Rating: 
Summary: Bene Gesserit analysis of
Review: We of the Sisterhood were quite suprised to see another manifesto was written with even more lack of knowledge of the great "Dune" works and the complex style of the legendary Frank Herbert. Once again we will lay out the errors in plot points and rules from the "Dune" books and also we will attach comments relating to the writing style in general.
In "Harkonnen" during the poorly written parody of the dining scene from "Dune"(file# 126-146), Liet Kynes is introduced as "Weichih" which means beloved. Later when father and son are alone he is called Liet, when Liet comes among strangers he says "To outsiders, I am known as Weichih".
In "Dune"(file#93) when Duncan asks Stilgar if he will accept his dual allegiance to him and Leto, Stilgar responds in part, "..There is precedent for this: Liet serves two masters." One of the rescued workers from the crawler(file#124) calls him Liet.(we would also note that if in "Harkonnen" Gurney and Liet meet on Salusa Secundus why doesen't he seem to know him now?) Again he is called Liet(file# 221) by Shamir in front of Paul and Jessica.
Now..which is his secret name, his troop name used only by members of his Sietch and his name of manhood that is used openly? How is it that three Harkonnen grunt troopers happen to know the details of the Fremens most sacred ritual?
Why is it that that the secret project of creating synthetic melange is still being worked on but the "Rogo transceiver" created by C'tair Pilru and used by the Guild and Leto and Shaddam IV at the end of "Atreides" is not?
In "Harkonnen" the "Bene Gesserit" mass hypnosis to confuse the Baron and his landing party is a trick that we believe would have been very usefull in dealing with the Honored Matres.
In "Harkonnen" we see D-wolves which were first seen in "God Emperor of Dune" and chairdogs which were first seen in "Heretics of Dune".
In "Harkonnen" we find can easly piece together the fact that the axlotl tanks are women connected to Tleilaxu machines.
The first hint of this is knowledge of this secret is
seen in "Heretics of Dune".
We took Sheeana into our protection because she could fit into our plans. Why would we be non-interested in Victor and his genes? Count Fenring did carry on normal conversations in "Dune" without going "U,m,m,m,m,m," at the end of every sentance. We believe that Prince Rhombur would have had a better grasp of language being a noble born so he would not say "Uh" in the beginning of almost every sentence.
The errors in this work are legion so we will not cover them all but we will hear comments from Mother Superior Darwi Odrade on the overall writing style:
With the length of each chapter being an average 8 to 11 pages in length we are left to assume that the authors must believe we have very short attention spans. Why do they feel the need to italicize what seemed like every other word to stress an important point? It must be assumed that we are not wise enought to understand what is important in the dialog of a scene.
We also became very bored with several passages that seemed to scream, "See,we read the books to! Don't you think this is clever? Remember these from the originals. Isn't this a cute way to tie the books together and throw a sop to the die-hard fans?"
The first of these occurs as we are introudced to Gurney Halleck as he is thinking about the Harkonnen places he has renamed in his mind to fit his own tastes and to amuse himself. He believes that, "a few generations hence, someone else would rename the landmarks all over again."
The second is when Dr.Yueh leaves Giedi Prime after he examines the Baron. As he is leaving he thinks to himself how glad he is that he will never have to deal with the Baron ever again.
The third is the most absurd that it even caused Reverend Mother Bellonda to have tears run down her cheeks from laughter.
It occurs at the end when Duncan and Gurney are worring about Leto after the death of his "first" son and the offer made by the Tleilaxu to create a ghola of him. Duncan is quoted as saying, "This ghola matter...I do not trust gholas."
This series of books are rapidly moving away from the great works of Frank Herbert in every aspect. We believe this is the intention of the authors, so that future books will be filled with their "new" vision of how "Dune" should have been written.
