Paul of Dune (Heroes of Dune, #1) in Dune Fanatics

Nov 22, 2011 retroj rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, reviewed

I enjoyed this. Having just recently read Dune, Dune Messiah, and Children of Dune (all for the second time), the questions I brought to it were will it fit, and will it fill in the middle of the Paul Atreides arc, bridging the gap between Dune and Dune Messiah? In short, yes. I can wholeheartedly condone reading this book between Dune and Dune Messiah. Not only does it preserve continuity, but it is also an exciting book in its own right that augments the original series meaningfully.

Okay, that I enjoyed this. Having just recently read Dune, Dune Messiah, and Children of Dune (all for the second time), the questions I brought to it were will it fit, and will it fill in the middle of the Paul Atreides arc, bridging the gap between Dune and Dune Messiah? In short, yes. I can wholeheartedly condone reading this book between Dune and Dune Messiah. Not only does it preserve continuity, but it is also an exciting book in its own right that augments the original series meaningfully.

Okay, that's enough in the vein of of glowing praise. This book did have one weakness that I would like to remark on — that it is actually two books, Emperor Muad'Dib and Young Paul, woven together through seven parts in an overall clumbsy juxtaposition. Indeed in my favorable comments above, I mainly had the Emperor Muad'Dib half in mind, and I was left wondering whether the whole package might not have been more effective with Young Paul as a separate novella, each half more independently developed. Future readers might try this experiment: read parts 2, 4, and 6 first, then go back and read 1, 3, 5, and 7.

Earlier I said this book preserves continuity, and that is not completely true. Young Paul does contradict Dune on a minor point of the character's previous space travel experience prior to the events of Dune. The book has a strangely couched rationalization, or daresay apology, for the difference, that doesn't quite come off smoothly.

While I enjoyed both books, I liked Emperor Muad'Dib more. This in part because two of my favorite Dune characters, Count and Lady Fenring, featured prominently. Young Paul clicked right along with its own engaging story, and brought additional depth to familiar supporting characters and to the politics of the Imperium, but a few scenes struck me as underdeveloped, overly tidy, or uncharacteristic to the Dune universe. Young Paul could have been better. I would temper these few complaints though with the observation that these authors largely achieved a goal of exceding difficulty — a compelling interquel to a classic series that fits its place in the sequence, but also stands on its own merits. ...more

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Apr 25, 2013 Mark rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, american-writers, scifi, dune-expanded-universe

This novel is set between the first two brilliant books by Frank Herbert and it retraces some steps that Frank did not write about, His son however thought that it might interest some people that really like the world that Frank Herbert once created.

The book is well thought out and while it enhances the adventures of Paul Astreides and all other great characters it lacks the same strenght of character that the original writer gave his books. And perhaps it is difficult to recreate a similar worl ...more

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