Rating: 
Summary: Fun To Read, Interesting To Think About
Review: Although the writing and content of these new Dune books don't hold up to Frank Herbert's originals, they're still worthwhile reads for fans. This one has a barnburner of a plot, and it's fun to think about how the stories laid out here will result in the Dune universe we came to know.
Rating: 
Summary: Uggghhhhh
Review: Boy, was this book bad. I couldn't get through it quickly enough and onto my next read. None of the complexity of Frank's work. To call the characters "two-dimensional" is being generous.
Is there a synopsis of the following two books? I'd rather not endure the chore of actually reading them.
You know what really scares me? Certainly not a moron like Erasmus. Rather, the fact that B&K are writing two books to follow Chapterhouse. Let's hope they take some of the magic pixie dust that helped Frank come up with such awesome stuff and hopefully avoid the sophomoric tendencies that led to this drivel.
But semi-seriously, I suspect the only reason serious Dune fans spend time on these pulp novels is that we are so hooked on the entire Dune universe that we will wade through the horrible writing just to find out "what happens". Who can resist knowing something of the Butlerian Jihad?
One final question: when are the Dune comics and pop-up books due? ;-)
Rating:
Summary: "Return of the Jedi" uuupps We meant "The Butlerian Jihad"
Review: Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson's newest spinoff of Frank Herberts masterpiece of imagination can only be labelled "Very disappointing".
As a great fan of the original six Dune novels I harboured great reservations when I read about Brian Herbert and Kevin Andersons prequels to Dune project, and my worst fears were justified. The Dune prequels were not up to anything resembling old Herberts novells. The fact that they were written in a prose and style entirely different from Herberts original novels were not neccessarily a bad thing. After all, Frank Herberts prose is difficult to emulate and it also had its weaknesses, often being obscure and confusing. Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson wrote the prequels in their own style...ok fine, but unfortunately it was quite clear from the beginning that the audiens they targetted their novels for were different from Frank Herberts. Theirs was clearly an audiens of teenage readers and this certainly affected the whole prequel stories, characters and dialogues, and not for the better. The prequels were clearly inferior to the original Dune books, but at least there were some occasional highpoints. The Butlerian Jihad, however has none of these. It is written in a childish prose, which is ripe with total misconceptions
of the Duniverse. It is unfortunately very, very apparent that Kevin Anderson has done his trade earlier, by writing spinoffs of George Lucas Star Wars universe. The Butlerian Jihad's is brimming with Star Wars concepts. The Sorceress of Rossak and The Bene Gesserit in the prequels are clearly influenced by Jedi and the force, and bear no resemblance to the originals described by Frank Herbert. The characters and their motives are totally cliche and the dialogue even more so. Herberts and Andersons understanding of Artifical Intelligence and their description of "Thinking Machines" are so ridiculous and "droidlike" as to be absurd. After reading "The Butlerian Jihad" one can only come to the conclusion that the authors has used a computer program which is capable of automatically generating a Science Fiction story from a few preset parameters, a program earlier being used for Star Wars stories. Replace all jedi with Sorceress of Rossak, replace all Bantas with Sandworms, replace Tattoine with Arrakis, etc.
It is true what they say, Hollywood can rewritte even the best book/manus into crap and the big entertainment medias and publishers can ruin the best ideas. Brian Herbert and Andersons works seems more to be based on the desire for cold cash by ridding on a wave of Dune popularity, than by genuine respect for Frank Herberts original works. Even if you liked the prequels (and if you are a true Dune fan you most likely did'nt) you will probably be disappointed by The Butlerian Jihad. Read some decent Science Fiction instead...Read Old Herberts books, Haldeman, Asimov, Ian M. Banks, Kim Stanley Robinsson, Arthur C. Clarke, Peter F. Hamilton or a lot of other "great" authors, but avoid this juvenile nonsense.
Rating: 
Summary: Classic Dune it ain't but....
