Dune: House Harkonnen

I've taken some time to read the Kevin J. Anderson/Brian Herbert written Dune: House Harkonnen, which is the second in the prequel series. Find out what I think about the potential blasphemy of Dune prequels *grin*.

Dune: House Harkonnen author Kevin J. Anderson & Brian Herbert pages 603 publisher Bantam Books, 2000 rating 6/10 reviewer Jeff "hemos" Bates ISBN 0553110721 summary Further explores the Galaxy of Dune, prior to the well known series

I've long been a confirmed Dune addict. One of my long lasting book passions has been collecting hardcover copies of each of the original series; when I found hardcover copies, then finding 1st edition hardcover copies. So, obviously when I found out that Brian Herbert, Frank's son, and well known science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson (most noted for his Star Wars series work) were going to be doing prequels to the series, I was quite anticipatory.

If you've read Dune: House Atreides, you can imagine my chagrin. OK, some people like it (I'm looking at you, Joseph Arruda), and I understand the reasons behind it. But that book was so abysmally horrid in terms of the one-dimensional characters that I figured Dune: House Harkonnen had to be better. After all, there was no where to go but up.

A tangent: I've never been a real fan of Kevin J. Anderson's work. In terms of the Star Wars series, Timothy Zahn pretty much defined that series, IMHO. So, to be upfront, Anderson is fighting an uphill battle with me.

The meat of the book is this: It explains where Feyd comes from, talks more about his parentage, and the relationships within the Harkonnen Family, which, surprise surprise, are pretty messy. But for those who are interested in the storyline and backdrop to the entire series, there's a lot of backgrond material on how the Atreides, Harkonnen and Corrinos interrelate.

But I'm a little puzzled about why the book is entitled House Harkonnen. Granted, we get the storyline about Feyd, how Rabban gets the name "Beast"...but that's about it in the Harkonnen end of things. The other plot lines are much more interesting.

The first is continuing the development of Pardot and Liet Kynes. You found out about Liet's background, growing up, and how he becomes the new Imperial Planetologist. You get some sense of his caring for Arrakis, as well as the the continuation from the prior book to the ecological project on Arrakis. Also on Dune, you found out more about the connections between the Fremen and the Bene Gesserit.

The Caladan/Arrakis has a number of points to it, some good and some so annoying it made me want to vomit. First bad one: Prince Vernius of Ix. Yes, I like the Ix portion of the storyline, and what the nasty Bene Tleilaxu are up to. But his character, and his sister annoyed me so much that I had a hard time getting through this section. Try counting how many times Vernius says "Vermilion Hells" between this book and the former. It's astonishing. Someone should teach the prince how to curse more. Seriously, though, those two characters are some of the weakest in the entire series. The relationship between the Princess and Leto is extremely predictable and stale. The only member of the whole family that I liked, the Earl Vernius has a plotline that extends basically the length of the book...for very little return.

One of the good parts of the Atredies portion is the meeting between Jessica and Leto - that's a good foundation. The other enjoyable part is Gurney Halleck - the storyline is not "enjoyable" but it's interesting.

So, overall, mixed review. If you are a Dune fanatic, like I am, you've probably already purchased it. If you aren't a fanatic, but are interested, I'd recommend reading the original series first. If you've read and liked it, this might be worth picking up - it's a quick read, and it's fun to head back to the Realm of the Padishah Emporer. But if you thought Dune was OK, but not great - DO NOT PICK THIS UP. If you are interested though, you can grab it from ThinkGeek.