Winds of Dune- Review Thread

[Mahdi]

Turns out we never had one of these.  Odd that.  There was another thread - several months old - asking who bought it, but I decided to create a new on instead of bumping it.

I've finally broke down (Re:  finished all the books I received for Christmas) and ordered Winds of Dune from my local library.  I will be picking it up this evening.

A little over a year ago I wrote that if Winds of Dune was anything at all like Paul of Dune was it would be the last novel I would read in the series.  It pained me to write that then, and it pains me to write it again now, but it is the truth.  There is no point continuously subjecting yourself to something you hate, unless you are either a masochist or Sandchigger.

So here's hoping for something not irritating beyond measure.

[athanasios]

There is no point continuously subjecting yourself to something you hate, unless you are either a masochist or Sandchigger.

:O

[Mahdi]

Because of how much time he spends on the new Dune despite his hatred for it.

[MrFlibble]

A little over a year ago I wrote that if Winds of Dune was anything at all like Paul of Dune was it would be the last novel I would read in the series.  It pained me to write that then, and it pains me to write it again now, but it is the truth.

I find it sad that you take this so seriously. House Harkonnen was the only non-FH Dune book I read whole (I also read bits from the other two House books, skimmed through the Caladan seas short story (that one was hideous!), read the first chapter of the first Legends book, the preview chapter from Hunters, and Chig's reviews of both Paul and Winds), and did not have any qualms about not reading anything else written by the duo. In fact, I'm somewhat grateful that they stopped pretending they're continuing the legacy (as they did in the House series) and now openly write whatever they like in their own universe, not distorted by "Irulan's propaganda". This pretty much justifies a complete dismissal of their books and anything they might write in the future.

[Mahdi]

My problem is I had never completly given up hope.  Despite all the evidence to the contrary I was still hoping for something at least semi-entertaining, which the earlier new books did achieve.  Not quality, but bland and OK at times.  It was only with Dune 7 that I was really disgusted and, with Paul of Dune, insulted.

[SandChigger]

I will be picking it up this evening.

And, have you started it yet? ;D

So here's hoping for something not irritating beyond measure.

Oh you POOR HOPELESSLY OPTIMISTIC THING YOU! :D

(One slight correction, my Good Flibble! I've done a review of PoD, but not yet one of WoD. I've also done a chapter-by-chapter synopsis of PoD and finished Parts I & II of the WoD one. (I've read the whole book last fall, but got bored before I finished the synopsis and did a review. I plan to fill out all of that part of HToD before summer, tho!)

[MrFlibble]

(One slight correction, my Good Flibble! I've done a review of PoD, but not yet one of WoD. I've also done a chapter-by-chapter synopsis of PoD and finished Parts I & II of the WoD one. (I've read the whole book last fall, but got bored before I finished the synopsis and did a review. I plan to fill out all of that part of HToD before summer, tho!)

Right, sorry, I meant the synopses of course! :)

[ErasOmnius]

Sadly, Winds of Dune is a sad piece of work.

It skips around time periods so many times, a reader can barely keep up with it.

The Traveling Cirque De Soleil Jongleur group that Paul and Bronso join is a horrible plot-line. Kevin adding the tripe about Paul and Rhombur saving the life of the cougar Governor in the Hall of Shards is almost laughable.

Plus, why would Kevin pick a new Fremen name for Caladan that sounds like something off of the menu from Chili's?

Compare Kevin's Winds' to the conversation between Jessica and Chani in Dune. That conversation is real writing.

:-

[SandChigger]

Glad you agree. Winds achieves an amazing new low in that it both blows and sucks at the same time.

I really wish someone would ask KJA outright where they got the name "Chisra Sala Muad'Dib". I would email him myself, but I figure the SOB would just ignore me. It's definitely not Arabic, which you would assume it would be if it's really the "language of the desert".

(KJA has a friend on Facebook named Chris M. Salas, FWIW. ;) )

[ErasOmnius]

Glad you agree. Winds achieves an amazing new low in that it both blows and sucks at the same time.

I really wish someone would ask KJA outright where they got the name "Chisra Sala Muad'Dib". I would email him myself, but I figure the SOB would just ignore me. It's definitely not Arabic, which you would assume it would be if it's really the "language of the desert".

(KJA has a friend on Facebook named Chris M. Salas, FWIW. ;) )

"Kevin, put me in your 'Winds' book...Kevin, put me in your 'Winds' book...Please, please...Name a planet after me..." And so Kevin decides to rename Caladan... What next?    :-X

[athanasios]

I really wish someone would ask KJA outright where they got the name "Chisra Sala Muad'Dib".

GOOGLE can be your friend and stop making yourself a fool like you did in facebook.

The names chosen DO have a meaning and are VERY suitable:

Chisra (Caere for Latin Agylla for the Greeks) is the Etruscan name given in the past to the present town of Cerveteri' date=' a town in the province of Rome in Lazio in Italy.

[Edit'] History

In the Etruscan Chisra was one of the twelve Etruscan cities in the united dod

[SandChigger]

My, my! Anyone else hearing Warren Zevon singing "Excitable Boy"? ;D

That's all very fascinating, but what has any of it to do with Dune? Or even McDune?

