The Butlerian Jihad (Legends of Dune, #1)

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The Butlerian Jihad (Legends of Dune #1)

3.48 of 5 stars 3.48 · rating details · 10,724 ratings · 234 reviews

Frank Herbert's Dune series is one of the great creations of imaginative literature, science fiction's answer to The Lord of the Rings.

Decades after Herbert's original novels, the Dune saga was continued by Frank Herbert's son, Brian Herbert, in collaboration with Kevin J. Anderson. Working from Frank Herbert's own notes, the acclaimed authors reveal the chapter of the Dun...more

Paperback, 684 pages

Published September 15th 2003 by Tor Books (first published January 1st 2002)

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Apr 09, 2013 Peter rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone lacking a cerebral cortex

Shelves: library, science-fiction

GoodReads/Amazon management has chosen to ban this review from their "community". The complete version of this review has therefore been moved to the following sites:

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If you, like me, object to what Amazon has done to the world of books, book lovers, and book shops, you can find many alternatives to GoodReads (for reviews) and to Amazon (f...more

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Dec 13, 2007 Liz rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: my worst enemy

The seven dollars I spent for this book would have been better used buying a cup of battery acid to pour into my eyes.

More detailed ranting here.

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Jun 25, 2011 Flash Beagle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

Long, long from now in a galaxy too close for comfort, humanity (fondly called "feral humans" by the thinking machines) is struggling for existence. Besieged as they are, the humans themselves are of course not entirely blameless and many of them have not discovered the concept of "human rights" and "equality."
Bravery, treachery, deceit, galactic battles - it's all there - lots of fun. Seen through the long glass of our future prospects, based on where we are now, the concepts are believable.
It...more

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Nov 12, 2008 Gerard rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: No one

An abomination that should never have been written - which is true of all that Herbert Jnr and Anderson have contributed to the Dune series. Putting aside the pedestrian writing, the authors have failed entirely to capture the complexity of Frank Herbert's universe, characters and ideas. They seem incapable of subtlety. Nothing is implied. Everything is stated. They do tell a story but with none of the sophistication of the original.
Life is far too short to be wasted reading this money-spinning...more

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Feb 11, 2008 Dana rated it 1 of 5 stars

Seems to have major continuity issues with the original novels. Much more shallow and less intellectually rewarding than the books written by Frank Herbert.

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Dec 27, 2007 Dori rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: no one.

Shelves: science-fiction

I listened to this on audiobook and it was dreadful. I couldn't even finish it. I made it about 3/4 of the way through and had to stop torturing myself.

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Oct 26, 2008 Er rated it 1 of 5 stars

If I could give a negative star I would. It read like bad fanfiction.

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Feb 07, 2008 Dufour rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

OK, so after the critical phenom success of Herbert & Anderson's first DUNE prequel trilogy...they decide to cash in their chips and do another one. Jesus wept. This series chronicles the Butlerian Jihad hinted at in Frank Herbert's original books, the war by man to cast of the shackles put on them by thinking machines. However...you don't really get an appreciation for humanity's suffering here. There's plenty of free humans living on Salusa Secundus even though Omnius and his machine horde...more

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Oct 02, 2007 Brooke rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another review written back in 2006:

My natural inclination is to assume that anything that's a spin-off from an author's original work is going to inevitably be inferior to the original, no matter what. (Case in point, any books/stories based off of Tolkien's notes after his death.) They just lack the voice and scope of the original. So normally, I wouldn't have even considered picking up a book based off of Frank Herbert's original Dune series, even if it was written by his own flesh and blood,...more Another review written back in 2006:

My natural inclination is to assume that anything that's a spin-off from an author's original work is going to inevitably be inferior to the original, no matter what. (Case in point, any books/stories based off of Tolkien's notes after his death.) They just lack the voice and scope of the original. So normally, I wouldn't have even considered picking up a book based off of Frank Herbert's original Dune series, even if it was written by his own flesh and blood, Brian Herbert.

