*spoilers*
Here’s my review of Hunters of Dune: http://palmer.grumpster.com/?p=810
I ordered Sandworms of Dune a few weeks ago from Amazon, thinking I ordered the paperback version for $7 but it turns out that I ordered the hardcover version. Isn’t it crazy that hardcover books drop in price so much within a year of release?
Sandworms of Dune is the final Dune novel…chronologically. Originally, the seventh Dune novel was to be written by Frank Herbert but he passed away and years later his son and Kevin J. Anderson wrote Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune to become the final books of Dune.
I was absorbed by the novel and with good reason…we were at the climax of the entire Dune series. It all comes down to this point. We have the return of the classic characters from the series, coming back in ghola (clone) form. We have the return of the thinking machines which the Dune universe was against for the entire series. We have the final battle which had a satisfying conclusion.
All in all, how did I feel about the final two books in the series?
As novels themselves, I found the characters and the storytelling to be engaging and it was quite the page-turner. As for how it fits into the Dune series…it doesn’t feel like it fits entirely, especially from some of the revelations that occurred at the end of the novel that I didn’t see coming. I now question whether some of the elements REALLY appeared in an outline for Frank Herbert’s final novel or did his son have to really go the extra mile into making a great novel worthy of being the conclusion to the series.
In the end, they did the best they could. And it turned out decent. Writing the final Dune novel after the author has passed away is like having John Lennon’s son record his final album which is based on lyrics and snippets of music lying around at the time of his death. It will never be as good as it could have been.
But it is a good ending to the series and I thoroughly enjoyed the project they undertook in fleshing out the Dune series with prequels and now they are working on novels which will bridge the gaps of the original story so it will be good to read about some old characters.
I will say this about old characters…I found it odd reading about the clones of all these characters I loved over the years and realizing that they weren’t the same. They never did resonate with me and they were merely placeholders for the final battle. A little more character development would have been appreciated on these classic characters returning!