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The Butlerian Jihad

(Legends of Dune #1)

Brian Herbert,

Kevin J. Anderson (Goodreads Author)

3.63 · Rating details · 18,339 ratings · 491 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 DunThe ...more

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Paperback, 684 pages

Published September 15th 2003 by Tor Books (first published October 3rd 2002)

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Aug 11, 2014 Markus rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dune, hanging-out-with-mrs-kholin, 2015, science-fiction

Buddy read with Athena!

Princess Irulan writes:
Any true student must realize that History has no beginning. Regardless of where a story starts, there are always earlier heroes and earlier tragedies.
Before one can understand Muad'Dib or the current jihad that followed the overthrow of my father, Emperor Shaddam IV, one must understand what we fight against. Therefore, look more than ten thousand years into our past, ten millennia before the birth of Paul Atreides.
It is there that we see the f Buddy read with Athena!

Princess Irulan writes:
Any true student must realize that History has no beginning. Regardless of where a story starts, there are always earlier heroes and earlier tragedies.
Before one can understand Muad'Dib or the current jihad that followed the overthrow of my father, Emperor Shaddam IV, one must understand what we fight against. Therefore, look more than ten thousand years into our past, ten millennia before the birth of Paul Atreides.
It is there that we see the founding of the Imperium, how an emperor rose from the ashes of the Battle of Corrin to unify the bruised remnants of humanity. We will delve into the most ancient records, into the very myths of Dune, into the time of the Great Revolt, more commonly known as the Butlerian Jihad.
The terrible war against thinking machines was the genesis of our political-commercial universe. Hear now, as I tell the story of free humans rebelling against the domination of robots, computers, and cymeks. Observe the basis of the great betrayal that made mortal enemies of House Atreides and House Harkonnen, a violent feud that continues to this day. Learn the roots of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, the Spacing Guild and their Navigators, the Swordmasters of Ginaz, the Suk Medical School, the Mentats. Witness the lives of oppressed Zensunni Wanderers who fled to the desert world of Arrakis, where they became our greatest soldiers, the Fremen.
Such events led to the birth and life of Muad'Dib.

If that passage doesn't make you extremely excited, then you've either not read all the Dune books that came before this, or you didn't enjoy them. Either way, this book isn't for you!

This is the stuff of legend. Virtually every single fantasy and sci-fi series has its great war in the distant past. The War of Wrath, the Battle for the Dawn, the Great Hyperspace War, The War of Power... Shaping events that made fictional universes what they are. And they all fade away before the mythic crusade that was the Butlerian Jihad. I cannot remember having read of an event so hallowed and revered and shrouded in mysteries and legends as this.

This book has plenty of flaws, is more of a dystopia than an epic sci-fi, and is far from the quality of the best Dune books. But if you’ve enjoyed Dune and its sequels, then you will definitely want to read this.
...more

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Dec 06, 2007 Liz rated it did not like it

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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Apr 03, 2011 Matthew Williams rated it did not like it

This was hands down one of the worst books I have ever read. As a fan of the elder Herbert, who's read every Dune book he ever wrote, I was curious to know how his hints about a holy war against thinking machines would be portrayed. Needless to say, I was both insulted and bored to tears with this work, and aside from thinking I'd wasted good money on it, I began to seriously worry about the direction these two were taking with the Dune franchise.

First of all, the characters were one This was hands down one of the worst books I have ever read. As a fan of the elder Herbert, who's read every Dune book he ever wrote, I was curious to know how his hints about a holy war against thinking machines would be portrayed. Needless to say, I was both insulted and bored to tears with this work, and aside from thinking I'd wasted good money on it, I began to seriously worry about the direction these two were taking with the Dune franchise.

First of all, the characters were one-dimensional cliches, the kind of cardboard cut-out heroes and villains you'd expect to see in children's cartoons. The bad guys are too bad, the good guys too good, and there's no sense of motivation to any of them. Why, for example, do the "Titans" hate humanity so much? Why did they reprogram the machines to take over the universe and kill billions? Are they Evil the Cat? And the good guys are so saccharine and perfect that it makes you want to barf.

