Rating: 
Summary: Pulp Fiction
Review: This book chould be compared more with Harry Potter than the Dune series frank Herbert wrote. The dialogs are simple with very little sublety. I just finished reading Chapterhouse Dune before I read House Atreides so I was still beaming from Frank's writing. This book pales before Frank's writing style.The book has several parts that I would label "cheezy" including way too many references to "Spanish" culture on the planet Caladan. There is even mention of the Bene Gessrit employing Feng Shui (japanese art of interior design intended to keep away bad spirits)to make a new room to give birth to a child. How childish and ridiculous that a civilization 20000 years or so in the future would hold such rubish in high regard. More likely one of the authors is a Feng shui practiioner and just had to mention it. The book was easy to read and sort of interesting, but the association with the Frank Herbert's Dune series is undeserved and leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I doubt I will read House Harkonnen, maybe when it is on the shelves of the used book store. Very dissapointed.
Rating:
Summary: A pale imitation
Review: Within one chapter I knew that this "prequel" wouldn't be satisfying by a long shot. Most glaring thing missing to me are the strong, powerful, sensitive female characters that populate Frank Herbert's Dune books. The women in House Atreides exist as plot points, to look good, or give birth, or be killed. But most of all, gone are the philosophical musings and obvious brainpower of the original author. It's almost painful to read, and I don't think I will read any new installments, for this reason alone.
Rating: 
Summary: A Critical Review of Dune: House Atreides
Review: The book Dune: House Atreides offers an abundance amount of philosophy and political intrigue. The style in which it is written can be compared relatively close to the style of Frank Herbert. The book has many faces in which it could be viewed from many which are obvious and many which are subtly hidden. On many occasions the readers of this book as well as the other books in the Dune masterpieces will find themselves needing to read between the lines to find the hidden facets of the text. This book as its predecessors has such treasures within it. This book has in opinion, has many strengths and few weaknesses. There are a few outstanding unique things about this book that gives its strength. A thing that might be hard to see at first, but at the beginning of every chapter there resides a quote from a faction or person of the universe of Dune and this quote provides a second meaning to the chapter it is on: second meaning as in a lesson or further information about the chapter. Another unique outstanding feature would be the story itself. Another strength of the book aside from the quotes would be the way it slowly introduces everything to you: much like the way Dune does. The beginning seems fairly simple giving you the basic introduction and from there on slowly introduces you to a more complex Dune. There are a few weaknesses in this book. The book starts off slower than it should seem to be, which sometimes tends to take the hook off some readers. Another could be the fact that it still doesn't provide enough history to the universe of Dune. The author seems to put things in a way that you must read the book Dune to get enough information to comprehend some of the details of the book which on the end matter to the storyline the most. As for readers of the original Dune the characters seem weaker in this book than the original. Overall, this book is excellently written out and deserves appraisals and raves given to the book. This book is seemingly aimed for those who have interest in politics and political philosophy or for people who are willing to immerse themselves in a simpler alien environment. As readers take more of the book into them they will realize that the book is focused on the two topics. Those people who want to have a book with more than a few faces should try and read this book, it may have the requirements to please the complex mind.
Rating:
Summary: A Critical Review of Dune: House Atreides
Review: The book Dune: House Atreides offers an abundance amount of philosophy and political intrigue. The style in which it is written can be compared relatively close to the style of Frank Herbert, the creator of the Dune masterpieces. The book has many faces in which it could be viewed from many which are obvious and many which are subtly hidden. On many occasions the readers of this book as well as the other books in the Dune masterpieces will find themselves needing to read between the lines to find the hidden facets of the text. This book as its predecessors has such treasures within it. A bit of history on the books, that being that this book Dune: House Atreides was created by Frank Herbert's son Brian Herbert and also with the aide of Kevin J. Anderson. The two from notes and scripts from Frank Herbert on ideas for the book Dune: House Atreides who unfortunately could not finish the novel before his death put the book, together. This book has in opinion, has many strengths and few weaknesses. There are a few outstanding unique things about this book that gives its strength. A thing that might be hard to see at first, but at the beginning of every chapter there resides a quote from a faction or person of the universe of Dune and this quote provides a second meaning to the chapter it is on: second meaning as in a lesson or further information about the chapter. Another unique outstanding feature would be the story itself. Another strength of the book aside from the quotes would be the way it slowly introduces everything to you: much like the way Dune does. The beginning seems fairly simple giving you the basic introduction and from there on slowly introduces you to a more complex Dune. There still are more strengths of the book to be exploited aside from these. There are a few weaknesses in this book. The book starts off slower than it should seem to be, which sometimes tends to take the hook off some readers. Another could be the fact that it still doesn't provide enough history to the universe of Dune. The author seems to put things in a way that you must read the book Dune to get enough information to comprehend some of the details of the book which on the end matter to the storyline the most. As for readers of the original Dune the characters seem weaker in this book than the original. Overall, this book is excellently written out and deserves appraisals and raves given to the book. This book is seemingly aimed for those who have interest in politics and political philosophy and also it is aimed for the people who have read Dune or for people who are willing to immerse themselves in a simpler alien environment. Also this book should be recommended to other people who might have interest in those two topics since most of the book is focused around those two things. As readers take more of the book into them they will realize that the book is focused on the two topics. Dune: House Atreides has much more potential than this page could explain and the styling of it is classic. Those people who want to have a book with more than a few faces should try and read this book, it may have the requirements to please the complex mind.