But one day I was browsing the shelves at Twice Sold Tales and the title "Dune: The Butlerian Jihad" jumped out at me. It was only $4, and I needed some reading material for the holidays, so I picked it up.

The Butlerian Jihad was an ancient war between men and machines that was frequently referred to in the original Dune novels. But they never really went into great detail about it. Frank Herbert left a lot of things open-ended and susceptible to interpretation, which is interesting, and also sometimes frustratingly vague. And it was also so intriguing that is was referred to as a "jihad", I wanted to know more.

The first chapter of this book, however, was written almost like a history book. I wasn't sure if I would make it through all 500 pages, and was immediately disappointed. But instead of tossing the book down in protest of bad writing, I pressed along and the story took a turn for the better, and then even better as multiple layers of lives on various planets began to be played out. The story ranged everywhere from the front lines of battle, to lover's trysts, to slave raids, to noblemen savants...and settings all the way from the deserts of Arrakis to the original Earth (before it's destruction) under the tyranny of thinking machines.

One always interesting, and incredibly prevalent, theme in science fiction is the theory of artificial intelligence. The background of this book is that the robots humans had designed to make their lives easier were given greater and greater levels of autonomy until one day this autonomy sprang forth into overthrowing and massacring entire planets of humans, and enslaving those that could not escape. The story moves through bloody battle scenes, cruel experiments on human slaves, and sickening depictions of torture and extermination. It was, in fact, incredibly violent as far as novels go. But most important was the spirit of human survival and desire to be free from the thinking machines once and for all, and the desperate, sacrifical measures they would take to do just that. The juxtaposition of thinking machine to devious/clever human was interesting, without being too pedantic.

I'm really not doing the story any justice, but it was so broad in scope that i's difficult to summarize. Mostly I found it interesting because it gave a lot of detailed background of the "Dune universe".

I'll be honest, it was a total geek-fest and I loved it. But I still have to say that even though it was very well written, and kept in close keeping with Frank Herbert's original style and vision, it was still not quite the same because I knew it hadn't come from his pen.(less)

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Oct 11, 2007 Exparrot rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who loves Dune... at least the original

To be fair Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson do an okay job in continuing with Frank Herbert's Dune legacy. When I mean okay, I mean sure the book doesn't have the same philosophical flow and continuity, it also lacks finesse and would appeal to the younger generation X crowd who's more action and less thought BUT again, if you've been aching to know history behind Dune, then read this book. It gives the origins of the Bene Gesserit, the reason behind the kanly between House Atreides and Harko...more

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Oct 11, 2012 Adam Alpern rated it 1 of 5 stars

Horrible. Completely linear, dry expository writing, and some of the most wooden dialogue I've ever come across. I can't believe I finished it.

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Jan 03, 2013 Phillip Lozano rated it 1 of 5 stars

Honestly, I couldn't get very far in this book. None of the Brian Herbert/Kevin Anderson collaborations are very good, but this one is staggeringly, mind-blowingly awful. It reads like super-shitty fan-fiction, except than fan fic usually takes a moment to remember what universe it is set in. It's unbelievable that even two writers could churn out over 600 pages of this utterly pointless garbage - and it's only the beginning of a three-volume story arc! Holy cow. Money actually changed hands for...more

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Jan 06, 2013 David rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

(Originally posted on Otherwhere Gazette)

It is said that there are two types of Dune fans: those who like only the original books by Frank Herbert, and those who also enjoy the expanded universe his son Brian Herbert created. I used to think I was at least somewhat in the first camp, because while I enjoyed the original Dune quite a bit, the sequels weren’t among my favorites. However, Brian Herbert’s Dune: The Butlerian Jihad, is changing my mind. The Butlerian Jihad tells the story of the figh...more (Originally posted on Otherwhere Gazette)

It is said that there are two types of Dune fans: those who like only the original books by Frank Herbert, and those who also enjoy the expanded universe his son Brian Herbert created. I used to think I was at least somewhat in the first camp, because while I enjoyed the original Dune quite a bit, the sequels weren’t among my favorites. However, Brian Herbert’s Dune: The Butlerian Jihad, is changing my mind. The Butlerian Jihad tells the story of the fight against the “thinking machines,” and how it becomes a Jihad, or holy war. How the thinking machines gained control is told very briefly at the beginning (perhaps further prequels will tell that story), and it’s referenced from time to time throughout the book, as several of those who were involved in it are still living at the time of this story.

