Paul of Dune review

[Andrew]

I think the fairest thing to say is that if you are a fan of the series (regardless of who wrote what bit) then you

[MrFlibble]

One thing has caught my eye

This approach also gives the reader a sneaky look at Paul

[Andrew]

Yah, that's kinda funny because I don't remember any space battles until Heretics of Dune. Which was like 10,000 years in the future.

[MrFlibble]

Perhaps Kevin forgot he wasn't writing another Star Wars novel? ::)

[DragoFire]

One thing has caught my eyeEpic space battles? Didn't the Guild kinda prohibit any kind of that thing? ???

I thought it prohibited ship to ship battles within space near Guild ships. This would mean any ships in space where no Guild ships are present have full rights to engage in combat.

[MrFlibble]

Isn't it that the only space ships other than Guild Heighliners are frigates/other types of transport and orbital satellites like weather control? I can't remember anything like an Imperial Star Destroyer in Duniverse...

[Anathema]

I recall the appendix mentioned frigates wich destroy surface targets by dropping on them and such, but that's of quite a different order.

I seriously don't see how space battles of any kind fit into the pre-Heretics Duniverse. For one thing, frigates are shielded (Jessica said as much in Dune) so that pretty much makes it impossible except maybe boarding actions.

[MrFlibble]

I recall the appendix mentioned frigates wich destroy surface targets by dropping on them and such, but that's of quite a different order.

Don't you perchance mean dump boxes? Because I only recall special military transport craft that would ferry troops from Heighliners to surface and back (forgot what they were called).

[SandChigger]

Paul of Dune?

Try "Pail of Dung".

It's shit, pure and simple.

Seven parts, four "Emperor Muad'Dib" sections set in the "present" during the Fremen Jihad, separated by three "Young Paul" ones set four years before the events in <i>Dune</i> when Paul is 12.

The Emperor sections feature a Paul I don't recognize from either <i>Dune</i> or <i>Dune Messiah</i>; the "Young Paul" sections are a continuation of <i>House Corrino</i>, featuring the same made-up characters that made the House books SO fricking memorable.

Awful, awful, awful.

Margot Lady Fenring has a daughter named Marie (remember the daughter fathered by Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen?) whom she and hubby Count Fenring raise into an Emperor-targeted killing machine. She gets to meet and kill the Failed Twisted Bene Tleilaxu Kwisatz Haderach Thallo (remember him?).

And it just gets better!

And yes, in case you're wondering, they DO mention the Muadru. Twice, in fact.

A VERITABLE SHITFEST OF INCOMPATIBLE ELEMENTS AND INCONSISTENCIES!

If you're the sort of vacuous, semi-literate, near-braindead dolt who has enjoyed the other books by the Hacks Twain to date...well then, I see no reason to suspect you won't enjoy, love, CREAM YOURSELF REPEATEDLY over this one as well.

Depth has not just taken a holiday, it has died and been buried under a mound of concrete.

(Or a tacky, tasteless stone pyramid...like they build over Duke Leto's bones?)

[MrFlibble]

Margot Lady Fenring has a daughter named Marie (remember the daughter fathered by Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen?) whom she and hubby Count Fenring raise into an Emperor-targeted killing machine. She gets to meet and kill the Failed Twisted Bene Tleilaxu Kwisatz Haderach Thallo (remember him?).

Didn't Scytale imply that the Tleilaxu KH kinda killed himself? ??? Or is it another one out there?

And yes, in case you're wondering, they DO mention the Muadru. Twice, in fact.

Muadru? Is it something like Naaru?

[SandChigger]

Didn't Scytale imply that the Tleilaxu KH kinda killed himself? ??? Or is it another one out there?

Yes, he did. And no, it's supposedly the same one.

YET ANOTHER STUPID UNNECESSARY INCONSISTENCY that they will no doubt retcon in some future book.

Muadru? Is it something like Naaru?

Probably not. :D

The Muadru are some lost race they introduced in the Legends books. They hint in PoD that it may have been the Muadru that brought the sandtrout to Arrakis, and make Paul say that there is some connection between the Muadru and his Fremen name, Muad'Dib. (Which some of us have suspected was a direction they were headed in for over a year now.)

I just wish the two hacks would leave Dune alone and concentrate on their own smelly shit. >:(

[MrFlibble]

YET ANOTHER STUPID UNNECESSARY INCONSISTENCY that they will no doubt retcon in some future book.

There are so many of them I slowly begin to suspect they're really doing it on purpose :( ???

[SandChigger]

You do hafta wonder sometimes, don't you?

My pet conspiracy theory is that Brian is not really the dingbat he comes across as, that he is an evil genius who hated his father and who has recruited science-fiction's greatest hack to destroy the old man's legacy. At some point in the (near?) future, the books will stop selling and Brian will turn on Kevin and say that it was all his doing, that Brian really had no part in creating these awful books.