The evil thinking machines are no better. Erasmus and Omnius are the names of the two main badboys - one is a sentient machine who is busy studying humans, which consists of murdering them in all kinds of nasty, scary ways, while the other is the big hive mind controlling all the other robots. Boy, a lot of thought went into those two! Almost as much as the disembodies brains known as "Cogitors" or the evil "Cymecks". My God, they seemed like something out of a kid's pulp sci-fi magazine, but with more gore and cheesy dialogue!

The plot was also laughable and totally predictable. Basically, after generations of stalemate between the League of Nobles (i.e. the resistance) and the machines, war resumes and Serena Butler (aka. Joan of Arc/The Virgin Mary) is kidnapped and her son killed. In response, humans begin to revolt and the League decides its time to purge the universe of the machines. Their solution? Nuke em. Yes, after generations of war, they decide that what's been missing all along has been a religious angle which involves nukes.

And that's the big explanation for the Butlerian Jihad... In spite of the fact that machines have killed billions, one innocent child motivates a galactic crusade. And after generations of stalemate, the humans' solution for breaking it is to simply use their nukes. The only reason they didn't do this already was apparently because they didn't want to be "as bad as Omnius". And strangely enough, the machines didn't seem to anticipate this either because they have no defenses against it!

C'mon you guys, this is supposed to be the Dune franchise! This is the series that taught readers to take science fiction seriously. Are we really to believe that Frank Herbert would have been okay with these two reducing to it to the kinds of recycled, cliched crap that we could get from Terminator and Matrix fan fiction? The only thing that even compares for me is the Star Wars prequels, and even they were better than this!

Not only did they completely misinterpret the meaning of the Butlerian Jihad, which Frank strongly suggested was a sort of Luddite rebellion that took place on a galactic scale, but their portrayal as this being some sort of titanic struggle between good and evil was just plain laughable and insulting. Save your money, avoid at all costs! ...more

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Nov 12, 2008 Gerard rated it did not like it

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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Jun 30, 2009 Manny marked it as not-to-read

Thou shalt not make a book in the likeness of a Dune.

Didn't any enterprising Iranian cleric even consider a fatwa? And, by the way, "to-read" actually means "not to read, unless threatened with waterboarding, stress positions, dogs and sleep deprivation". Even then, I'd try to hold out a bit.

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Apr 10, 2015 Athena Shardbearer rated it really liked it

Shelves: dune, audiobook, fantasy, do-want, lord-markus-the-book-pusher, epic, scifi, space, sci-fi-fantasy, buddy-read

Buddy Read with Markus!

Nothing's impossible.

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Dec 22, 2010 Kevin Xu rated it it was amazing

Shelves: re-read, favorites

The only reason this book is so good is because this is the ORIGIN of the whole DUNE universe! Without this story, there would be no DUNE! This is the only prequel novel that needed to be written at all!

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Oct 02, 2011 A.j. rated it really liked it

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 ...more

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Jan 14, 2018 Jon rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book was Action Packed! A real page turner, full of cliff hangers. Amazing characters to root for or hiss at. I loved it!
image:

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Feb 11, 2008 Dana rated it did not like it

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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Apr 20, 2019 Ivana Books Are Magic rated it it was ok

When it comes to Butlerian Jihad, my reading experience was pretty o.k. Sure, it failed to impress me, but to be honest, I wasn't expecting it to be anything like the Dune series written by Frank Herbert. If I did, I would have probably been gravely disappointed. I didn't hated the book while I was reading it, it held my interest most of it the time. Some parts of this book I enjoyed more than others, but generally speaking, I didn't enjoy it fully. I managed to finish it without thinking too mu When it comes to Butlerian Jihad, my reading experience was pretty o.k. Sure, it failed to impress me, but to be honest, I wasn't expecting it to be anything like the Dune series written by Frank Herbert. If I did, I would have probably been gravely disappointed. I didn't hated the book while I was reading it, it held my interest most of it the time. Some parts of this book I enjoyed more than others, but generally speaking, I didn't enjoy it fully. I managed to finish it without thinking too much, and that is not really what I aim for in a novel. So, I guess it wasn't such a great read. The writing is unsophisticated and slightly predictive, but it is certainly readable. That is how I remember it. To be completely honest, it's been a while since I read it.

