A Brief Review of Dune: The Butlerian Jihad

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This is a prequel to all the Dune books. Once again Brian Herbert teams up with Kevin J. Anderson to give us another look at the "Dune Universe" originally created by Frank Herbert.

If you enjoyed the House Atriedes/Harkonnen/Corrino then this is a book which you have probably been anticipating. Unfortunately the Herbert/Anerson writing team falls far short of expectations this time. To steal a line from Neil Young, "it starts out kinda slow and then fizzles out altogether". This book had the potential to explain so much and yet falls short. It does explain how the Butlerian Jihad got its name and how it began. It also introduces both the Harkonnen and Atriedes lines. We are also show the development of the spice trade and introduced to Tio Holtzmann, whose inventions are the underpinning for the technology seen in all the (timeline wise) later books.

Yes there are plot twists and the introduction of new characters. The problem though is that it is hard to care about these characters and many of the plot twists leave you asking "so what" or shaking your head at how unbelievable is the development. This book has an open ending. You almost expect an ad at the end of the book for "The Prequel Part 2". A much better job would have been done if the storyline had been simplified and more character development had occured. Instead we have too many ill defined storylines and characters with the end result being that you don't really care about any of it.

There are some nice passages in the book. Several of the developments were interesting and original but were not fully developed. This book isn't horrible. The problem is that so much of it's potential is wasted. What could have been a great book in the end is just a wasted opportunity. Unlike most of the Dune books this is not one which I will reread.