Rating: 
Summary: a worthy addition to the Dune universe
Review: House Harkonnen is the sequel to the first book in the Dune House trilogy, House Atreides. It is set a number of years before Frank Herbert's classic: Dune. The novel spans several years and traces several characters, most specifically Leto Atredies, Vladimir Harkonnen, Gurney Halleck, Lady Jessica, and Duncan Idaho. Leto is trying to grow into both the man as well as the Duke that his father would have wanted him to be. Vladimir Harkonnen is suffering from the effects of the disease given to him by the Bene Gesserit and is plotting against the Bene Gesseritt, the Emporer, as well as House Atreides. Duncan Idaho is training to be the deadly swordsmaster that we came to know in Dune (this is actually more interesting than you might expect). Jessica is in training with the Bene Gesserit, and it is in this novel that she finally meets Leto for the first time. We see Gurney growing up under the thumb of the Harkonnen's and how he will come to be in the service of the Atreides. That's a lot of plot to cover, but that is only a portion of all that is in this rather large and detailed novel. We also have rebellions on Ix, the Bene Tleilax, the Fremen, hints of the Muad'ib, use of the forbidden atomics, and a whole lot of story. Since the Dune prequels are written by Frank Herbert's son, Brian, as well as Kevin Anderson, the style of writing is much different than Frank's original Dune. Despite the novel's heft, it is a fast moving story with fairly short chapters bouncing from character viewpoint to character viewpoint. I would not recommend reading House Harkonnen without first having read House Atreides. There is too much detail that would be missed. Brian and Kevin are working from Frank's notes and are filling in the backstory that Frank only hinted at. This (and the rest of the House trilogy) is a worthy addition to the Dune universe. It's not the same novel that Frank might have written, but it should be an interesting one for fans of Dune
Rating:
Summary: Adding insult to injury
Review: Two word review: poop sandwich.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice effort, horrid writing
Review: I'm a big fan of the Dune series, like most folks seem to be who've written reviews here. I was prepared to like this trilogy by Herbert's son, and really gave it the old college try. I didn't expect the writing to be up to Herbert's standard, but even with that said, the whole book is in serious need of a firm editor's hand. What killed it for me was finding the word "muscular" used three times on a single page to describe the same person. I suddenly realized that I couldn't waste any more time on something written this badly.
Rating:
Summary: Idiots from outer space
Review: Loved the original Dune. This book was a definite disappointment. The Harkonnens are brutal, stupid too. Wait until you read about The Padishah Emperor Shadam. He makes the Harkonnens look like geniuses. It does not make sense to me how two houses that treat their subjects so horribly can even hope to stay in power. I was stuck in an Airport and needed something to read and I gave it a shot. Some interesting background info but mostly a bummer. Save your money.
Rating:
Summary: damn harkies
Review: more graphic violence (rapes, etc) than the rest of the dune series. Execellent insights to the baron and beast
Rating: 
Summary: Loved it
Review: Really love this trilogy, perhaps better than the originals
Rating:
Summary: Should have negative stars
Review: After reading House Atretes, I didn't think that the series could get any worse. Boy, was I wrong. We have Bene Gesserit with Mule-like powers. We have robo-shuttles that fly themselves (anybody remember a certain Jihad?). We have Leto's OTHER son. We have a certain count whose secret language has been degraded to a speach impediment. We have Gunney Halleck meeting Liet, on Dune no less. We have a no-ship. We have automatic, multi-bolt crossbows. The characters are one dimensional. You will find better writing style in the edditorial pages of the newspaper. The plots seem to have been stolen from Days of Our Lives. Brian Herbert must have hated his father. This "work" is an insult to the Dune universe.
Rating:
Summary: Dune: House Harkonnen; Another masterpiece
Review: The sequel to Brian Herberts Dune: House Atredies has what other books lack; a good mix of politics, adventure, romance, and a great all-around plot. Although some people may not like these sorts of books, many others do. If you like novels with adventure, strong plots, and more than one point of view (for example: Tom Clancy: Rainbow Six) this is a great book for you. Though I am only 12 and may not have an advanced level of reading as some adults do, I highly recommend this book. However, if you have not read Brian Herberts Dune: House Atredies (the prequel) you will most likely get stuck, wondering what has happened. If you have ever heard of Brian Jaques, Tom Clancy, Stephen King, you will love Brian Herbert.
Rating:
Summary: Picking up where House Atredies left off...
Review: The second novel of the Dune prequels picks right up where the last left off and keeps the story going. I really liked the first novel and was looking forward to this one but was a little more disappointed with Harkonnen. While it adds more to the overall trilogy it lacks little plot as a stand alone novel. Basically it plods along for 700 pages with further story from the first almost as if they are just passing time until the third. I don't like that attitude of publishing a trilogy for the sake of a trilogy and I have a nagging feeling that thats whats happening here. However the book sdoes climax well and seems to set up a good start to the final chapter.
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