Review: First things first let's level with each other. The fact that you're reading reviews probably means you're like me: You loved the original series, want to know about the Dune Universe pre-Great House Era, but are unsure if you really want to wade through this book.OK, so let's level. 1. No, this in no way compares to Herbert the elder. Sorry. The style of writing is much more short and episodic, it lacks that sort of motif based symphony Frank used. This is much more for a generation of Tv watchers and writers. Mini episodes cut between points of action (The Free Worlds, Earth, on a Ship, Arrakis, rinse repeat). As such you don't have that feeling you had in dune where rising actions continued and then reached a few critical climaxes and faded away. 2. You really want to know what the Butlerian Jihad is. It's a great complling force in Frank's books and you want to know what happened. This book definitely moves in the direction of filling in those gaps. In all truth, however, i think that most of us would have been satified with a Princess Irulan book: "The history of Pre-Great House Dune." I mean, had it narrated the facts of this book, it would have been *equally* as entertaining. In fact, this book is really a high school science fair 'play-dress-up' of actual interesting events. 3. It does cater to stereotypes and safe political waters. Urge for freedom, that humans are creative an passionate while machines are cold, etc. is familiar ground. Some interesting points were brought up: where do a mechanized human's loyalies lie - man or machine, body mind dichotomies. While Frank H. would have explored these interesting issues, the more pulp style of this series goes the safe route. A few thoughts I have about Dune and allegory on my web site draws a steady stream of hits day in and day out. There is no possible allegory here. Furthermore, Frank wrote a great deal about the power of numbers, how fanaticism and fundamentalism can be harnessed -- things that made one think months afterward -- I'm not going to think about this book again (likely). Consider how many sci-fi books have been written about when the machines take over. The authors of the Butlerian Jihad could have written one as well. Frank Herbert had the amazing vision to ask -- OK what would happen /after that/. That's the difference between just a couple of guys who wrote a story and a master. So in sum. Wait for paperback, don't think that this is going to greatly enrich your experience of the Dune universe, simply view it as a pulp story that will give you a bit of back history on the great houses. That said, the House books were a sight better and this series, should it maintain its present course, will merely be an interesting backstory to them.
Rating:
Summary: Unspeakably awful
Review: First, I am a huge fan of the original Dune books. The first one is a masterpiece of SF, the first three make for a very nice unified work, the remaining three seem weaker and muddled but worth reading.
Second, there were *problems* with the first Herbert/Anderson trilogy (to put it in a painting analogy, Frank is Renaissance and Brian is Mannerist) but apart from this weakness of the writing, my main complaint was that Brain Herbert does not have anything like Frank Herbert's sensitivity to cultural references, so that the vast tapestry of exotic allusion (all the Arabic words, etc.) gets flattened out to something more Asimov-ish (who had a bad habit of coinages that had no allusiveness at all). And the lack of Shakespearean, or at least Alexander Dumasian depth to the characters of the sort Frank developed, leads to the need to rely more on sex and violence to carry the story. But that said, the Prelude to Dune was OK-ish.
I am halfway through Butlerian Jihad and have basically given up because it is so unbelievably awful. First, the degree of derivativeness without homage or irony is just appalling: throw together Terminator, Colossus: the Forbin Project, and Star Wars, some references from Herbert, and stir. Not a single page went by that didn't remind me of some other, better book or film. Second, what on earth is wrong with these guys? Have they completely forgotten how to write? Was no care put into this at all? All through it, I kept hearing in my mind Queen's "Flash Gordon" title song. Yipes! Who names an evil supercomputer "Omnius"? Who came up with these characters? The only weird thing is I kept trying to imagine the evil brains in canisters (marching around like so many leftovers from "War of the Worlds") as twirling their mustaches and tying Sweet Polly Purebred to railroad tracks.
Ugh! This was without doubt the worst thing I've read in years.
Rating: 
Summary: A shadow of the original
Review: I didn't expect a lot, which was a good thing. Herbert and Anderson have produced "mainstream SF" -- decent characterization, interesting ideas, and adequate plot, but lacking the richness and brilliantly constructed framework of Dune. As other reviewers have mentioned, the authors practically bash you over the head with things they want you to "get," rather than let you puzzle it out yourself like the inimitable Frank Herbert did.
Bottom line: it's enjoyable enough for a bit of light reading, and for the game of exploring the possible history of the Dune universe, but don't expect anything nearly as good as the classic Dune series.
