markmtz's review
3.0
Authors Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson conclude the Legends of Dune trilogy with this volume. Omnius kills billions of humans with a plague. Humans kill billions of humans with atomics on synchronized worlds. Titans kill Cogitors. Humans kill Titans. A great time is had by all and the reader encounters the genesis of all things Dune. It’s a bit overwhelming, but if you’ve read the original Dune novels, seen the film, or the Sci-Fi channel mini-series, it’s also entertaining.
Mass-market paperback from TOR.
Mass-market paperback from TOR.
wincher2031's review
4.0
The retro virus epidemic and the origin story of the first mentat lend some welcome new angles to the thinking machine war. Unfortunately, another large time jump distracts with a stumbling start, too much time is spent reminding the reader how old each character is now, much of the dialogue reduced to expository rambles in the likes of "how long has it been?" and "remember the time when?" etc. A lot of these "remember when" stories would've been much more interesting to see, rather than being told in the form of conversation (partially taken care of in the connecting stories of Tales of Dune).
After the first part however, the story opens up some well needed development of the wormriders and explores the themes of necessary and lesser evils, from debates on the use of WMDs and what to do about Salusa Secundis. In keeping with the classic Dune feel of philosophy mixed with epic sci-fi.
There is a much more satisfying trilogy conclusion this time around (over House Corrino), with a more active role of the Zensunni tribe unveiling the Fremen's traditions and survival tactics on Arrakis.
This one was a lot more entertaining than The Machine Crusade, especially in the second half, with a more engaging and worthwhile story. However, I can't help but think that this era's trilogy could have been told in two books rather than one, with Machine Crusade and Battle of Corrin compressed into one book, with most of Machine Crusade being cut.
While it does feel like a trilogy for the sake of it, the first and third parts are well worth reading (especially the first), even if it sags in the middle.
After the first part however, the story opens up some well needed development of the wormriders and explores the themes of necessary and lesser evils, from debates on the use of WMDs and what to do about Salusa Secundis. In keeping with the classic Dune feel of philosophy mixed with epic sci-fi.
There is a much more satisfying trilogy conclusion this time around (over House Corrino), with a more active role of the Zensunni tribe unveiling the Fremen's traditions and survival tactics on Arrakis.
This one was a lot more entertaining than The Machine Crusade, especially in the second half, with a more engaging and worthwhile story. However, I can't help but think that this era's trilogy could have been told in two books rather than one, with Machine Crusade and Battle of Corrin compressed into one book, with most of Machine Crusade being cut.
While it does feel like a trilogy for the sake of it, the first and third parts are well worth reading (especially the first), even if it sags in the middle.
baxtercrabtree's review
2.0
Read this back in 2003 or so. Chronologically, this is where I got off the guild ship. everything that was published after this, I have no desire to read. I think this is because the universe felt *too* kismet, and all of the characters by this time have become incredibly armored with plot.
galax003's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
catsflipped's review
4.0
The final book in this trilogy but only the third the the massive Duneverse (excluding short stories) is yet another long read. Unlike the first 2 books this one has more action and is much easier to read.
Of the 3 this one is much more like a novel and less of a history lesson and finally brings together all you have learnt so far into the battle to save all humanity.
Yet still there are side stories that only distract you from the main story and serve only to lengthen the book.
While I understand these off-shoots to the main story will soon be the focus of books to come and having this background knowledge will no doubt enhance these future books they only succeeded in irritating me each time I had to trudge through pages irrelevant to the current story.
Taking this book as the final of a trilogy it neatly wrapped up the jihad that had surged on across many generations but those extra characters and their stories never reached a conclusion which makes me wonder why they were ever included.
On the whole this book was the best of those I have read so far, choosing to read then in the order of time rather than when they were written I have not yet read the book that made them all famous, Dune, I look forward to progressing through time and hope the next set of books (which are thankfully much shorter) will be more concise and stick to just one story at a time!
Of the 3 this one is much more like a novel and less of a history lesson and finally brings together all you have learnt so far into the battle to save all humanity.
Yet still there are side stories that only distract you from the main story and serve only to lengthen the book.
While I understand these off-shoots to the main story will soon be the focus of books to come and having this background knowledge will no doubt enhance these future books they only succeeded in irritating me each time I had to trudge through pages irrelevant to the current story.
Taking this book as the final of a trilogy it neatly wrapped up the jihad that had surged on across many generations but those extra characters and their stories never reached a conclusion which makes me wonder why they were ever included.