He'll be hated for a spineless wimp, but not as much as Kevin for being...well...Kevin. ;D

[MrFlibble]

Whatever their real motivation, the realization is simply sloppy. How hard could it be to read everything Frank wrote and keep consistent with it? Dune ain't no cheap sci-fi fast-food where out-of-the-blue retcons are appropriate >:(

[SandChigger]

Yep. Especially when Brian supposedly spent (what was it, six months or a whole year? I forget at the moment) a LOT of time creating a concordance of his father's six Dune books which he and Kevin supposedly refer to when writing.

One can only assume, from the mistakes/changes they have made, that he did a truly shiteful job of it.

There's a guy usernamed Ampoliros over on Jacurutu who recently pointed out that Kevin really writes ONLY for the current scene. What's happening NOW is all important, everything that has been written before takes a backseat.

I hadn't really clicked to that before, but when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. (And not only in his Dune books.)

* * * * *

By the way, from the little discussion it is causing, I guess it's safe to say that the publication of this new "Heroes of Dune" book is pretty much a non-event around here, right?

(Not complaining, mind you. I'll be overjoyed when they have to stop writing and these books are consigned to the obscurity they deserve! :D )

[Mahdi]

The other day I was thinking, while Dune and Dune Messiah are still my two favourite books, if anyone asks me what my favourite series is, I can't say Dune anymore.  Even with the House Trilogy, as bad as it was, I could say "Dune, you know, the old ones" but now that Brian and Kevin have written more Dune novels than Frank Herbert... the series sucks.  Frank may have originated it, but it isn't his anymore.  It belongs to these guys.  They have put more time, effort, words, pages, and books into warping this universe into something they themselves can be proud of and call their own than Frank ever did creating it.  Dune is theirs.

Dune and Dune Messiah are still my favourite books.  But Dune the series?  Not even close.  Now I say Collen McCullough's Masters of Rome.

[MrFlibble]

Wow, this is a pretty pessimistic view, Mahdi. I usually resort to a mind-bending trick, thinking of FH's Dune books and all the schmequels as of two completely separate, unrelated series.

[SandChigger]

But really, that's just letting them off the hook, saying their vision is simply an alternate interpretation, and a valid one, of FH's work.

It's the same namby-pamby "alternate universe" PC bullshit that board-killing bint, what's-her-name, flogs whenever and wherever she can.

Don't give in to it, Fibble! Fight it! ;)

[MrFlibble]

Somehow I don't think saying "Brian and Kevin ruined the whole Dune series" will help "defeat" them. because no matter what low-quality mediocre stuff they write, it actually doesn't affect the original books anyhow. Unless, of course, they rewrite them to incorporate their own stuff and make it 100% legitimate (God forbid!) :O But even then, the old copies will still be out there.

[SandChigger]

That's true in one sense, but compare the difference in perspective between people who encountered the series through the narrow gate of the six originals and those who entered through the wide and hellbent highway of the new books.

There really IS a difference.

And the truly pernicious thing about the new books is the way their details alter the perceptions of even the first group, us old fans.

(And, yeah, I seriously wouldn't put it past them at some point to try to "correct" FH's works. Hell, they're already declaring them erroneous by design [irulan's meddling] and claiming that their new version is the real one.)

[SandChigger]

Is no one else reading this simply amazing pile of dung that is <i>Paul of Dune</i>? :P

[Pawe]

Is no one else reading this simply amazing pile of dung that is <i>Paul of Dune</i>? :P

I do not really wish to tell how I got my hands on it, nor *why* did I. But to put it straight and simple... it's quite bad. I mean, I do enjoy WH40k books when I want some simple and light reading with epic moments. It's not high-brow literature for sure... but when I start reading this one, I felt only one question materialising itself in my cranium. Why? It's like someone grabbed an idea, twisted it to his evil means and then gave it life in a book form. Why?

[SandChigger]

You know, I really don't object to people reading low-brow stuff for a bit of non-mentally-taxing escapism or relaxation. Hell, I read manga and watch anim

[MrFlibble]

And the truly pernicious thing about the new books is the way their details alter the perceptions of even the first group, us old fans.

Well, that's one of the main reasons I don't read 'em at all. Saves time, money and keeps your head free from those peculiar "explanations" and "interpretations" (as if they were really called for!).

(And, yeah, I seriously wouldn't put it past them at some point to try to "correct" FH's works. Hell, they're already declaring them erroneous by design [irulan's meddling] and claiming that their new version is the real one.)

Could you expand on this please? They're saying the original books are wrong/incorrect? Can you point the source? Heh, they're getting even more audacious as time passes.

[SandChigger]

They haven't come right out and said the original books are wrong yet. (KJA has mentioned Frank's inconsistencies and mathematical errors