[Dragaera] Reading series

[Margaret Young]

If you have a chance read _The Spice Planet_ in the _Road to Dune_  the
"original" Dune story written by Brian Herbert and Keven J. Anderson
from notes left by  Frank. Leave aside the difference in the writing
styles between B/Anderson and Frank — there is a magic missing in this
novella -- the magic that swept me away when first I read Dune. 

Also, do a carefully rereading of _Dune, _Dune Messiah_ and _Children
of Dune_ withou any break from one to the next. The clash between the
first book and the later books is quite noticeable. There seemed to be a
promise in the first that was never achieved again in the series.

Margaret

>>> Jon Lincicum <lincicum at comcast.net> 1/20/2009 5:47:34 PM >>>
David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
> On Mon, January 19, 2009 15:26, Jeffrey Kiok wrote:
>   
>> Being a rabid Dune fan myself, I feel a bit compelled to interject.
>>
>> While I agree, Maraget, that Brust has much better continuity than
the
>> Herberts, I do think, in fairness to Frank Herbert, it should be
>> pointed out that there are two Herberts you're talking about, and I
>> think many a Dune fan rates the one far higher than the other.
>>
>> I think (thought) that Frank Herbert's sixth book ended the series
>> masterfully, and that his son essentially created a new storyline
>> (destroying the old one) in order to create the seventh and eighth
>> book in the series.
>>     
>
> Being a rabid Dune fan myself, I have a REALLY simple solution: there
is
> no Dune "series".  There are no Dune books (in the plural).  There is
only
> ONE Dune book.  Which is one of the finest SF novels ever written.
>
> And I say that as somebody who made it all the way to the third or
fourth
> book before giving up part-way through in cumulative disgust.
>
> I very strongly suspect that the stories about Dune being very
heavily
> revised with input from John W. Campbell are true, and that that
explains
> it.
>   
That does explain a great deal. (I also subscribe heavily to the 
one-book Dune theory. I got to only the third book in the series before

abandoning them.)

I knew that Campbell did wonders for Heinlein in the early years. I 
wasn't aware he'd done the same for Herbert as well.

Majikjon
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