Rating:
Summary: Much better than critics allow
Review: 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).
Rating:
Summary: Simply doesn't measure up...
Review: I have to say, this book does not live up to the standards of the 'Dune' series. Although it's not a half bad book in itself, it just doesn't fit in with anything else - not even the 'house' books by the same author.
For starters, the characters don't have nearly the dimension that they did in previous books. It's hard to connect with them sometimes.
The constant one-line ending to each chapter that the author is using is more than annoying. Ex: (after inspecting a planet to watch for weaknesses against the robots) "And completely unaware of the vulnerabilities he had not bothered to discover..." Of course he wouldn't discover it!!! If he did, there would be no next chapter!!! There are so many stupid endings to these chapters, it's sickening. Half of them could be ended one sentence before, and you know something's going to happen, so why foreshadow?
The book is also inconsistent with the other Dune books. They refer to things that haven't happened yet with a twist. Like the Tleilaxu and their growing of body parts. In this book, they claim to tell people they're capable of creating parts, but then it adds 'but the truth is that technology is years off - they really chop up slaves'. (pls note that is not a quote).
I guess if this book had to stand alone as a story, it wouldn't be bad. It just doesn't live up to the legacy. It's a shame when it seems like the author is hammering out books to make a profit as opposed to carrying on his father's dream for people to enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: A great imitation of an excellent writer.
Review: I was greatly impressed by this prequil. Originally I purchased this volume as a quick, easy read over the summer; I was pleasantly surprised. Stylistically it differs in voice and tone from the original series, but not in a negetive manner.
The narrative is both easy to understand, not requiring extensive knowlede of Herberts original works, and fast paced. Overall I recommmed this book for anyone curious about the Butlerian Jyhad, which remained illusive in the first chronicles.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Example of Bad Fiction
Review: I'm a huge fan of Herbert Senior's fiction. I've read the original Dune series innumerable times. I'm the proud owner of a signed first edition of "Chapterhouse: Dune". I've read SF since I was hooked at the tender age of eight when I stumbled upon A. Bester's "Tiger, Tiger!". I read at least five or six books a month, half of which are SF. I've a pretty good grounding in classical and contemporary English language literature.
Once I've presented my credentials, let me say one thing:
The prequels SUCK!
Now let me elaborate upon that:
In the "House" prequels, the co-authors at least had to be consistent with FH's original universe. Now that they went back 10,000 years, they think they don't need to be that consistent with the originals. The problem is: they can't even invent a consistent, believable universe by themselves.
The premises are simpleminded: For example: How the hell can you sustain a whole technological planet --Poritrin-- with *no* computers (a hand calc qualifies as a computer here), totally around slave labor, and, incidentally, support advanced R&D of Holtzmann's caliber? Whoops! And there are no such things as Mentats or any other augmented intellects yet either.
The characters are cardboard-thin and mentally-challenged: Xavier Harkonnen's vaunted "military prowess" is idiotic. The first scrambler field installations' vulnerability is glaringly obvious to any hard-SF space-opera reader: dump rocks at gravity-well speeds on top of the centralized installation. Boom! Instant crater, forget about kindjal fighters. Yet the heroic soldier missed that through his six month inspection tour, even though he was instantly promoted to command after the same thing happened to his superiors (purely by accident, by the way: the first machine attack missed this too; so much for Omnius's love of efficiency).
The style is wooden, and it reads like the notes the authors passed around via instant messenger while they were bouncing ideas back and forth. "XXXX's eyes were misty, (s)he felt sad." See Spot run.
I originally read the "House" prequels to get my Dune fix, even if it was like having a saccharine-sweetened lemonade when I craved a triple-fudge sundae. I'm halfway through "The Butlerian Jihad", and even if it is awfully, horribly bad, I'm going to finish reading it. Why? I'm having way too much fun demolishing it. It's a beautiful example of how *not* to write fiction, so I'm learning a lot.
On the other hand, if you're not an aspiring writer learning by (bad) example, and you just want to enjoy a good book, stay away from whatever these two have written, it's not worth the hassle.
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