Mind you, it’s very different in tone and style from the original Dune, which is likely what puts the purists off. However, if you can get past that, it’s easy to get involved in the story, especially if you’re already familiar with the universe of Dune, although this universe is quite different from the one portrayed in Dune, something like how different Colonial-era America is from the America of today. At this time in the story, there are no Mentats, no Spacer Guild Navigators (so space travel takes months), and no Bene Gesserit… at least not yet. But we can see the beginnings of these organizations in this prequel, the first in the order of the internal chronology. We also see the beginnings of the Fremen and the Spice trade, and meet the distant ancestors of both House Atreides and House Harkonnen. Interestingly, at the start of the book, Xavier Harkonnen fights against the thinking machines, and Vorian Atreides is a trustee of those same machines, on the opposite side.

Though the story flips between several characters, they are fully formed enough for you to keep them straight and to care about what happens to them, which is, of course, important, especially in a book where it’s rare for two chapters in a row to follow the same character or characters. The characters are also recognizably people, with their flaws and their good points, which makes for an interesting read. Herbert — or perhaps his co-author, Kevin Anderson — also has a definite knack for explaining the viewpoint of the characters we’d call evil in such a way that it’s easy to understand why they are doing what they are doing, which is rare.

Overall, I’d recommend giving The Butlerian Jihad a try if you’re a Dune fan, or even if you’re not but have heard enough about it that you’re interested. The writing may not be Frank Herbert’s, but the stories are still worth reading, especially if you’re curious about how the universe and organizations of Dune came to be… and I’m always curious about things like that.(less)

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Oct 15, 2012 M T rated it 2 of 5 stars

Based on Frank Herbert's exploration of messianic power and the power of per-determination vs despotic altruism, "the Butlerian Jihad" is an entertaining if not masterful collection of chapters.

It does lay down the foundation of the of the Dune universe, but it lacks the rigorous cohesion and cultural identity of the novels written by Frank Herbert.

The characters and the action seem separated as if the co-authors either strictly followed notes marked character development or story action and ra...more

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Jul 23, 2012 Scott Rhee rated it 2 of 5 stars

