‘Paul of Dune’ – Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson (Hodder & Stoughton)

Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ series is regarded as one of the best (if not the best) series in science fiction. Up until the past few years ‘Dune’ was a series left unfinished, after Herbert’s death in 1986, but Brian Herbert (his son) and Kevin J. Anderson have taken up the reigns and continued it.
I read the original ‘Dune’ books when I was a teenager and was sad to find that the final chapter had been left untold. I then got into fantasy, over science-fiction, and never picked up the Herbert/Anderson books. Having seen the newer books been questioned, in terms of how good they actually were, I thought it might be worth finally picking up one of these books and seeing for myself. As it sits between ‘Dune’ and ‘Dune Messiah’ (books that I have read) I thought that ‘Paul of Dune’ would be a good choice of book. While it was a good choice, as a place to begin reading, I’m not so sure about the book itself...

Paul’s victory over the Padishah Emperor (of House Corrino) is complete and he is now in full control of the planet Dune. Paul only has nominal control over the rest of the Imperium however and must take his jihad to the stars if he is not to fall under the combined weight of the Landsraad Houses. He is only one man though, a man drowning in his own mythical status and struggling to make sense of the intrigue as factions plot to bring him down. The decisions that he makes will earn him the enmity of the galaxy but that is the price he must pay if he is to guide humanity down a dark path...

‘Paul of Dune’ answers the question of what happened in the twelve years between ‘Dune’ and ‘Dune Messiah’ (and why Paul ended up hated and feared) but I was left wondering how much of a question there was to ask in the first place. From what I remember, the gap between ‘Dune’ and ‘Dune Messiah’ came across as planned and any questions about the ‘gap’ were answered in the course of ‘Dune Messiah’ (which also does a good job of showing how Paul came to his current status). This being the case, why did Herbert and Anderson feel the need to put their own spin on it?

If you’re going to fill in a gap, between two books in a series, then you need to be able to give the reader something new that the other books couldn’t really give them. ‘Paul of Dune’ simply does not do this in terms of its stated objective which questions the point of the book being written in the first place. What it does do though is give the reader a closer look at Princess Irulan and what led her to start writing her biographies of Paul Atreides. It’s always good to see another side to an established character and the insights that we get round her character out a little more. This approach also gives the reader a sneaky look at Paul’s biography, namely the War of Assassins that Paul found himself embroiled in when he was only twelve years old. These excerpts make for interesting intervals with lots of swashbuckling sword fights and epic space battles and also give the reader little hints about events that will shape Paul’s thinking when he is a lot older.

I know I’ve said this before but filling in the gaps of a series is problematic when you know how the story will ultimately end. Where’s the hook to keep you reading in the meantime? There is plenty of plotting going on but there’s no real edge to it, the only reason I kept reading was to see how Paul would ultimately foil everyone’s plans. Even the big scene, right at the end, where Paul is stabbed falls flat because we know that he has to be around for the next book. There is also a huge difference in tone between the original works and ‘Paul of Dune’ and this jarred things for me. Going along with the ‘filling in the gap’ analogy, shoe-horning ‘Paul of Dune’ in between the other two original books is like repairing a brick house by filling the holes with silly putty, a questionable action at best...

I think the fairest thing to say is that if you are a fan of the series (regardless of who wrote what bit) then you’ll probably get something out of this latest instalment. Not me though, if this is the standard then I’ll be getting off right here and reading something else...

Four out of Ten