen seeks reveng on the witches but through mind tricks they show him who is really in charge. Meanwhile, the Baron's brother, Abulurd, uncovers an illegal stockpile of spice on Lankiveil. Rather than turn his brother in to the Emperor, Abulurd, a benevolent ruler and the polar opposite of his brother Vladimir, uses the stockpile to benefit his people. Upon discovery of this, Glossu Rabban, Abulurd's firstborn son, strangles his father to death, an act which earns him the nickname of "Beast." Baron Harkonnen also kidnaps Abulurd's other son, Feyd-Rautha, and tries to raise him as his own.

We are also introduced to Gurney Halleck. Gurney's village is raided and his sister is taken away. He later finds she is forced to work in a "pleasure house" for the Harkonnen military. He tries to rescue her but is capture and made a slave. He then tries to attack Rabban, but is outnumbered and Rabban punishes him by killing his entire family. Gurney escapes to Salusa Secundus to help Dominic Vernius with his attacks against the empire.

Dominic learns of the atrocities going on on Ix and gathers all his stockpiles of atomics to the south polar region of Arrakis in order to deliver them to the homeworld of the Emperor and destroy the House Corrino. But his plan is discovered and the Sardukar guards are sent to stop him. Instead he detonates the atomics destroying most of the south pole area of Arrakis.

Gurney Halleck learns of this and goes to Caladan to pledge himself to Duke Leto Atreides.

On Arrakis it is learned that the Bene Gesserit have been mixing with the Fremen in order to blend prophecies of the Qwissatz Hadderach and the myths of the Missionaria Protectiva.

And this is only scratching the surface of this wonderful adventure into the Duniverse. Now for House Corrino, the final book of the prelude to Dune series, and one book closer to Dune.

Book three of the prelude to the original Dune series answers many questions, but also leaves some unanswered, which is good. Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson, to be honest to the Duneverse could not try to explain it all away, that is one of the many features of the Original Dune novels by Frank Herbert that keeps the reader intrigued, and makes the the books more adventuresome, the philosophy is within the reader.

In this book the Emperor of the known Universe, Shaddam IV has devised a plan with his right hand man Hasimir Fenrig, to create a synthetic form of the Spice Melange. In doing so he will hold even more power over the universe. As you may know, the Spice extends life, and makes space travel possible and is only found on one planet, Dune (Arrakis).

On the machine planet, Ix,Tleilaxu "scientists" use slaves and prisoners as part of a horrific plan to manufacture a synthetic form of melange known as amal. If amal can replace the spice from Dune, it will give Shaddam what he seeks: absolute power. However the amal is not quite right. Adjudica the Tleilaxu that has created the amal, has not run adequate testing but has been taking the amal and has been dosing the Sardukar guards with the amal and gains some control over the Emperor's terror guards. Also we learn how the Tleilaxu use women to become living tanks to produce the amal, thus explaining why there are no Tleilaxu women.

Duke Leto Atriedes, grief-stricken yet unbowed by the tragic death of his son Victor, in an assassination attempt is determined to restore the honor and prestige of his House, has his own plans for Ix. He will free the Ixians from their oppressive conquerors and restore his friend Prince Rhombur, injured scion of the disgraced House Vernius, to his rightful place as Ixian ruler. In doing so Leto leaves his home planet of Caladan unguarded. Hearing of this and in order to save face The Beast Rabban (Harkkonen), attempts to conquer Caladan, but the master of assassins and Mentat to House Atriedes, Thufir Howat devises a plan to keep any attackers at bay.

Meanwhile, Duke Leto's concubine, the Lady Jessica, obeying the orders of her superiors in the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, has conceived a child that the Sisterhood intends to be the penultimate step in the creation of an all-powerful being. Yet what the Sisterhood doesn't know is that the child Jessica is carrying is not the girl they are expecting, but a boy. Jessica's act of disobedience is an act of love -- her attempt to provide her Duke with a male heir to House Atreides -- but an act that, when discovered, could kill both mother and baby. Learning of the heir to house Atreides, House Harkkonen's mentat, Pitor Dufries attempts to kidnap the baby.

Like the Bene Gesserit, Shaddam Corrino is also concerned with making a plan for the future -- securing his legacy. Blinded by his need for power, the Emperor will launch a plot against Dune, the only natural source of true spice. If he succeeds, his madness will result in a cataclysmic tragedy not even he foresees: the end of space travel, the Imperium, and civilization itself. With Duke Leto and other renegades and revolutionaries fighting to stem the tide of darkness that threatens to engulf their universe, the stage is set for a showdown unlike any seen before.

This book has a great storytelling and a great culmination of many battles that as you come to the end you won't want to put it down.

A few items before we proceed into the "Original" Duneverse by Frank Herbert.

In the Prelude to Dune books by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson there were some major continuity errors that I should prepare you for.

First Baron Harkonnen's mentat, Pitor was killed by a Bene Gesserit and The Baron ordered a clone from the Tleilaxu...well in Dune the Baron says the mentat predicted Lady Jessica would give birth to a daughter...these 2 things could not have happened simultaneously.

Second one of the reasons Lady Jessica gives birth to a son rather than a daughter, as she was ordered, is because she believed she could give birth to the Qwisatz Haderach...yet in the Prelude books she didn't know of the Qwiszatz Haderach breeding program until after she had allowed a son to develop.

I would also like to make a remark here, I may explore this further in another post, but for now I would like to point out the remarkable similarities to the Dune Universe Frank Herbert created in 1965 to what is happening in the world today. In Frank's Universe the Emperor Shaddam (Saddam?) runs the universe and controls the flow of Spice (oil?). Arrakis (Iraq?) is the only source of the spice. HMMMMM....

When Frank Herbert wrote "Dune" in 1965, it was something different. Although Dune was accepted and read by the same circles who read Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, "Dune" represented a new kind of science fiction. Asimov's and Clarke's works were original but stylistically plain-all one needed was a futuristic idea. Dune combined the basics of science fiction's trademark futurism with strong literary and social ambitions. The novel boasted an elaborate epic plot and intricately developed characters with quasi-mystical powers such as telepathy and precognition. It also featured a bold ecological message and even a little sociological equality mission hidden within.

Dune proved that literary science-fiction novels could be more than thinly veiled social satires, such as George Orwell's 1984 or Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange. Like Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, Dune presents us with a self-contained world, complete with its own races, religions, politics, and geography. Herbert introduces this new world and then adds a fascinating and intricate story, with vivid characters and scenes bolstered by an underlying ecological message. Dune has become the central masterpiece of science fiction, just as The Lord of the Rings is to the genre of modern fantasy.