True fans of the science fiction genre usually place Frank Herbert's "Dune" among their Top 10 Best SF Novels Ever Written, and for good reason. Herbert created a fully-realized universe,in much the same way that J.R.R. Tolkein did in his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Herbert's vision included a past, present, and future for his fascinating desert planet called Arrakis, aka Dune. He was able to extend his Dune series into five sequels published in his lifetme. Unfortunately, Herbert never complet...more True fans of the science fiction genre usually place Frank Herbert's "Dune" among their Top 10 Best SF Novels Ever Written, and for good reason. Herbert created a fully-realized universe,in much the same way that J.R.R. Tolkein did in his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Herbert's vision included a past, present, and future for his fascinating desert planet called Arrakis, aka Dune. He was able to extend his Dune series into five sequels published in his lifetme. Unfortunately, Herbert never completed his series, leaving at his death only notes for the final two novels in the Dune series, as well as many more notes of backstory. Thankfully, Herbert's son, Brian, along with Kevin J. Anderson, found the notes and continued the series, writing and publishing the last two novels in the "Dune" series, which quickly became popular bestsellers. Wanting to continue their success, the writing team of Anderson and Herbert wrote a prequel trilogy series ("House Atreides", "House Harkonnen", and "House Corrin") that was immensely entertaining and helped to develop even more the background for the "Dune" series. They probably should have ended there. Instead, they decided to take on an interesting challenge. Throughout Frank Herbert's "Dune", occasional mention is made to an ancient intergalactic war called the Butlerian Jihad, a war between humanity and "thinking machines", but Herbert never delved too deep into the history of it. Anderson and Herbert thought it would make a fascinating series and it probably would have... if Frank Herbert had written it or even intended to write it. The first book in the series, "The Butlerian Jihad" is admittedly somewhat entertaining. It is also superfluous and derivative, reminiscent, in parts, of "The Matrix" and even "Terminator Salvation". The storyline: an artificial intelligence called Omnius controls a vast majority of the known planets, enslaving the human populations. These are the Synchronized Worlds. The human worlds fight if necessary but for the most part try to stay out of Omnius's way. Fighting for Omnius are a ruthless group of cymeks (former humans who have become, over centuries, giant robots), who hate humanity. Led by the oldest cymek, Agamemnon, the machines attack and capture Serena Butler, taking her to Omnius-controlled Earth. There she is taken into custody by an independent robot (not controlled by Omnius) named Erasmus. Meanwhle, Serena's fiance and general of the human army, Xavier Harkonnen, believes that she is dead. Serena, pregnant with Xavier's child, becomes a slave on Earth. She does, however, plant the seeds of rebellion in the other human slaves. What follows, of course, is explained in the book's title. "The Butlerian Jihad" is exciting and entertaining at times. At times it is even philosophical. For the most part, though, "TBJ" reads like an epic sci-fi wanna-be, not even in the same league as the original "Dune". There are literally several dozen characters to keep track of, and only some of them ever have time for development. Not only that, but the book's namesake, Dune, is only mentioned a few times in the book, as it is, in this historical timeline, still a fairly insignificant planet whose importance in the grand scheme of things has not been discovered yet. For serious "Dune" fans, "The Butlerian Jihad" is interesting but disappointing. It won't stop me from reading the next two books in the series, but it has not excited me to rush out now and pick it up, either.
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Feb 19, 2012 JBradford rated it 3 of 5 stars

When I was young and foolish, I was as taken with Frank Herbert’s Dune at the rest of the world, but I found myself significantly less enchanted with his sequels. I subsequently became aware that his son and another writer were continuing the series, but I stuck my nose in one of the books at a book store and decided I was not interested. Last summer, however, I purchased one of them at a library book sale, only to discover that the very thick book I had purchased was in fact the sequel to a boo...more When I was young and foolish, I was as taken with Frank Herbert’s Dune at the rest of the world, but I found myself significantly less enchanted with his sequels. I subsequently became aware that his son and another writer were continuing the series, but I stuck my nose in one of the books at a book store and decided I was not interested. Last summer, however, I purchased one of them at a library book sale, only to discover that the very thick book I had purchased was in fact the sequel to a book that was a prequel to another set of prequels to Dune, so I set it aside until such time as I might find the first of the two. This is that first book, and I find it troubling. What can I say? Brian Herbert collaborated with his father on at least one novel, and he has published several prize-winning science-fiction novels in his own right, and Kevin Anderson has published some thirty-odd science-fiction novels; there can be no doubt that they are professionals, well learned in the craft. But this book reads largely as though it were written by a high school kid with a big vocabulary--big because it is filled with made-up words. The characters are more two-dimensional than Dickens’s much denigrated characters were, and their dialog (what little there is of it) is so stilted that it seems almost Elizabethan. There is plot aplenty--a sweeping plot that covers the cultures of a 41 different planets, 68 different characters (all with difficult names, and several of whom have two different names at various times), and a variety of spaceships and weapons and places and creeds that are named but never really described or defined. This is 612 pages of pure drudgery, much of it seeming to be foolish. And yet …

And yet I have sat herein my kitchen chair late into the night for too many nights, unable to stop turning the pages, to go on for one more chapter and then another and then another, even when I was so tired I could hardly keep my eyes open. How are we to measure the value of a book other than to say it had to be finished? There was never any question of putting it down uncompleted. As silly as the young lovers were, I had to find out what happened to them. As inane as the various subplots were (and there are many), I had to see how they worked out. And did I? No! This 612-page book is merely the first half of the story, and now I must go find and read the book I purchased last summer … hoping all the way that I will find the story to end there, and not be continued in some other successive installments I have not yet been made aware of.

