The Jesus Incident

Rating:
Summary: One of Herbert's best - Ransom adds a nice touch
Review: Any fan of the original Dune chapters should definitely check out this book. The Jesus Incident rivals Dune's epicness in my opinion. Herbert had such an excellent ability for crafting alien worlds... complete with mysterious yet realistic-seeming lifeforms and ecosystem. This is beyond just a Sci-Fi book tho... as with Dune, Herbert does an amazing job of dealing with human nature, the fear of the unknown, and of course, religion.

On a side note: Please try reading this book while listening to Loop Guru's 'Catalog of Desires' CD. I know this is a book review, and I really wouldn't recommend this CD if I didn't absolutely mean it. It's an incredible reading CD, and it really really REALLY transforms this story into more than a book. (plus, it works for Dune and almost any other Sci-Fi/Fantasy:)

Rating:
Summary: a great book for herbert fans
Review: I can't think of a more terrifying world than Pandora, Herbert's world of weird and deadly animals and mutant clones, all created at the whim of Ship, the accidental god-machine from his novel Destination:Void. Again, Herbert places his poor charaters in a constant and dire struggle for survival, only this time it's not just humans who want to stay alive. The whole drama plays out under the watch of the sometimes benevolant, sometimes indifferent, but always inscrutable Ship, who has become man's (and clone's) computer-God of his own creation.

What foresight Herbert had to present such a world of biological science and ecological destruction gone mad that foreshadows our own time.

A real treat for wild sci-fi fans. Look for it in used book stores. It's worth it!

Rating:
Summary: The Jesus Incident
Review: Not a review, just a notice that BILL RANSOM was the co-author with Frank Herbert on this book and the whole series. Amazon left my name off this display.

Rating:
Summary: Dunish but not quite there
Review: There is a lot of emulation of Dune in this book. No, the story is not the same nor are the characters but it is the style, language and most of all, mood, that is reminiscent of the masterpiece. Every chapter starts off with a "thoght", the world they live in is an entirely new creation (no references or fakey copies of Earth) and it presents a "new" stage in human existence.

But despite its obvious good points, it was not quite the soaring, speculative work that I had hoped. Good writing, good plotting but not the best. A good read.

Rating:
Summary: Dunish but not quite there
Review: There is a lot of emulation of Dune in this book. No, the story is not the same nor are the characters but it is the style, language and most of all, mood, that is reminiscent of the masterpiece. Every chapter starts off with a "thoght", the world they live in is an entirely new creation (no references or fakey copies of Earth) and it presents a "new" stage in human existence.

But despite its obvious good points, it was not quite the soaring, speculative work that I had hoped. Good writing, good plotting but not the best. A good read.

Rating:
Summary: This is the best SF book I've ever read.
Review: This book has all of Dune's intricacy of plot and character development but is a far more concise and elegant presentation. It's actually a sequel to Destination:Void, which I found to be interesting but definitely one of his lesser works. Subsequent books along this story line are pretty good too. I highly recommend that you read this book when you have time to finish it fairly quickly. Otherwise, you'll lose track of the characters and their individual plot lines. I once read through the entire SF section of a library (4 books a week for 2 years, ~400+ books) and this book is my favorite SF book.

Rating:
Summary: Return of Ship
Review: Unlike Dune, this series has been out of print for some time. Shame! No one does it better than Herbert but Dune-Mania has left too much of his best work unread and unknown. Dune was a masterpiece, no question. But the series devolved into action novels - the work of creating his universe did not have to be re-done so the rest was just what happens next (and as Brian continues the series, what happened before). The Voidship series is different. Beginning with Destination: Void, which establishes the premise, each novel must reestablish the world in which it is set. Each set of characters has very new hurdles and new forms of intelligent life(? at least self-awareness) to deal with, each with their own world view. A good marketing bet would be to reintroduce these novels in paperback, capitalizing on the popularity of the Dune series. Let the new generation of sf readers discover the other worlds of Frank Herbert. This review refers to the series - Destination: Void, The Jesus Incident, The Lazarus Effect, and The Ascension Factor