Set 10,000 years after the Butlerian Jihad, dune takes place in a future where interstellar travel is achieved through folding space. This travel is not without a price. The universe depends on what is known as Spice Melange. The Spice, prolongs life, gives some individuals prescience, is a highly addictive recreational drug and enables the Guild navigators to Fold Space. The universe has come to rely on Spice so much that the slightest upset in the flow of spice is felt throughout all the universe. The major fault in all this is that the Spice is found only on one planet, Arrakis (Dune).

The Atreides family headed by Duke Leto Atreides, has just been assigned governorship of Arrakis by Emperor Shaddam IV, a position previously held by the sworn enemy to the Atreides, the Harkonnens. As is with all of this book there are plans within plans within plans. The emperor wants to rid the universe of the Atreides because they are becoming too popular with the Landsraad, the league of planets. By sending Duke Atreides to Arrakis, the Emperor hopes to seal their fate and let the Harkonnens destroy House Atreides.

The Harkonnens attack the Atreides and kill the Duke, but not before the Dukes Concubine, Lady Jessica, pregnant with the Duke's daughter, and the Dukes son and heir Paul Atreides escape into the desert of Arrakis, to a land ruled by the Fremen. Before we talk about the Fremen, Paul must be explained. Paul's mother the Lady Jessica is a Bene Gesserit witch, she was ordered to bear a daughter to the Duke but disobeyed to give the man she loved an heir. The Bene Gesserit have been interbreeding bloodlines for thousands of years to create the Kwisatz Haderach, a superbeing that can be in all places and times at once. Paul is that Kwisatz Haderach.

The Fremen are the desert people of Arrakis, they are working to make Dune a planet of life. By secretly creating water basins and plantings, they are wanting to change the face of Dune to a planet with water and abundant life. Doing so could destroy the Sandworms which are the source of the Spice.

Paul becomes the leader of the Fremen due to his supernatural powers and the religion of the Fremen, in a final battle he takes back Dune with himself as Duke and dethrones the Emperor.

That's it in a nutshell, but this book is more like an onion with layers upon layers of plots, subplots and messages. A great classic novel in the literary and Science Fiction worlds.

Paul of Dune by Brian Herbert& Kevin J. Anderson (2008)
Read by Scott Brick
Published by Macmillan Audio
Running time 18.5 hours
Published 2008

In the world of science-fiction, one of the best series of books to come down the pike is the Dune series created by Frank Herbert. After Frank Herbert's death, his son, Brian Herbert, teamed up with sci-fi author Kevin J. Anderson and pretty much wrapped up the series by providing 6 prequel and 2 sequel books. The prequels offered some backstory to events and ideas only barely mentioned by Frank Herbert in the original series. The sequels ended the series that had a huge cliff-hanger which Frank Herbert left when he passed away. So with all of that taken care of, one has to ask, what more is there in the Dune Universe? (Or the Duneverse)

Actually, there is the potential for lots more. Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, with the backing of the Herbert estate, are just the folks to provide more stories in the Duneverse. Paul of Dune is one of three novels (at least only three planned so far) filling in some gaps and providing the fans of Dune with some more stories to devour. After all, "The spice must flow."

This audiobook is read by Scott Brick. I will have to say that Brick is one of my favorite voices for audiobooks. I first heard him when I was listening to the audiobook "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote. He expressed such great emotion in that book. Then later, when I was making it my mission to read or listen to every book in the Dune series, I heard his voice again in the prequels. I was glad to hear he was voicing this one as well. Brick can express emotion and characterization with such subtlety that, while you are still getting the same reader, your ears are treated to a near dramatization.

His voice-work really shapes a character. In the book "Dune," Count Hasimir Fenring was Emperor Shaddam's right hand man. Frank Herbert had written in quite a few strange speech patterns, like lots of nasal sounds, and would create sentences similar to: "mmmmwah, I think we can destroy House Atreides, mmmmmm." While this could have presented challenges for some narrators, Brick works these into his reading to sound like the character does not have a speech problem but is thinking as he's speaking. This approach makes these moments ring with clarity and portrays a new dimension of the not-so-good Count's personality, who plays a vital role in Paul of Dune.

All the books in the Dune series feature plans within plans, conspiracies within conspiracies and plots within plots. As a result, many scenes include both the speech and thoughts of various characters. Brick reads these sections without flaw so the listener is not confused as to what is said aloud or thoughts the character shares with no one.

Paul of Dune takes place essentially between the time of the original novel Dune and the second book Dune Messiah" Paul Maud'Dib is in control of the planet Arrakis, Dune, and is the emperor of the known universe. The former Padisha Emperor Shaddam Corrino, IV, has been exiled to the planet Salusas Secundus, the training planet for his Sardaukar army which were defeated by Maud'Dib and have since joined the jihad of Maud'Dib.

This book tells more of what happened during the jihad and of the assassination attempts on the Emperor Paul Maud'Dib. Another interesting aspect of this book is that it also covers the time before Paul Atreides (soon to be the Maud'Dib) came to the spice planet, Arrakis, Dune. In flashback sequences Paul is making sure that Princess Irulan is telling the actual story of his life and the reader is transported to the War of Assassins which occurred when Paul was only 12. In the Dune timeline this would be between the prequel book "House Corrino" and the original book, "Dune." It feels as though you are getting two novels in one, but both stories meld into a single idea and fantastic climactic end.

The Star Wars universe is said to be heavily influenced by the Dune novels. This is a hotly debated topic among fans, as many of the themes present could be said to be archetypes of science fiction and fantasy novels, as well as of world mythology; other fans contend that the Star Wars films are only action films, with almost no deeper meaning. Thus, by this logic any ties between Star Wars and Dune would be very much superficial and coincidental.

The similarities are more common with the early drafts of Star Wars' script. Princess Leia is transporting a crate of spice instead of station plans, the Jedi are identified as Jedi Bindu and the galaxy is divided into great houses. Herbert decided not to sue Star Wars creator George Lucas because the court battle would have gone on for years, making it more costly and troublesome than it was worth.

Desert Planet

Both Arrakis (Dune) and Tatooine (Star Wars) are desert planets with no naturally-occurring rainfall, with only sparse habition and few cities. Arrakis has two moons, while Tatooine orbits two suns. Inhabitants of both planets make use of artificial means of water collection, such as vapor harvesters (windtraps in Dune, moisture vaporators in Star Wars). Additionally, Smugglers are common on both worlds. In Dune this is the result of a Spacing Guild monopoly and taxation; in Star Wars, smuggling occurs as result of high tariffs imposed by the Empire, as well as the Rebellion against the Empire.

About 10 years after Paul Muad'Dib gains the throne as Emperor of the Known Universe, the threat of the Jihad in his name still persists in Paul's prescient visions. Paul does everything to keep that Jihad from continuing, because this path can only lead to stagnation of the human race.

