Customer Reviews

Dune: The Butlerian Jihad

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(47)
3 star:		(32)
2 star:		(38)
1 star:		(63)

 

 

Frank Herbert is dead and the recent House Series and the first offering of Butlerian Jihad will not resurrect him or his Dune Chronicles. You've heard it before and it's true, the books by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson are not like the original Dune books at all. I guess the New Dune books stand on their own as works of Science Fiction since they are entertaining. The operative word here is "Entertaining". The Butlerian Jihad which attempts to delve into the origins of the Dune Universe, describes the battle between free humans, cymeks (disembodied humans with robotic bodies), and the Evermind (ubiquitous, all-controlling AI). At stake is the survival of the human race and the quest is assumed by characters whose descendants are all too familiar: Harkonnen, Atreides, Butler. It also tries to explain the origins of the Bene Gesserit, foldspace, and the Fremen. Nothing is discussed about the Spacing Guild which is disappointing.

The first thing that any reader will notice is that compared to the Dune Chronicles, this is a quick read. There is no complexity, no philosophy, no depth. It's like watching a made for TV movie created for teenagers. Perhaps I can say, with all due respect to the authors, that this is the dumbing-down of Dune that started with the House novels and has continued into this offering as well. These books are written for a young audience plain and simple. That much is obvious when you consider the kind of SciFi that Kevin Anderson wrote. The cymeks reminded me of Japanese Anime like Gundam.

Was it entertaining? Yes. Will I read the next installment? Yes.
Am I looking forward to reading it? So So. Can we expect it to be a more complex read? No. Is that disappointing? Yes. All I can say to the authors is, do what you have to do to make a living by appealing to the younger masses but don't expect any praises from seasoned Dune fans or more mature readers.

Make no mistake - this is Brian Herbert's Dune, not his father's. If you begin with this expectation, then the book is at least a tolerable work of action-adventure science fiction. However, if you read expecting the complexity and depth of Frank H.'s original series you will leave with a foul taste in your mouth. Anyone who has read Brian's original House series will understand the difference and can decide to read or abstain accordingly.

Despite its many shortfalls, all but the most intolerant and zealous Dune readers (some of whom here appear to propose their own bloody Jihad in opposition to Brian Herbert's Dune works) should find this latest installment mildly satiating. After all, this is the only new source of new Dune works that we have for now. Re-reading the original, however, is always an option.

Several aspects of this book, however, were incredibly maddening (spoilers may follow). For example: the Bene Gesserit, spice use/trade, heiligners, folding space, glow globes and other staples of Dune all appear to have their origins among a single family (father, mother, daughter) inhabiting this book. The various space and planetary battles, as they often are in both traditional and neo-Dune books, are rather silly affairs which seem to last only a few hours in most cases despite their dramatic scope. And after 20,000 years, before and after the setting of this book, the most fearsome weapons in any arsenal are still the dreaded atomics. I guess the League needs to devote more than two scientists out of the billions of people in the universe to research and develop new weapons. Simultaneously, the most dreaded thinking machine weapons are those staples of the First World War: flame throwers, poison gas, and cold steel (various cymek appendages). I guess the ancient technology of precision guided munitions was lost in the mists of time.

So, what's a reader to do? Relax, try to set aside the many problems with the book and attempt to enjoy yourself. Hate the bad robots, cheer for the valiant humans, and try not to take things too seriously. And if you want high prose or moving dialogue, look elsewhere.

This book just rocks! An excellent addition to the Dune series. There are some really great characters in this book, most notably Iblis Ginjo, Selim the outcast Fremen, and Erasmus the independant robot. The relationship between Vorian Attreides and his robot friend Seurat is enjoyable to read and also one of the books highlights.

The action sequences and plot twists in this book are written in an excellent way, but to discuss any of them further would be a spoiler and you really should read them without any fore knowledge.

Overall, an excellent book and a worthy addition to the saga of Dune.

I really enjoyed this book on tape. My husband and I listened to it going to and from work. I can't wait for the next book. I have not read any of the original Dune books.

When I bought "The Butlerian Jihad", I was expecting something in the line of the trilogy "Dune: House [Atreides,Harkonnen,Corrino]", also by Brian Herberth and Kevin Anderson: a somewhat descriptive book, with mild action and weak plots, which only value was to show in detail places of the Dune Universe that you whished to see but were not in the original Frank Herberth's works.

I was wrong. "The Buttlerian Jihad" has a strong, epic plot that draws all the attention of the reader - it is a book that will take away hours of sleep because you can't put it down. The characters at first sound bidimensional, but as the story grows you start feeling their emotions as you own, and by the end of the book some chapters even made me shed some tears, which is an effect that few books had in all my life. Not surprisingly in a book that obviously uses elements of Shakespearean and Greek tragedies, playing with archetypes - some of them kind of new, like the Man-Machine dicotomy - deeply rooted in most people's minds.