The time is some ten thousand years before the advent of the Dune episode … and a thousand years after 20 teenagers took over Earth’s empire, which had grown complacent and dumb, which at that time consisted of some 14-odd planets. Those 20 hooligans employed unexplained life-extending techniques and then followed that up by transferring their brains into robotic bodies, in which they continue to enslaved and terrorize the rest of humanity. Along the way, however, one of them got careless and let the robots with artificial intelligence take on too much power, until one of the latter developed so much self-awareness that it took over the empire itself, which thus became known as the Synchronized Worlds, with the “evermind” now ruling the 20 conquerors. Aside from these there are some 18 planets which have managed not to become synchronized (that is, maintaining an unexplained independence from the “evermind” that is the central AI intelligence), called the League of Worlds, along with nine other planets that belong to neither side and are called the Unallied Planets. On one of the League worlds there is an incredibly accomplished and beautiful young woman named Serena Butler, the daughter of her planet’s Viceroy to the League, who falls in love with an equally incredibly accomplished and handsome young soldier. He wants to fight the evil robotic empire; she wants to incorporate the Unallied Planets into the League (even though most of them seem to be backwater societies that would not be of much use). Then the evil robotic empire strikes, and the story begins.

There are numerous subplots that never get resolved; I have to presume that they will be continued in the sequel, which I seem to remember to be as thick as this one. I can hardly wait …but first I think I’ll go cleanse myself by reading a couple biographies of real people.
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Feb 05, 2012 Donovan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

The Legends of Dune series goes back to the time when thinking machines were a common part of life and tells the tale of woe that lead to the edict "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a man's mind". The series consists of:-
The Butlerian Jihad
The Machine Crusade
The Battle of Corrin

Plot ***Spoilers***
The Butlerian Jihad
The Butlerian Jihad introduces a generation of characters whose families will later become the most significant in the universe: the Atreides, the Corrinos and the H...more

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Jan 29, 2012 Holden Attradies rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I want to start by saying this is my second try getting through all of Brian Herbert/Kevin J Anderson's Dune books. Between my first reading and this reading I've made peace with the fact that they aren't near the level of Frank Herbert's original and most importantly that there are tons of seeming inconsistencies between them. Having made my peace with that and expecting it I have to admit I REALLY enjoyed this book the second time through (where as I was hung up on those things the first time...more I want to start by saying this is my second try getting through all of Brian Herbert/Kevin J Anderson's Dune books. Between my first reading and this reading I've made peace with the fact that they aren't near the level of Frank Herbert's original and most importantly that there are tons of seeming inconsistencies between them. Having made my peace with that and expecting it I have to admit I REALLY enjoyed this book the second time through (where as I was hung up on those things the first time through).

Since I mentioned what come off as inconsistencies I want to mention them, as they are numerous and do kind of take away from the story.

I think the first big one for me was that all of these things "beginnings" seem to be happening in the same generation thousands of years before Dune.

Aside from that the next biggest thing was pre-spice travel. At one point they mention how two characters had to spend the ungodly time of FIVE WHOLE MONTHS traveling to the back water of Arakis. I'm sorry, but five months doesn't even seem like all that much time to spend traveling to a back water on earth, much less to the back water planet of a GALAXY. The book frequently implies that travel between planets takes only days or a week at month. Really, that doesn't leave a whole lot of improvement for the spacing guild, does it? Even if they master instantaneous space travel if some is even slightly less expensive I couldn't imagine the hassle of an extra 5 months being prohibitive between PLANETS. It seems incomprehensible that he guild could ever create a spacing monopoly if the ability to travel to a back water planet with non-spice travel can be done in a mere five months. In Dune when Paul threatens to destroy the spice cycle it is clearly implied that without spice travel between the planets would be nearly impossible, and I just don't see that represented in this book at all.

