Rating: 
Summary: Can't Escape The Tyrant
Review: Unanswered questions? Sure, there are always many. But the thing that capitivated me about this book, was what I realized when I finished it. The Tyrant knew what was up. The Golden path is something that humans cannot escape, because eventually, life must start over. Duncan, Sheeana, Scytale, et al. escape into an uncharted universe, and that is all there is to it. What better finish than to know that autonomous decision making was the best human trait one could have? They left the sisterhood(who at that point were the only controlling force in the universe), to do what the BG couldn't: choose self over society. THey made an escape, and I was all smiles the second time I read the ending. Not to mention the face dancers who learned after many minds claimed to control their own fate. Frank Herbert was a genius.
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Summary: More Bene Gesserit
Review: This book was really part II of Heretics. We continue with the same characters as we further explore the Bene Gesserit. This time we're in their home as Herbert explains more of the secrets behind the matriarchal society. The book, as is par for Herbert, focuses on introspection and social dynamics, but in his normal interesting venue. While there is a conclusion of sorts, as usual, the door is left open for more.. but sadly no more will come... you'll have to write your own stories now!
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Summary: The End of the Dune Series, But Not Really
Review: Take Mankind thousands of years into the future (not hundreds of like most authors, or even Arthur C. Clarke's somewhat weak attempt at going 1000 years), and what do you have? It leaves the author pretty free to have anything be true. Frank Hebert clearly and precisely and thoroughly creates a truly alien Human society that is also strongly rooted in its past. The worlds and cultures of "Dune" are strongly influenced by Arabic and Islamic culture, along with a hearty dash of medieval European feudalism. Frank Herbet writes so well that it all becomes very believable, as if you are reading history instead of fiction. And, who can say it won't turn out this way?"Chapterhouse: Dune" is the final book (for now) of the series, but it clearly was not intended to be. This book deals mainly with the Bene Gesserit efforts to survive and, for one faction, to recreate "Dune" on another planet, including the whole sandworm life-cycle. The Bene Tleilax are all but wiped out by the Honored Matres of the Scattering. Mysterious god-like entities, who are apparently descendants of the Face Dancers, try to manipulate everyone benignly (I think) from the background. The ending (?) of this book leaves several issues hanging and seems an obvious lead-in to the next book, which never came. While many people divide the Dune series into a first trilogy and a second trilogy, I see it more as a first trilogy, a transitional book ("God Emperor of Dune"), and a second, and still unfinished trilogy. Brian Herbert, Frank's son, is moving toward writing the seventh Dune book (the sequel to "Chapterhouse: Dune" and thus the conclusion of the second trilogy), and is preparing by writing prequels. While many reviewers dislike these new Dune prequels, I like most of them. They do lack some of the complexity and depth of Frank Herbert's work, but they are moving in the right direction. I never call anything a must-read, as I don't know who has the right to dictate to anyone what they "must read". However, you're missing something if you don't read (and later re-read) the entire Dune series. I recommend buying a set when you're a teenager and keeping it to re-read every five years or so. The story will grow as you do, as will your appreciation of it.
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Summary: Wonderful Read
Review: This is a wonderful story filled with just as much intrigue as the previous 5. You sense something new and different in Herbert's writting style and while it's difficult to place you know you like it. While the ending of this book isn't quite how Herbert intended to end the serious I like it. And I pray Brian Herbert doesn't make a horrible attempt at completing the serious he has already proved he never understood his fathers vision. I would buy this book if only to read the dedication at the end to Frank Herberts wife, it will bring tears to your eyes...it did mine.
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Summary: To escape an enlightened dictatorship is the only way.
