Chapterhouse: Dune was the last Dune novel that Frank Herbert completed and published before his death in 1986. Though he had written notes and the series would continue with his son Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, most Dune fans regard the six Frank Herbert publications as the “Original Series”. After many books written since his death, pundits have stated that the only notes left is a post it note that says, "write more books."In this installment the direction taken in Heretics of Dun [...]

As with much of Frank Herbert's other writing, Dune excluded, this one is a novel notable and worthy on the realm of ideas. He never stints on ideas. He might get slighly sloggish and lose the thread of the plot while we plod around in the ideas, but there's always great scenes and always great blow-out reveals. The original classic of Dune has none of these faults. It is a classic and imminently readable from page one and is still my favorite book of all time.So what about this one? Is it worth [...]

Unlike the previous books this one continues the plot-line of the previous ones; books 1-4 had definite endings, but book 5 did not. So the Bene Gesserit pulled back to regroup and get ready for a counterattack. The regrouping only took them 10 years to do so while the new menace appearing out of nowhere continued to capture or destroy their home bases. Can we say after 5000 years of preparations the Bene Gesserit were not exactly ready? Sure we can. It is also completely unclear whether the new [...]

Buddy read with Athena!“Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.”The Honoured Matres have returned with their full strength from the Scattering, and their fleets are assaulting all the worlds that once made up the old Empire at the core of the universe. The nobility and the Ixians have fallen, and the one force resisting the relentless invasion is the now legendary sisterhood of the Bene Gesserit.Heretics of Dune ended with one of the most drama [...]

Book: 3 starsAudio CD: 3 starsIn Dune, Frank Herbert achieved a near perfect balance of story, character and exposition. In fact, the story and characters expressed the themes of the book, and Herbert avoided long, philosophical discursions. Dune is a self-contained novel needing no prequels or sequels. However, Herbert had more to say and produced five further novels set in the Atreides Imperium that were interesting to the compulsively completist amongst us (and I number myself one in this cas [...]

I am a reader who sometimes enjoys books that make me work hard. This book (this series) is one of those. I loved it, but I fully understand that not everyone will.In addition to being one of the greatest science fiction sagas ever, the Dune Chronicles were a massive sociological "thought experiment" on Herberts part, and I for one am thankful he had the time to share his thoughts with us. These books (especially the later ones) are the kind you have to put down from time to time to just think a [...]

3.0 to 3.5 stars. After loving the first five books in the series, I was a little disappointed in this last installment of the Dune Chronicles by Frank Herbert. While I have always been a big fan of Herbert's heavy use of dialogue and philosophical argument to advance the themes of the story, I thought that its use in this volume was not as crisp and felt a bit too plodding. That said, I did like it and it is certainly not a bad book, but it does suffer in comparison to the previous installments [...]

This 6th and final book in the Dune saga that Frank Herbert wrote before his death in 1986 stands as one of the best in the entire series. Many have complained that it doesn't "go anywhere" for the first 150 pages or so, but I think it does. There are all of these seemingly unrelated plot threads that slowly but surely converge such that by the time you're halfway through the book, it all makes sense. The last half of this book is a mixture of intrigue and action that left me breathless and unab [...]

i think i read the first book when i was 12, and for some reason got the idea in my head that i should read the whole lot in rapid succession. well, the rapid didn't happen so much, and i am grateful that i am five pages away from concluding my brief, but friendly affair with mr. herbert. you know when you begin to go on dates with someone that has been an intermittent and casual friend? you think, well, they seem perfectly nice, reasonably intelligent, compelling conversationalist, let's try. b [...]

[Nota Bene: As Frank Herbert's last two published novels in the Dune series, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune, along with the unwritten Dune 7, in fact comprise a single story that happened to be divided into three parts, I'll post the same review for both of the two published volumes. This review contains no spoilers.]During the first half of his literary career, Frank Herbert focused most on coming to terms with what it meant to be conscious. The evolution of his thinking on the subject [...]

Buddy Read withMarkus

As far as I am concerned, this is the last Dune book (besides the Encyclopedia) and should be considered the end. The disappointing tripe of Hunters and Sandworms of Dune by Brian and Kevin are nothing but poorly written fanfiction.The consequences of Leto's Golden Path are made apparent in this and its predecessor, Heretics of Dune. Sheeana is a intriguing character and so is Murbella and Odrade, as well as the nth incarnation of Duncan Idaho.Frank Herbert died before he could write Dune 7, so [...]

After tens of thousands of years, the theme of ultimate prophetic prediction, spice (i.e. water/oil) dependence, universal religious programming, not to mention a great primer on behind-the-scenes political activities, comes to a close. and what a perfect way to bring this series to an end. Well worth the devotion, this series follows one genetic line with supra-sensory perceptions which gave birth to a messianic figure and his son, whom became a galactic tyrant in the name of progress, nay, of [...]

*Same review for the Dune Universe*GREAT books! VERY time consuming! Worth the time!Ok here is the deal. If your not sure about starting a series this big, here is what I would do.1. -- Read the 1st one by Frank Herbert "Dune" if you like it2. -- Read the "Legends Of Dune" series. Its 3 books written by Frank's son Brian and a author I really like by the name of Keven J. Anderson. Its a prequel that is so far in the past that it doesn't spoil the Original Dune series in any way, and you could st [...]

Chapterhouse: Dune marks the final installment in Frank Herbert's original Dune Chronicles (though the story continues through another six prequels and two final sequels written by his son, Brian Herbert). Set twenty or so years after the events in Heretics of Dune, readers may now follow the final confrontation between hyper-sexualized and dominating "Honored Matres," vs. the Rasputian, scheming Bene Gesserit, for control of the old empire and the fate of humanity (though in this installment, t [...]

