the Jazz wrote:I thought the Dune series dropped off in the middle but got better somewhere in the fifth book.
i found "dune messiah" and "children of dune" to be kind of, well, boring in comparison to "dune". it was like herbert had to get through all of this plot to get to the really good part: "god emperor of dune" (book IV). "god emperor" brought back everything that was good about "dune": philosophy, ecology, intrigue, impossible love, dramatic reversals and even tragedy (and did it all coherently, as compared to the mishmash of "children"). it took me a while to warm up to "heretics", but once i was i hooked, i was hooked and "chapterhouse" was a great way to end it.
have you read the prequels? the "house" prequels i thought were ok. definitely not frank writing, but it was interesting from a plot point of view. brian herbert and kevin j. anderson apparently can't do frank's philosophy, but they showed that they had a good command and understanding of the dune universe.
the "legends" prequels on the other hand are total dretch. i got through the first one and was unimpressed. i pushed myself through the second one. i started to read the third and couldn't finish, it was so bad. their dialogue is stitled, their plots are totally predictable and their characters are cardboard cut-outs. the core of frank's "dune" series is utterly absent. it just second-rate fan-fiction.
a long time ago i heard that they uncovered frank's outlines and notes for "dune 7" and they're planning on writing it after the "battle of corrin". now, i really hope they don't.