Chapterhouse: Dune

by Frank Herbert

Chapterhouse: Dune is the sixth book in the Dune Chronicles by Frank Herbert. Having read the first five books over a period of several years, I started this one about a month ago. My expectations were not exceedingly high because I had been slightly disappointed by the 5th book, Heretic of Dune, though I somewhat liked it anyway. This book follows the exploits of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, a group of powerful women trying to save humanity from destroying itself. They are fighting against another group of women known as the Honored Matres who use their powers to enslave civilisations. Along for the ride are ghola's (clones grown from cells of the dead which retain their original memories) of Duncan Idaho and Miles Teg, the military genious. Also present is Skytale, a face dancer who's character is unfortunately left undeveloped. The book drags along for at least the first half with characters just thinking about what they are going to do, having long conversations, etc. Finally, halfway through the book it starts to get interesting and builds to a grand ending. Many of the plot points and characters are sadly left undeveloped, probably because the author had a sequel in mind before he died. One is being written, however, by his son, Brian Herbert and the famous sci-fi universe leech, Kevin J. Anderson (who has written other "liscence" books such as Star Wars). Overall, it's quite an interesting book with a lot of philosophy on government, power and humanity. Not to be taken seriously, but stimulating reading nonetheless. A decent end to Frank Herbert's Dune books by himself.