CHAPTERHOUSE DUNE by Frank Herbert

Narrated by Simon Vance (main text), Scott Brick, Katherine Kellgrin, Ewan Morton

…..Bucket list complete

Back in the day I read the original DUNE and then followed with DUNE MESSIAH and CHILDREN OF DUNE, but then I stopped because I didn’t like the direction the series was going. Over the intervening years I kept hearing high praise for the rest of the series. I just wasn’t motivated enough to undertake reading all six books. But now that they are available on Audio I thought I would give it a try. After all I had been richly rewarded in a similar situation involving the works of Neal Stephenson. (I had avoided The Baroque Cycle after loving Snowcrash but disliking The Diamond Age) So, in the case of the Dune novels I felt compelled to check off this nagging omission from my bucket list. I was hopefully expecting a buried treasure. Sadly, my original estimation was confirmed. The original DUNE is wonderful and inventive, fresh and new. The balance of the Dune novels are slow plodding—focused too much on fanciful, imagined philosophy. The second book, DUNE MESSIAH, reads like an outline—just advancing the plot so the third, CHILDREN OF DUNE can be told. This third book has some mildly interesting characters and promises a Space Opera scale expansion of the story for the remaining novels. The fourth, GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE, documents the tyrannical reign of human-turned-worm Leto II but does not make good use of the vast scale of a multiple-planet empire. The creepy giant larvae-like emperor, and his entire dialog, seems less then majestic or oppressive, as later recollections will portray his reign. The idea is there but the execution is lacking. The next, HERETICS OF DUNE, advances the plot but leaves much to be desired when it comes to holding my interest; which it could have done with more interesting people or with witty dialog (Again the reader is referred to The Baroque Cycle). And this last novel is no improvement. Mercifully, Frank Herbert ended his series with CHAPTERHOUSE DUNE. This last novel has the same feel as the previous two books. I did not like it. And unless someone can convince me that the other Dune books, written by Frank Herbert’s son are of a completely different quality, my exploration of Dune is at an end.

As a public service I can say that if you enjoy exploring the outlining of a future society based on treachery and long range planning—but without fleshing out the characters or establishing an engaging storyline, then the last five Dune novels may be for you. My chief complaint is that the new characters which necessarily populate the later novels are just not very interesting. I was never made to care about them and so had a hard time following their concerns.

I sympathize with the plight of the narrators. The dissertation-like nature of the text as a sociological treatise demands  a slow monotone reading, and the narrators faithfully comply.