The Long Road

04/25/2003 Archived Entry: "Dune: House Atreides"

by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

The original Dune Chronicles are my favorite books of all time. Dune was set in the most detailed and complex universe ever committed to fiction. Even throughout six books Frank Herbert was never able to elaborate on everything he created; what the authors of the prequels have set out to do is to fill in some of the details. In Dune: House Atreides, we're treated to brief but detailed glimpses of the inner workings of Ix, The Guild, and The Landsraad. These political bodies were mostly behind the scenes forces, but now we're shown, amongst other things, the caste system of Ix, the training to become a navigator, and the procedures of the U.N.-like Landsraad. There are also a lot of nods to the continuity of the original books, one of my favorites being the origin of the Harkonnen no-ship found in books 5 and 6.

Set roughly 30 years before Dune, House Atreides tells the story of the minor characters from the original. Duke Leto the First's childhood gets the spotlight, but we also see things like how Duncan Idaho came to Caladan, how Shaddam rose to power, how Liet Kynes became planetologist, and how the Baron Harkonnen became so sickly. These aren't really stories that need to be told; but, as a Dune fan, they add a lot of depth and history to the characters that were a little overlooked.

Its actually impossible for me to write this thing without comparing it to the originals, so. In terms of style, the tone and structure of this book and the originals are very similar. The main difference is that House Atreides is much more narrative while Dune and its sequels were filled with dialog. The narration makes this book a much easier read and more seems to happen since we're not bogged down in chapters and chapters worth of conversation all the time. That said, I find that the dialog in the originals was what made those books so charming. The dialog really helped to bring out the subtleties and personalities of the characters in Dune, I quite often found myself reading conversations over and over again just to catch all the little things that were said or unsaid. Like I said, there is much less dialog in this prequel and it helps a lot with the pacing but in some cases it would have been nice to have the characters actually say something. An example: early in the book we're told "Leto calmed himself as his mother gave him a quick retort."; Frank Herbert would have taken the time to actually think up and write a "quick retort" and It would have made the character, if not the moment, a lot more powerful.

House Atreides is an entertaining read, it is much lighter than its predecessors as it doesn't dab in chapters worth of religious, ecological, and political musings. If you've never read Dune, read it. If you have read Dune, then you'll probably be reading House Atreides no matter what I have to say about it...if you haven't already.

Overall: 8/10

Replies: 2 comments

give me some dune books, and i'll read them. i've been told i should by many people now.

Posted by shawnathan @ 04/26/2003 03:00 AM EST

What do you mean "these aren't really stories that need to be told"? It needs to be told about as much as anything else does. The purpose of the books is to "fill in some of the details" as you yourself said earlier. I thought it was great to know how each of these people, so loyal to House Atreides, who were not born into the house came to be working for it. Showing how the sisterhood gets their hands into everyone's pies all the time was good, too. Explaining how the original Kynes ended up starting the whole transformation of Dune and the transfer over to his son, also a very valuable addition.

In re-reading the original Dune afterwards, things made so much more sense. I could understand the motivations of people a great deal better - it was great!

I think that, for the amount of information they authors wanted to include in the three books, they had to resort to a more narrative technique of story-telling. In Dune Messiah, the dialogues do drive the story, but at the same time not a lot really happens. The type of story being told there is about character and so the dialogues help to bring it out. In this prelude trilogy to Dune, it seems the main focus is on events and happenings. Therefore, a more narrative perspective is used. Different? Yes. But I think it was purposefully so.

As for the lowered religious, ecological and political musings, I think it's just about the same argument as above: It's a different type of story they're telling. The focus is on events and such. The religious aspect really isn't involved in the events that occur. The ecology is just with Kynes and his assessment of the planet and beginnings of change. As for politics? I think there are some, but just in the takeover of Ix and the ways Leto handles the situations caused by this.

I'll admit right now, I haven't read past Children of Dune, but in my mind, there's a fine line between these three prelude books and Frank Herbert's books. The main difference, for me, is religion. I absolutely agree with you, it's really not present in these 'House' books. For a reason, though. The main religious presence in Dune is Paul. Well, the Fremen's religion, which ends up being all about Paul. He and his sister take it and make it them. It is largely the religion that gives him his power. However, the 'House' books aren't about Paul and the Fremen. They barely contain Paul. It's about Paul's father. A very cool guy, that Leto, but a very real guy. Not a messiah, just a man trying to get things to work out and deal with some really shitty stuff.

I really liked the books, but yes, they do stand apart for me. In my mind, the differences in styles between these and the Dune books are easily recognizable as being because of the difference in type of story being told. It is the way it is and it works better that way.

Different is good, sometimes.

Posted by Romer @ 04/26/2003 04:16 AM EST