Review: This is the last volume of the saga. The Reverend Mothers of the Bene Gesserit are confronted to the Honored Matres. The twist is the capture of one Honored Matre, in the previous volume, and her training as a Reverend Mother, so that she can join the physical capabilities of the Horored Matres and the psychological and mental capabilities of the Reverend Mothers. So the two hostile orders, after a swift war, with the victory of the Bene Gesserit first, immediately reversed into the victory of the Honored Matres, are joined into one by this ex-captive Honored Matre become Reverend Mother. She hence becomes the leader of both orders and she can fulfill the plan of her predecessors, in the Bene Gesserit as well as of the Honored Matres, in joining the two by teaching diplomacy to the Bene Gesserit and by educating the barbaric Honored Matres. A new phase in the development of both orders will be reached by the synthesis of both, through symbiosis. But we also have the explanation of the origin of the Honored Matres. They are the descendants, in the Scattering, of the Fish Speakers who were the guards of the Tyrant Leto II issued from the religion of the sister of Muabdib, the father of Leto II. This religion, dominated by a woman, was an administrative democracy turned dictotarial, and in the Great Scattering that followed the death of the Tyrant Leto II, these Fish Speakers that Leto II had recuperated from his « aunt » join forces with wild Reverend Mothers and Scattered Reverend Mothers. They joined the physical power of the Fish Speakers and the sexual obsession of the Abomination who created the religion from which they originated. They, on the other side, neglected the mental element of the Reverend Mothers, the Bene Gesserit, by being cut from this Bene Gesserit. So they are mentally underdeveloped and they are only aiming at controling the world through violence, that they had brought to an unrivaled level, and sex. They turned criminal and conquering when they were pushed back, into the Old Empire, from the Scattering by new beings probably created by some genetic manipulation devised by the Bene Tleilaxu, the famous Futars (half cats and half men) that can only behave, have a coherent action if they have their Handlers behind, these Handlers being the humans who are programed to control them. This plan succeeds, but four people refuse it and decide to escape : the last Tleilaxu Master who was the prisoner of the Bene Gesserit and never submitted (he carries a whole bank of ghola cells that he managed to keep secret from the Bene Gesserit) ; the last Ghola of Idaho Duncan who had always refused to submit to the Bene Gesserit and willfully take part in their plans, though he helped them but always as a prisoner and because of his « love » for the ex-Honored Matre turned Reverend Mother ; the last descendant of Leto II, the Tyrant, who has the power to dominate the sandworms, who saved one from Dune when Dune was destroyed, and who started reviving the worm civilization on Chapter House, with the benediction of the Bene Gesserit, but also as a well-hidden challenge to that Bene Gesserit, and she takes a few of those « baby » worms to the Scattering with her ; and finally the ghola of Teg Miles, the Bashar of the Bene Gesserit who managed their final attack and victory turned defeat and then turned victory back again. In other words the last remnants of the Atreides family escape from the new order of the alliance between the Reverend Mothers of the Bene Gesserit and the Honored Matres. When the mental powers of the Bene Gesserit are joined to the physical and sexual powers of the Honored Matres, leading to an enlightened dictatorship, the only sensible attitude is to escape and fly away, and there are always some accomplices in such a situation. So they succeed. We will never know the following phase, that is to say the foreseeable confrontation of the new Bene Gesserit and Honored Matres order on one hand and the new civilization the escapees are going to produce in the Scattering. But well, a saga is never finished. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Paris Universities II and IX.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific book
Review: I loved the character development of Duncan Idaho. It was interesting that though all the series Idaho was continually cloned and made just a bit player. I think it's great he's the main hero in this book. It made me root for him more because he was usually just a lap dog who got killed in the other books.
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Summary: A stellar finish to one of sci-fi's best book series--Dune
Review: Frank Herbert dedicates this, his last novel, to the memory of his beloved wife Bev who while he was writing the book. Not long after finishing Chapterhouse Dune, we lost Frank Herbert as well. His death ended one of science fiction's best series of novels. His son Brian has created several prequels based on Herbert's notes, but no one really can replace the wonderful writing style that made the Dune series so unique. Chapterhouse Dune is the final, apocalyptic battle between the Bene Gesserit and their bastard offspring, the Honored Matres. In Heretics of Dune, the previous novel, we meet the Honored Matres for the first time. One of them is captured and converted (but how thoroughly) to a Bene Gesserit. Meanwhile, Darwi Odrade, Mother Superior, fights to save what little is left of the Bene Gesserit planets. We get a much closer look at Bene Gesserit training from the inside, life on their secret Chapterhouse Planet and a hint of greater forces at work behind the scenes. The ending is equivocal; either Herbert intended another novel to answer these questions, or he deliberately left it open for us to fill in the blanks. Either way, this is an exciting conclusion to the Dune Series and along with Heretics, one of the best novels in the series. If you are curious which books can be read in what order, you can read God Emperor, Heretics and Chapterhouse as a single trilogy, or just Heretics and Chapterhouse. Of course, if you are impressed by Herbert's Dune series, you will want to read them all in order: Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse Dune. In addition, Brian Herbert has added Dune: House Atreides and Dune: House Harkonnen, which are "prequels."
