“We can learn much from those who came before us. The most valuable legacy our predecessors can leave us is the knowledge of how to avoid the same deadly mistakes.”
Hunters of Dune is the first of two books that cover the events outlined by Frank Herbert for “Dune 7”, the finale of his grand science fiction series. Upon his death after the completion of Chapterhouse: Dune, Herbert left his audience with several cliffhangers. The Enemy, a mysterious force that had forced the renegade Honored Matres from the Scattering back into the known universe, was slowly but surely growing closer to wiping out all human life. Throughout Chapterhouse, an old man and a woman periodically appeared to Duncan Idaho in visions, finally being revealed in the final pages to be an argumentative couple named Marty and Daniel. And the fate of the fugitive no-ship carrying Sheeana, Duncan, Miles Teg, and the Rabbi was unknown. Though Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson had written several prequel series prior to attempting to finish the main series arc, Hunters was their first attempt to add something onto the original series.
The story detailed in Hunters is okay as far as I’m concerned, though I’m not entirely convinced that it is what Frank Herbert had in mind (meaning I kind of doubt they found an outline or notes like the book says they did). The narrative follows several groups—those jumping about space in the no-ship, trying to elude Marty and Daniel’s “tachyon net”; the new Mother Commander Murbella and the other Bene Gesserit that are trying to make peace with and/or destroy the remaining Honored Matre sects; and Uxtal, an inexperienced Tleilaxu scribe who is forced to work on the Honored Matre axlotl tanks, attempting to produce both gholas and spice.
In the authors’ note that begins the novel, they state that they intentionally chose not to attempt mimicking Frank Herbert’s writing style, prefering to use their own syntax and structure. Unfortunately, their own style (and many believe this is mostly KJA and that Brian Herbert is merely an “idea guy” and editor) is very plain, maybe even below average. Where Frank could pick out the juiciest and most meaningful bits of a plot spanning thousands of years, Anderson feels the need to walk us through repeated infiltrations of Honored Matre compounds that deviate little from the first one, and have Duncan jump through space to avoid the net on numerous occasions.
They claimed to need two books to finish the series, but I’m fairly certain more than half the length of Hunters could have hit the cutting room floor without changing the fundamental plot. Aboard the no-ship, imprisoned Tleilaxu Master Scytale reveals that he has a nullentropy capsule embedded in his chest with DNA of many important historical figures. He bargains with his captors—he will hand over the DNA for more freedom to move about the ship and a ghola of himself (the Tleilaxu Masters have achieved a kind of immortality by creating serial gholas of themselves). So Sheeana and her advisors decide it is wise to create gholas of a bunch of characters from the original book—most notably Paul Atreides and Leto II, but also Chani, Jessica, Thufir Hawat, Dr. Yueh, Stilgar, Liet-Kynes.
It kind of feels like a cheap way to lead up to the finale. I mean, yeah, Duncan’s been a ghola for several books now, but as far back as Dune Messiah Paul turned down the chance to have Chani return as a ghola. It’s supposed to be a fundamentally dangerous thing, and now basically the whole original cast is coming back for the last episode. And it doesn’t really make sense why anyone other than maybe Paul and Thufir would even be needed. For instance, the Bene Gesserit have no desire for another Tyrant, so why bring back Leto? And Yueh was a minor character in the original book who betrayed the Atreides. Like I said, I think I’m fine with the story, but there is no in-text explanation for some of these decisions and it seems like the reader is just supposed to think that these gholas are definitely a good thing.
Additionally, Uxtal develops gholas of Paul Atreides (called Paolo to distinguish him) and Vladimir Harkonnen for Khrone, the leader of the Lost Face Dancers returned from the Scattering. Inexplicably, the Baron is fundamentally evil even before his memories are re-awakened—he is gross and sadistic, trying to mutilate the axlotl tank that Paul is growing in and experiencing pleasure when he is enduring endless pain in an attempt to re-awaken his memories (one of my favorite parts was when the tactic to re-awaken his memories was switched from intense pain to sensory deprivation).
The biggest blunder is the revelation of the Enemy. Despite claiming that Herbert’s outline told them what was to happen, there are numerous references to the prequel series that set up the Enemy as the machines from those prequels. But Frank died before the prequels existed! In the original Dune novels, the Butlerian Jihad was described as a crusade against thinking machines that robbed humanity of creativity and aspiration, not against robots that were trying to eradicate humanity like those from The Terminator or The Matrix. It’s not that the pieces don’t fit together (they mostly do), it’s that much of the intellectual and philosophical merit of Frank Herbert’s world has been stripped in favor of sci-fi flavored fluff.
There are several arcs and minor plot points that are enjoyable and seem like potential extensions of Frank Herbert’s series, but they are few and far between. I don’t want to spend too much time harping on the shortcomings of the authors, who were always fighting an uphill battle to add to the legacy of a master. It is a shame, though, that the series couldn’t have been put in more capable hands. As it is, it looks like the continuation of Dune may go the way of the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises, which have spiraled off into endless entries of lesser quality.
All that being said, I am glad I read it, because I am one of those people who likes to see things through to the end. Much of the joy from reading the original Dune and its sequels is in their execution, thoughtful dialogue, and interesting prose; Hunters falls well short in those departments and so if I ever go back through the originals again, I’ll likely just read a plot summary for this one.