Whew! This is why there haven’t been any novel reviews for the past few weeks! Back in mid-April, I found myself getting nostalgic for reading several of the “Dune” novels back in about 2006-7.
Although I didn’t really feel like re-reading Frank Herbert’s 1965 original, I remembered that I still had all three books of the prequel trilogy that was written by his son Brian Herbert and by fellow sci-fi writer Kevin J. Anderson. And, although I had already read the first tome of the trilogy – “House Atreides” (1999) – back in 2006, I felt like re-reading it. And I’m so glad I did 🙂
(I don’t know whether I’ll read the rest of the trilogy right now, but I’m still in the mood for sci-fi, so I might try to read the third book in Becky Chambers’ excellent “Wayfarers” series next…)
Whilst you’ll get more out of “House Atreides” if you are at least vaguely familiar with the story/characters/world of “Dune” (1965), it can be read as a stand-alone novel as well. And, although it is the opening part of a trilogy, there is also thankfully enough resolution that the book can pretty much be read on it’s own. So, technically, you can just read this book if you want to.
Anyway, let’s take a look at “House Atreides”. This review may contain SPOILERS.
This is the 2000 New English Library (UK) paperback edition of “House Atreides” (1999) that I read.
Set a generation or two before the events of “Dune” (1965), this gigantic novel follows the fates and fortunes of several noble galactic houses. There is the evil Baron Harkonnen, who has recently wrested control of the desert planet Arrakis away from his kind-hearted brother Abulard and gained control of the planet’s most precious resource, melange – a substance that is vital for both interstellar transport and the longevity of the elderly galactic emperor Elrood Corrino.
There is Elrood’s son Shaddam and his scheming advisor Fenring, who are plotting to take the throne. Elrood himself is also disturbed by developments on the planet Ix, a tech hub ruled by House Vernius who recently developed a higher-capacity freighter that could reduce imperial tax revenue. He has also dispatched a planetologist, Pardot Kynes, to Arrakis in order to learn more about the planet.
On the verdant planet of Caladan, the wise Duke Paulus Atreides plans to send his son, Leto, to Ix for a year as part of his long alliance with House Vernius. Meanwhile, on the harsh Harkonnen planet of Giedi Prime, a young boy called Duncan Idaho is being hunted for sport by the bloodthirsty Rabban Harkonnen – nephew to the Baron – and his men….
One of the first things that I will say about this novel is that it is like a cross between “Game Of Thrones” and “Star Wars” 🙂 Yes, it’s a bit slow-paced by modern standards and some elements of the story really haven’t aged well, but this is one of those novels which often feels like a couple of seasons of a prestige TV show. But better. It’s atmospheric, it’s thrilling and it’s – often – just satisfying to read. This novel not only has good world-building, but also good galaxy-building too. If you want epic sci-fi, then read this novel 🙂 This relatively short review really doesn’t do this novel justice.
Like “Game Of Thrones”, this can be an astonishingly dark, cruel and brutal story when it needs to be – the sort of thing which would be plastered with content warnings these days – but it also doesn’t really have the sort of bleak worldview that “Game Of Thrones” does. There are as many joyous, atmospheric, stirring and/or thrilling moments as there are grim and hideous moments. There is good as well as evil, there are heroes as well as villains. And, like “Star Wars”, there’s also this fascinating contrast between futuristic tech and medieval-style stuff as well.
This prequel novel also provides a fairly good entry-point into the complex universe of the “Dune” series as well. There are the complex political dynamics between the emperor, the parliament-like “Landsraad”, the Spacing Guild and the OPEC-like body that deals with melange called CHOAM (And, yes, melange is an oil metaphor...). There are religious rules against “thinking machines”, which limits technology to an extent but are also circumvented by “mentats” – people who have trained their minds to work like computers. I could go on for a long time. The world of the “Dune” series takes a little effort to get into, but it is one of the best, most detailed and most creative sci-fi universes ever created.
But, lest you think that this novel consists of nothing but slow political debates, there are enough thrilling action-adventure chapters, shocking melodrama moments, evil plots, fascinating places, thrilling suspense segments, occasional legal drama and stuff like that which really help to keep the plot moving along. Again, this is novel which feels like a better version of two seasons of a modern prestige TV show. Still, whilst there is just enough characterisation to make you care about all of the characters, some characters are definitely more complex than others.
And it would be remiss of me not to point out that parts of this novel have aged badly – namely the portrayal of women and gay men. I won’t go into graphic detail, but the two scenes involving Reverend Mother Mohaim and Baron Harkonnen are literally designed to traumatise people from both of these groups. There’s also how only the male characters get to do cool heroic stuff. There’s how the novel occasionally sneers at gay men, only has evil characters from this group etc…. I could go on, but this can be a pretty conservative novel sometimes.
As for the writing, the novel’s third-person narration is more “direct” than Frank Herbert’s writing style, whilst still keeping a lot of the atmosphere of the original “Dune” books 🙂
If you grew up reading older novels, you’ll have no problem with the writing style. But, if you’re used to fast-paced modern narration, with informal writing, short sentences and an almost religious adherence to “Show, don’t tell“… then this novel might take a bit of getting used to. Despite some occasional typographical errors in the edition I read, I really liked the writing style. Call me old, but I miss when books were written in this sort of style. It feels a lot more natural and organic and – ironically – cinematic than modern “I wish I was making a movie instead” writing.
Each chapter alternates between a different story thread – allowing for lots of mini-cliffhangers and for the novel to speed up near the end by just focusing on one story thread for a few chapters. This multi-threaded structure probably also allowed both authors to finish this tome of a novel in just a couple of years. And, yes, it is a giant tome!
Not only is the paperback edition that I read 598 pages long (plus afterwords), but the print size is absolutely tiny compared to modern novels. And, since I’m trying to avoid “binge reading” – after it left me “burnt out” on novels for at least four years – I read this novel like most people would have done in 1999. Typically reading just 1-50 pages a day (although I read the gripping final 104 pages in one afternoon). This is the best way to read this novel. Let it be a companion for three or four weeks. A regular 10-30 minute daily escape. It’ll grow on you a lot 🙂
And, despite some awkwardly dated elements, the novel as a whole still really impressed me 🙂 Between all of the various sub-plots, the atmospheric world-building and just the sheer epic scale of this story, I certainly don’t regret re-reading it! Again, it’s like a better version of two seasons of a prestige TV show. Again, it’s like a mixture of “Game Of Thrones” and “Star Wars”. It isn’t perfect, but it’s still a brilliant example of epic sci-fi 🙂
If I had to give it a rating out of five, it would get at least a four.
