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Top positive review

A Grand Conclusion to DUNE?!

Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2019

I waited a very long time to read Hunters of DUNE and Sandworms of DUNE... With the new film adaptation of DUNE coming in 2020, I decided to reread Chapterhouse: DUNE (the last DUNE book that Frank Herbert completed), then the 2 sequels by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.
Some time ago, I had enjoyed their 6 Prequel DUNE series of books, and the 2 sequels were just as good - if not better!
I can't recommend Sandworms of Dune (and Hunters...) enough. So much inspiring moments, and wonderful action and 'looking deep' into so many great characters that make all the DUNE series so memorable and a joy to read, again & again! All I can say is a heartfelt "Thank-You!" to Brian and Kevin for all their 'Labors of Love' in the DUNE universe... Good Job, guys!!!

2 people found this helpful

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Nauseating...

Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2020

I first read the 6 original Dune books in the late 80's, early 90's and always so far abstained in reading the sequels or books by the son. But a new movie is coming soon, the trailer is quite good, so I reread all the series and then got trapped by the heavy marketing the son does for his two sequels on the Kindle edition. I really shouldn't have. I read through them in a few days (it's so vapid that if you read the first and last sentence of each chapter, you get the drill anyway) with a sort of morbid fascination : how can the heir of such a great mind release words with such abysmal lack of style, depth, interest, plausibility, consistency with the previous stories ... And it took two to do that ? This is the shameless exploitation of an undeserved legacy. Stay away if you ever loved the original books !

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Nauseating...

Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2020

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29 people found this helpful

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Benjamin Strange

A pearl of Frank Herbert's consciousness lives on in an endless nightmare...

Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2014

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*NO SPOILERS*

Never have I been so enraged by a piece of entertainment that I have been compelled to write a review, until I mistakenly committed to re-read the entire Dune series, this time including Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune. Sure, I've read poorly written books before, but I've never read a series that so thoroughly squandered the original author's vision.

True - taking on the monumental task of completing the (possibly genius) works of Frank Herbert was destined to fail to meet the somewhat impossible expectations of his readers, but this... this was absolute failure on every possible level. There's just so many things wrong with these books, but the most unforgivable sin is this: it is insulting to the reader. The authors seem to think that their readers don't remember what happened in the previous books, nor even remember what happened just paragraphs before, and take it upon themselves to explain EVERYTHING to us. Indeed, there is ENDLESS unnecessary rehashing of various plot points, character motivations, basic concepts of the Dune universe, and even reminders of what the various factions such as the Bene Gesserit and Honored Matres even represent, in the most dull and stilted dialogue possible. Characters are constantly explaining themselves and their situations to each other (and, by proxy, to the reader), a tactic that the elder Herbert never stooped to. Part of the allure of the previous Dune novels was that there were giant leaps of logic and intuition presented to the reader, which still managed to make sense and only increased in richness upon re-reading. Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune dispense with this altogether, and instead we're presented with a writing style that's somewhat akin to micro-managing boss: telling you exactly what's going on at all times, with no room for interpretation nor imagination.

These books' other failings are described in much greater detail in other reviews, so I won't bother with re-hashing those here. I will pile on my hatred in a more general fashion: the writing style, while purposefully (and wisely) different from Frank Herbert's, is a huge drop in sophistication from the previous 6 novels. Hunters and Sandworms seem to be written for an audience of 10 year olds. The characters that were once rich with individual traits are reduced to nothing but names and only the most basic motivations. The good guys are good, the bad guys are evil, and not one of them bothers with a single moment of true introspection. Even the long awaited Enemy, whose identity was only hinted at in the Frank Herbert novels, is a huge let-down in this regard. Worse, the characters that we have come to know in the previous books, who are supposed to be the culmination of the best characteristics of the entire human race - leaders of incomparable genius, some gifted with prescience, some gifted with super-human physical qualities - are reduced to complete and total morons. None of them can figure out even the most obvious situations without having it explained to them in mind-numbing detail. There is no pretense of high art here: word choice is extremely limited, as if a Thesaurus is something B. Herbert and K. Anderson have never heard of, and the writing style is clunky, stilted, and repetitive. Unnecessary (and stupid) plot lines and characters are introduced, given short shrift, and then completely abandoned. It's just really, really bad writing.

