Hunters of Dune
 First edition cover | |
| Authors | Brian Herbert Kevin J. Anderson |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | Scott Brick |
| Cover artist | Stephen Youll |
| Language | English |
| Series | Dune series |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Published | 2006 |
| Publisher | Tor Books |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover & paperback) |
| Pages | 528 |
| ISBN | 0-7653-1292-1 |
| OCLC | 65538555 |
| 813.54[1] | |
| LC Class | PS3558.E617 H86 2006 |
| Preceded by | Chapterhouse: Dune |
| Followed by | Sandworms of Dune |
Hunters of Dune is the first of two books written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson to conclude Frank Herbert's original Dune series of science fiction novels.
The cliffhanger ending of Frank Herbert's Chapterhouse: Dune (1985) and his subsequent death in 1986 left some overarching plotlines unresolved.[2][3] Released on August 22, 2006, Hunters continues the story of the danger posed to humanity by a remote, unnamed, but ever-present "great enemy". The novel is based on notes left behind by Frank Herbert,[4][5][6] but Hunters and its 2007 sequel Sandworms of Dune represent the authors' version of what Frank Herbert referred to as Dune 7, his own planned seventh novel in the Dune series.
The first five chapters of the novel were available prior to the novel's publication via free download from the official Dune website, released monthly from March until July in 2006.
Plot
[edit]For three years, the no-ship Ithaca has been in an alternate universe, hiding from the "great enemy". It carries the clones, or gholas, of Duncan Idaho and famous military commander Miles Teg; plus the Bene Gesserit Sheeana, the last Bene Tleilax Master Scytale, a group of Jews, other humans, four Futar man-beasts, and seven small melange-producing sandworms. Scytale has shared the secret of producing melange, also called "spice", in tanks, because the sandworms do not produce enough to allow the ship to continue traveling. The mysterious Oracle of Time speaks to Duncan and brings the no-ship back into the "regular" universe. The ship is discovered by the mysterious Daniel and Marty, mentioned at the end of Chapterhouse: Dune. They attempt to capture the ship, but it escapes.
On Chapterhouse, the only remaining source of spice, Murbella, now the leader of the Honored Matres and Bene Gesserit, attempts to merge the groups into the New Sisterhood and prevent civil war, despite the ultimately-fatal bickering of Bene Gesserit Bellonda and Honored Matre Doria. Desperate for more spice so that their Navigators can travel through space, the Spacing Guild approaches her, but Murbella refuses, threatening to cut them off completely. Known only to the Bene Gesserit, the Chapterhouse sandworms produce little melange; the Bene Gesserit make up the shortfall with their own stockpiles.
Though Honored Matres destroyed nearly all Bene Tleilax worlds, their descendants (the Lost Tleilaxu) have returned from the Scattering. They use the shape-stealing Face Dancers for espionage, until the Face Dancers kill Tleilaxu Elder Burah and replace him with a duplicate. It is revealed that they replaced all Lost Tleilaxu Elders, as well as countless humans on various Old Empire planets. Their leader Khrone sends Tleilaxu scribe Uxtal to serve rebel Honored Matre leader Hellica, who proclaimed herself Matre Superior and now rules the conquered Bene Tleilax homeworld, Tleilax.
The desperate Spacing Guild goes to Ix seeking an alternative means of space travel. Khrone and his Face Dancers secretly infiltrated Ix, plotting to dominate the universe. Working with Daniel and Marty, Khrone offers their advanced navigation technology to the Guild as if it were Ixian-designed. The Guild agrees to develop this technology if they have a monopoly on it.
