House Atreides (Dune: House Trilogy, Book 1)

Rating:
Summary: Well read and well placed in the series
Review: I tend to ignore other critiques of novels but I was thoroughly surprised at the uprising on both sides of this book. I have been a Dune fan since the early 70's. I have read and re-read everything (and I do mean everything) that Frank Herbert has ever written and published. For those out there who think that this is the first book that Brian has ever written relating to his Father's work, that is incorrect; he co-authored a book with his father (before Frank Herbert's death) titled "Man Of Two Worlds." It is a gripping and sometimes hilarious science fiction novel. It was during this co-authorship that Brian and Frank began discussing co-writing the Dune Prequels as well as Dune 7 (as yet untitled). Brian Herbert has all of his fathers notes and know precisely where Frank Herbert wanted to go with the story as well as where the Dune Universe should begin (which brings us to Dune: House Atreides). It is precisely where it should be in the series. It is accurate in the extreme as to technology and where the characters in the original Dune Series are supposed to be. I have read, and re-read the series and then gone back and re-read House Atreides. I find the book exciting and well planned (i.e. I can see the ground-work for the next two prequels developing). I hope that everyone will read this novel first and not read the reviews here (including mine). Then come back and see if you agree with what others have written. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: An okay sci-fi novel, but not Dune!
Review: This book is fun for those who want to revisit the world and culture of the Dune universe, but it adds nothing new to the overall pre-existing picture as painted by Frank Herbert. The plot is contrived and not one word throughout its 600 pages sent me to my dictionary--Frank Herbert had an amazing vocabulary. I kept thinking how I would have done things differently. If you haven't read any Dune novels yet, start with Frank Herbert's original masterpieces, not this book. I can't even define the complexity and scope of his works: politics, ethics, history, sociology, psychology, ecology, he crams it all into one of the most compelling and thought-provoking books of all time. This book is fine, but no where near as good as the originals.

Rating:
Summary: House Atreides
Review: As with any prequel, I try to keep in mind that we are going back in time. The original "Dune" series was a landmark in sci-fi. For the true "Dune" fanatic. "House Atreides" sets the stage and gives execellent background information on the great houses,ancient feuds and alliences, and the power struggles. I hated to finish reading it.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable but flawed Dune book
Review: I have to admit that I expected to hate this book the moment I heard about it. A Dune book by someone other than Frank Herbert borders on blasphemy. I was wrong. The book was far better than I expected, but it was still riddled with flaws. The main problems I had was with the introduction of technology (no-ships, etc.) that didn't evolve until after "Dune" and the poor characterization. The novel lacked the inventiveness of Herbert's masterpieces; it was merely a regurgitation of everything he had already done. I gave it three stars because there are some interesting tidbits scattered throughout the book that I assume came from FH's notes, making the book of some worth to fans.

Rating:
Summary: Fan but not fanatic
Review: I am a passive fan of Dune. I was turned on to the series by my Dad, a long time SF reader, during a family vacation which included long periods of driving. Although I enjoyed Dune, I never read on in the series. That said, I found House Atreides to be an enjoyable read. I found inconsistancies in this novels attempt to cast light on events preceeding the events of Dune. However, I have chosen not to pick the novel apart. I enjoyed discovering how the Baron became the disgusting blob that he is, where Lady Jessica came from, and the background of Duncan Idaho. These revelations are interesting and fun. The average reader does not need "The nit-pickers guide to Dune" to enjoy this book.

Rating:
Summary: More research would have helped
Review: Hmmmmm. If I had not read the Dune series many times, or at all, I might like this book, but having read the series, I am dismayed by the failure of these writers to adequately research before writing. They both claim or have reason to be experts on Dune, yet make such obvious mistakes as having people be all amazed by a worm "more than 200 metres long" and describing said worm as an ancient member of its kind, when in Dune, average worms swallowed spice factories that were 150 feet long in one gulp and Paul's first solo worm ride involved a monster of half a league's length - at least 1 and a half miles long! Even worse, the Bene Tleilax masters run around all over the place being obviously small, grey and fanatical, though in Dune they took pride in staying on their own planet, felt dirtied by such running around and kept any religious beliefs strictly to themselves. Does anyone remember Count Fenring in Dune? In this book they have him think such banal thoughts as "You can't aim any higher than that." Can anyone imagine Count Fenring thinking in any such modern fashion - the deadly killer with the manners of a rabbit? The partner of the cool and elegant Margot Fenring, Bene Gesserit ? I found this to be way beyond belief. There are many such inconsistencies to discover. The writing is never better than Frank Herbert's - don't believe that for a second. Frank Herbert would never have any character thinking "You can't aim higher than that". The writing is full of flowery or heroic phrases - not the clean, hard, intellectual prose Frank Herbert wrote. If you are a serious Dune fan, this book really is not up to scratch. If you are not, or you just like the Dune books but don't love them, you may well enjoy the story - it has its good points and some things are quite interesting - like the Bene Gesserit punishment of Baron Harkonnen. However, Dune lovers may well find themselves often puzzled and irritated by this novel.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding story, very enjoyable
Review: If you are not a Dune fanatic you will absolutely enjoy this well written book. Having read all of the Dune saga years ago I completely enjoyed this many layered and interesting yarn. I know that those who are totally wrapped up in the Frank Herbert "Dune" mystique may find this wanting but I enjoyed it much more than any of the original books. I'm anxiously anticipating the next segment of this exciting new trilogy.

Rating:
Summary: An awesome start to the saga (In my opinion)
Review: I'm one of those uneducated (lol) people who's always the last to know about things. I had played the Dune games for years and never knew there were books or a until a friend said "This doesn't follow the book at all!" So I just recently started by reading House Atreides and then Dune. It was hard learning the fact that Ordos didn't exist, and that there was no "War" on Arrakis, but anyways, the book was very well written and action packed, great exposition and development of the characters, especially the Kynes/Frieth scenes and the relationship between Paulus and Leto. I love this book and look forward to reading the whole series. Great book, hmm-m-m-m-m-m-ah?

Rating:
Summary: A good book, yet something missing
Review: The book is generally good, but lacks something that only the original series could provide. The writing in some scenes was absolutely amazing, even better the Frank Herbert (like the scene where Kailea drinks wine with Leto and Rhombur.) And sometimes dissapointing like some of the Duncan Idaho scenes. Also, I believe that Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson made a mistake by actually making the world in 10,154 more technologicaly advanced than it is in 10,191. I mean, the first No-Ships began to appear at the date of Heretics of Dune, wich was ~16,500, and so did the synthetic melange. And to me, the explanations they gave on dunenovels.com were'nt sufficient. Yes, I could understand the whole thing about the High Priest of Dur, but not the No-Ship or the synthetic melange. One more thing that I noticed, was the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam gave birth to Jessica, whereas in Children of Dune Leto clearly states that: " They know you're a Harkonnen! It'll be in their breeding records: Jessica out of Tandidia Nerus by the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen..." Maybe I'm wrong, maybe the authors would write something about it in the next prequels (like kill Jessica, and force the Baron to mate for a third time with Bene Gesserits.) Nevertheless, the book was well written. I believe they did an excellent job in filling the holes.

Rating:
Summary: A good page turner
Review: I liked the book, forgoing food and family to get it done. I read the original DUNE books when I was around 12, so I don't really remember them well. I intend to reread them all soon.

The only real problem I have with this one is the same problem I have had with the other Kevin J. Anderson books I have read, the constant repeating of plot information at the beginning of every chapter. The book could have been trimmed considerably because of this, so I found myself skipping just to get past the repeating.