Rating: 
Summary: All in all very entertaining
Review: Brian Herbert attempts to complete the stories leading up to Dune, surely the greatest science fiction novel yet written. However he does not capture the feel of Dune which is so rich and intriguing, a great depth of politics, psychology, personality and hidden agendas and hidden backgrounds which not only create a great mystery and give a mystical feel to the whole story but also capture the reader completely. Frank Herbert knew how to write about people and their characters with such consummate skil, it will be hard to find even in his son or anyone who attempts such a great vision which this book does not. But then it cannot, not really because this vision was created already in Dune itself and as such had to be followed to stay true. The grand scale of Dune and the awesome sense of the Empire is not wholly captured. Some of this was portrayed extremely well in the film with the costumes especially and the various machines and the worms, however it failed to live up to the whole because it simply wasn't long enough you need a long term series to do that, I would think at least 3 or 4 films. Nonetheless this book maintains the interest and to some degree the sense of the first and it reveals much more information about the main characters, even though one of the strengths of the original was the fact that it held it back. The things one learns about Pardot Kines and his son are fascinating and this is what is remembered most of all. All in all very entertaining but it doesn't come close to the original.
Rating:
Summary: Pale reflection of the Original Series
Review: Dune: House Atreides brings us back to the landmark epicuniverse created by the late Frank Herbert. Although, it lacks thesubtle nuances and layers of the original series, it was enjoyableescapism. I enjoyed having the gaping holes filled in concerning thebackground of the various characters. I am planning to read its sisternovel Dune: House Harkonnen in the near future, with the hope that theauthors might improve on their first outting...but realisticly FrankHerbert is a tough act to follow. The authors should at least becommended for trying.
Rating: 
Summary: "Vermillion hells!" it's not bad.
Review: "Dune" is my all-time favorite book. A masterpiece rich in story, intrigue and subtlety, set in a universe which I love, so any revisiting would undoubtly be a pleasant experience, and it was, mostly. The problem with "House Atreides" is that it contains none of the subtlety or depth that made "Dune" great, the prose is especially bad, with exposition being constantly repeated, and the language simplistic and occasionally clunky. Most of the charcters also suffer from rather bad cases of "cardboard cut-out" syndrome - The Baron is evil, the Duke is good and that is that. The inconsistances with "Dune" also tend to grate, such as here the Old Duke seems warm and friendly here, a great deal more so than Leto, and yet in "Dune" it sounds as though he was a cold and rather cruel man, with Jessica cursing his name, and wishing he had died sooner. But having said that I still liked HA. To revisit the characters earlier in their lives is a fascinating experience, and I loved the extra details that this book gave. The best thing that HA does is give more of a sense of the Imperium that "Dune" ever did, and I appreciated the visits to IX and more especially Kaitain, and you could glean more details about many of the other Houses, that "Dune" never gave. (That, BTW, is not a criticism of "Dune" as it was focussed in Paul, whilst HA has a much broader focus.) Also, the first chapter was clever in that it provided a direct contrast to Duke Leto's visit to the harvest operations on Dune, I don't know whether that was intentional or not, but I liked it. Overall, the main problem is the actual writing which suffers from being too much like what you'd find in a teenage Star Wars/X-files novel, but it's still good fun to read if you liked the "Dune" universe and can enjoy reading a book that is not particularly deep.