In "Dune Messiah" there continues that great Frank Herbert trademark of "plans within plans within plans." So with more patience this book can be very rewarding. The entire "original" Dune series is comparable to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Trilogy, in scope and adventure.

In this book one of the many plots/conspiracies involved is that of reversing the events that led to Paul being emperor. This conspiracy is led by remnants of the displaced House Corrino, the Bene Gesserit who have lost control of their Kwisatz Haderach, the Spacing Guild, now utterly beholden to Paul, and the Bene Tleilax. They all scheme to kill Paul who has not produced an heir to the throne. In doing so a "ghola" of Duncan Idaho is grown by the Bene Tleilax and given as a gift to Paul. (A ghola is a clone, in this case of Duncan Idaho, one of Paul's closest confidants and mentors.) As time progresses it is found that this ghola named Hayt, actually has the memories of Idaho. However Hayt is sent to be the destruction of Paul Maud'Dib.

The reason Chani has not given Paul an heir is that Princess Irulan has been slipping contraceptives into her food. This causes Chani to think she is barren and she seeks out ancient Fremen fertility drugs. This cause her to become pregnant with twins.

At the time Hayt is to kill Paul he cannot do it, his conditioning is broke because of the memories of Duncan's love for Paul and House Atreides. Now an ally Hayt-Duncan, helps to stop the execution of Paul's newborn children.

In the meantime some Fremen Traitors use a Stone Burner to destroy a house that is faithful to the Maud'Dib, causing Paul to be blinded. This furthers the religious fervor behind Paul because with his prescience he can still "see." It is through this prescient vision that Paul thwarts the Tleilaxu face dancer's attempt at killing Paul's 2 children, Leto II and Ghanima. These children are as Paul's sister Alia, in that they are born fully aware of their prescient powers of being Kwisatz Haderach.

After this Paul goes by the way of Fremen tradition, where all the blind shall go to the desert as a sacrifice to Shai Hulud. Alia and Princess Irulan then raise the children to be heirs to the throne when they come of age.

Again this is simply the outer layer of the onion which is the Duneverse. Many plots within plots, plans with in plans and some great philosophical discussions hidden within a science-fiction novel. Next I move to "Children of Dune"...so be prepared for the ongoing adventures of Dune.

Just reminding you, if you watch the Sci-Fi channel's mini series "Children of Dune" this 6 hour series combines both "Dune Messiah" and "Children of Dune."

Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson continue to explore the Universe of Dune created by Brian's Father Frank Herber, with this latest installment, "Winds of Dune." The Duneverse is filled with opportunities to write side stories or fill in gaps between the original novels. This job could not be done by just any Sci-Fi writer, and the team of Herbert and Anderson have not only done the job but they have done the job without taking anything away from the original stories. In fact, they have added more to the series that seem as though they should been there from the beginning.

The Winds of Dune begins after the events of Dune Messiah and jumps back and forth in time to before Paul Atreides came to dune and to the times during Paul Maud'dib's Jihad.

Paul has walked off into the sand, blind, and is presumed dead as told by Frank Herbert at the end of Dune Messian, Jessica and Gurney are on Caladan; Alia is trying to hold the Imperial government together with the Duncan Idaho Ghola; Mohiam is dead at the hands of Stilgar; and Irulan imprisoned. Paul's former friend, Bronso of Ix, now seems to be leading opposition to the House of Atreides. With the characters from the classic novel in place Herbert and Anderson tell a story of true friendship, true love and the bonds of family.

After hearing of her son's death Jessica, Duchess of Caladan, and Gurney Halleck, Earl of Caladan, return to Dune to mourn the death of Paul and his concubine, Chani (also mother of Paul's children, Leto & Ghanima). During Paul's funeral there is great celebration in the life of Dune's Messiah, Paul Maud'Dib. The funeral is interrupted by Bronso of Ix (one of Paul's childhood friends) claiming Paul is not the Maud'Dib but simply Paul Atreides. Bronson of Ix has spent all his time, since Paul became the Messianic Emperor of the Universe, trying to thwart all the attempts at making Paul out to be a god, by simply pointing out his human flaws. Irulan is told by the now Empire's Regent, Alia, (sister of Paul, and the Bene Gesserit abomination) to write only things that put Paul in a positive light or she may be tortured or put to death.

Jessica then tells Irulan why Bronso is writing these negative things about Paul. This takes the book on its first flashback, in which the listener is told of a time when Paul and Bronso of Ix first met and why they became best friends. Both boys were only about 12 or 13 years old when Paul was sent to learn about the manufacturing based planet of Ix. Both houses, Vernius of Ix and Atreides of Caladan are very close due to Duke Leto of Caladan once marrying a descendant of Vernius, and both boys pledge their loyalty to each other to their fathers. The Bene Gesserit are upset with Bronso's mother (a Bene Gesserit, herself) and demands she returns to Wallach IX to become a breeding mother. She resists and the Bene Gesserit use a Guilt caster to put her in a catatonic state. Not knowing what to do Prince Rhombur sends her with the Bene Gesserit in hopes of finding a cure. Rhombur then reveals to Bronso that due to the accident that left Rhomber a cyborg he was not able to father a son and that Bronso is not his natural son. Bronso runs away and out of honor Paul runs with him.

During this adventure Paul and Bronso are befriended by a leader of a Jongleur troop. Jongleurs are travelling performers, so this makes this adventure very similar to the boys running away and joining the circus. During this excursion Paul and Bronso learn some Jongleur techniques including a form of mass hypnosis, which comes in handy when Paul becomes the Maud'Dib.

Flashback to the books real time and Alia is using all forces available to capture Bronso. For a reasons unknown at the time Jessica has Gurney Halleck stall the capture. Gurney is working with the Ghola Duncan to track down Bronso, and through his undying loyalty to House Atreides Gurney stalls as best he can. Meanwhile anyone caught with anti-Paul Maud'Dib material is put to death under orders of Alia.

Jessica then takes Gurney and Irulan out to the desert to finish her tale of Paul and Bronso. This Flashback goes back to when Paul has become Emperor and the Maud'Dib and the empire is fighting Paul's Jihad.

Jessica has been called to Wallach IX by the Bene Gesserit. They want her to kill Paul so that his empire will crumble and the Jihad will end. While making her decision Jessica discovers Bronso's mother, while not completely healed, alive and awake on Wallach IX. Jessica is called to Ix by Bronso and when she arrives on Ix she finds Paul with Bronso. Here Paul reveals that Bronso is to spread the word Paul is a mere human to keep the Mythology of Paul Maud'Dib at bay.

Back in the book's real time Bronso is captured and is sure to face execution. This book goes perfectly along the lines of all the books in the Duneverse, in that it again is filled with plans within plans and no one knows the complete story until the very end.

