Sisterhood of Dune Author: Brian Herbert | Language: English | ISBN:
B005HWLKOG | Format: PDF
Sisterhood of Dune Description
It is eighty-three years after the last of the thinking machines were destroyed in the Battle of Corrin, after Faykan Butler took the name of Corrino and established himself as the first Emperor of a new Imperium. Great changes are brewing that will shape and twist all of humankind.
The war hero Vorian Atreides has turned his back on politics and Salusa Secundus. The descendants of Abulurd Harkonnen Griffen and Valya have sworn vengeance against Vor, blaming him for the downfall of their fortunes. Raquella Berto-Anirul has formed the Bene Gesserit School on the jungle planet Rossak as the first Reverend Mother. The descendants of Aurelius Venport and Norma Cenva have built Venport Holdings, using mutated, spice-saturated Navigators who fly precursors of Heighliners. Gilbertus Albans, the ward of the hated Erasmus, is teaching humans to become Mentats…and hiding an unbelievable secret.
The Butlerian movement, rabidly opposed to all forms of “dangerous technology,” is led by Manford Torondo and his devoted Swordmaster, Anari Idaho. And it is this group, so many decades after the defeat of the thinking machines, which begins to sweep across the known universe in mobs, millions strong, destroying everything in its path.
Every one of these characters, and all of these groups, will become enmeshed in the contest between Reason and Faith. All of them will be forced to choose sides in the inevitable crusade that could destroy humankind forever….
At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.
- File Size: 841 KB
- Print Length: 497 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1847374247
- Publisher: Tor Books; Reprint edition (January 3, 2012)
- Sold by: Macmillan
- Language: English
- ASIN: B005HWLKOG
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,943 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
The Sisterhood of Dune is the latest installment by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson in the add-ons to Frank Herbert's classic Dune series. To be honest, it's a series I gave up on after the The Battle of Corrin--the third book in the opening Legends of Dune group--after it continued a downward spiral from a solid if not inspiring book one (The Butlerian Jihad). It's several years and books later, and I wish I could say Sisterhood recaptured my interest, but unfortunately I found many of the same problems that caused me to give up the earlier series.
The human race has won against the machines, but the Butlerians, led by Manford Torondo, are trying to force the complete rejection of nearly all technology (while blind or self-rationalizing about their own uses of said tech of course). Meanwhile, the Bene Gesserit is in its embryonic stages as the very first Reverend Mother, Raquella Berto-Anirul, continues to try to find a way to create others in her Sisterhood, even as they explore the possibilities of a human breeding program, aided by "thinking machines" that would bring the wrath of the Butlerians down on them. As these two groups grow in power, the Corinno Emperor is having a hard time solidifying his own and standing up against the Butlerians especially, even as other groups and schools and factions rise and fall--the Suk school, the Swordmaster school, the Mentat school led by Gilbertus Albans--who has his own dangerous secret, the Venport Space Fleet, which is the Navigators Guild in its nascent stage, and so on. Along with all the galactic politics, more personal motives arise as two young Harkonnen heirs seek vengeance on the disappeared Vorian Atreides who enters back on stage after long absence.
I have been an avid reader of science fiction for 50 years, which covers literally thousands of novels, from Heinlein to Asimov to Simak, from LeGuin to McCaffrey, Bear to Vinge. I absolutely was fascinated by Dune, and even on the third reading round myself engrossed in its universe.
I received "Sisterhood of Dune" for Christmas, and looked forward to a novel that would fill in some of the back-story to Dune, while also standing on its own as a complete story with sympathetic characters.
The descriptions of the effects of technology and space exploration on human society are interesting, as is the explanation of the rise of schools and cults that attempt to improve human capabilities. Many of the ideas presented in the book are interesting as abstract exercises. But it reads more like a chapter in a history textbook, describing various acts committed by a lot of rather nasty people, in a galaxy far, far away.
I found it impossible to empathize with, or even believe in, any of the individual characters, except, possibly, Vorian Atriedes. I finished reading Sisterhood of Dune with the feeling that the story itself applauds putting self-interest, including greed, hatred, a lust for revenge, and ego-gratification above any other human motivation. To be simplistic, all of the "bad" people are rewarded, and the very few "good" people are punished. And the actions of the players often contradict the character that is attributed to them.
SPOILER ALERT!
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