The pre-Freeman society as presented at the beginning of the book doesn't seem that far removed from the society we see later on. From Dune I got the impression that the zensunni wonders came to Dune and that was where the population came from, but this book presents a dune already teaming with people before that and managing in the desert just fine without still suits or riding sand worms. Again, like with the spacing guild, things seemed to be getting along fine before the groups/technologies we see in Dune even evolve.

But those things I've mentinoed only make little sense when compared to the internal logic f the pre-established Dune universe. If you can kind of ignore that stuff, and just enjoy this book/series as a good genre sci-fi romp it's really pretty enjoyable. A little cliched but enjoyable (again, once you can move past how it contradicts and doesn't live up to the original Dune).

On my first reading I thought Vorian's seemingly quick change of allegiances played off as being to convenient and unrealistic. But during this second reading I have pulled a total 180 on that opinion. Vorian while under the machines was totally indoctrinated into a world ideology that he not once was confronted on. When Cerena Butler did so he literally looked at his ideology and world views for the first time in his life. Having had no practice in defending his ideology he quickly saw the flaws in it and jumped shipped (perhaps making abit of an "either or Fallacy" assuming that if his previous side was wrong the other side must be right, showing he had only progressed from a mono view of the world to a binary one.) I also thing a very big part of his switching sides came from his romantic/sexual desire for Celena. He was, for the first time, presented with a woman who was mentally more than an animal (as the story implies most humans had been beaten down to that mentality under machine control) and most importantly unobtainable. If I've learned anything from my time alive its that humans, both male and female, will give up and change a lot in their life in the pursuit of a mate. I think that aspect of the story was probably the single most realistic thing there.

My only other comment at this time is that I'm not sure I see the reason why the Titans (and even the psi-mechs) were added to the story. I don't recall them being mentioned in the original Dune, and they just seem... I don't know, unnecessary plot wise. Don't get me wrong, they have a great sci-fi "cool" factor and are bad ass antagonists, but I just don't see anything they do, at least in this book, as being necessary to move the plot along in any manner.(less)

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Dec 30, 2011 Harry rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

Frank Herbert introduced us to the Dune Universe and I can say I have always been a loyal fan.
Although at some point, a a young reader in high school it all went over my head. I did play the lovely games from Westwood studios though.

However I remember that great summer when I read the Butlerian Jihad. I must have only been 17.
Somehow Brian Herbert
s writing was easier to understand and I could comprehend it a little better.
What a story, every second I was consumed by this book. It was science fi...more

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Jun 11, 2011 Jimmy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Dune Fans & Science Fiction Fans

Shelves: science-fiction

Perhaps the best book of the Legends of Dune trilogy. It was my favorite of the three novels. ‘The Butlerian Jihad’ sets up the story of how Arrakis will eventually become the center of the universe. It shows us the beginnings of the Sisterhood prior to the Dune Chronicles. One of my favorite characters by far of the entire trilogy Norma Cenva’s spectacular contribution to humanity with the gift of space folding technology is told in length. Without introduction, (perhaps Kevin J. Anderson &...more

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Nov 07, 2009 John Shumway rated it 4 of 5 stars

*Same review for the Dune Universe*
GREAT books! VERY time consuming! Worth the time!

Ok here is the deal. If your not sure about starting a series this big, here is what I would do.
1. -- Read the 1st one by Frank Herbert "Dune" if you like it...