"Because Caladan is sacred as the childhood home of Muad'Dib, its name must reflect its importance. People from ancient times named this planet Caladan, but such a name no longer has sufficient relevance. Just as Arrakis is now called Dune by the faithful, so Caladan has been renamed Chisra Sala Muad'Dib, which, in the language of the desert, means the Glorious Origin of Muad'Dib. Korba has hereby decreed that all future maps of the Imperium shall reflect this change. Henceforth, your people shall be honored to use the new name in all of your writings and conversations."

Are you saying now, athanasios, that Etruscan is the "language of the desert" referred to in Winds? Or is it Italian? Or Greek? Ah, yes, that must be it! I'd completely forgotten that the Fremen were Greeks, too!

If you don't understand the argument, dear, it's best to keep your little mouth shut. :)

ErasOmnius, I don't think it was so much a case of someone begging to have their name put into a book (although I understand that that is one of the possible perks KJA originally promised members on his "Special Forces" site) as KJA deciding to wedgie someone in as a kind of cutesy joke or homage. After all, Frank Herbert snuck in references to his friends, like Jack Vance and Vance's wife Norma. So now that KJA owns Dune, why shouldn't he be able to do the same, right?! ;)

[Dante]

Didn't Caladan eventually become Dan in the same way that Arrakis became Rakis? I'm not sure, I might have made that up in a fevered dream. In any case, we're more likely to find someone called Dan than Rakis. Maybe FH made a new friend aroundabout the time he started planning Heretics? :P

[MrFlibble]

Are you saying now, athanasios, that Etruscan is the "language of the desert" referred to in Winds? Or is it Italian? Or Greek? Ah, yes, that must be it! I'd completely forgotten that the Fremen were Greeks, too!

Anatoly Fomenko immediately springs to my mind, for he once stated that Latin is actually a mixture of Italian and Greek, and Hebrew is nothing else than Greek written in Egyptian hieroglyphs ;D

[SandChigger]

And Modern Greek is really a dialect of Turkish. LOL

Yes, we've discussed Prof. Fomenko briefly over on Jacurutu. I love wingnuts, don't you? :D

(Dante, Caladan was only briefly known as Dan before it came to be generally referred to as Wanda. No one quite knows why, but there is speculation about a meta-level pre-Theresa fling. ;) )

MAHDI!!! How is the book coming?!

[Mahdi]

Only a hundred pages into it - been too busy to read much.  So far it's just... empty.  Vacant.  The blonde So-Cal airhead of literature.  I really dislike the constant references to their own works though.  It's perpetual self-gratification and justification.  I haven't got to anything as blatantly offensive as, well, all of Paul of Dune yet. 

[SandChigger]

OK, you've just finished Part I.

The REALLY offensive stuff is yet to come. ;)

[ErasOmnius]

Wait for it...Wait for it...

There it is. The chapter about the Theater of Shards.

<SPOILER>

Rhombur Vernius says, "Is Paul safe?"

The entire history of makind is altered!!

[SandChigger]

LOL. Who knew, you DO have a sense of humor! :D

[Mahdi]

I'm just about to enter part 2.  My biggest pet peeve in part 1:

I am sick to death of small universe syndrome.  NOT EVERYONE IN A NOVEL/MOVIE/TV SHOW HAD TO HAVE KNOWN EACH OTHER AT A PAST POINT IN THEIR LIVES.  IT IS OK FOR PEOPLE TO MEET FOR THE FIRST TIME OR (GASP) HAVE NO CONNECTION TO EACH OTHER WHATSOEVER.

Yes, I am referring to Bronso being a bosom pal of Paul and heir to house Vernius on a quest of honour instead of a regular old historian in a prison cell.

[Mahdi]

OK, I'm outside on my hammock reading and... GUILT-CASTERS?!  What the hell?

[Mahdi]

Oy, and now they've ran away and joined a circus.  Horrible, stupid, and very un- dune like, but not as insulting as Paul of Dune yet.

[Mahdi]

Ok, now I'm starting to really dislike this.  Jessica saying that Paul could do the things he did because he kearned mass hypnosis from jongeleurs?  Bah.

I apologize for the multiple posts - the mobile version of the forum does not have an edit function and I am posting these snippets from my blackberry as I read.

[Andrew]

The only group I know of that might have kept some of their heritage was the Jews on the no ship in Heretics or chapterhouse. Or something. I just remember jews talking about their past and how they kept some of it.

So it sounds like these books are trainwrecks, having to reference to books previously written.

Question: would it be better if you didn't read the previous books, so that when they reference to previous books, you would think "cool" instead of "lame, referencing back to exact info found in previous books".  Leaving more to the imagination instead of the authors holding your hands while putting the puzzle together?

[Mahdi]

Good call on the Jews Andrew.

The worse part of this self-referential habit isn't the references to past books - it's the references to future books.  I remember reading Hunters and Sandworms and thinking they were nothing but ads for the next book series - and I was right.