Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsDisappointing but decent story ending
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 19, 2021
THESE AUTHORS LOSE ANY GOOD WILL BY REFERRING TO PAUL AS SUPERMAN SEVERAL TIMES. At this point everyone should accept that Brian Herbert in no way has the skill of his father. "Sandworms of Dune" is not a horrible story but is objectively plain. The initial plan by Frank Herbert was one final novel to end the Dune series which was absolutely possible. “Hunters of Dune”, the previous entry, is a pointless setup novel for this book.. “Sandworms of Dune” is a much better story than I was expecting but follows a middle of the road path to end the Dune series. Thankfully, the repetition of information has been vastly turned down here; while still present it is nowhere near as annoying as in “Hunters of Dune”. Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson do the best they can but their limited skill means an average ‘they all lived happily ever after’. This book has cliché plot resolutions at every turn but at the very least the 'balance' mentioned in the original books was achieved. The incredibly predictable finale has been seen several times in books, movies and video games before this book was written and has been seen many times since. An outline is not a story, and a story is not plot. These authors don’t understand this concept and show this with their two ending novels. I suggest reading the Butlerian Jihad trilogy followed by the original books and this ending for a satisfying series.