Once again Scott Brick performs in his usual stellar reading, creating the mood and emotions of the book from the words written by Herbert and Andeson. Brick is perfect at the subtle changes in mood and thought by small shifts in his voice that keep you glued to "Winds of Dune."

The Jedi

It is argued that the Jedi are inspired by the Bene Gesserit order of Dune. The Jedi ability to control weak minds ("These are not the droids you are looking for") resembles the Bene Gesserit skill of verbal control over a subject (known in the novels as Voice). Dune explored the Voice as the ability to analyze an individual's character and formulate a specific tone to appeal to them, while Star Wars left the nature of such vocal control unexplained. These differences may be the result of differing media: Dune is a novel, while Star Wars is a film. However, many contend that the Jedi were based largely on Taoist philosophy and Zoroastrianism.

Both organizations have prophesies concerning a Messianic figure: "The Chosen One" in the Star Wars prequels, and the Kwisatz Haderach in the Dune universe. In Dune, the messiah myth was implanted by the Bene Gesserit so they could gain leverage over a primitive culture should a Reverend Mother be trapped on the planet; in Star Wars, however, the Prophesy of the Chosen One is left largely unexplained.

The Jedi also have a code of ethics similar to the one of Ginaz, Duncan Idaho's training school. Trained this way, Duncan gives his life saving Paul and Lady Jessica, just as Obi-Wan Kenobi gives his life saving Luke Skywalker in Star Wars.

A closer match to the Bene Gesserit, at least in terms of the superstitions surrounding the order, are the Force-wielding "witches" of Dathomir found in Expanded Universe fiction.

About 10 years after the events of "Dune Messiah," the children of Emperor Paul Maud'dib are aware of their future and fate of humanity under their guidance. Leto II and Ghanima are young of age but being "pre-born" they have all the knowledge of mankind and prescience vision which allows them to forsee what events will guide humanity. The Golden Path must be followed by one of these children of Maud'dib but which one? The Golden Path is one in which Paul could not take.

In the meantime Dune continues to become "green." Many sections of desert have standing water and clouds can be seen from the Guild's highliners in space. The ecology of Dune is changing to allow growth of plant life. The problem with this is that it could lead to the extinction of Sandworms which are the source of spice and spice is what keeps the the Universe running.

House Corrino is making an attempt at regaining the throne by training tigers to attack Leto & Ghanima and then put Farad'n on the throne. But Farad'n does not really seem to like what is done in his name by his mother. He then banishes his mother upon the arrival of Lady Jessica and Lady Jessica begins training him in the Bene Gesserit way. All this time they are trying to betroth him to Ghanima, who believes the assasination succeeded and killed Leto. Leto, however is seeking out Jacurutu in order to find the Golden Path.

Alia has pushed along the religion of Paul Maud'dib in order to gain power for herself. This is not entirely her doing, because she becomes possessed by the memory of Baron Harkkonen. A mysterious figure makes his appearance in the city to tell the people of the abomination of worshipping Maud'dib. This person is known only as The Preacher. The Preacher however is Paul Maud'dib returned from the desert.

Leto learns that the Golden Path is to transform his human self by merging with the sand trout (the "larvae" of the sandworms).

Once again Frank Herbert creates a novel that continues with the great science-fiction action and intrigue, philosophical discussions and ecological warnings.

Twins

Another similarity is between Paul's wife Chani giving birth to twins after expecting only one child in the Dune series, and Anakin's wife, Padmé, doing the same in the Star Wars series. In both versions the mothers die during childbirth, an occurrence which is foreseen by the fathers although they react differently to it. The Atreides twins (Ghanima and Leto II) and the Skywalker twins (Luke and Leia), have a mental and emotional contact between them so strong it sometimes borders on being an even closer relationship than simple sibling love. Luke and Leia, in the expanded universe of Star Wars novels, have to deal with this. Ghanima and Leto talk about possible relationships between them in the novel Children of Dune, but they are bound by the Fremen ways not to behave like the Egyptian Pharaohs.

Father and Son

Just as Leto II completed the Golden Path that his father Paul had begun, it can be argued Luke Skywalker fulfills the prophecy of the chosen one in the place of his father Anakin, bringing balance to the force. In both fictional universes, the father is believed to be dead but later returns under a new identity: the heretic Preacher in Dune, and the evil Darth Vader in Star Wars.

Before I summarize the story there are a few things that need to be mentioned about this book. First this book takes on a different feel from all the others written by Frank Herbert. The reason behind this is that the book is mostly written in first person, from the view of Leto II the God Emperor. These are in the forms of stolen journals and other journals Leto keeps for future generations. The other Dune books contained quotes from other sources to highlight chapters, but this one relies on the quotes to tell the story. Another thing about this book is that it jumps the reader 3,500 years after the book Children of Dune. The Universe has changed as can be expected. Dune, now known primarily as Arrakis, is a plush fertile planet with rivers and rain. The exception to this is the small area Leto has set aside for testing the Atreides. And finally in all Frank Herbert's and even in the books by his son, Brian, women are a very strong presence. They are the true rulers behind the men. Even more so in this book. Leto's army of "Fish Speakers" is all women. The reason for this in the book is that in general women mature faster and that in order to protect life one must create/adore life and women achieve this through the act of childbirth.

Now for the story, again I'll warn you there are spoilers here.

Leto II, after 3,500 years as Emperor, has continued into his metamorphoses of becoming a sandworm. The only human features left are his arms and hands and his face which is contained within a sandtrout coweled area. This metamorphoses is part of the Golden Path that his father Maud'dib could not do. This was done to ensure the contiuation of humankind. While this concept is not entirely clear, it is stated that humankind would have become basically lazy and would have killed itself off, if the God Emperor had not been ruling. Leto while being mostly sandworm, still rules from Arrakis, where the sandworms and sandtrout are extinct. Leto has a horde of spice which he uses as rewards for the others in the universe. Due to this shortage of spice, space travel is kept to a minimum. The Spacing Guild, the Bene Gesserit, the Ixians and the Bene Tlielax all compete for their spice rewards.

The Ixians are still creating machines and have all but broken the rules of the Butlerian Jihad, in which "No machine shall be constructed in the form of the human mind." The Ixians are trying to create a machine to replace the Spacing Guild navigators in folding space. The Ixians also have a device called the "no room" in which all is hidden from Leto's prescient vision. In this room they create Hwi Noree, a woman who can conquer the only known weakness of the God Emperor, LOVE.