Rating:
Summary: Good for the history, average for reading
Review: Dune is my favorite book of all time, so this "prequel" is hard for me to judge. Herbert's universe is so beautiful and richly complex that it would be difficult for me to dislike ANY book based on its world. It is always a pleasure to revisit Arrakis and the House Atreides. But fundamentally, this book does not contain the passion of Dune. I loved Dune for its intricate weave of tragedy and triumph. There was nothing more terrible than seeing Duke Leto die, and knowing that history would forget about him. But we got to experience the triumph of his son who became a legend. In "House Atreides", I wanted to see the greatness of Leto and learn more about his history and his family. I got a little of that, but some of the story contradicted what I remembered from Dune. Specifically, I got the impression from Dune that Leto's father died from underestimating a bull (which I felt was a wonderful symbol). In this book that story becomes far more complicated. I was thrilled to learn more about one of my favorite characters, Duncan Idaho. But the passion of this story fell flat. While I loved the new information on Duncan's early life, I didn't get to delve into his struggles the way I thought I would. For me, Duncan Idaho has always been the "Boba Fett" of Dune, and I wanted an elaborate and passionate story about him. Instead, I felt like I got the cliff notes. Fundamentally, I feel this book suffers from a lack of vision. However, I will probably keep it in my collection because it does contain a lot of new information, especially about the House of Ix. There are other stories you get to learn about as well, such as House Tleilaxu, the story of Stilgar, Pardot Keynes and Liet Keynes, Hasimir Fenring, Baron Harkonnen, and the Padishah Emperors. I would recommend this to Dune lovers for the added information it provides with the caveat that I feel that some of the "history" has been altered for entertainment value. Overall, a fascinating and complicated history written in an awkward way. (4.5 out of 10)
Rating:
Summary: Frank Herbert it AIN'T--but it ain't half bad, either
Review: I took upon myself the job of reading 'Dune: House Atreides' mostly because I believe with all my heart that the original 'Dune' ranks as THE BEST sci-fi novel of ALL-TIME, and wondered whether or not ANYONE could do it justice. Now with that said, as long as you remember the MOST IMPORTANT thing while reading this first of 3 installments, you will probably enjoy it...do NOT forget at ANY point that this WAS NOT written BY Frank Herbert--IF you remember THAT, then it wasn't half-bad. I think (and this might come across as sacrilege to some) that 'Dune: House Atreides' is better than a couple of the later 'Dune' books by Frank himself. Some believe that the later 'Dune' books were even better than the original (but that is an impossibility in MY opinion) but remember, this is just ONE GUY'S OPINION, be it right or wrong in your mind, this is how I feel. My BIGGEST complaint about this book was the authors felt necessary to include SO MUCH into the plot that it jumped around a bit too much for me. But all in all, it kept the overall 'feel' of the Dune Universe, which alone I feel is a major accomplishment. I just cannot imagine what a daunting task it was to not just imagine continuing the GREATEST sci-fi series of all time, but to actually DO it...it must have been phenomenal. After purchasing their weight in Pepcid AC, these guys have managed to pull out of the hat an enjoyable addition to the remarkable Dune saga, and in short, a pretty fun sci-fi story that helps us learn more about the incredible world we call, Dune.
Rating: 
Summary: Could do better....
Review: Could do better.... We've all had this on our classwork/homework. Having read the Dune saga in the 80's, it was with immense joy I saw House Atreides as a title in my local library. I immediately opend a page at random (not too near the middle) to spotread. Hmm....puerile. I took it out anyway, there was bound to be a "re-opening" to the Dune universe I knew so well. Two intermittent weeks later. Poorly written, more like the writing of an adolescent who saw the David Lynch film version too many times & cannot help but refer to that, rather than the writings of Mr Herbert Snr. I adored Dune & it's sequels. I felt SO in touch with Paul Atreides at that moment when he took the Water of Life (having had a particular interest in 'substances' at that time, & always sprinkling cinnammon on anything I drank!). But this just ain't even close. I felt nothing. I laboured through the 600 pages more as a debt to Frank Herbert & the usual "it might get better" feeling. But it didn't. I will read House Harkonnen only because it may provide detail to the rest of the saga. But I tell you now, I will skip ANY rambling I see. I've learned my lesson.
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