Paul of Dune by Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, and Scott Brick

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Paul of Dune
Available from Amazon
Price: $32.97
Updated on 12-28-2008.

Features

Audio CD

Publisher: Macmillan Audio; Unabridged edition (September 16, 2008)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1427204845

ISBN-13: 978-1427204844

Product Dimensions: 6 x 5.2 x 1.7 inches

Shipping Weight: 1 pounds ()

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. This epic science fiction tale fills in the time gap between Frank Herberts Dune and Dune Messiah. Told by modern-day sci-fi legends Anderson and Brian Herbert (Franks son), this story packs all the punch that the originals did and then some. Relating the life of Paul MuadDib, leader of Dune at the climax of the original novel, this novel explores the events of the MuadDib jihad that subsequently led to Pauls conquering the galaxy. Scott Brick delivers a powerful and entertaining reading reminiscent of a theatrical performance in a brilliant one-man show. Bricks voice is ideally suited to this extraordinary tale; no doubt he studied the prose of each novel to capture the dialect perfectly. This is a superb, solid reading that will appeal to fans and newcomers alike. A Tor Books hardcover. (Sept.)
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Review

“Scott Brick delivers a powerful and entertaining reading reminiscent of a theatrical performance in a brilliant one-man show. Brick’s voice is ideally suited to this extraordinary tale; no doubt he studied the prose of each novel to capture the dialect perfectly. This is a superb, solid reading that will appeal to fans and newcomers alike.” - Publishers Weekly, starred review "Brick can express emotion and characterization with such subtlety that, while you are still getting the same reader, your ears are treated to a near dramatization.... many scenes [in Paul of Dune] include both the speech and thoughts of various characters. Brick reads these sections without flaw so the listener is not confused as to what is said aloud or thoughts the character shares with no one." - SF Site

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Paul of Dune (Hardcover) Though I'm still not a fan of the writing style of the Herbert-Anderson team (more on this later), I have to say that "Paul of Dune" is by far their best effort to date in this new series of Dune novels. Here's why I say this. 1. It's longer. The leisurely pace avoids the screenplay rush of the first few books of this new series of Dune novels. 2. The plot is suitably intricate. 3. The history of Paul, Jessica and Alia as well as the fascinating Count Fenring are fleshed out in interesting detail, as are other characters such as Shaddam IV, Wensicia, and Irulan. 4. The book has an interesting dual timeline that flows well--you do come to expect the shift to the alternate story line when it occurs. This technique is not easy to do, and it makes for interesting, episodic reading. 5. The concluding four or five chapters are by far the best, but--seem as if they were written first. I got the unmistakable impression that the end was the first part of the book to be finished. Was it? I don't know. Episodic can be good--and bad. There are two timelines (young Paul, and the Jihad after Paul becomes Emperor.) But they devolve into episodes because the drive towards the culmination of events in the timeline, which would be Dune Messiah of the original series, seems hazy at best. There is a lot about the jihad, the war to unite the universe under the Fremen and Paul-Muad'Dib. There is a lot of intrigue of the minor houses alluded to by Frank Herbert and expanded well by the authors. But the episodes in this timeline ultimately do not drive powerfully to the conclusion. They just don't entirely hang together, though they are exciting in and of themselves. The new material in the life of young Paul is less satisfying--the characters are familiar names but hardly seem the same. As usual, the fleshing-out of characters is poorly handled and sketchy at best. And the conversation style is glib and contemporary, not fitting the original style. This is problematic, because we know the names of the characters, we know their motivations, but we now see a different person at almost the same point in time as in the original series. It's jarring--and disappointing. Worse yet, however, is the writing. Sad to say, even though this book is hugely improved, as were the last two or three previous (Hunters of Dune, in particular,) the writing is positively an example of what NOT to do in fiction. Silly adjectives are used in abundance. The authors don't show the reader, they tell the reader. (For example, "Her beautiful gown was spattered with blood." No, no, no. Show me why the gown is beautiful as in "The cobweb-silk lace of her wedding gown was soaked crimson in her own blood") There are sentences following others that use "he" or "him" but the previous paragraph is about someone else. You have to stop and figure out whom the author is now writing about. And the chapters are clearly written either by one author or another. (And one author is worse than the other, but I don't know which one, so don't ask.) The thoughts of the characters are flat and facile, the sentences often end in cliches or in a modern style not in keeping with the imperial formalities of the Dune Empire. The shift to the high language is jarring. If ONLY, as Kurt Vonnegut once remarked about Kilgore Trout, the brilliant but bad sci-fi writer in his novels, he could learn to write. There ARE good courses and workshops on what to do and what not to do. The Herbert-Anderson team has great ideas and concepts. If they could apply decent writing techniques, we'd have a series worthy of the original. Recommended, with reservations, but still, the finest of the new series without a doubt. ____________________ My ranking for my reviews is as follows: Five Stars: a must read or no flaws apparent to me, perfectly written, superb Four Stars: good! but has a few small thing I take issue with, either in writing style or in content Three Stars: Like a three star movie that's good for a rainy evening when nothing else is on the tv, it's readable, has content worth looking at, but the flaws in writing overshadow the overall achievement of the book. Two Stars: Read it if you like that kind of thing, but the book (or other item) is pretty terrible. One Star: Never should have seen the light of day.

Paul of Dune
List Price: $49.95
Available from Amazon
Price: $32.97
Updated on 12-28-2008.