House Corrino (Dune: House Trilogy, Book 3) by Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson
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Book Reviews of House Corrino (Dune: House Trilogy, Book 3)
Book Review: Dune in sloooooow motion
Summary: 3 Stars
I have been a passionate fan of Dune, I've bought the books as soon as they were published and devoured them on the spot.
Somehow "House Corrino" did not grab me like the others. There were many instances where thoughts from previous chapters were repeated (just to remind us that THIS is where we left off :-) The writing did not seem to be as fluid as the other Dune novels. I feel the book would have benefited from having some of the excessive detail trimmed (fashion, etc) in favor of substance.
Other than that, like the other reviewers I did appreciate the "prequel information."
Book Review: Super Reader
Summary: 3 Stars
Interesting backstory, but Herbert the younger is no Herbert, by any stretch of the imagination. Books that you only want to buy cheap. However, if you are interested in the history of, surprisingly enough, House Corrino, and how that relates to the story of the Dune Universe as a whole, then you will probably want to read it.Book Review: Like the prequels to Star Wars, but without the smooth end
Summary: 2 Stars
I've said this before, and I don't intend to stop saying it, at least not until it becomes not-so-true: the only reason Brian Herbert became so well-renowned as a writer is because of his father. Which makes his attempt at improving a classic even more preposterous: at least George Lucas was the designer (at least, part-designer) of the original Star Wars.
Why am I referring to Star Wars? If you've seen the prequels, you'd know already: Dune and Star Wars are both classic Sci-Fi (some say fantasy) stories. They were both told in the form of trilogies, at least at first. They both began to tell their tale part-way through. And, in creating a prequel, they both failed, in nearly the exact same way.
There's another trilogy that forms a cornerstone of Sci-Fi literature. That trilogy is Foundation. Like Dune, it had stories later written to follow and precede it. However, Isaac Asimov wrote all those stories himself. Unlike in the case of Star Wars, he never had a co-writer when he made the original. And luckily, he was smart enough to write papers condoning authors stupid enough to write another writer's tale. That's why Foundation isn't in this miserable little comparison.
There was something wonderful about the original Dune. Maybe it was that it didn't feel exactly like the future. It was deeply rooted in medieval times, with swordplay and feudalistic empires. You really felt like you knew the characters, and not just love them blindly: you knew their strengths, their weaknesses... the death of Duke Leto affected (and still affects) everybody who reads the original, even though you see it coming from the start.
Prequel To Dune misses that feel. It sticks us in a cookie-cutter future that utterly fails to deliver. The great futuristic intregues, the wonderfully thought-out techno-thrilling plot... it not only shoots for the moon and misses, it falls back to the Earth with a resounding thud. Why can't you authors see? It's a classic because of its style. You can't improve on it, you can only produce more of the same... WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT WE WANTED ALL ALONG.
I'm digressing from the review a bit here, but this is why the original Dune trumped the Lord of the Rings trilogy (in my opinion). LOTR was great, but now, it is seen as the ultimate cliche, even though it really isn't. Even today, however, there is nothing about Dune that is childish and predictable, at least the first time through. In the back to Dune: House Atreides, Brian brags vainly about how he successfully made his own wheels-within-wheels plot. Please, Brian. Spare us. The Prequels televise their punches even to those of us who haven't read the originals.
Next similarity to Star Wars: the mysterious feel. Dune gives you a sense of wonder, even as you are told that all these things happen because of rational thought. Star Wars had the greatest concept of all time: the Force. The prequel to Star Wars, however, had midichlorians and other high-tech descriptions of this wonder, ruining the idea overall. Prequel to Dune removes the mystery. People can't be explained, Brian. Not even if you write nearly two thousand pages about them, like you did here.
Final comparison: in Dune and Star Wars alike, the characters are complex, Dune even more so than Star Wars. In the prequels to each, the dialogue is horrible and the characters even more so. I LIKED Shaddam, Baron Harkonnen, Piter de Vries... because you feel what they feel, all the way through. They aren't classic villains by any sense. You get the feeling that Shaddam is a great Emperor, Harkonnen is a clever politician (more so that Leto), and that Piter, though evil through and through, is playing at games too complex even for him. Now? Every single one of them is the exact same: a soulless monster that cares about nobody but himself, and that delights in killing. I won't even mention Gaius Mohaim's character here: Bene Gesserit is a mysterious group. DON'T MAKE THEM NORMAL PEOPLE. And Fenring? I won't even tell how how sickened I was.
Why did I give this two stars instead of one? One reason: you didn't butcher Paul in your series. He is still as awesome as he was before.
I have blasted Brian Herbert throughout this review, but not Kevin J. Anderson. Why? Because I LIKE his stuff. I read most of his Sci-Fi, and also Frankenstein, along with Dean Koontz. I have reached a conclusion about him: alone, he's pretty awesome, though not classics-awesome. With another author, however, he just amplifies what is already there. You can't blame him for taking the chance to make Dune. You blame the greedy, not-so-talented son, who tries to usurp his father's throne.