Uxtal is forced to use Tleilaxu axlotl tank technology to produce the adrenaline-enhancing drug Honored Matres use. Khrone tasks Uxtal to make a ghola of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen as sociopathic as the original. Khrone obtains the blood of Paul Atreides and has Uxtal make a ghola of Paul; he intends to use the Baron's ghola to twist Paul's ghola into a weapon for Daniel and Marty's conquest of the universe. Later, Guild Navigator Edrik comes to Tleilax seeking Uxtal's knowledge of axlotl tanks; the Navigator fears his kind's obsolescence when Ixian navigation technology becomes available. He seeks a tank-based source of spice to break the Bene Gesserit monopoly, but everyone believes that technology died with the Tleilaxu Masters. Eventually, Uxtal accesses the genetic material of deceased Master Waff, and creates several Waff gholas, hoping to recover the technology.
The Tleilaxu sustain their lives indefinitely using gholas; Scytale's current body is dying, and he lacks a replacement. He has a secret to use as a bargaining tool: a hidden nullentropy capsule containing cells of numerous important historical figures secretly collected by Tleilaxu for millennia, as far back as the Butlerian Jihad. The Bene Gesserit viciously debate over whether to create gholas of any of them. A few at a time, the historical gholas are created, and Scytale is given a new body.
On Chapterhouse, Murbella creates the Valkyries, an elite New Sisterhood strike force. They successfully attack rebel Honored Matre strongholds on other planets, discovering that some Matres are disguised Face Dancers. Murbella accesses Other Memory from her Matre ancestors and learns their true origins: they were vengeful Tleilaxu females, freed and assimilated by Fish Speakers and Bene Gesserit fleeing in the Scattering. Tleilaxu females had been enslaved for use as axlotl tanks by Tleilaxu males for millennia. These origins were forgotten; Murbella now understands why Honored Matres annihilated Tleilaxu worlds in the Old Empire.
On the no-ship, rebel Bene Gesserit attempt to murder the Leto II ghola, but are foiled when he transforms into a sandworm. Sheeana has visions that suggest the use of the gholas is dangerous, and halts the program until she knows more. The Paul ghola, helped by the Chani ghola, steals and consumes an overdose of spice in an attempt to remember his past, but instead has a vision of being stabbed by an evil version of himself. After the Bene Gesserit discover him, he concludes he has regained prescience.
Daniel and Marty tell Khrone to discard the Baron and Paul gholas, as they have lured the Ithaca into a trap, and expect soon to capture the Paul ghola. Working to his own ends, Khrone continues to prepare the gholas, restoring the Baron's memories - including Alia, who taunts the Baron - and instructing him to train the Paul ghola, which he renames Paolo. Paolo does not yet have his memories.
Murbella contracts Ix's competitor Richese to provide armaments to fight the great enemy, but rebel Honored Matres destroy the planet to cripple the Sisterhood. Murbella and her Valkyries - including her daughter Janess Idaho - successfully assault Tleilax, the most powerful rebel Matre stronghold, and discover that many, including Matre Superior Hellica, were Face Dancers. Uxtal, after suffering forced sexual imprinting by ugly crone Matre Ingva, dies trying to escape, eaten by sligs, but the only surviving Waff ghola finds refuge with the Spacing Guild, offering Edrik genetic knowledge for the Guild to create their own sandworms.
The Ithaca stumbles upon the homeworld of the Futars' Handlers. An exploratory party discovers that the "Handlers" are actually Face Dancers, and barely escape back to the ship, aided by the self-sacrifice of Hrrm the Futar. Some Face Dancer ships crash into the Ithaca, and the chaos makes it impossible to know if Face Dancers replaced any passengers. The emergency forces Teg to reveal his hidden power of superhuman speed. Duncan, who considers making a Murbella ghola, is cured of his Murbella obsession by mutual imprinting with Sheanna.
Murbella, now in complete control of Honored Matres and Bene Gesserit, prepares a defense against the great enemy, now identified by Other Memory to be thinking machines of Omnius, the machine overlord destroyed in the ancient Butlerian Jihad. The Oracle of Time is revealed to be the living consciousness of Norma Cenva, somehow also still in existence millennia after the Jihad.