Duncan Idaho is still around for this novel, but still only a ghola, the Tleilaxu have cloned many Duncans for Leto. Leto likes the company of the Duncans although many have died mysteriously, at the opening of the book one is to assassinate Leto as programmed by the Tleilaxu. But being mostly sandworm, nothing can kill the God Emperor, except water, which that is a secret none yet know. So this Duncan dies and his replacement is suspiciously readily available. The Duncans are commanders of the Fish Speakers, Leto's all woman army.

Leto also has his own breeding program to keep the Atreides bloodline alive and to continue the species. The latest Duncan is to breed with Siona, daughter of Moneo, the Emperor's right hand man and sometimes confidant and heir to Atreides bloodline. Duncan, however, will not be "the Emperor's stud."

Duncan falls in love with Hwi Noree and with this fighting in his conscience he teams up with Siona to assassinate the God Emperor as he comes to his wedding. In the fighting Siona kills Hwi and Duncan is heartbroken. They then cause the worm to fall into a river where the sandtrout all separate from his body and he dies.

This summation of this immense book is very short, when compared to all the information contained in this installment into the Duneverse. This book takes more patience than any of the others to get through but in my opinion with all the philosophies this one tackles it is even more worth it.

As a side note I know there is a great spoof of this book in an episode of the cartoon "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy." In this Mandy has evolved into a worm like creature and runs the universe from her Cinnamon mines and she keeps a constant clone of Billy to entertain her. If you ever get a chance to check it out the episode is titled "Mandy the Merciless."

Jabba The Hutt

Jabba the Hutt bears a similarity to that of Leto II in God Emperor of Dune. Both resemble worms with almost useless appendages and a human-like face at the forefront of their worm-like physiology, although Leto II was larger than Jabba the Hutt, and in better physical condition. Some refute this comparison by saying that while A New Hope carries the most Dune influence, George Lucas used a mere human as Jabba in it, cutting the scenes in favour of the giant slug Jabba in Return of the Jedi.

Stormtroopers

The Imperial Stormtroopers in Star Wars may also have been inspired by the Imperial Sardaukar of Dune. Both of them are specially "manufactured" main forces used by the Emperor of the respective fictional universes. Although the original clonetroopers in Star Wars are clones of a single human (Jango Fett), the stormtroopers of the Galactic Empire are trained on Cardia from an age around 17 (ages vary according to different rotations of planets). The Sardaukar are individuals raised in a harsh environment, the Imperial prison planet Salusa Secundus, from youth. Sardaukar troop origin and training are explained in full in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy.

Kessel

The spice-mines of Kessel are mentioned in passing in the original Star Wars film. In the expanded universe, a mind-altering spice created by aggressive creatures is mined on Kessel. The planet and creatures resemble the worms and desert planet of Arrakis, which produce the spice melange. In one supplement for the original Star Wars role-playing game, Kessel was referred to as "Arrakis by any other name".

Vehicles

Ornithopters, the primary means of on-planet travel in the Dune novels, are seen on the Wookiee homeworld Kashyyyk in the final Star Wars prequel, Revenge of the Sith. In the final battle of Attack of the Clones, large carry-alls very similar to those in the Dune novels are shown dropping off ground vehicles; In the Dune universe, carry-alls are used to transport spice harvesting vehicles away from danger. The Jawa sandcrawlers could be compared to Dune's spice harvesters, having originally been built for mining purposes on Tatooine.

First of all, Wow! what a book. This book not only was a page turner but it had lots of pages to turn. The book takes place 1,500 years after the reign of Leto II, the God Emperor. Arrakis, Dune has returned to being the desert planet, thanks to the sandtrout of Leto II's destruction bringing back the sandworms from extinction. The planet is now called Rakis. Another planet of note, Geidi Prime, former homeworld for House Harkonnen is now known as Gammu.

The empire fell into chaos before the return of the sandworms, due to the scarcity of spice. This created the "Scattering" in which many of the population sought the extreme edges of the universe to find other sources of spice or to expand the location of humanity. As the books opens many people have returned and have changed. There is a new force to deal with, the Honored Matres, they are very similar to the Bene Gesserit but the Matres use sex as a weapon and force of rule. The Bene Gesserit and Bene Tleilax see this as threat and somewhat team up to fight these Honored Matres.

The Bene Gesserit have been using gholas of Duncan Idaho through the years but the Tleilaxu always assassinate the ghola. This time will be different, the Bene Gesserit have a plan. But, as it seems so do the Tleilaxu. They have "programmed" the ghola to kill the Bene Gesserit "imprinter" that tries to imprint him to guarantee his loyalty to the Bene Gesserit.

In the meantime on Rakis, a child is discovered by the priests that can control the sandworms. The Bene Gesserit hear of this and immediately take over Rakis, in order to make the child, Sheeana, a Reverend Mother, and maybe to breed with the Duncan ghola.

The Honored Matres also find this out and seek to destroy the ghola and the girl and Rakis. So with many battles to ensue we are introduced to a retired Bashar, Teg, who is brought out of retirement to not only guard the ghola but to awaken his memories due to Teg being the exact likeness of Duke Leto I. After awakening the ghola Teg, Reverend Mother Lucilla, who was supposed to imprint Duncan before the awakening, and Duncan are discovered on Gammu and have to go underground to get to Rakis. Teg is captured and tortured by the Honored Matres but during the torture some strange powers are awakened in him. He is able to speed his body and mind outside the normal flow of time, and able to destroy all occupants in a Honored Matres stronghouse. He then steals a no-ship (which is a ship undetectable by all, including prescience vision) and takes Lucilla and Duncan to Rakis.

On Rakis, Reverend Mother Taraza dies and passes her memories to Reverend Mother Odrade. Odrade has aligned somewhat with the Bene Tleilax in order to combat the Honored Matres. Odrade has started the process for Sheeana to become a Reverend Mother. Teg and company arrive and provide transport in the no-ship for Odrade, Lucilla, Duncan, Sheeana and a captured sandworm back to Chapterhouse while he stays behind to fight the Matres and as it turns out Rakis is destroyed.

The Reverend Mothers bring the worm to Chapterhouse in order to turn it into another Dune.

Okay, only one more Frank Herbert Dune book to go. Dune is destroyed but the sandworms still live.

Heretics of Dune
by Frank Herbert
Produced by Macmillan Audio
Read by Simon Vance

What makes the original Dune series by Frank Herbert a classic in all science fiction is the fact that Frank Herbert created not only a story, but several religions, cultures and conflicts. Every book in the series works around the politics of these and yet still has something to say about today's society (no matter when that "today" is).

This audiobook production is read by Simon Vance. His reading not only keeps the listener in the complicated and twisting storyline but his vocal qualities create great characterizations that at times the production seems like a multicast recording.

