The authors of Paul of Dune set themselves up to fail from the start. The book, written by Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert takes place (primarily) between Frank Herbert’s Dune and its sequel Dune Messiah. It follows Paul and Co as they attempt to steer mankind through the turmoil of Paul’s Jihad towards (eventually) a better future. Regrettably, this is not a hospitable place for a story to live, for a number of reasons.

I don’t recall how much time passes between Dune and Dune Messiah, but it’s not that much. It’s a very tight space to try to pack a compelling narrative. Squishing a book into this little chronological cranny puts a lot of restrictions on the plot. Everyone from Dune must survive, because they're all still alive in Frank’s sequels, which means nothing can really threaten any of the characters. Additionally, anything that takes place must be insignificant enough that nobody ever mentions it in any of the following books.

The second problem with squeezing a story in between two books of the original series has to do with the change in authors. In Paul of Dune, Brian and Kevin have the unadmirable task of trying to write beloved characters like Paul, Jessica, and Duncan, all created originally by the Elder Herbert. Unfortunately these challenges proved too much to overcome, leaving Paul of Dune mediocre at best.

Not much happens in this book. As I mentioned, the plot is necessarily constrained by the position of the book in the chronology of the series. The authors try to deal with this by creating new characters, then killing them off. This tactic didn’t make for a particularly interesting narrative. Nor did I like the way Frank’s characters were handled. Paul was never the most amiable guy, but in this book he was positively unlikable. The whole thing just felt more like fan fiction than a legitimate new chapter.

There were a few points that I liked. The enigmatic Count Fenring, who made only a brief appearance in Dune returns in a larger role here. I had always wanted to know a bit more about him, so I was glad to see him, or at least a Kevin&Brian version of him, again. Maybe there were some insights into Irulan, Korba, and others, but I didn’t really care about them in Dune, and I cared less now.

This book just has no purpose. The plot is anaemic and bland—it doesn’t justify the existence of the book. The only thing Paul of Dune could have had to offer was a more in-depth glimpse into some of Frank’s characters. Sadly, I didn’t ever feel that the authors were up to the task of successfully bringing them to life again. Without advancing an interesting plot or shedding any new light on the characters, Paul of Dune, does little but wallow it it’s mediocrity for five hundred pages.