Personally, I'm fine just ignoring all of the nuDune stuff because experience has taught me it's just not worth the energy.
Yes, the "house trilogy" that was first out of the gate was OK. Passable pulp sci-fi; Which is kind of a problem since Dune wasn't really pulp sci-fi, and neither were any of Frank's sequels. It's not just the shift in the quality of writing it's the implicit level of intelligence behind the writing and the shift in tone. Even when Frank was all but phoning it in in the later novels, he still cared enough to imbue the text with layers and some nuance.
Next up was I think the Butlarian Jihad books, which is a story many fans were very curious about since it's some of Dune's deep lore; akin to the first and second age stuff in Tolkien's works. And what we got was...mostly more of the same, only worse. Paper thin characters, schlocky horror cliché in place of an actual antagonist, and a plot so convoluted and yet so boring that it really didn't need 3 books to play out. This is not just a step down from greatness, or failing to live up to the impossible standards of a genius. It's minimum effort hackery. They didn't even *try* to honour Frank's work, indeed they actively tried to *replace* it.
For me the final insult was the "conclusion" to Frank's original novel series. Which managed to be even more superficial, less sensical and weirdly forgettable. Worse, it was basically a crappy sequel to their own other books in disguise, and again stretched out to several books when one would have more than sufficed. I gather after that there's been more, but I don't care. Learnt my lesson. Not interested.
Now here's the thing; while I also have no skin in the game when it comes to KJA & BH as people (though KJA also being in on some of the most dire crap in the old Star Wars EU doesn't help matters.) But most accounts I've heard of their interactions with the fanbase, combined with the stagnant creativity and diminishing returns in writing quality leaves me inclined to take most of what I hear at face value and just avoid it altogether.
Dune has the potential to be a *great* franchise. It could have been to epic sci-fi what Tolkien is the epic fantasy...but the Herbert estate doesn't seem to care. It seems to only want to harvest the maximum profits from the minimum investment. Low effort. Lowest common denominator. Creatively bankrupt. Tripe.
And if anyone else what's to go read it; fine! I truly hope you enjoy it. But please don't make out that they rest of us that do not share that opinion are being mindlessly critical, or trying to hold something to an impossible standard. We've been to that restaurant, we've been served the rancid meat, and we saw the rat droppings by the kitchen. We're not in any hurry to go back there. The one star rating was overly generous. You go nuts, but for us; no thank you!
Yes, the "house trilogy" that was first out of the gate was OK. Passable pulp sci-fi; Which is kind of a problem since Dune wasn't really pulp sci-fi, and neither were any of Frank's sequels. It's not just the shift in the quality of writing it's the implicit level of intelligence behind the writing and the shift in tone. Even when Frank was all but phoning it in in the later novels, he still cared enough to imbue the text with layers and some nuance.
Next up was I think the Butlarian Jihad books, which is a story many fans were very curious about since it's some of Dune's deep lore; akin to the first and second age stuff in Tolkien's works. And what we got was...mostly more of the same, only worse. Paper thin characters, schlocky horror cliché in place of an actual antagonist, and a plot so convoluted and yet so boring that it really didn't need 3 books to play out. This is not just a step down from greatness, or failing to live up to the impossible standards of a genius. It's minimum effort hackery. They didn't even *try* to honour Frank's work, indeed they actively tried to *replace* it.
For me the final insult was the "conclusion" to Frank's original novel series. Which managed to be even more superficial, less sensical and weirdly forgettable. Worse, it was basically a crappy sequel to their own other books in disguise, and again stretched out to several books when one would have more than sufficed. I gather after that there's been more, but I don't care. Learnt my lesson. Not interested.
Now here's the thing; while I also have no skin in the game when it comes to KJA & BH as people (though KJA also being in on some of the most dire crap in the old Star Wars EU doesn't help matters.) But most accounts I've heard of their interactions with the fanbase, combined with the stagnant creativity and diminishing returns in writing quality leaves me inclined to take most of what I hear at face value and just avoid it altogether.
Dune has the potential to be a *great* franchise. It could have been to epic sci-fi what Tolkien is the epic fantasy...but the Herbert estate doesn't seem to care. It seems to only want to harvest the maximum profits from the minimum investment. Low effort. Lowest common denominator. Creatively bankrupt. Tripe.
And if anyone else what's to go read it; fine! I truly hope you enjoy it. But please don't make out that they rest of us that do not share that opinion are being mindlessly critical, or trying to hold something to an impossible standard. We've been to that restaurant, we've been served the rancid meat, and we saw the rat droppings by the kitchen. We're not in any hurry to go back there. The one star rating was overly generous. You go nuts, but for us; no thank you!
