[Dragaera] Reading series

[Jeffrey Kiok]

I agree that something is lacking in the second and third books, but I  
admit, I always found that the fourth was the best, and I enjoyed the  
fifth and sixth as well.

-Jeff
On Jan 20, 2009, at 6:05 PM, Margaret Young wrote:

> 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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