The Heretics of Dune presents another view in the "Duneverse" this time exploring the meaning and purpose behind the emotion (and all that goes with it) of love. The heresy, which all the heretics presented in this book are guilty of, is Love. The Bene Gesserit have a breeding program in which the genetic line of the Atreides is preserved. No Bene Gesserit witch is allowed to fall in love. After all that is what Lady Jessica did in the original novel, and that created a Kwisatz Haderach, a being that could be in all places at once, and later the tyrant, God Emperor, Leto II.

Princess Leia.......Princess Alia (pronounced a-leia)

Tatooine a desert planet.......Arrakis (Dune) a desert planet

Sandcrawler - Vehicle piloted by Jawas, "left over from a forgotten mining era long ago".......Sandcrawler - Vehicle piloted by Arrakins, used to mine for spice

Moisture Farmers (like Uncle Owen).......Dew Collectors: "...used by Fremen to line concave planting depressions where they provide a small but reliable source of water"

Spice Mines of Kessel (mentioned in passing).......Spice is the most valued commodity in the universe, mined from Dune

Jedi Mind Trick - Jedi ability which controls the actions of others.......The Voice - Bene Gesserit ability which controls the actions of others

Jedi Bendu, the Jedi training technique which gives them excellent internal control as well as supernatural prowess in combat Prana Bindu, the Bene Gesserit training technique which gives them excellent internal control as well as supernatural prowess in combat

Vision of Obi-Wan appears to Luke on Hoth, while he's seemingly dying .......Vision of Pardot Kynes appears to Liet-Kynes in the desert, while he's dying

The Trade Federation has a monopoly on shipping in space.......The Spacing Guild has a monopoly on shipping and transportation in space

Luke practices his lightsaber technique against an automated training remote.......Alia practices her sword technique against an automated training dummy

Millennium Falcon barely escapes from the jaws of giant, sightless space slug before it falls back into the asteroid........The Duke's ornithopter barely escapes from the jaws of a giant, sightless sandworm before it falls back into the dunes.

Repulsors - Small devices which counteract gravity (used in the landspeeder, speeder bikes, pod racers and Jabba's barge)........Suspensors - Small devices which counteract gravity (used to suspend the Baron Harkonnen and Glowglobes)

Jabba (1983) is a worm/slug thing, about 15 feet long, with human-like facial features, arms and hands, who sits atop a dais........Leto II, God Emperor of Dune (1981), is a worm/slug thing, about 15 feet long, with human-like facial features, arms and hands, who sits atop a dais

Okay, Dune fans, this is it, last Dune book written by Frank Herbert. Published in 1985, "Chapterhouse Dune" left more questions than answers. Frank Herbert died in 1986 and left a legacy of some of the greatest Science Fiction and Literature, but many fans want to know if "Chapterhouse Dune" was how he wanted to leave things or not.

Before we talk about the questions left unanswered, I'll give you a synopsis of this book.

Ten years after the events in "Heretics of Dune" have left the planet Rakis/Arrakis/Dune completely destroyed by the Honored Matres the mysterious enemy from the scattering. Mother Superior Odrade has grown a ghola from the cells of her Father, Miles Teg, the greatest bashar the Bene Gesserit have ever known, to combat the Honored Matres. The ghola of Teg is now 10 years old and his memories are about to be awakened by the ghola of Duncan Idaho. This quite fitting in that the "original" Miles Teg is the one that awakened the memories of the ghola Duncan Idaho.

Also on the Chapterhouse planet the Bene Gesserit are planning to create a new Dune. Thanks to Sheeana they smuggled to Chapterhouse from Dune a sandworm. The sandworm was used to creat sandtrout which are slowly converting Chapterhouse to a desert planet.

Also smuggled back to Chapterhouse on the "no-ship" is the last remaining Tleilaxu, Scytale. Scytale, unbeknownst to anyone (except the reader), has implanted in his chest a nullentropy tube containing the cells for many Tleilaxu masters and many of the past famous persons from the Dune novels, including Paul Maud'dib. For his safety Scytale has given the Bene Gesserit the secret of axolotl tanks, the tanks used by the Tleilaxu to creat gholas and the genetic equivalent of spice.

Duncan Idaho is "haunted" by 2 mysterious figures throughout the book that seem to be observing him through a net. These could be Tleilaxu face dancers. They are revealed at the end of the book to be Daniel and Marty, and that face dancers were never ruled by Tleilaxu masters. Daniel and Marty were supposed to guide Duncan, and the others to some sort of path. But at the end of this book Duncan escapes in the no-ship with some rebel Bene Gesserit, some sandworms, Scytale, Sheeanna, and Miles Teg.

So as you can see there are many questions that end the Dune series, as written by Frank Herbert, such as:
1. How are Daniel and Marty to affect the future? (Many fans believe these two characters to be Frank Herbert and his wife, Eileen written into the series)
2. What is to come of the "Renegades" in the no ship?
3. What will happen now that the Bene Gesserit and the Honored Matres are merging.
4. What is the mysterious force that forced the Honored Matres to return in fear from the scattering.

Now the good news is that Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson have teamed up and have been and are writing "Book 7" based on an outline and writings left behind by Frank Herbert. However due to the massive amount of information left behind Book 7 has been written into 2 books: "Hunters of Dune" and "Sandworms of Dune."

Well here it is the book that either ticked you off or brought relief. Many Frank Herbert and Dune Fans were offended by the conclusion of this book. Yet there were also many that were relieved to see that the many unanswered questions from "Chapterhouse Dune" were finally answered, at least started to be answered. Herbert and Anderson have put the final Dune book which was simply title "Dune 7" into 2 books. The two authors are working from the many notes and highlights left behind when Frank Herbert passed away in 1986.

Okay at this point I should warn anyone reading this that from this point forward there will be spoilers. This will be a review of the book with a bit of discussion as to whether or not the series is continuing in the direction Frank Herbert intended. So if you don't like to know the ending until you read it then you may want to come back to this posting.

First of all let's give a synopsis of what goes on in "Hunters of Dune:"

There are many different plots and subplots going on in this book. In a sense it is a return to the plots within plots and secrets within secrets that Frank Herbert introduced to the reader in the original "Dune" book. Another aspect of this book is that it is filled with lots of excitement and action much like the first book. However one of the many aspects of Frank Herbert's writing compared to the writing of Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson, is that of the big action scenes. Frank Herbert was a bit like Shakespeare in that the main actions or sometimes death and destruction would happen "off-stage" or better yet, in the reader's mind. Like for example the destruction of the planet Rakis (Arrakis, Dune), this only gets mentioned and the no-ship moves on. However when it comes to Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson, especially Anderson, they have to write the action out and fill with all sorts of scenes. In fact that is just what they do in the opening of this book, to give a complete writing of the destruction of Rakis as seen through the ghola memories of Miles Teg. This also explains why the book that was originally called book 7 is now two novels.