The Buterian Jihad has some good points. For instance, some readers might like a strong female character like Serena. The Sorceress of Rossak are an interesting lot too. Seeing them develop their paranormal powers and use them against the machines was interesting. Some familiar last names appear, such as Harkonnens and Atreids, but this time a Harkonnen is a positive (but alas boring) character. Speaking of pros of this novel, I found the Titans (machines with human brains) somewhat interesting. However, generally speaking, the characters didn't really get under my skin. I found that the machines were a bit predictable, and I didn't find their actions logical at all. Somehow I imagine thinking machines as more logical. Erasmus was such a cardboard villain, this robot was very disappointing character for me and he ruined my reading experience many times.

What kind of novel is Butlerian Jihad? It is a soap opera that aims to be a page turner, whereas Frank Herbert's book were philosophical SF masterpieces. That being said, I didn't hate the Butlerian Jihad. It is an eventful novel, and if you look at it for what it is- a somewhat trashy read, you could say that what it lacks in finesse, it makes for in being very dynamic. If you're expecting to be entertained a little bit, you might not be disappointed. If you're hoping to be find the kind of quality present in Frank Herbert's work, don't bother. Legends of Dune series has nothing on the real Dune. ...more

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Jun 29, 2017 Lena rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

"Humans, with such fragile physical forms, are easily crushed."

Dune is my favorite work of science fiction in large part because of its staggering sense of history. I still have yet to read any story that goes so far into the future. The Butlarian Jihad is the first story of the history of Dune and gives us glimpses into the far past, but still not far enough to touch our time. Let me break it down:

There once was an Old Empire, it was peaceful and good and spanned many planets. People had enough resources and technology to live comfortably.
But not everyone was satisfied.

Some teenagers with high IQs, aspirations, and no empathy found each other online. They would take over the old empire with a violence that was unknown and shocking. Ruling under the names of old gods they were known as the Titans.

Unwilling to loose their power even to death the Titans transferred their minds into cymeks. The Age of the Titans lasted a long time.

But eventually they too grew complacent and had their worlds taken over by the artificial intelligence known as Omnius.

Some worlds successfully fought for their freedom and retained it since the age of the Titans. But some humans chose to run instead of fighting and settled on remote worlds under rustic circumstances, like on Arrakis. Sometimes these people are hunted down and sold as slaves on free worlds. But whether or not a world allows slavery no one likes or respects the cowards that ran or their descendants.

Got it all? Good because this is where the story starts. I've read many negative reviews criticizing this book for not having Dunes depth. This is where the story starts people! This is the shallow water, the fountainhead of great ideas, of galactic revolution.

My favorite characters were Zufa Cenva the Sorceress of Rossak, her daughter Norma, and her lover Aurelius Venport. I could have read a book this size on just them.

Now for what I didn't like, which is petty and spoilery so feel free to skip. (view spoiler)

I'm going to go with a weak four stars here. Yesterday I was pissed enough to give it two stars so I might be overcompensating... ...more

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Oct 26, 2008 Er rated it did not like it

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

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Oct 27, 2011 retroj rated it did not like it

Shelves: science-fiction, reviewed

I can't remember ever having read a worse book.

I was optimistic about this Brian Herbert / Kevin Anderson Dune prequel, and though I knew full well going in how controversial their Dune books have been, it proved difficult to sort through the controversy to see whether I should read the Legends trilogy or pass it by. Weighing in favor of reading it was mild curiosity about Hunters & Sandworms, which I understand to have some dependency on having read Legends. I consider myself a fairly forgiving ...more

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Feb 19, 2012 JBradford rated it liked it

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 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.
...more

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Jul 26, 2018 vonblubba rated it it was ok

Shelves: abandoned

I'm only halfway through this book but I already feel the urge to write a review. Because it's that bad.
Premise: I'm a huge Frank Herbert fan. His "Dune" is one of the handful of books that shaped me as a reader, opening my (then) young mind to the infinite wonders literature had to offer.
But, having already read the first prequel trilogy from Herbert Jr. and Anderson, I knew I needed to keep my expectations low. So I did. And still, I was disappointed.
What irritates me the most is ...more

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Oct 11, 2007 Exparrot rated it liked it

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 Harkonnen, ...more

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Jun 05, 2008 Donster rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: nobody over the age of 10

Shelves: couldn-t-finish

Fans of Frank Herbert and his excellent Dune novels should avoid the dreck produced by his offspring at all costs. You're better off buying sci-fi comic books.