I committed to reading these, as I was curious about the 30 page outline that Frank Herbert had left behind, which was to supposedly wrap up a story arc that had run the course of thousands of years and untold manifestations of Duncan Idaho gholas. It was a colossal disappointment, in every possible way. It seems funny (not funny in a "haha" kind of way) that Frank Herbert had supplied an apt metaphor, in that a pearl of his vision lurks beneath the surface of these books, much like how the God Emperor's consciousness lived on in his sandworms. I struggled through these books, trying to read between the lines of horrible prose, unremarkable characters, and idiotic plot in an effort to see what Frank Herbert had originally envisioned for his Golden Path. Sadly, all I found was insult piled upon insult. This was NOT the way to continue Frank Herbert's legacy. This is a disgrace.

73 people found this helpful

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Susan Johnston

awful

Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2021

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The writing is abysmal, the characterization is poor and also inconsistent, the plotting is ridiculous. Nothing that mattered in the Frank Herbert books is carried forward here. I am sorry I wasted time reading this mess.

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MagnumCSC

Understand why it was in the vault

Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2012

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It's evident that it was primarily composed by Brian and Kevin, not Frank, maybe at most an outline or a coctail napkin more likely. It's like the difference between A New Hope and the Phantom Phlop. Almost like it was an afterthought. Not as memorable as Dune or Chapterhouse, more like Heretics. I read those 20 years ago, couldn't tell u a whole lot about Heretics, and in 20 I won't be able to tell u much more about Sandworms. Brian and Kevin should have taken a break between writing Dune Novels----instead of making trilogies to sell books, maybe read the original Dune Novels so they could keep the assumed conventions intact, maybe craft one really memorable one that takes more than 6 weeks to knock out,------Like Frank did with Chapterhouse, and with Dune. But that is the paperback world we live in now. IE see Harry Turtledoves recent stuff. Trite and designed to suck dollars out of readers, not tell a story.

10 people found this helpful

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Aaron D McFadden

Not worth the time

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2021

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Terrible... The son is not the father. I tried to finish it, but the Hawat/Rabbi plot line was so bad and obvious that I had to put it down in disgust. How I got through the first one is a mystery.

One person found this helpful

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SML6122

🤮

Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2020

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Awful prose, no character development, thin plotting, and heavy reliance on dei ex machina. That’s right, multiple times the heroes are bailed out by miraculous occurrences.

One person found this helpful

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chris kalous

Enough plot holes to drive a heighliner through

Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2021

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Though the Hunters of Dune was more like 3 stars and had some intriguing premises, all of those premises fell apart. Terrible ending to the whole series. Shoulda left the original 6 alone.

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Russell L. Adams II

More like a whimper...

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2007

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I was originally driven to write about my disappointing encounter with Sandworms several months ago, and my review was also "lost" in the nether-world of censorship. After looking at the 5-star and 4-star ratings on this book, I wondered to myself "Did they read the same book I did?" or "Maybe they were paid to put a high rating review in", or maybe, just maybe they got confused about what book they read, because reviews for "Cat in the Hat" belong in the children's section because they obviously did not read the same book I did! Don't get me wrong, I am a DIE-HARD Dune LOVER. I recommend the reading to anyone and everyone who hasn't had the privilege to experience it. After reading the over-rated hot air reviews, I felt obligated to re-add my 1-star review back for others to see for themselves.

I have read every single book that deals with the Dune series. From the moment that a friend of mine loaned me their copy of a truly sorry excuse of a dog-eared mutt of a book, I was hooked! I believe that it took me almost 3-months to read Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, and "believe you me", that was FAST for me back then (I was a painfully slow reader). The worst part of reading it back in 1980 (before many of you were born) was that I had to wait for God Emperor of Dune to be published! I was truly saddened when Frank Herbert passed away because I thought there would never be another Dune book published, and there was so much more left unsaid.

Then out of nowhere came Brian Herbert and Anderson. I absolutely loved the books they put out! The histories of the Dune families, and the ancient history of WHY computers were forbidden! I was like a kid in a candy store! I couldn't wait for the next installment! When Hunters of Dune came out I enjoyed the book, but not as much as the previous books, then along came Sandworms of Dune. I was so anxious to get my hands on a copy I did an advanced order so I could get it as soon as possible.

