Dune: The Butlerian Jihad
The Butlerian Jihad a prequel set in the Dune universe 10,000 years before the first Dune book by Frank Herbert. Humanity has spread from Earth and exists on many planets. However, a group of 20 humans had their brains removed and placed in canisters allowing them to live indefinitely and called themselves, the Titans. Through use of computers and technology, they conquered much of humanity and enslaved many planets. However, their programming of the computers backfired on them and the computers and AI took control of everything themselves, making the Titans their henchmen. On the edge of the planets exists the League of Nobles, groups of people who have not yet fallen to the thinking machines. For over 100 years there have been no conflicts with the computers and an uneasy peace has existed. This changes, however, as the computers attack a major planet. The rest of the book details the struggles of Serena Butler, Xavier Harkonnen and others who fight the machines in several large scale battles. Vor Atredies is the son of a Titan who also gets pulled into the conflict. The story itself is pretty good, though not above average. There are several plot threads taking place at once, which are not always intertwined so it’s almost like two different stories in one. Familiar settings to readers of the books include Dune, the desert planet, Salusa Secondus, the seat of the League of Nobles and Geidi Prime. There are a lot of interesting characters and backstory to the main novels. However, there are problems with the book. The main problem I have is with the writing. The author(s) manage to describe lots of gory scenes in gruesome detail. This is not really in character with the rest of the Dune novels. Perhaps, it is just their own slant on things. What bothers me, however is that they don’t describe anything else. The giant spaceships are merely given classification titles and offer no description. Also lacking are descriptions of the machine bodies the Titans use. The most they tend to offer is “crablike,” or “bristling with weapons”. They leave a lot to the imagination, which might be okay for some. I would have preferred they described the ships and robots instead of wasting so many words on gore. Also, like in his other books, Kevin J. Anderson has a penchant for the worst similies. He uses very corny similies over and over such as, “like a golden lizard, the soldier’s armour stood out” (paraphrased). They get really annoying after a while trying to first imagine the corny picture of the first half of the simile and then applying it the image from the story. Overall, this book is probably just above mediocre. I don’t recommend it to any but the most die-hard Dune fans who really want the series to keep going. Even at that, I would recommend the Dune Encyclopedia by Dr. Willis E. McNelly, though out of print, which offers its own, different story of the Butlerian Jihad and Dune history. It’s an okay book, but nothing special.
by Kevin J. Andersen and Brian Herbert
The Butlerian Jihad a prequel set in the Dune universe 10,000 years before the first Dune book by Frank Herbert. Humanity has spread from Earth and exists on many planets. However, a group of 20 humans had their brains removed and placed in canisters allowing them to live indefinitely and called themselves, the Titans. Through use of computers and technology, they conquered much of humanity and enslaved many planets. However, their programming of the computers backfired on them and the computers and AI took control of everything themselves, making the Titans their henchmen. On the edge of the planets exists the League of Nobles, groups of people who have not yet fallen to the thinking machines. For over 100 years there have been no conflicts with the computers and an uneasy peace has existed. This changes, however, as the computers attack a major planet. The rest of the book details the struggles of Serena Butler, Xavier Harkonnen and others who fight the machines in several large scale battles. Vor Atredies is the son of a Titan who also gets pulled into the conflict. The story itself is pretty good, though not above average. There are several plot threads taking place at once, which are not always intertwined so it’s almost like two different stories in one. Familiar settings to readers of the books include Dune, the desert planet, Salusa Secondus, the seat of the League of Nobles and Geidi Prime. There are a lot of interesting characters and backstory to the main novels. However, there are problems with the book. The main problem I have is with the writing. The author(s) manage to describe lots of gory scenes in gruesome detail. This is not really in character with the rest of the Dune novels. Perhaps, it is just their own slant on things. What bothers me, however is that they don’t describe anything else. The giant spaceships are merely given classification titles and offer no description. Also lacking are descriptions of the machine bodies the Titans use. The most they tend to offer is “crablike,” or “bristling with weapons”. They leave a lot to the imagination, which might be okay for some. I would have preferred they described the ships and robots instead of wasting so many words on gore. Also, like in his other books, Kevin J. Anderson has a penchant for the worst similies. He uses very corny similies over and over such as, “like a golden lizard, the soldier’s armour stood out” (paraphrased). They get really annoying after a while trying to first imagine the corny picture of the first half of the simile and then applying it the image from the story. Overall, this book is probably just above mediocre. I don’t recommend it to any but the most die-hard Dune fans who really want the series to keep going. Even at that, I would recommend the Dune Encyclopedia by Dr. Willis E. McNelly, though out of print, which offers its own, different story of the Butlerian Jihad and Dune history. It’s an okay book, but nothing special.
posted by DCZX at
12:10 PM
