Han Solo's Revenge

by Brian Daley

Han Solo and Chewbacca’s adventures are equally if not more thrilling in this prequel to the movies. The three books in this series also preceded the present state of commercial exploitation the Star Wars movies are in. They came out before Return of the Jedi. At any rate, this is a very fun book that shows the characters of Han Solo and Chewbacca, along with a couple droids flying around in the Falcon, doing cargo runs and things that they are legendary for. It takes place in the corporate sector, a commercial area that is in somewhat of its own jurisdiction, apart from the Empire though also corrupt. The plot revolves around a cargo run gone awry when they find out that the cargo was a batch of slaves. The employers try to take control of the falcon but somehow they escape and release the slaves only to find themselves wrapped up in an investigation of the slavers with some important beings. The writing style is excellent and the pace is steady, with plenty of action, interesting characters, plot twists and technology to satiate any Star Wars or sci-fi fan. Read _Han Solo at Star’s End_ first though.

Dune: The Butlerian Jihad

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.

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.