When it finally arrived, I curled up in my chair and began to read one of the most disappointing books I have ever laid my eyes on! In fact I felt insulted!! I thought the conclusion to such a GREAT series would go out with a BANG! It didn't even have the decency to just fade away! This book is more like an insulting cowardly whimper!!!!! Here in front of me is what was supposed to be the culmination of one of the greatest science fiction stories ever written, and I felt like I was reading a Readers Digest abridged version. It was hurried, poorly written, and grossly unfocused. Did I mention I was sorely disappointed?!?!?! It felt like a parody! Like Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson couldn't wait to "wash their hands" of this burden. The last two books of this series (Hunters and Sandworms) had enough plot lines that could have spanned 6 more books. Instead, the authors tried to wrap everything up in Sandworms, placed a pretty cover on it and said "here, enjoy" knowing that fans would gobble it up.

Plot lines in the books seemed to abruptly cut off leaving the reader going "HUH?" wondering if the editor was randomly snipping pages. Then at the end of Sandworms the authors leave poor Duncan Idaho trying to sum everything up in a "B-grade" movie style narrative thinking that should satiate the readers hunger for a hearty plot-line wrap-up

It truly saddens me to give a Dune series book a 1-star rating. I never thought I would ever do that! I have read all of the post Frank Herbert books at least three times each (except this one and Hunters of Dune), and I have read all of the first 6 books at LEAST 2 dozen times over the last 20 years. Up to this point I would have ranked Children of Dune the lowest because it was a slllooooowwwwww read. But even Children of Dune was well written and unrushed. It had a story to tell and it served it's purpose without insulting the reader.

The ONLY reason I would suggest for ANYONE to read this is if they have already taken the time to read the rest of the series and wanted to know what else happened. Even then I would only suggest that you read this book if you

1. Check it out from the Library
2. Buy it from a yard sale for $1
3. Come over my house and I'll give you my copy for free

DON'T waste your money on a new copy of this book.

23 people found this helpful

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F. McGregor

Don't Bother, the Next Book Will Repeat Everything in This Book - Just Read the Next One, Don't Bother

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2014

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If you're expecting Frank Herbert here - forget it. At least 35% of this book is filled with repetitive elements. For example, the writer has to remind you what the character is thinking, even though he just reminded you three pages before, and eight pages before that. The same thing goes for recapping previous events. I guarantee you will be reminded who Paul Muad'Dib was at least forty times throughout this book, or who Duncan Idaho was, along with what he thinks and feels, and who he knew - over and over and over again. Frankly, it's like reading a book meant for those who aren't very bright, and have never read any of the actual Herbert books. Odd that the new authors of the Dune serious just can't grasp that. Brian Herbert shame on you. Your father knew how many times to remind or introduce things to a reader (very few), but someone has made you do this repeatedly. Was it the publisher, asking for a formula script, or (more likely) Kevin Anderson who obviously treats his readers, like a nine-year-old? In reality, Anderson's condescension toward his readers is palpable, and he should not be rewarded for his shortsightedness or downright dislike for the people who read his books.

Then there's the story and characters. Let me lay it out for you. Picture a movie director with cameras full of unexposed film, a huge cast of characters - and no script. He yells "Action" and the actors proceed to mill around murmuring to themselves until the director yells "Cut" at the end. Then everybody goes home. In Sandworms of Dune, the author dredges up Paul Muad'Dib, his father Leto I, his Mother Jessica, his son Leto II, Duncan, Thufir, and many more. Kind of a mixed up all-star reunion. Once sufficiently dredged (reminding us who they were, who they knew, etc.) the author just has them mill around and almost display brilliance - almost. Did I mention the sandworms of Dune - aren't even in this book? Some other worms are, but they are used as window dressing, never really demonstrating their appearance. I am so saddened and frustrated writing this, it's just time to stop.

Don't bother with this book, it leaves you completely unsatisfied.

12 people found this helpful

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Dreadful

Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2020

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Even if you’ll be around for another three millennia, life is too short to waste time reading this dreck.

One person found this helpful

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