Hunters of Dune (Dune 7 #1) ★★★☆½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Hunters of Dune
Series: Dune 7 #1
Author: Brian Herbert & Kevin Anderson
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 644
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Duncan Idaho, Sheena and others escape in the noship Ithaca. They journey in another universe altogether for years before coming back to ours. Once back they have multiple run ins with the Old Couple, who are revealed to be Erasmus and Omnius, who are in control of the new Face Dancers and for some reason need a kwisatz haderach of their own to “win” Krazilec. Sheena ends up recovering lots of genetic secrets from their resident Tleixu master, Scytale. She ends up resurrecting many of the Atreides and their retainers “because”. Duncan wants to keep on the move to avoid the Old Couple while other Bene Gesserits on board want to find a planet to settle down on to restart the Bene Gesserit Order without the “impurity” of the Honored Matres that Murbella introduced.

Meanwhile, Murbella has forced her New Sisterhood down the throats of the Bene Gesserit and Honored Matres. Not all Honored Matres submit though and Murbella must subjugate them so as to show a united front for when the Unknown Enemy makes it appearance. She also must contend with the Spacing Guild and Ix and the tech world of Richese. She begins pouring the New Sisterhood's spice reserves into Richese to build a fleet unlike anything the Old Empire has ever seen.

Khrone, the leader of the New Face Dancers, while under the control of the Old Couple, has plans of his own for the Face Dancer Myriad. Using the last Lost Master of the Tliexu, Krone raises a ghola of the old Baron Harkonnen and one of Paul Atreides.

This book ends with the forces of Omnius beginning the invasion of the Old Empire.

My Thoughts:

Ok, this is my 3^rd time reading this. What struck me the most was how busy this was while taking 20 years. A lot of hurry up and wait. The second thing that struck me was this book did not fit in with the previous 2 by Frank Herbert. If you hadn't read the Legends and Houses of Dune trilogies by Herbert&Anderson, much of this is inexplicable and makes no sense. Frank Herbert wouldn't have written a book like this. I can see the bare bone ideas that Frank might have used but some of the specifics, not at all. The third issue I had was that in the previous 2 books the Honored Matres were presented as this completely overwhelming force but here they fall before Murbella and the New Sisterhood like a row of dominoes. It didn't scan.

I found that as long as I didn't stop to think too hard about things, I had a better time with this. It's nice to get the final story of Dune but really, it feels as much a sellout as a dedication to a great series. I wasn't sure if how this would turn out after my 2 other times, but it was still decent. Now though, no more re-reads of this. I've still got Sandworms of Dune to finish this duology, but once I'm done with that, I'll stick to just re-reading Dune every decade or so.

I would recommend this for a hardcore Dune completionist and that's about it. If you made it through Heretics and Chapterhouse, then I don't see that kind of person having a hard time with this. They might not like it a lot, but it will scratch the itch of wondering where Frank might have taken us. Consider this authorized Dune fan fiction and you'll have a good grasp of the style and skill.

★★★☆½

• Hunters of Dune (2007 Review)
• Hunters of Dune (2012 Review)
• Reviews of The Dune Chronicles