On the whole this book was the best of those I have read so far, choosing to read then in the order of time rather than when they were written I have not yet read the book that made them all famous, Dune, I look forward to progressing through time and hope the next set of books (which are thankfully much shorter) will be more concise and stick to just one story at a time!
vayeate's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
.....Complete and utter rubbish....this book is a waste of paper.....or if you read it on ad e-reader than it is a waste of kilobytes. So I took my own advice and started to think about this books series of something different and related to Dune, like a parallel universe.
Then this Battle of Corrin book comes along, which has actually has little to do with the battle itself, I would say that 7-10 percent of the book actually deals tells about the battle.
Well you might ask 'But what about the other 90%?'
Well the other 90% of content are the most immersion breaking chapters ever. I have to be honest some parts of the book were enjoyable, but then well established characters would do things well out of character for no good reason what so ever. It is like the two authors were getting in each other's work and messing up everything.
Some new characters were introduced, some old ones returned both are a disappointment.
New characters acting completely out of place and just plain dumb to the point that I think the book became self aware and started pointing out that the characters are messed up.
Imagine this you are an evil person, a deadly assassin, quite intelligent. An enemy confronts you and you have to kill him. You are equipped with an extremely dangerous weapon that when unleashed cannot be stopped and will start killing all humans insight without any exception. You opt to unleash this weapon to kill your enemy, you put all of your eggs in this basket without a second thought, mind you that you have numerous options to kill the enemy with your hands or with other tools.
Well surprise, surprise your enemy becomes invisible to this weapon and you yourself become the target and it is suicide at this point which was never an option you wanted to take.
And even if the above thought process is flawed the weapon's next target still would be you.
Anyway probably a lot of people would like to know the source of the Atreides and Harkonnen hatred towards each other. I personally really wanted to know, I suggest you avoid this book because the answer it provides in incredibly dumb. Just stick with the original Dune and make up your own reason for the hatred and believe me your reason will be far superior to the one given in the book.
So avoid this book like the authors avoided to write a comprehensive story.
Then this Battle of Corrin book comes along, which has actually has little to do with the battle itself, I would say that 7-10 percent of the book actually deals tells about the battle.
Well you might ask 'But what about the other 90%?'
Well the other 90% of content are the most immersion breaking chapters ever. I have to be honest some parts of the book were enjoyable, but then well established characters would do things well out of character for no good reason what so ever. It is like the two authors were getting in each other's work and messing up everything.
Some new characters were introduced, some old ones returned both are a disappointment.
New characters acting completely out of place and just plain dumb to the point that I think the book became self aware and started pointing out that the characters are messed up.
Imagine this you are an evil person, a deadly assassin, quite intelligent. An enemy confronts you and you have to kill him. You are equipped with an extremely dangerous weapon that when unleashed cannot be stopped and will start killing all humans insight without any exception. You opt to unleash this weapon to kill your enemy, you put all of your eggs in this basket without a second thought, mind you that you have numerous options to kill the enemy with your hands or with other tools.
Well surprise, surprise your enemy becomes invisible to this weapon and you yourself become the target and it is suicide at this point which was never an option you wanted to take.
And even if the above thought process is flawed the weapon's next target still would be you.
Anyway probably a lot of people would like to know the source of the Atreides and Harkonnen hatred towards each other. I personally really wanted to know, I suggest you avoid this book because the answer it provides in incredibly dumb. Just stick with the original Dune and make up your own reason for the hatred and believe me your reason will be far superior to the one given in the book.
So avoid this book like the authors avoided to write a comprehensive story.
mookymc's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
2.5
Incredibly bloated and tedious. Some bright spots and equally dim spots.
dray's review
4.0
This was an interesting book in the series of Dune. On the down side I found it somewhat tedious and considered not even finishing it. I found the AI omnious and erasmus uninspired and quite frankly ludicrous. Enough! On the up side the story gives you at least the beginnings of the back stories of the Bene Gessirit, the Suk medical order, the Mentats, the space guild, the Harkonnen/Atreides antipathies etc. The book got better toward the end.
clarisa's review
1.0
Pretty bad. I only read it because it was the last prequel and I had paid for it.
susysstories's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Liked this one better than the previous book: the war goes on, but more than just fighting and torturing happens, which was quite interesting. The characters remain unlikable as ever and there were some minor inconsistencies as to their character, at least that's how it felt for me.