Finally, a message to Brian Herbert, wherever you are: be a good author. We're buying your stuff no matter what, because it has your father's mark on it. You can just churn out this crud all day long, or you can write what your readers want. It will take longer, sure, and we'll buy it even if it's crap. But you want to please readers, not just make money. Think about it. No matter what you daddy did to you, it's not worth ruining his series's reputation over.
Oh, and on July 10, in San Francisco, there's a convention where they teach new writers to make their stories their own, original and memorable. You might want to check it out. Doubtless, George Lucas is already there.
FINAL GRADE: D+
Book Review: not that amazing
Summary: 2 Stars
After I read Dune, Dune Messiah, and Children of Dune, I decided to take a break from the original series and read the prelude series. House Atreides was a good grade A novel I'd say, followed by House Harkonnen which I'd give an A-. Overall those two were great. But House Corrino kind of took a turn into the wrong direction. It got a lot less captivating than the previous 2 novels. I ended up having to force myself to finish it just so I could feel accomplished that I read all 3. Now there were a few parts that I really liked, but the lame scenes outweighed the good ones by too much. First of all, I didn't like how practically every other chapter is about Bene Gesserits. It's all bene gesserit this, bene gesserit that. I don't care! It's all about these hypocritical witches with no personalities who think they know everything. By the novel's end, I really wished they all would get killed off somehow. It was nice to see lady anirul get killed, but sadly she didn't suffer much. And then the mega b**** mohiam has to kill one of my favorite characters, Piter. That made me so angry! When I read that, I was like
And then what's this about Paul being born on Kaitain? Doesn't Dune specify that he was born on Caladan? Hey wait... isn't that like one of the first lines of the original novel, Dune? "Do not be deceived by the fact that (Paul) was born on Caladan and lived his first fifteen years there." WHY DID THEY CHANGE IT???!!!!! I know, it's such a small little change, but continuity like that is just careless and I hate it.
The whole retaking of Ix was pretty cool. But, It seemed almost like just too much action was happening. Like there was a lot of unnecessary action to the extent where I would have rather preferred reading more dialog. Kind of ironic how when I read Dune, one of my only criticisms was the lack of action, and after reading House Corrino, I found there to be too much of it. And then there's the whole Ecaz and Moritani war going on. I had never heard of either of those houses and they're stuffed into the novel as if to make it more eventful or something? I also found the part where the harkonnens and the grummans try to attack caladan to be just more stuffing for the novel. More empty calories. It was like there's enough stuff going on already, yet they try to make it SUPER SUSPENSFUL with another unnecessary side plot. I found myself skimming through all these action scenes... reading them thoroughly would have been a waste of time. You don't learn anything from explosions and lasguns being fired for a whole chapter. In Herbert's originals, taking the time to read the scenes that were just dialog were interesting enough. That shows just how great a writer he was, to where he could keep you captivated with a little action and a lot of talking/descriptions. When action happened in Frank Herbert's Dune, it was short and sweet, a succulent little bit that's given to you in just the right portions as to not make you sick of it. But in House Corrino, it's like too much candy and it makes you sick. I think that's a good way of describing it...
There was a funny little scene that I really liked. At the end of the novel, Piter gets killed and his body is sent to the Baron. And there's this line that I just found so funny for some reason. As the Baron looks at the body of de Vries, he says "PITER! How could you be so clumsy, so stupid as to get yourself killed?!" and the next line is the narrator, "The corpse did not answer". Yeah, I don't know.
Just my opinion.
Book Review: Weakest of the Prequel novels
Summary: 2 Stars
I am HUGE Dune and Herbert fan-Frank that is-but I enjoyed House Atreides and House Harkonnen. They were not as well written as the original Dune novels, but they were a chance to live in the universe. I loved that Mohiam was Jessicas mom, that she gave Baron H his disease. I liked the info about the Spacing Guild Navigator training, The Sword Master School-for Duncan Idaho, info about the BG training academy on Wallach IX, and the time spent in the Sietch with the Fremen. However, there are glaring discrpancies which really bothered me. Slight though they are, they take away from the spirit of the original Dune novels. I hate that Gurnery Halleck is not actually saved by Duke Leto Atreides-but is a stow away in a shipment of that he ordered-Much is made of Hallecks devotion to Leto because he saved him which makes no sense at all if he was a stow away-which had little to do with Leto helping him at all. I also disliked the telling about the ghola tanks-that was just wrong. I did not like that Paul was born not on Caladan which is stated like the first page of the original Dune novel. Stuff like that ruined the series for me. I could have more easily handled the weakening of key characters-most notably Count Fenrig-if the novels had stayed truer to the facts established in the other novels. Maybe if it had been written further from Dune begins it would have been easier to stomach. I do not know, but I found House Corrino the weakest of the novels because I felt it did a poor job tying into Dune.
I would read the prequel novels, they are an easier read for those who felt Dune ovberwhelming and not be missed for fans of the series.