Rating:
Summary: Excellent...but many questions left unanswered....?Sequel
Review: Comparatively speaking, I would rank this book very close to the firstDune novel in the series. It has a huge (and I do mean HUGE) build upfrom the beginning of the novel until about fifty pages from the endwhen Herbert dumps the proverbial soup into our laps. But there aremany questions left unanswered at the end (not that all questionsSHOULD be answered but I felt that a sequel was sure to come had FrankHerbert not passed away before he could finish the series). I'veheard that Brian Herbert, Frank's son, discovered a seventh Dunemanuscript in a safety deposit box after his father died. If this istrue, I can't wait to see it in print. If it's not true, then we maynever know what the 'master' had in mind. But enough ofthat...onto the book itself!The story is that of the Bene Geseritsisterhood and their war against the wicked 'Honored Matres' who'vereturned from the scattering and has threatened to wipe out all of theBG sisterhood. Meanwhile, the BG's are turning Chapterhouse --- theirlast sisterhood stronghold planet --- into a desert planet andbringing back the worms of Dune to this planet in hopes of starting anew cycle of sandtrout/worm/spice/sandtrout, again. Strong in thisstory is that of Duncan Idaho and Murbella, the captured Honored Matrefrom the fifth Dune book. They are [multiplying] like rabbits still intheir no-ship prison and the BG sisterhood takes away the babieshoping to find genetic markers that they haven't seen before(continuing on in their quest for a perfect human). Also at theforefront is that of Odrade, the Mother Superior of the BG, who seeswhere their paths with the Honored Matres must lead. It is a giantmelting pot that began with Leto II's rule (the God Emperor or theTyrant if you prefer). The BG and the Honored Matres must become onesisterhood for them both to survive. Odrade sees this and passes hersisterhoods internal lifetimes on to Murbella after completing hertraining and watching her go through the spice agony. In the end,the melting pot is achieved thanks to Odrade's manipulations andMurbella's Honored Matre's training. But there's a lot left out toindicate that more would have been forthcoming had Herbert not died.Duncan, Sheeana, Scytale, the Rabbi, and a wild-reverend mother,escape in the no-ship and head off into the unknown; even they don'tknow exactly where they end up. And, it appears, the gods don't knowwhy this was done or where they will end up. Questions: Who waschasing the Honored Matre's? Who were the handlers of the Futars andwhere did Futars originate from? Will Chapterhouse become anotherDune world? Did Duncan and his runaway band in the no-ship take aworm? If so, what will they do with it? What will happen to theGuild now that Chapterhouse is turning into a Dune world?Manyquestions...will there be answers. We'll just have to wait and see, Iguess.
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Summary: HERBERT'S LAST GIFT
Review: This was the last DUNE book that Frank Herbert would ever get to write, and it's a good thing that he even got to finish it, because he died shortly after. The title of the book was given by his wife, Bev, who died before Frank did. I've read all the books in the series, some of them more than once. Although I liked this book, I wouldn't say it's Dune's equal. But it is definitely worth reading and is one of the best endings to a series that I've read. What I mean is that I found the ending very appropriate. THE FOLLOWING MAY BE SPOILING MATERIAL IF YOU HAVEN'T READ ALL OF BOOK FIVE--HERETICS OF DUNE. As you know, at the end of book 5, Dune is destroyed completely. In book six, another planet is being transformed into Dune. Forests and jungles are being stripped away in favor of the desert. At least one sandworm was salvaged from Dune and is being placed on this "new" Dune. But the primary focus of book six is on a new threat known as the HONORED MATRES. These are powerful females, very much like the Bene Gesserit. As in most of the Dune books, the battles aren't so much physical as they are verbal and psychological. Some old characters make reappearances in this book and some new characters are introduced. I'm not sure if Herbert intended this to be his last Dune book, but from what I've read, it's a very fitting ending to a fantastic series!
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Summary: The Unwritten Sequel
Review: Herbert gives all the necessary clues to the sequel. The goal is for each next phase of humanity to become an unidentifiable living mirror of the universe. Leave no tracks for any to follow. Heighten all the important human abilities: consciousness, sex, speed, emotion. Maintain resistance to the lures of these enhancements. Sheeana undergoes the Shai-hulud metamorphosis on a new Dune-like world. She weeds the future populations for better mimesis. Scytale recreates the entire Tleitaxu population as well as the original Dune characters. Teg's abilities for speed and to see the no-ships spread quickly to succeeding generations. Sheeana breeds a biological mimic that can hide from Teg's descendents and from the Face Dancer/Handlers of the Scattering. Better No-ships are invented, restoring invisibility, by having navigational abilities held within the consciousness, not on circuits. The descendents return to Murbella's universe and wrest control from the Handlers. Scytale and Duncan Idaho create more serial gholas with extraordinary abilities, they become a parallel development to the Handlers of the old universe. The Golden Path continues, more stasis and weeding followed by explosive scattering. Sheeana's dance of propitiation is converted to biological reflexive mirroring of the universe, the predators go hungry.
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