Rating: 
Summary: A must read for Dune fans
Review: Frank Herbert, the author of Dune, died at a relatively young age in 1986. At the time of his death, Dune and its sequels were one of the most popular science fiction series ever created.
Frank's son Brian followed in his father's footsteps and became a science fiction author. He has been approached a number of times about writing additional Dune novels. Finally in 1997, Brian was introduced to Kevin J. Anderson; an award winning science fiction novelist and they agreed to collaborate on Dune novels that would be prequels to the original book Dune.
Set decades before the action in Dune, Dune House Atreides covers action that spans the years that lead to Shaddam IV ascending to the throne of the Galactic empire. A lot of familiar characters from Dune are present in this novel, plus a plethora of new faces. The action is described in short chapters that bounce between several major plot lines and make this book ideal for reading when you only have short amounts of time to devote to it (chapters can be completed in 10 minutes or less).
Emperor Elrood's son Shaddam tires of waiting for his father to die and takes steps to hasten the emperor's demise. Young Leto Atreides, future Duke and father of Paul Atreides, leaves his home planet of Caladan to spend a year on the mechanized and secretive world of Ix. Pardot Kynes, a renowned planetologist is dispatched by the Emperor to the desert planet of Arrakis (Dune) to discover the secrets of it's ecology and the addictive, life-prolonging spice known as melange. Meanwhile, eight-year-old slave Duncan Idaho is hunted by the cruel Harkonnen family in a deadly game from which he vows to escape and seek his revenge.
While not equal to the original book Dune, the book is still inventive and enjoyable. Frank's books often left the reader guessing about certain pieces of history (such as the source of the feud between the Harkonnen and Atreides families). This book (and the two other House Trilogy books) shed light and flesh out events that lead to the momentous events in Dune. This book is much easier to read than Dune but it stays true to the spirit of Frank's novels. The characters behave here in the same general way in which they behaved in Dune (i.e. - Baron Harkonnen is still evil and depraved), but the authors have included a few interesting differences in some of the characters. I think everyone who enjoyed Dune would find something enjoyable in this novel.
Rating: 
Summary: couldn't finish it
Review: glad i didn't pay for this book. couldn't finish it, for fear of spoiling the world of dune in my head. the style of writing was jerky. you know the way you start reading a book and you are transported into the world, and you are not actually 'reading' words anymore. well this book was just all jumbled words contained on pages. i would not, unlike some reviews, even think of comparing this to any works such as rice or rowling (how offensive!). at the very least, no one can argue that they use their 'own' stories. i do agree with one review that i am very happy that tolkien jr. didn't butcher his father's stories (& dont get me started on the films either).
Rating:
Summary: Better than expected
Review: I can't deny that there things in the story that I feel are not totaly consistent with the original Dune books, but personally, I found this book more readable than the original series. Mr. Herbert and Anderson have a more user-friendly narrative style than Frank Herbert. For those of us weened on Dune, the plot discrepancies may be hard to swallow, but newcomers should find the book very entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: The Test: Human or Animal?
Review: I hold at your neck the gom jabbar. Your instincts will be to remove your hand from this book and drop it in the toilet. If you do so you will die.
I survived nine full pages before the pain became too much & would certainly have chosen death rather than to continue reading.
Shame, shame, shame on the authors.
There was a Victorian chappie, name of Bowdler, who attempted to 'improve' Shakespeare, giving rise to the term 'Bowdlerism'. Could I suggest 'Andersonism', meaning to talentlessly and shamelessly cash-in on someone else's genius?
Lovers of Dune will know what I mean. Kull Wahad!
The Bene Gesserit had a good word for it. Abomination.
Rating: 
Summary: Dune:House Atreides
Review: I loved it!I read the first series 25 years ago and thought it was amazing,but a little complicated and convoluted.Reading them was almost like doing homework.This prequel was much easier while still maintaining the richness and power of the original series. A must read for all true sci-fi fans!!!