The book takes place on several areas and planets in the universe, with the bulk of the action happening within the wandering no-ship, beyond the known universe where "the enemy" is getting ready to attack humankind, the Bene Gesserit home planet, Chapterhouse and Tleilax, the home planet of the extinct Tlielaxu masters and now under the rule of the Honored Matres.

The story as left off in the last book by Frank Herbert is that after the the God Emperor died the Universe was at a standstill with no more spice. Humanity scattered to the far reaches of the universe to find alternatives to the spice and to spread out the home base of humanity. The Honored Matres return to the central universe spreading destruction in their wake. They have two main enemies they wish to destroy. They are the Bene Gesserit and the Tlielaxu Masters. The reason they want to destroy the Bene Gesserit is so they can learn how to adjust their body chemistry to combat the biological weapons thrust at them by the great enemy. They no nothing other than conquer and destroy and diplomacy is not a choice. The reason they destroy the Tlielaxu Masters is because the the Honored Matres are formed from Bene Gesserit and the God Emperor's Fish Speakers and the freed women that were destined to be Tlielaxu Axlotyl tanks. This is how the Tlielaxu create the gholas and the spice substitute, turning the women into tanks for growing life or for chemical processes.

The half Bene Gesserit and half Honored Matre Mother Commander Murbella, is trying to combine the forces of the Bene Gesserit and the Honored Matres in order to destroy the enemy that will soon be coming to destroy humanity. She is met with much resistance from the Honored Matres who feel there is no way to destroy the enemy. Since the Honored Matres are the ones that alerted the enemy of the presence of humanity, they have first hand knowledge. The Honored Matres also have stolen some weapons from the enemy and use these to destroy on their escape across the universe. These "Obliterators" were used to destroy Rakis and are at times used to threaten the Bene Gesserit. Eventually Mother Commander Murbella does destroy the rebel factions of all the Honored Matres and prepares to do battle with the enemy.

In the meantime the escaped no-ship continues to try and find refuge from the war between Honored Matres and Bene Gesserit while at the same time avoiding the tachyon net set out by the enemy to capture the no-ship. The enemy wants the no-ship because the Kwisatz Hadderach is onboard, however we are not let on to know which passenger is this super-being. The ship is populated by Sheanna, the Bene Gesserit that can control the sandworms, The Mentat ghola Duncan Idaho, the Miles Teg ghola, Bene Tlielax Master Scytale, several renegade Bene Gesserit witches and 4 Futars rescued from the Honored Matres on Gammu. The Futars are a mysterious half cat half human being created to hunt and destroy Honored Matres. They are created by Handlers who are later found out to be Tlielaxu Face Dancers. Scytale also holds a great secret. He carries a null entropy tube, containing cells carefully and secretly collected by the Tleilaxu for millennia, including the cells of Tleilaxu Masters, Face Dancers, Paul Atreides, Duke Leto Atreides, Lady Jessica, Chani, Stilgar, Leto Atreides II, Gurney Halleck, Thufir Hawat, and other legendary figures dating back to Serena Butler and Xavier Harkonnen from the Butlerian Jihad. The Bene Gesserit on board the no-ship which has been named the "Ithaca," debate and decide to bring back gholas of Paul, Jessica, Chani, Stilgar, Liet Kynes, Thufir Howat and Leto II. But an attempted assasination on Leto II and a warning from prescience to Sheanna puts a stop to the further growing of gholas.

On Tleilaxu the Face dancer, Khrone working for they mysterious Daniel and Marty, grow gholas of Baron Harkonnen and Paul Maud'dib. This gives Daniel and Marty the backup for a Kwisatz Hadderach in case they can't catch the Ithaca. Yes it turns out that Daniel and Marty are the enemy. Which, and here's the jagged little pill, in turn they turn out to be the Evermind Omnius and The independent Robot Erasmus, who were "defeated" in the Butlerian Jihad.

This brings us to the point that creates a bit of turmoil among Dune fans. Many fans have a hard time accepting that the enemy is robots. But if you look at it this way it may be a little easier to swallow; They are not just robots but thinking machines. The entire Dune universe is based on the idea that there are no computers and that thinking machines were defeated in the Butlerian Jihad. So I ask what better enemy than one that humanity has forgotten and even taken for granted.

The Dune chronicles have come to a close with this final book in the series, "Sandworms of Dune." Frank Herbert created a great novel in the original "Dune" and then continued with 5 more books covering the philosophies and adventures of the planet Arrakis or Dune. Dune is the only place in the universe where Spice Melange was to be found. "He who controls the spice, controls the Universe." The Spice was needed for Guild Navigators to be able to fold space, enabling travel throughout the universe in the blink of an eye. Spice also was known to bring about psychic prescience in some individuals. The Spice is what gave the Bene Gesserit witches their powers. Finally Spice was known to prolong life. Spice was the commodity to be traded instead of coin in Frank Herbert's "Duneverse."

The last book Frank Herbert wrote in the series was "Chapterhouse Dune." In this novel the planet Arrakis (Dune) had been destroyed and the universe was dividing into many separate factions, and an unknown enemy was coming in to destroy all traces of humanity. Of course, this left a major cliffhanger for all Dune fans, and Frank Herbert's Death made it so we would never know what happened.

Enter Frank Herbert's son, Brian. Brian Herbert teamed up with fellow science fiction writer Kevin J. Anderson after finding Frank Herbert's notes on the final book of Dune. He and Kevin Anderson put together the notes and found they had what Frank had intended for the ending of the book. As they worked together on the final book they wrote some prequals to the series; The Legends of Dune Series which covered the times which led to the outlawing of "machines in the likeness of the human mind" (Thinking Machines) and the Prelude to Dune series which described how the major Houses in the Dune series came to power.

With the backstory in place it was time to finalize the Dune series. In putting together the material the 2 authors discovered there was 2 books worth of material so they wrote 2 final books in the series; "Hunters of Dune" and this book, "Sandworms of Dune."

Let's start now on this book by saying that Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson have wrapped up the series in a very pleasing way for the fans to actually have some closure on all the major characters in some form. At the same time they maintain the philosophy and feel of the original books creating a seamless story from the point where Frank Herbert left off. Many fans felt cheated that the great unknown enemy turned out to be robots, the Evermind Omnius, and thinking machines. I can see that some could have been misled thinking that the great enemy could be spiritual but if you read the series you can see there is some great schism that occured in the books' mentioning of "The Butlerian Jihad." Out of this Jihad a law came to pass, "Thou shalt not create machines in the image of a human mind." Herbert and Anderson in writing the prequals and these final 2 books have very adequately explained this rift and turned it into a great climax to the stories.

