Dune: House Atreides (Prelude to Dune) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

What makes this book so good, is the fact that it gives a much better insight in the politics of the Dune world than in Dune itself. In my opinion this books explains far better the social, political and economic structures of the Dune world than in the original Dune, making it far easier to understand the strange world Frank Herbert has thought of. Because of that, one is able to dive into this world, and when reading one is able to experience and explore this world through the eyes of the main characters. This experience is in my opinion what makes this book so great, and not so much the story.

Which does not mean that the story itself is bad, it is actually also very good, full of intriges within intriges. And it is interesting to see how everyting takes shape to create the situation one is confronted with the beginning of Dune.

Although this book was so good, that I just could not stop reading until the end, I gave it "only" 4 stars, because this book does not have a real ending. There are still many loose ends at the end of the stroy, and the ending is "optimised" in this way to create a greater intrest to buy the next book of this trilogy: "Dune: House Harkonnen". The authors did this actually very good, because I am keen to buy the other books of this trilogy...

House Atreides is not worth incurring a water debt, and you may wish to wait for the paperback if your budget is tight, but read it!

Frank Herbert built an incredible body of work with the Dune Chronicles which stands unassailed by lesser SF works, it even transcends the SF genre itself. It's almost a multidisciplinary study of a neo-feudalistic galactic civilisation so real & vivid that it's politics, economics, sociology, anthropology, religious beliefs, biology, and even climatology & ecology seems like an authoritative text.

However, more important than its epic scope is the story's heart, where we intimately follow a young Duke heir from his adult awakening to ascendancy to a galactic throne, and then swept away by immutable forces of history to leave an indelible mark which is felt for future millennia.

That was the heritage Frank left us, delicately told, comprehensively unveiled, and leaving a strangely immortal mark even years after we last read it. It almost becomes an unofficial guidepost to life, interpreted differently every time it is revisited. It explains why 30- & 40-somethings still reach for it although they read it last in junior high.

HA, on the other hand, is drivel written obviously for the best-seller market. The subtle & delicate trademark literary style of Frank Herbert is summarily bludgeoned as the authors went for in-your-face, no-brainer pulp writing. The multi-faceted characters, some of which we know & cherish so well like old friends, now become cartoonish, one-dimensional & almost laughable. The fine balance of galactic feudal politics, economics, religious zealotism & social engineering is replaced by a poorly & pretentiously cloaked good-versus-evil moral theme, peppered by shallow & irritatingly obvious issues.

In short, it was a painful experience.

If you truly thirst for more about the background of the Dune universe & its characters, I strongly recommend scouring the Internet for a copy of The Dune Encyclopedia (compiled by Willis E. McNelly). This awesome effort actually outshines Frank himself in some portions - from the incredible rendering of melange's chemical structure to a chronology of human civilisation, revealing a 24,000-year gap between our 20th century civilisation & Dune's neo-feudalist era. Even the actual placing of the planetary cradle of humanity (Earth, duh ...) is a hotly debated subject in the Encyclopedia! Of course, it has Frank's blessings in the foreword.

Avoid HA (and I suspect, the other books to come) at all costs. It's not worth the effort. I'd rather read the originals all over again, and soak up its familiarity & sheer storytelling class.

"Polish comes from the city, wisdom from the desert." - Fremen adage