Frank Herbert's last Dune novel suffers from the same flaws as Heretics of Dune. One that I didn't mention in my review of that novel, but which certainly applies to both, is the lack of a character to care about. In the first four Dune books, Leto, Paul, and Leto II provide central figures whose rises and falls the reader becomes invested in.None of the characters in Heretics or Chapterhouse stand out in that same way. The fact that almost every character is a Bene Gesserit, trained by a Bene G [...]

Having reached the end of this long and arduous series, my dominant thought is 'finally.'Chapterhouse: Dune is similar enough to Heretics of Dune that it seems as if it could be one book split in two. Chapterhouse takes place only a few years after Heretics, and like Hereitcs, it involves average writing, a mildly interesting plot, and typically static characters. More of Herbert’s trademark dawdling narrative. Easy enough to swallow in the beginning of the series when the fantasy world was ex [...]

Chapterhouse: DuneFrank Herbert's sixth novel of his Dune series.Definitely a 5/5 stars book.Frank Herbert's last novel he wrote before his death in 1986, I consider this to be the third best novel in the Dune series after the Dune and GEoD. Can't believe why so many people think of it as a weak one, thinking that the first 1/4 of the book takes a slow pace. But I totally disagree Frank starts the book giving the reader strands of his main plot through dialogues and monologues you should really [...]

I'll keep this short. I think that this final novel is the perfect conclusion to the best sf series in history. First time I've read it I liked it, but when I've reread it I loved it. I guess that I had to process it a bit. Maybe because I was sitting in front of split city museum when I was reading it for the first time, and Split is so beautiful it can be distracting. Anyway, all of suppleness that you can find in Herbert's best novels- it's definitely there. Now, I'm not sure how many times I [...]

Chapterhouse: DuneDune Chronicles Book 6By Frank HerbertA Dune Retrospective by Eric AllenChapterhouse: Dune is the final Dune book published by Frank Herbert, the second in the storyline began withHeretics of Dune. Though he did leave behind a 20 page summary of "Dune 7" he never wrote that book, and we'll take a closer look at that next month with Hunters of Dune. Ten years have passed since the destrution of Dune and the Bene Gesserit are beginning their own scattering, taking Sandworm larva [...]

Aunque creo que es un poco mas aburrido que sus libros antecesores, sigo pensando sobre la genialidad de este libro.Frank Herbert es un genio

Goodbye Dune. A nice letter to his wife at the end.

The grande finale of the whole of Frank Herbert's six Dune novels. Interesting ending (were the old couple actually god and his wife?), although it leaves many unanswered questions and various loose threads - which apparently his son Brian Herbert has tried to tie up in the later novels based around his Fathers notes. However I hear mixed reviews on these books. Maybe I will try and read them some other time.The Space-Operatic original book, Dune, went very philosophical from Dune Messiah onward [...]

This is the second half (well, part 2 of 3, really) of the arc started in Heretics. I think it's actually a stronger book than Heretics too - less scattered, more time spent developing the characters, and the stakes are clearly higher.It also displays its Reagan-era politics pretty obviously, which made me roll my eyes at least once, but there's also some commentary on the all-consuming nature of bureaucracy that are definitely relevant to modern times. The Honored Matres are developed a little [...]

one of the best in the series. definitely fulfills a lot that felt unfulfilled in the previous book. it was refreshing to not have a thousand year gap in between two of the books again. you get the same characters back on a large scale for the first time since book two went into book threeere is a helluva cliff hanger, and frank herbert died before he could write the next chapters. i'm very tempted to read books 7 and 8 by his son brian and kevin j. anderson, but i have my doubts. and after read [...]

Brilhante continuação da Saga Duna. Um final aberto a milhões de continuações. Contudo finda, em sua proposta, de forma inesquecível.É com pesar imenso que termino Duna. Foram seis livros, muito aprendizado. Desde manipuladoras, passando por calculistas e finalizando com condicionadoras. Foram padrões aprendidos, reflexões realizadas e um mundo de ficção-científica que para sempre reviverei lembrando não menos de Paul Atreides ou Lady Jessica. Contudo aprendendo que eles nunca morre [...]

See a somewhat expanded version of this review on my blog: examinedworlds/20This is my third time through the series. I always enjoy a visit to the Dune universe, but it's not because I'd actually want to live in that universe. It's all too intense for me. I love the books but I have to admit they're pretty bleak with all those "plans within plans within plans" all in service of the raw pursuit of power. Dramatized with internal asides in italics! For all their machinations and glorious battle, [...]

The biggest problem with Chapterhouse: Dune is that we never get the story Frank Herbert wanted told to conclude it. Nevertheless, the book ends in such a way that it is still satisfying. Murbella really comes into her own here, the fascinating mixture of Bene Gesserit and Honored Matre. Dar is again a powerful force. The building menace of the threat that drove the Honored Matres back from the Scattering is intriguingly written. I would have loved to know how Frank Herbert wanted to end this co [...]

I have a problem when a long multi-book series basically finishes with no real ending.

Yes. I was about 3/4 of the way through and was like…. I think I’m enjoying a Dune book. FYI: this review has adult situations. I mean for real.In case you don’t know, this is the 6th book in the original Dune series, the last one written by Frank Herbert himself. I am listening to the audiobooks because otherwise, I would never have made it this far. The Dune books are filled with enormous amounts of unexplained phenomena, secret plans known only to one character and painfully detailed ph [...]