In the run-up to the HBO/MAX six part series which starts on November 17, Dune: Prophecy, I decided to read the novel the TV series is based on: Sisterhood of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. Sisterhood of Dune takes place 10,000 years before the events of Dune. That’s quite a prequel!
Sisterhood of Dune (2011) is basically an origin story about the Bene Gesserit, an organization of women who develop into a powerful force in the Dune series future. But at this time, the Bene Gesserit faces challenges that may end in their destruction.
“Frank Herbert died in 1986. Beginning in 1999, his son Brian Herbert and science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson published several collections of prequel novels, as well as two sequels that complete the original Dune series (Hunters of Dune in 2006 and Sandworms of Dune in 2007), partially based on Frank Herbert’s notes discovered a decade after his death. As of 2024, 23 Dune books by Herbert and Anderson have been published.” (Wikipedia)
Frank Herbert had a unique writing style that Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson make no attempt at emulating. The team has their own style that includes plenty of detail and subplots. If you’re a fan of Dune you’ll enjoy Sisterhood of Dune. I’m looking forward to watching Dune: Prophecy a few days from now. GRADE: B+
I’m a big fan of DUNE, but I bailed out of the series after slogging through CHILDREN OF DUNE and GOD-EMPEROR OF DUNE. I suppose I should give it another try, but so many other books to read and so little time.
Fred, my DUNE experience parallels yours. The later books in Herbert’s series were long…and boring. Many DUNE fans are hostile to the Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson DUNE books.
Zero interest in any prequel. Or the series.
Jeff, so far, the reviews of DUNE:PROPHESY have been good. I’ll have my review on the blog Tuesday.
The NYT did not love it.
Jeff, I’ll weigh in on DUNE: PROPHECY next week.
Loved DUNE but could nor get through its sequels. Herbert was a good and capable writer but oh so ponderous.
Have not read any of the Brian Herbert-Kevin Anderson books because I cannot lose that sneaky feeling that each should have been titled THE *KA-CHING!* OF DUNE.
Jerry, I have to give Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson credit for doing their homework and staying close to the world Frank Herbert created. The recent movies and now this TV series should put some money in their pockets.
I read “Dune” in high school and at the time thought it was a good book for high school boys. Mass market paperback box sets were the hot new marketing thing at the time so I bought both the Hobbit / Lord of the Rings set and the Dune set at the time. Then a classmate from high school mentioned that Paul turns into a giant worm by the end of the trilogy so I gave away the box set having not even bothered reading the other two two books and have never looked back. I’m glad that you enjoyed this and hope you enjoy the show as well. I think the clock is ticking for big budget science fiction shows like this as all the streamers are tightening their belts.
Do you remember the Dune calenar from the late seventies? I had that too.
https://dangerousminds.net/comments/rare_frank_herbert_dune_calendar_from_1978_works_for_2017
Byron, I totally agree with you. When Paul turns into a giant worm, I checked out of the Frank Herbert DUNE series. But, years later, I started buying the Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson DUNE books. Now I’m finally getting around to reading them.
I bogged down in the first DUNE novel in book form, and my father had slogged through MESSIAH and CHILDREN OF and gave up at that point…he’d bought them in the pre-boxed trilogy days…so I had little interest in doing the same. When, later on, I read Algis Budrys’s review of the first novel, where he notes that even a prophet might be somewhat attentive to what’s happening to his son, I thought, yeah, and that’s not the only problem.
Chilton Books was around the corner from TV GUIDE’s last Radnor offices, and at one point I believe Chilton folks shared our credit union with us. Sterling Lanier, author of the ungreat Brigadier Ffellowes stories for F&SF, was the Chilton editor who brought DUNE to them when no other commercial publisher was game, and as a result, was able to get a small line of fantastica going for several years…they published his HIERO’S JOURNEY, Robert Silverberg’s amusing anthology INFINITE JESTS (which my father picked up as a remainder ca. 1974, long before I was in the job market. I don’t know if Chilton was as focused in the ’60s on auto-repair manuals as it would be later on, but I imagine Lanier enjoyed the sideline for as long as it lasted.
Enjoy the tv series, if possible! I thought the Lynch-directed (first release cut) was a decent comic book on film, and that’s about it…haven’t gone back to any further a/v from the Herbert/post-Herbert work.
Todd, I’m a big fan of HIERO’S JOURNEY! I recommend the two-part DUNE movie directed and co-produced by Denis Villeneuve, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jon Spaihts, and Eric Roth.