Kevin J. Anderson

I've never quite understood the general venom of those who loathe Brian Herbert's series of books celebrating and expanding the Dune universe that his father created. That said, no, none of these books rise to the level of Dune. Neither do some of Frank's sequels rise to that level too.

That out of the way, this is a middling adventure novel, purporting to be about the history of the early days of the Bene Jesserit some 80-90 years after the Machine Wars. It is and it isn't. Most of the book's focus is on the ongoing reactions to the end of the Machine Wars and near-religious efforts to crush technology out of the fabric of the Imperium completely.

It's entertaining enough for what it is. There's nothing very profound here but that's OK as the plot moves along on several threads leading to a somewhat satisfying, if unsurprising ending.

For anyone wondering, the HBO show Dune: Prophecy credits Sisterhood of Dune as its basis but the book shares very little with the show with respect to plot. In fact the book is more or less a prequel to the show and a partial (but only a partial) origin story for the Bene Jesserit's.

Recommended for those who remain fans of the long series of books, shows and movies surrounding Frank Herbert's original efforts.… (more)

I couldn't get past the third book of Frank Herbert's original series as it got bogged down in hippy mysticism and dated '60s drug culture references. Thankfully with these new books his son, along with Kevin Anderson, have reinvigorated it into a grand space opera with strong believable characters and a narrative style that never lags. Yes the spiritual mumbo-jumbo and LSD-like trips still loom large (they are an integral part of the whole mythos after all) but the authors keep the sermons to a tolerable minimum while at the same time weaving serpentine plots and subplots which span the whole galaxy. A great read!… (more)