This is the first novel in a quartet set during the timeline of the original series, rather than the previous prequels and sequels. On the one hand, this approach grounds the story in more familiar waters. On the other hand, this serves to highlight the glaring differences between the Frank Herbert continuity and the new canon that has been shaped around it.
All things being equal, I don’t hate the content of the new canon; I simply see it as one vision of how it might have been finished and fleshed out. It’s the same way I regard the “Second Foundation Trilogy” with respect to the original Asimov material. It proposes a more definitive ending and interpretation, but it’s just that: an interpretation. The originals stand on their own, and the new canon is, without debate, a kind of revisionist history.
As such, I’ve always viewed the books from a meta-fictional perspective. The originals present one view, the new canon another. Historical novels always fudge facts to support their interpretations, and so the same follows suit here. I don’t accept much of the new canon as the intentions of Frank Herbert, but they do manage to remain fairly consistent within their own skein.
This is, of course, why the novel is not just a bridge between “Dune” and “Dune Messiah”. It also touches on a “forgotten chapter” of Paul’s life, resolving items left open at the end of the “House Trilogy”. In the process, items mentioned in passing in “Dune Messiah” are expanded upon, sometimes in unusually satisfying ways.
Yet this is damning evidence in and of itself. Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson are so consistent with their own plot threads, characterization (however shallow), and timeline that it’s hard to believe that they would somehow manage to make so many mistakes in terms of inconsistencies with the original novels. Several instances in the book are designed specifically to gloss over earlier mistakes and claim that they are, in fact, just the result of propaganda. In other words, the authors essentially use this novel to establish the novel “Dune” as nothing more than an in-story example of Irulan’s efforts to control perceptions of Paul’s jihad and empire.
This is hubris and disrespect on a level that is practically beyond words. Had such an interpretation been reserved for the epigraphs in “Dune”, it would have made perfect sense, as it serves the purpose of propaganda within “Dune” anyway. It would have been consistent. But placing the entire novel in that context? It’s effectively saying that the Frank Herbert novels were “wrong”, and the new canon is “right”.
It certainly makes sense of the decision to treat the original continuity with such poor care, picking and choosing what to absorb into their own self-aggrandizing vision of what should have happened. This is unfortunate, because the book is one of the better “new canon” efforts. One glaring and unnecessary choice of ego overshadows it all.
Rating: 7/10
Add A Comment