In this book, humanity is continuing to fracture in to several factions while a single enemy will be using this division to destroy all human life. The factions consist of; The newly combined Bene Gesserit and Honored Matres, the "no-ship" on which are several Bene Gesserit who don't agree with the merging of the Honored Matres into the Bene Gesserit order, the Spacing Guild are replacing all navigators (who are dependent on spice) with machines that will fold space, since spice is a rare commodity, the Navigators who are being sacrificed are combining forces and getting help from the mysterious "Oracle of Time," The new breed of Face dancers who are not only able to look like whoever they want but also to take the memories of those they take on the appearance of, and finally the fast approaching thinking machines led by the Evermind, Omnius and his co-hort the independent robot Erasmus.

The character of Erasmus the independent robot is one of the most fun love-to-hate evil villians I've read in a long time. His character is one that represents curiousity. He's constantly wondering what makes humans tick. In fact, just like Pinocchio and Data from "Star Trek the Next Generation," Erasmus just wants to be a "real boy," or rather he wants to be human and experience such human traits as love, honor and faith. In the experiments on finding out what makes a human love another human or object Erasmus created some bloody dissections of the human brain and heart in the prequal books. The Evermind Omnius represents the logic and facts portion of humanity. Great characterization exists here and all created by Herbert and Anderson.

The no-ship containing the faction of Bene Gesserit that didn't want to merge with the Honored Matres continues to hide in the universe while at the same time searching for a new home for the Bene Gesserit and the Jews. The Jewish faith has lived on for tens of thousands of years escaping the new religions that have come and gone in the universe over time and the last few known Jews have escaped on the no-ship. The ship is commanded by the ghola of Duncan Idaho and the Bene Gesserit on the ship are led by Shianna who is able to communicate to the sandworms. On this ship there are 5 sandworms which were rescued before Arrakis was destroyed by the Honored Matres. Also on board are other gholas grown from cells found in the last Tleilaxu Master, Scytale's null entropy tube. A ghola is a clone of a human which has the capability to "awaken memories" of the person they once were. The gholas are; Paul Maud'dib Atreides, Lady Jessica Atreides, Chani (Paul's Wife), Liet Kines (planetologist on Dune), Stilgar (Naib of the Fremen on Dune), Yeuh Wellington (Suk Doctor that betrayed Duke Leto in the original Dune book), Alia (sister of Paul and an abomination). These are basically young children until their original memories are restored.

Duncan is constantly barely escaping the tachyon net thrown out by the thinking machines to catch the no-ship. The thinking machines know that a Kwisatz Haderach (a super human who is able to be in all places at once) is on board and wants to possess him to win the war against humanity. But at the same time the no-ship is being sabotaged by an unknown person and the running away from the thinking machines is becoming impossible.

Another Tleilaxu, Waff, is working with the guild navigators to create a new source of spice. He genetically alters the sandworms to create worms that can live in the ocean and they create a new form of spice "ultra-spice." These new worms are planted on the ocean planet of Buzzel and soon thrive.

The new order of Bene Gesserit and Honored Matres are preparing for the arrival of the thinking machines by creating a fleet of ships and weapons to destroy the enemy. They hire the guild and Ixian forces to create the ships and weapons. But soon find out that the guild and Ix is infiltrated with face-dancers working for the thinking machines.

The climactic battle between humanity and the thinking machines is one that creates a great philosophical discussion to be had by all that read the books. This being, that mankind can find peace through cooperation. I've decided not to give any real spoilers because this book must be read and appreciated.

Now the series is over. Or is it? This final book "Sandworms..." brings about a great closure to the series but the younger Herbert and Anderson are prepared to write some more books for the series. These will be a trilogy titled "Heroes of Dune" with the separate books focusing on "Paul of Dune," "Jessica of Dune" and "Irulan of Dune." The release dates of these books are some time in 2008 or 2009.

Any true science-fiction fan can tell you that one of the classics of Sci-Fi is the Dune Series created by Frank Herbert. If you have taken it upon yourself to read the entire series you'll remember that Frank Herbert died and left the series a real cliffhanger. Some dedicated dune fans will say that is what he intended but some will say he had more to write. Frank Herbert's son, Brian has teamed up with another sci-fi author, Kevin J. Anderson and working with Franks notes and stored treasures left behined have brought the Dune series to a close. They have also augmented the series with some great prequels also using ideas they found in Frank Herbert's many writings, and to this day they are adding more stories and books to the Duneverse with the recent publication of "Paul of Dune." (note: I'll be reviewing this book soon...I have the audiobook sitting on my shelf waiting for my devouring.

So we've got more stories and the Duneverse continues but what led to the coming of the classic that is "Dune?" Well that brings us to this review. Not only did Brian and Kevin find story plotlines in the cache of documents left behind by Frank Herbert, but they found many other treasures, some including rejection letters. This book is a multi-treat for science fiction fans and die hard Dune fans. In this collection there are letters from publishers about why "Dune" would not be a good book and would never sell. Also included is the original story that Frank Herbert wrote called "Spice Planet" which is the basis of what would be "Dune." This is the original and even though the basic story is still there, this novella doesn't grasp the environmentalism, religion and politics as the final does. I'm glad he rewrote it.

The surprising thing about this book is that so many publishers turned down the book, not because of being a bad story, but because the book was so long. In fact the original publisher, Chilton, published only automobile manuals and took a chance that worked out well for them.

Included in this book is the original, never published news story about stopping sands from destroying coastal towns in Oregon which got Frank Herbert scheming of a planet of sand. Other goodies in the book are some short stories by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, three of them bridging the gap between the 3 books covering the Butlerian Jihad, and one taking place during the Harkonnen takeover on Dune in the original first novel, "Dune."

This book is a very nice compliment to the Duneverse, in that it provides insight into the mind of Frank Herbert and the development of the famous spice planet, Dune, and some added stories that add to the thousands of years covered throughout all 14 (now 15) books.

Variety is treating it like news, but you have most likely known since December that Peter Berg was confirmed to direct the new Dune movie. However, the trade does add some more things to the mix.

It says that the new big screen adaptation of Frank Herbert's classic sci-fi novel will be at Paramount Pictures. Kevin Misher, who spent the past year obtaining the book rights from the Herbert estate, will produce via his Paramount-based company.

The project is out to writers, with the producers looking for a faithful adaptation of the Hugo- and Nebula Award-winning book. The filmmakers consider its theme of finite ecological resources particularly timely.

The delay was due to the Hollywood writer's strike.

New Amsterdam's Richard Rubenstein, who produced SCI FI's "Dune" and sequel "Children of Dune," is also producing alongside Sarah Aubrey of Film 44, Berg's production company. John Harrison and Mike Messina executive produce. [source: "Variety"]