I've been thinking...

Over the past few weeks I have re-read the Legends trilogy and have reconsidered what I think of the new Dune novels.

I have slightly changed my views. I will say this: you're right that what Brian and Kevin wrote is not what Frank Herbert invisioned. Yes they lack the religious, political and environmental themes and Frank definitely did not invision a machine empire and brains in jars and an Oracle of Time called Norma Cenva. I have read fan fic on the net that do more justice to the original six.

However, we can never be sure, since there will always be the lingering question of those 'notes in the saftey deposit box'.

Yes the New Dune novels are not as good as the six written by Frank. Even though they are hard to understand and even harder to relate to the characters.

As for the question of are they your money's worth: Depends, how much money are you willing to pay to have something to read to pass the time in a train or at an airport or ina plane or anywhere else where you have time to kill? These books do in fact 'entertain me'. They are easy reads and are packed with action. I'd say about five to eight dollars... These books are more like comics without the pictures. Not something that gives you hours of contemplation after you put down the book (which is what most people expect out of a novel) which is what the original six give.

So while I say that Frank's Dune novels are better, I do not rabidly hate them and can still manage to read them without being tempted to rip the book to shreds.

Anyway, I have just got myself a copy of Sandworms of Dune. I have a feeling based on the reviews and the synopsis that this will be my least favorite book with the title: Dune. But I hope not.

As for the reasons behind my own Fanfic, they were not to contribute more to Duniverse, but for my own reasons.

This post has been edited by Nebiros on Dec 31 2007, 06:25 AM

Although I'm not a fan of your fanfic, I do think you did a better job of staying within the constraints of the universe you chose to write in than did Kevin. (And Brian, if he's really writing anything more than his name on the manuscripts. And checks.)

To me, the new Dune books are more like the fanfic of SerunaK anus: the result of an author trying to brute-force graft his own universe onto that established by Frank Herbert.

Your new position is now closer to the (more rational) one Phaedrus outlined in a comment on my blog today (or yesterday); paraphrasing: the new books are fine for mindless entertainment, but don't provoke further thought. I as yet find no need for such equanimity. ;)

Took you a while, but welcome to the real world! :D


(I don't mean that as condescending as it reads.)

My new opinion came after looking at some other Dune fanfic on the internet and I realized that I liked them more than the new Dune books and were a much better effort at attemting to portray what Frank invisioned and ALMOST reaching Frank Herbert standards in writing.

Nebiros would you tell me where you read some of the better fanfic please?

That's good, I like that. :)

I've read some Dune fanfic at Fanfiction.net. Some of it is pretty awful -- Leto/Ghanima incest crap. But there are some real gems there, too -- like a story where Alia, Chani, and Irulan decide that they've had enough of Paul's womenfolk doing the real work of running the Empire, so they grab Paul's credit cards and go on a very expensive shopping spree! :lol:

He must've finally gotten around to really reading Chanilover's fanfic.

That's good, I like that. :)

That's a ninsult to good comics everywhere! ;)

Rob

Like I said, I now think that Frank's original six Dune novels are better than the new Dune novels after reading fanfic on the net that do more justice to the original six.

There were two particular gems that I liked so much, I'm considering printing them out and putting them on my bookshelf alongside the other Dune novels.

Elixir

Dune Revenant

This post has been edited by Nebiros on Jan 2 2008, 06:50 AM

He must've finally gotten around to really reading Chanilover's fanfic.

He even starred in one of my stories - The Stranger, it was called.

Thanks for the links Nebiros.

I really liked Dune Revenant, read it about a year ago...

Mostly the vision of the future, where ghola technology is everywhere and the Ixians play a bigger part in the story. Not so sure about The Ones with many Faces, i think the author depicted them as some kind of Blob thing with...many faces.

Also liked the concept of Spice dreaming, some sort of collective Other memory,IIRC. They were a few original ideas like this, but only a hundred or so pages long,too bad...still a good read, it made me think, that is what set it apart from the new books... ;)

I started reading Dune Revenant, and am finding it... bizarre. But that's not a bad thing, because I found God Emperor of Dune really bizarre.

I'm reading Elixir and I think yes, this is how a prequel to Dune should be written.

I like it because this story is mainly about political maneuvering.

The HOUSE series are actually my favorites from BH and KJA.