Should I continue Dune?

[Justin]

What does everyone think of dune and its continuation by Kevin J. Anderson. I’m looking for a new sci fi series to read.

[Jan]

For me, Dune Dune Messiah and Children of Dune worked well as a trilogy. The first book is obviously the stand out, but for me the others did add value and enjoyment.

But that's as far as it goes for me. Beyond that, things went downhill and weren't worth reading for me. But, everyone has their own opinion. I'm interested to see what others think about this topic.

[Gabi]

For me it's the same as for Jan130. I have all of Herberts books here, but I only read the first three until I lost interest. I loved the first one, and when I remember correctly (it's quite some time since I last read them) I loved the second one the most - if this was the one about Alia … gosh, I have definitely to re-read them.

[MadProfessah]

The Herbert & Anderson books are absolute trash. Read all 6 of the original Dune book by Frank Herbert.

Ignore the ones written by Brian Herbert she Kevin Anderson.

[Lars]

Dune is a marvellous universe.

The first 4 novels are brilliant, with volume 1 and 3 as outstanding.
The last 2 are still interesting but doesn’t really add anything to the story.

The follow up novels by Anderson are readable but not has nothing to do with the originals in style, quality or anything else.

[Dawn F]

I only ever read the original Dune. When I realized the next book was about the next generation I got so annoyed I didn’t want to read it, too invested in the characters of the first novel XD

[Michael]

My opinion is a bit different, in that I thought the first book was really the only one worth reading. The sequels written by Frank Herbert always struck my as things his heart was never in, and were just written due to the pressure for sequels. The follow on novels from Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson were just never close to the original or even the Frank Herbert sequels in quality.

[Jen]

Oops...I posted in the wrong thread earlier :-)

Read the Frank Herbert books, skip the others. The original six books are fanastic-I think that some are better than others, but since they build on each other it's worth reading all of them. They are very complex books so they can take some getting used to- there's a lot of psychological/religious themes and a lot of different factions that are very important to the plot- they're fascinating, but the books aren't generally quick reads, especially on first go.

I love all 6 books- I was very iffy about some of them when they came out, but as time passed I was just as enthusiastic about them as I was when I first read the original books. They're a foundational science fiction series- Herbert influenced so many authors/themes that came after him and put science fiction on the mainstream map, so it's no wonder that they're in pretty much every top 5 list of best science fiction. I'm still re-reading them 40+ years after I read Dune, and I get something new out of them every time.

As for the sequels not written by Frank- I'd just skip them. It's like going from reading Shakespeare to reading See Spot Run- the settings and some characters are familiar, but they lack all of the complexity and newness that Frank Herbert brought to the table.

[Trike]

Michael wrote: "My opinion is a bit different, in that I thought the first book was really the only one worth reading. The sequels written by Frank Herbert always struck my as things his heart was never in, and we..."

Same for me. The original is interesting, but the sequels take a steep nosedive until they crash and burn.

If you want a cohesive series with a beginning, middle and end, try the Saga of the Well World by Jack L. Chalker. There are five books total, the first one being Midnight at the Well of Souls. The next four books are really two books split in half, which is why they hang together so satisfactorily. Chalker later wrote a follow-up series, which he admitted was for the money, and it just wasn’t as good.

[Shomeret]

My perspective is that Frank Herbert got increasingly overtly didactic in Dune novels after Dune. I sort of liked Dune Messiah, but after that all the Frank Herbert novels seemed like endless slogs. The Brian Herbert/Kevin Anderson books go back to pure storytelling. I enjoy them.

[Micah]

The first book was brilliant. The second was good. The third was OK. The rest of the original series I barely remember, they didn’t do the series any favors.

The Brian Herbert/Kevin Anderson novels (I read the first 3 of them) were utter ... I’ll just say they are 3 of the 4 1-star reviews I’ve ever given. They totally destroy everything Frank Herbert built and make even the worst of the original series seem like Pulizer candidates.

[Bruce]

The first book Dune seemed to me like a masterpiece. I did read through God Emperor of Dune, but none of them read like the first one.

[[deleted user]]

I loved Dune--I think it is a masterwork. I totally enjoyed the rest of the original trilogy. The other three I would call very, very good. The Brian Herbert/Kevin Anderson additions are sitting gathering dust in hardcover on my shelves.

[Don]

Dune is Science fiction Bedrock. what came after is not.

[[deleted user]]

Dune is one of the best SF literature that excist and lots of the items excist like Spice Melange (=LSD) or folding space is what they are talking about bassed on the gravitation waves

[Karin]

My aunt loved Dune, but for some reason I have never really loved it and I can't really say why because it really is one of the big scifi classics.

[Plaidchuck]

Really? God emperor was amazing and i think did plenty of favors..

[Dj]

Dune was a work of art. What came after seems to be a requirement of the publisher for books to sell.
Just my opinion.

[Kateb]

I so fully agree with Don, Dj, and Bruce. Dune was a book that should be read by all sci fi fans but after that it was a slog to get through them.

[Kathy]

Some of the Kevin Anderson and Brian Herbert were really great, House Harkonnen for example...
I have read them all and plan a reread starting next month.
I guess I am an outlier?
PSS Paul of Dune has been my least favorite to date, so unfavorite that I bought it for a 1.00 at a thrift shop just to put on my shelf, so I guess I DON'T love all things Dune....., just most things Dune.

[Shomeret]

Kathy wrote: "Some of the Kevin Anderson and Brian Herbert were really great, House Harkonnen for example...
I have read them all and plan a reread starting next month.
I guess I am an outlier?
PSS ..."

I'm another outlier, Kathy. I'm on record in this thread as liking the Anderson/Herbert Dune novels.

[CBRetriever]

And I'm an outlier for only liking the original book. I made it through book 2 and started book 3 but neither one held my interest

[Robert]

MadProfessah wrote: "The Herbert & Anderson books are absolute trash. Read all 6 of the original Dune book by Frank Herbert.

Ignore the ones written by Brian Herbert she Kevin Anderson."

I have recently acquired all of the Brian Herbert Dune books and have been wondering if they are worth the effort to read. Is Brian Herberts' name on the books just to give it some credibility?

[A.]

The first three books are life changing fiction. As many above have said, after that it just gets sad.

[Ine]

Unpopular opinion: I hated it. It's got some cool ideas (worms! spice! extreme desert!) but the homophobia, sexism and white savior-ism completely destroyed it for me.

(I know I know it was a different time. But still Im the reader here and get to decide where I can make excuses in favor of a story that grips me and where I will close a book and read something about lesbian space pirates instead)

[Travis]

Ine wrote: "Unpopular opinion: I hated it. It's got some cool ideas (worms! spice! extreme desert!) but the homophobia, sexism and white savior-ism completely destroyed it for me. "

For me too.