Disappointments in literature

Frank Herbert's DUNE is one of my favorite books. Yes, there is some crazy stuff in there, but when you combine it with the next two books, it becomes more and more brilliant. Personally, I enjoy all of the first six books in the series, and don't have the distaste that some DUNE fans do for 4, 5, and 6.

I'll even say about some of the new series that Frank Herbert's son Brian, and Kevin J. Anderson, that it wasn't bad. The "House" prequels and the Butlerian sequence weren't bad. They weren't Dune and they messed around with some of the mythos, but they were not bad, if read as adventure novels set in the Dune universe, not Dune books.

The latest series, Sandworms of Dune and Hunters of Dune? I'm sorry Mr. Herbert and Mr. Anderson, but I think they are rubbish. Now, I admit that I haven't finished Hunters yet, so maybe I'm judging too early, but, is this really what Frank Herbert intended? I'd pay good money to get a released, unedited copy of *his* notes for Dune 7 to find out how much of this you've invented to use characters from your other books, and what exactly his ideas for the Enemy and the Face Dancers, Futars, and most importantly to me, Idaho, Bashar Teg and the No Ship crew were. The only part that I can see that would have come from FH is the explanation of the Honored Matres, that sounds FH. The rest of it, with Omnius? Erk. The Teg/Idaho/Teg parts of Heretics and Chapterhouse were my favorite, and you've failed to recapture that in Sandworms and Hunters. And what's up with Murbella? She's so far from Odrade or Jessica that I have no idea how she would possibly hold this merged organization together, because she's one dimensional and transparent.

Sigh. I got that off my chest. I feel better now. I can't wait to finish this book so I can find out how you tie the Overmind into the Golden Path.