Rating:
Summary: To rape a father's corpse
Review: I read this worthless book along with House Harkonnen and House Corrino. I have no idea why I even bothered with the second two after reading this crap. Brian Herbert has turned his father's great work into a Sci Fi soap opera with none of the character depth or political intrigue that the original series was full of. The original Dune series had strong female characters that were actually developed, something I find that male writers have a hard time pulling off. Every character from the original series was interesting to follow and read about. In Brian's blaspemy, women are lowered to the point that they are seemingly there just to be the romantic OTHERS to his boring male characters.
Brian doesn't stop there. He continually destroys characters created by his father due to his lack of imagination, intelligence, and ability to write. The gravest of these trespasses is his destruction and character assassination of Holtzman who was a genious. In the original series we get but glimpses of him through writings of his or commentary from characters. The man was an exceptional human being almost godlike in his aftermath. In Brian's books we meet face to face with the man and Brian does whatever he can to drag him through the mud and make him out to be an idea stealing crackpot who uses slave labor to defeat difficult math problems. As if......
If you want to read a great sci fi series read FRANK Herbert's DUNE and the following 5 books. Don't waste your time on this trash.
To Brian:
Shame on you. It's bad enough that you are trying to profit from your father's great work but the degree to which you are destroying it is just disgusting. You have no honor or talent and I hope you fail in all that you do. Good day sir.
Rating: 
Summary: Appetizing, but all the typos -- UGHHH!
Review: I thought the storyline was fairly consistent with what Frank Herbert started so long ago. Philosophically, it didn't get nearly as deep as the originals which was a disappointment. KJA and BH have a more 'factual' and step-to-step writing style which doesn't quite live up to FH's ability to weave philosophy, religion, and sociology into every paragraph. I believe FH's original Dune and the last two in the series were masterpieces, with the other three being able to stand on their own only due to the intricate world created in Dune. This book reads too much like others written by BH or KJA and doesn't completely build the aura FH did. It is, however, a great revisit to the Dune realm. There were more typos in this book than in the past 20 I've red! (intentional)
Rating:
Summary: What happened to my other one?
Review: I wrote a review a few years back. I will admit it was a bit scathing but nothing asbestos gloves couldn't have handled. For some reason it was lifted. Oh well, I doubt if I can redo my deathless prose of that day but suffice to say this book does a great injustice to the works of the great Frank Herbert. I will not even go into how it makes a mockery of all that is Dune, that is readily apparant and besides that is usually answered by the reply that, well it's not Frank writing it. What's even worse is that, whereas Dune was written for the thinking person, someone who loves a challenge, this book, and those that have followed, are written for today's generation of those needing to be spoon fed instant gratification and that have the attention span rivaling the life of a mayfly after it reproduces. The Harry Potter novels present more of a reading challenge than these books and they were originally meant for a juvenile audience. After reading this book I don't know if, as presented, that Herbert the Younger actually had outlines of what his father was doing and where he was going but if he did it seems he sold him out, going for mass appeal to a generation of quasi-literates rather than a reasonable additon to a great series. If he ever decides to write sequels, rather than prequels, to the story his father left unfinished I do hope he made enough money on these books so that he can find someone who can do justice to them. Writers on the order of Frank Herbert do not come along all that often and I don't expect anyone who takes up the mantle to be as great as he was, tho it would be a nice surprise. However, I do expect respect to be shown and a great tradition to be continued rather than, as these books have done, trivialized. As far as I am concerned comparing the House books to the Dune series is like comparing a child's fingerpaintings to Picasso or Gauguin. It's a shame this system requires you to issue a star at all.