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May 16, 2010 M.L. rated it it was amazing

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 believab ...more

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Nov 23, 2012 Phillip Lozano rated it did not like it

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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Dec 27, 2007 Dori rated it did not like it

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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Feb 05, 2012 Donovan rated it it was amazing

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 ...more

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Feb 13, 2018 Chris Gager rated it liked it · review of another edition

My brother-in-law gave me the pre-"Dune" trilogy to read. Started last night. OK so far as the action starts right off the bat after a bit of set-up.

Moving along as the pace of events is brisk. So far I have to say that this seems like pretty boilerplate space opera stuff, and a bit lacking in the creative originality that made "Dune" such a big hit. Still, I'm up for a reasonably well-told space opera so I'll stick with it. One does wonder about the logic of things which get kind of ...more

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Nov 07, 2009 John Shumway rated it really liked it

*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 D ...more

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Oct 27, 2008 James rated it it was ok

I've noticed that most of these reviews are pretty evenly split. I think I know why. (Note that I gave it two stars. It's not bad enough to deserve one star, but if *this* had been the introduction to the Dune universe, that universe would have crashed and burned.)

The biggest problem is that, frankly, Brian Herbert doesn't know why Dune was so successful. Probably the most intriguing thing about the world-building in Dune was how it started in median res. The characters all acted and ...more

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Mar 11, 2019 Steve rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-book, science-fiction, read-in-2019

Not written at the level I would have expected with the names of "Dune" and "Herbert" attached to it. I felt like I was listening to bad fanfic.

Someone please tell me that this series gets better!

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Feb 07, 2008 Du4 rated it it was ok

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 hordes have t ...more

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Dec 30, 2011 Harry rated it it was amazing

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 b ...more

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Aug 02, 2007 Suz rated it it was ok

Shelves: audiobook, re-read, trilogy-sigh, science-fiction

So it looks like I initially read this book a long, long time ago and liked it quite a bit more than I did on the second reread, however, I'm not the same person I was 13 years ago, so that's not unexpected.

I love, love, love Herbert's Dune series, and I remember being excited over the prospect of prequels and started reading/listening to them as soon as I could (multiple formats). I believe I read the House (Harkonnen, Corrino, Atreides) before getting into these books. If I recall ...more

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Oct 02, 2007 Brooke rated it really liked it

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 fles 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. ...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Goodreads Librari...: Wrong ISBN inputed for Dune: The Butlerian Jihad	4	21	Sep 07, 2016 07:39AM
Scathing One Star Reviews	3	29	Feb 01, 2015 09:51PM
Goodreads Librari...: Inaccuracies in french editions of Dune books	5	27	Aug 01, 2014 06:28AM
Worst Book Ever, or Harmless Fun?	31	103	Jul 29, 2013 05:58PM
The Spice Must Flow: Questions, Queries, Observations (If you haven't read the book/are a ways in, don't open this up)	4	12	Mar 09, 2013 11:38PM
All Things Respec...: Observations on the Jihad Trilogy	1	9	Sep 29, 2012 09:41PM
Why were the Titans included?	8	60	Aug 06, 2012 09:09PM

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About Brian Herbert

Brian Herbert

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

Other books in the series

Legends of Dune (3 books)

Books by Brian Herbert

Hunting Harkonnens (Legends of Dune, #0.5)

The Machine Crusade (Legends of Dune, #2)

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Trivia About The Butlerian Jih...

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Quotes from Dune: The Butleri...

“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” — 28 likes

“Any true student must realize that History has no beginning. Regardless of where a story starts, there are always earlier heroes and earlier tragedies.” — 8 likes

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