Daniel and Marty are revealed to be Omnius and the independent robot, Erasmus. Before its destruction, the Omnius incarnation on Giedi Prime had launched thousands of probes capable of constructing new machine colonies on any planets encountered. One probe eventually intercepted a signal transmitted by the last remaining Omnius on Corrin before it too was destroyed. Its forces and Synchronized Empire finally reassembled, the new version of the Evermind is on the way back to the Old Empire to destroy all humanity.
Reception
[edit]The New York Times said of Hunters of Dune that "Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson go through the motions, but they don't often seem to be having much fun with their material ... by the end of Hunters, they have done little more than set the table for Sandworms of Dune."[2]
References
[edit]- ^ "Classify: An experimental classification web service". OCLC Classify. OCLC. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
- ^ a b Itzkoff, Dave (September 24, 2006). "Across the Universe: Dune Babies". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 24, 2015. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
- ^ Snider, John C. (August 2007). "Audiobook Review: Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert & Kevin J Anderson". SciFiDimensions.com (Internet Archive). Archived from the original on May 13, 2008. Retrieved July 20, 2011.
- ^ Liptak, Andrew (September 13, 2016). "The authors of Navigators of Dune on building an epic, lasting world". The Verge. Archived from the original on July 24, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
Quinn, Judy (November 17, 1997). "Bantam Pays $3M for Dune Prequels by Herbert's Son". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
The new prequels ... will be based on notes and outlines Frank Herbert left at his death in 1986.
Anderson, Kevin J. (December 16, 2005). "Dune 7 blog: Conspiracy Theories". Archived from the original on October 12, 2007. Retrieved October 12, 2008 – via DuneNovels.com.
Frank Herbert wrote a detailed outline for Dune 7 and he left extensive Dune 7 notes, as well as stored boxes of his descriptions, epigraphs, chapters, character backgrounds, historical notes—over a thousand pages worth.
- ^ Neuman, Clayton (August 17, 2009). "Winds of Dune Author Brian Herbert on Flipping the Myth of Jihad". AMC. Archived from the original on September 21, 2009. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
I got a call from an estate attorney who asked me what I wanted to do with two safety deposit boxes of my dad's ... in them were the notes to Dune 7—it was a 30-page outline. So I went up in my attic and found another 1,000 pages of working notes.
"Before Dune, After Frank Herbert". Amazon.com. 2004. Archived from the original on April 9, 2009. Retrieved November 12, 2008.
Brian was cleaning out his garage to make an office space and he found all these boxes that had 'Dune Notes' on the side. And we used a lot of them for our House books.
"Interview with Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson". Arrakis.ru. 2004. Archived from the original on September 8, 2012. Retrieved November 12, 2008.
We had already started work on House Atreides ... After we already had our general outline written and the proposal sent to publishers, then we found the outlines and notes. (This necessitated some changes, of course.)
- ^ Ascher, Ian (2004). "Kevin J. Anderson Interview". DigitalWebbing.com. Archived from the original on July 3, 2007. Retrieved July 3, 2007.
... we are ready to tackle the next major challenge—writing the grand climax of the saga that Frank Herbert left in his original notes sealed in a safe deposit box ... after we'd already decided what we wanted to write ... They opened up the safe deposit box and found inside the full and complete outline for Dune 7 ... Later, when Brian was cleaning out his garage, in the back he found ... over three thousand pages of Frank Herbert's other notes, background material, and character sketches.
Adams, John Joseph (August 9, 2006). "New Dune Books Resume Story". SciFi.com. Archived from the original on December 19, 2007. Retrieved December 19, 2007.
Anderson said that Frank Herbert's notes included a description of the story and a great deal of character background information. 'But having a roadmap of the U.S. and actually driving across the country are two different things,' he said. 'Brian and I had a lot to work with and a lot to expand...'
Snider, John C. (August 2007). "Audiobook Review: Hunters of Dune by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson". SciFiDimensions.com. Archived from the original on March 24, 2008. Retrieved February 15, 2009.
the co-authors have expanded on Herbert's brief outline