Rating:
Summary: Not so good; Not so bad
Review: I've been thinking for a couple of days of putting my thoughts up here, except I'm not sure what I actually think of it. Of course, it's no Dune (which was very much a book of ideas). It couldn't be. Heck, the five Dune sequels written by Frank Herbert were no Dune. I wasn't expecting it to be. Based on those lower expectations, the book had some merit. Specifically,
Pros:
* The basic stories are interesting. Herbert & Anderson have done a good job of developing the original idea (presumably this is due to the fact that they are working from Herbert Senior's notes)
* The authors have done a good job of fleshing out the basic ideas into a fairly fast-paced and well-motivated plot. I was definitely interested enough to keep reading (despite the bad writing) to find out what happened next. I will be reading House Harkonnen, the next book in this series, as well.
* It's an easy read.
Cons:
* They spell everything out. The original Dune was well-known for its nuances and subtle writing. This book spells everything out for you; the political machinations in particular are beat to the death as the writers provide us with every single detail of who every single character arrives at a conclusion as to who's doing what and why.
* The writing level is just not on a par with the original series. Herbert Junior is clearly not as smart as his father (who is?) and because of this writes as if the reader is also dumb. I may not be as smart as Frank Herbert, but I'm definitely smarter than the authors. This sometimes makes the reading monotonous when they review something for the reader for the third or fourth time. Some things (including most of what they spell out) are better left for the reader to work out on his own.
* The character development is often not interesting or deep; some of the characters (e.g., Duke Leto's mother) are downright one-dimensional. It's often a mystery why they do what they do (can't elaborate without a plot spoiler, but trust me some plot twists are downright unbelievable).
* They use the same short chapter technique as the original, but each section is just too short. As a result, the action often feels jerky, rather than the smooth transitions the original managed to achieve.
* There are several disagreements with the original Dune series. So many in fact that they had to put out a spin sheet on their website to explain away these discrepancies and errors.
* It's an easy read.
So, where does that leave us? Still not sure, maybe 3 stars out of 5? The only thing I can say with certainty is that it's neither as good as nor as bad as some of the other reviews here would lead you to believe.
Rating:
Summary: It's Good But Not Quite Like The Original
Review: I've had Dune: House Atreides, the first prequel Dune novel, sitting on my night stand for a couple of weeks. Its not that I dislike the Dune books, but Dune is not a novel. It's more like a research project. Frank Herbert's Dune series is arguably the most detailed, complex, and multilayered science fiction opus of all time. Never have I read such enormous books and finished with the feeling that the author needed to explain more. Very few books have forced me to pause, close the book and think carefully about the plot just to keep up. And there on my night stand sat Dune: House Atreides, with a menacing challenge gleaming from the cover. En garde! I suppose I should start with what House Atreides is not. It's not written by the legendary Frank Herbert, who is deceased. The novel is a joint effort from Herbert's son Brian Herbert, and popular science fiction author Kevin Anderson (Jedi Academy Trilogy). Additionally, it does not continue the Dune books, but rather is a prequel and starts a generation before the initial Dune novel. It only takes a page to tell the old master is gone. It's not that the new writers are bad, but Frank Herbert's prose is unmistakable, and I doubt there are many writers who could even approach the detailed and complex style that Herbert seemed to spin with such ease. Brian Herbert and Anderson make a strong effort, but it's a pale shadow to one of the most acclaimed science fiction writers ever. Yet House Atreides is a good book in its own right. While the novel is not as heavy, either in girth or prose, as previous Dune books, it is an entertaining look at young Leto Atreides as he learns the hard lessons of leading a major house in the galactic empire against the intrigues of the evil Harkonnens and even the Padasha Emperor himself. We get to meet familiar characters and learn how they developed in their good or evil ways, and we learn more about the competing schemes of the galaxy's great ruling houses. The new authors are painstaking in the effort to remain consistent with the other Dune books, and this attention to detail is remarkable considering the sheer number of detail in the original novels. Dune: House Atreides is a relatively easy read and paced quick enough to keep the reader's attention. If I didn't keep comparing the book to the previous novels, I likely would have been impressed. But if you are going to write a Dune Book, then you must be prepared for the inevitable comparisons. House Atreides is good, but few can compare to Frank Herbert.
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