Well, listened to the audiobook. I'm not going to get into another "I have autism and find this an easier way to consume media" argument here, if I feel the need I'll make a separate blogpost on that, this blogpost is about dune.
Matt introduced me to it. Matt Colville. the guy from MCDM. Does youtube vids.
I mean, I knew dune existed before I ever heard Matt existed. I knew the basics, something about arrakis and giant snakes in the sand and "the spice must flow". I just never had the uurge to read the book. Until Matt started delving into Dune stuff.
And so I went back to Chuck. I watched not only his review of the film Dune (which I've done before) but also his review of the Dune miniseries. Then I actually watched the film, and the miniseries. Then I went back to re-watch the reviews.
It was here that I decided to read the books. Read am. Dune, Messiah, Children, God Emperor; by this point I was hooked. God Emperor especially spoke to me. "Now here was an Emperor that I admired!" I said "Finally someone that actually understands all the things I keep trying to explain to people!!"
Heretics and Chapterhouse sort of melted together in my mind; but not just among themselves, also with Hunters and Sandworms.
That's right, I went on to the two Brian books.
This is where I'll give you all a general spoiler warning. If you don't want spoilers for dune, this is where you should stop.
Because the thing that really hooked me was a plot hole. I didn't know it was a plot hole at the time, but it is. You see in Sandworms, Sheena has the memories of Mrs Butler, from the Butlerian Jihad. Yet she even says in the book that Mrs Butler had no surviving children. So how can she have said memories?
Who knows. Turns out that's the answer. I found this out 3 hours into The Butlerian Jihad book.
See I don't mind spoilers. In fact, I kept poking at the dune wiki as I read. It was through the wiki I discovered there actually is no answer to this. I was 'wasting my time' in effect, reading the Butlerian Jihad, cause it would not answer the one question I wanted answered.
So I got angry.
One thing stuck in my mind though; back when I was midway though God Emperor, I was thinking of how far I should go. The few friends I knew who have read Dune suggested God Emperor was a good place to stop. In hindsight, I agree. The subreddit however was jam packed full of people who seemed to be of the impression that everything Frank wrote was gold, and everything Brian wrote was shit.
I decided to re-read/listen to the series to determine if this was true or not. My conclusions are as follows.
DUNE
This book is a masterpiece and is as good as people say. It earns its place in history.
MESSIAH
It's clear that Frank had more to say on the topic, and this book, while clearly a 'sequel' is also an 'add on' to the Dune story. It flows from it, and caps the story off well. Alone it is not as strong but paired with Dune it is a great work.
CHILDREN
This is clearly a sequel and not simply an 'add-on'. You could look at the Dune series and say this is the final book of a trilogy, as it does cap stories that started in both Messiah and in the original Dune. Personally I think it is a bit weaker than Messiah and the original, but only in so much as it tries to be too many things without the polish the original had. Regardless, still a good work far beyond average.
GOD EMPEROR
This book speaks to me. I often daydream about being a "God Emperor" and hearing a story about one appeals to me greatly. The idea that inside that huge body is a normal sized Leto floating around also tickles me, even if Frank makes quite clear in the book this is not the case. I like to imagine that I'm inside there, hiding from everywhere, giving Leto secret advice. It even spawned a ministory I'm trying to polish into a coherent story. Regardless, I love this book, and think I may dive into it often.
During all 4 of these books I also noticed a few things.
The Tleilaxu and their Face Dancers, even their Gholas, are not even mentioned until Dune Messiah. References to Axolotl tanks and how they work (IE how fast a new Duncan can be made) also imply that what the tanks were revealed to be was not known to Frank at the time of writing God Emperor. IE he either changed his mind, or, at the need to know what they are, invented what they are.
I want to go on a tangent here to say that 'just inventing something' is not a negative, or a mark of disrespect from me. Dune itself was 'just invented'. Paul was 'just invented'. The Sandworms were 'just invented'. There is no crime in 'just inventing' something when your whole job as creator is to 'just invent' things.
It seems that certain rules for 'how a ghola works' and 'what axolotl tanks are' and other things change between the books. Take artificial eyes for example.
These things have helped me see the connections and differences between the books.
If I were to graph out how 'far apart' the books are, it would look like this:
Let me explain why as we continue
HERETICS AND CHAPTERHOUSE
These books read as a single story. Frank Herbert seemed to want his 7th book to create a Trilogy with these two books. The story flows as though the third book is missing. Importantly, when you are looking for them, you do find plot holes in these books. Minor ones, but they are there.
HUNTERS AND SANDWORMS
It is clear that the quality of writing drops off dramatically. The books fall into tired cliche at time, and have little depth to them. That being said, the plot, more or less, flows naturally from Heretics and Chapterhouse. It is that, the plot, that I want to address in greater detail. To do so I need to address some common attacks, and start by looking at the publication order of the books.
Dune - 1965
Messiah - 1969/1970 (two editions) [4 year gap]
Children - 1976 [6 year gap]
God Emperor - 1981 [6 year gap]
Heretics - 1984 [3 year gap]
Chapterhouse - 1985 [1 year gap] (20 years since the original)
Hunters - 2006 [21 year gap]
Sandworms - 2007 [1 year gap]
Lets also take into consideration the publication date of the other books by Brian: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004, as well as 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014, and 2016.
One accusation if that Brian did not find any notes from Frank about Dune 7, lied about it, and made up Hunters and Sandworms himself. I reject that. First of all, the timing is wrong. Randomly slotting it in where it did (2006 and 2007). The miniseries came out in 2000 and 2003. Additionally, 'filling in the gaps' as the Heroes series did, would have made far more sense to do prior to the 'big one' of the two main series books. The fact two of these got cancelled implies they were 'no longer needed'. Note the original run by Frank took 20 years. If Brian's run also took 20 years, his final book would have come out in 2019. Note as well that 2015 was the 50 year anniversary for Dune. As such I've concluded the following:
Brian really did find notes from Frank outlining how the series was supposed to end
But
Already had ideas in his mind for how he wanted to end the series.
He took the notes, and his ideas, and combined them. This is a reason why there are two books instead of just one.
All the stuff about the new facedancers is Frank. All the stuff about robots is Brian. Brian put his ending at the very end, and I think this is why a lot of Dune fans do not care for him. Frank's ideas, however, are still visible in the books.
So
I thus have an answer to what bothered me.
"Are Brian's books worth reading?"
The basic answer is yes.
The main series does not end at Chapterhouse. You can end it at God Emperor, or, at Sandworms. If you need a 'legal' definition, as you may for a subreddit or wiki trying to separate the two, you can put it at the end of Chapterhouse. As a reader, however, you only hurt yourself by ending there. Either finish the two Brian books, or, stop at God Emperor.
I may add more to this in another post later (such as WHY some people really hate Brian's books, and how, if they are old enough, I forgive them as its only natural) but that is all I will write for now.
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