2. -- Read the "Legends Of Dune" series. Its 3 books written by Frank's son Brian and a author I really like by the name of Keven J. Anderson. Its a prequel that is so far in the past that it doesn't spoil the Original Dune series in any way, and you could...more

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Oct 05, 2011 A.j. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Just Remember: It's NOT Dune

This book is such a guilty pleasure.
Naturally it lacks the depth, sophistication, poetry, philosophy, genius, etc., etc., of DUNE. But still it manages to provide something else quite unexpected:
Good old fashioned Space Opera FUN!

Just overlook the (mostly) 2-dimensional characters and you'll find yourself immersed in a huge, sprawling, edge-of-your-seat sci-fi adventure like the classic serial adventures of old.

Those old serials were well before my time, but this...more

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Feb 05, 2012 Catherine rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

When I read "Dune" as a teen, I fell in love with the worlds and the characters so masterfully created by Frank Herbert. The book was magical and remained with me for many years. I have never read any of the sequels because I thought it was a masterpiece in itself and needed nothing further.

When coming across this book, I thought it might be interesting to find out a bit of the history behind one Dune Sigh. I won't say I'm completely disappointed or that the book was not worth reading, but it w...more

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Oct 14, 2010 Java rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book almost got a two star rating out of me, but I had to remind myself that it was my fault for walking into it with the expectation that Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson would attempt to replicate Frank Herbert's "voice" from the first Dune books, or that Brian Herbert (who is Frank Herbert's son) would have some latent story-telling ability that paid homage to his father. This is obviously not the case. Frank Herbert had a seemingly unique way with language and the ability to write hi...more This book almost got a two star rating out of me, but I had to remind myself that it was my fault for walking into it with the expectation that Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson would attempt to replicate Frank Herbert's "voice" from the first Dune books, or that Brian Herbert (who is Frank Herbert's son) would have some latent story-telling ability that paid homage to his father. This is obviously not the case. Frank Herbert had a seemingly unique way with language and the ability to write his beyond-human-intelligence characters in an extremely believable way, making it seem as if he was actually some prescient genius. As any good writer should know, this is a difficult task to achieve.

What I saw in the pages of Butlarian Jihad was a sort of Frankenstein's monster of Anderson's genre writing and Brian Herbert's desire to deliver the information which was sought. To understand, I suppose you'd have to read at least a few of the original six Dune novels by Frank Herbert, in which he references this Butlarian Jihad event (humanity vs. intelligent machines, basically) multiple times, making the reader curious as to what exactly went on in the Dune universe so long ago. This is exactly why I picked the book up in the first place, albeit with some hesitation because of Anderson's co-authorship (personally, I do not like his writing).

Now, I'm not sure exactly which of the authors wrote what or how the work was divided up in the writing of Butlarian Jihad, but I will say that the book does a great job of delivering the events in such a way that you can almost imagine a timeline that leads from the Butlarian Jihad to the original Dune series. I was able to trace some of the things I became curious about (mostly origins of particular beliefs and practices) while reading the first three books by Frank Herbert. Kudos to that, and that is essentially why I bought the book in the first place.

However, the writing was simply sub-par. The book has almost no real sense of prose or style, delivers characters and ideas on a fairly boring and straightforward basis, and tends to repeat itself to the point of being annoying. The dialog between characters does nothing to paint them as identifiable to the reader, and the attempts at delivering a "machine intelligence" to the reader reminded me of the writing I used to consider fantastic...at the age of 13. Once again, I understand that writing from the perspective of an intelligence that either is superior to or differs from our own is probably one on of the more difficult things an author can attempt, however, multiple authors are capable of doing so using various tricks. In my opinion, Brian Herbert should have considered pairing up with one of them, rather than Anderson (William Gibson comes to mind, actually.)

All in all, I definitely appreciate the fact that these two are enriching the reader's understanding of this complicated Dune universe, and yes, I plan to read the next books in the series. I'm just not expecting to be very entertained. (less)

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Oct 11, 2012 Travis rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

The rating here is actually 3.5. I wish goodreads would allow half stars. Anyway, let's get started.