The portrayal of a "pre-Dune" universe is brilliant, and relays heavily in vintage science fiction elements that give a delicious quaint, retro flavor to the story. And, most amazingly, the freedom to write a tale that Frank Herberth only mentioned in the vaguest terms made it possible to produce a book that can be read in a way completely independent from the original series, and still be enjoyed. In fact, the explanations of how some thing s of the Dune universe came to be are not the most interesting parts of the book: I would indeed *recomend* newbies to read it as a separate work.

I have not read the original "Dune" yet. I intend to read them all in chronological order, thus, this book is first in the timeline. I was not burdened with the notion of a "letdown" and enjoyed it as interesting space opera that's clearly setting the reader up with many characters, planets, and plot directions. I feel fortunate that I haven't the preconceived notions of the original Dune readers who can't accept the Anderson/Herbert book(s).

While I thought this book was mildly entertaining and remotely interesting, I thought it was clearly the weakest of the four Dune books I have read so far by the Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. The problems lies in a very sluggish plot and introduction of too many characters that don't do much in the book. It take too long to get things done. The authors would waste couple pages to get a point across when it should be done in couple of paragraphs. The book moves slowly at times and some of the characters' motives are not clear. I mean, why would cymek father allowed his human son other sources of information that directly conflict with his own. And why would that son so readily accepted such views after lifetime of believing in what he was taught. However to add that concept of machine overlord is rather an old one thus making the book feel bit like a retread.

But on the other hand, some parts of the book did proves to be nicely done. On the whole though, the deficits of the book outweight the positives. Strictly for die-hard Dune fans only.

If you're looking for another 'Dune,' don't bother - that's book in a different class. But if you're looking for something in the same universe that is fun to read, fast paced and keeps entertained, then this is not a bad book. I enjoyed reading it (despite some of the very annoying characters in the story - but they appear to be deliberately created that way.

Dune is a wonderful Sci-fi [Science Fiction] novel for kids who are a little Matura with dealing with love and violence. Dune has several main characters because during the book the point of view changes from person to person and from first to third person. Some of the Characters include the following: Salem Wormrider, the heart struck Officer, the beloved princess, the son of the cyborg, and the cyborgs Barbarossa and Juno. During the books is a Great War between planets and species. The two main species are the humans and cyborgs. Cyborgs have human brains, but huge mechanical bodies of doom. This sci-fi relates back to star wars. With jets and giant warships flying in space and over planets. Wars with different weapons break out, like the revolt of enslaved humans, the psychic blasts of psychic energy, the misunderstood genius, and of course the large lasers and weapons of mass destruction. Humans are not only enslaved by cyborgs, but by other humans also. This book is great, I loved it. If you had a choice to live, but let the universe go up in flames, or die and save the universe. You make the choice in Dune.

The Butlerian Jihad is the first installment of a trilogy, a prequel of sorts ostensibly based on the notes and writings of Frank Herbert.

For those of you that don't know, The Butlerian Jihad takes place ten thousand years before the time of originator Frank Herberts immensely popular book, Dune. It is a collaboration between Brian Herbert (Frank's son)and Kevin Anderson. It is the forth book co-written by these authors that I know of, having just finished another trilogy/prequel, The House series (House Atriedes, Harkonnen and Corrin).

Unlike some other reviewers, I found The Butlerian Jihad to be an exceptional book. I believe it to be Herbert/Anderson's most accomplished manuscript. I finally got to experience the past which was vaguely alluded to in Dune.

We get to meet the beautiful, compassionate Serena Butler, who's son, the murder of which, set off the rebellion, which eventually brought down the heartless thinking machines. We also meet distant relatives of Baron Harkonnen - Xavier (who is a good and honorable person) and Paul Atriedes - Vorian (the son of the wicked Titan, Agamemnon {a thousand year old human brain in a robot body})and Tio Holtzman (the revered inventor of the Holtzman Effect and other inventions). We experience the last stronghold of free humanity, with The League of Nobles, the fledgling exportation of the spice Melange from Arrakis and the precursor of the Bene Gesserit, in the Sorceress's of Rossak.

As with the original Dune, the authors create numerous civilizations in a Universe dwelling on millions of planets and then embellish it with devious evil characters and their requisite counterpoints. It may be ten thousand years in the past from Dune but they are everybit as advanced to us, as we are to Neanderthals.

I found this book, consisting of 695 pages, to be an enthralling read. True, the chapters are numerous and short but the story is huge so it couldn't be overly detailed, or the book would have been unwieldy. We are, after all, talking about a Universal Epic in which the authors followed about fifteen main characters on six different planets and in space. As with Dune we are treated to an excellent page turning science fiction novel with religious undertones.