This is the Dune universe. This is not Frank Herbert. Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson's writing style just does not hold up when compared to Brian's father. Unfortunately, he didn't receive his father's gift for subtlety and nuance from the gene pool. Where his father's Dune was a cerebral experience exploring vast themes of ecology, religion, addiction, and power, Brian's Dune is basically just...more

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Apr 30, 2013 Steve Harding rated it 3 of 5 stars

*NOTE: This review concerns the entire prequel series, not this book alone*

The Legnds of Dune series is...OK.

The writing itself is actually quite good - clean and clear compared to Herberts originals (particularly his later work), but at the same time I was left feeling a little unsatisfied about the story itself.

While several individual scenes or aspects of the story do stick in your mind, I just found myself not really feeling much for the characters, nor learning as about the earlier Dune un...more

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Aug 10, 2011 Ben Pashkoff added it · review of another edition

First thing that comes to mind: Space Opera.
At its' finest. After the first couple of chapters I went looking for a copyright date - this was simply too reminiscent of Star Wars or Battlestar Galactica.
But the plot develops well enough, though the characters are sometimes a bit trite (ahem - sorry Serena is simply too much)..
Next point is while Dune (the original and first novel) could and does stand on its own, this is obviously the first of a "trilogy"/"cycle"/"series" whatever.. I personally...more

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Jun 11, 2011 Jimmy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Dune Fans & Science Fiction Fans

Shelves: ebook, science-fiction

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Nov 16, 2012 Orlando Manfredi rated it 2 of 5 stars

Dune The Butlerian Jihad is a book of missed chances but also interesting back story to the world of Dune. The characters aren't very detailed and the plot is easily predicted. In fact the only reason I would recommend it to anyone was if they really had a thing for knowing the entire story of the lore of Dune and also if they had a lot of time to kill. The book is an easy beach read and takes little to no thought to understand unlike the behemoth sized original Dune books. The story starts off...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Delicious Strawberry rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: brian-herbert, kevin-j-anderson

Out of all the McDune books that Brian and Kevin wrote, I found the Butlerian Jihad trilogy to be the most enjoyable out of them all. However, the same writing problems abound in all of the books, regardless of what it's about - useless detail, flat characters, and clunky writing in some places.

Serena Butler was such a Mary Sue that it was not even funny. Beautiful, purple eyes, graceful, sweet, etc. I just couldn't stand her. I found the parts with the Titans more interesting, to be honest. Ove...more

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Worst Book Ever, or Harmless Fun?	26	55	Apr 22, 2013 10:17am
The Spice Must Flow: Questions, Queries, Observations (If you haven't read the book/are a ways in, don't open this up)	4	3	Mar 09, 2013 11:38pm
All Things Respec...: Observations on the Jihad Trilogy	1	3	Sep 29, 2012 09:41pm
Why were the Titans included?	8	46	Aug 06, 2012 09:09pm

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About Brian Herbert

Brian Patrick Herbert is a best selling American author who lives in Washington state. He is the elder son of famed science fiction author Frank Herbert.

Brian and his wife, Jan Herbert, have been happily married for forty years (as of 2007). They have three daughters, Julie, Kim, and Margaux Beverly. Brian also has an elder half-sister, Penny; their younger brother, gay activist Bruce Calvin Herbe...more

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Books by Brian Herbert

Dune: The Machine Crusade (Legends of Dune, #2)

The Battle of Corrin (Legends of Dune, #3)

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Quotes from The Butlerian Jihad

“Aristotle raped reason. He implanted in the dominant schools of philosophy the attractive belief that there can be discrete separation between mind and body. This led quite naturally to corollary delusions such as the one that power can be understood without applying it, or that joy is totally removable from unhappiness, that peace can exist in the total absence of war, or that life can be understood without death.
—ERASMUS, Corrin Notes” — 14 people liked it

“Any true student must realize that History has no beginning. Regardless of where a story starts, there are always earlier heroes and earlier tragedies.” — 2 people liked it

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The Butlerian Jihad (Legends of Dune #1)

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