Book Review: Frank Herbert – Dune Messiah (1969)

Published by www.nemira.ro

First impression regarding the second book in the Dune series is that Dune Messiah is an epilogue gone wrong. Remember how Dune ends rather abruptly with everything being quickly settled in the last chapter after the big conflagration in the end? We aren’t given the slightest hint about the future concerning Paul. We know what the others think but we don’t know anything for certain, not what the author himself foresees for him. That leaves us a little disappointed and disconcerted. It makes up want to be a sequel out there so we can continue our trip into that arid world accompanied by the characters we have become fond of. And, yes, there is a sequel. Brilliant marketing to sell another book? Who knows.

Most people I discussed the book with either love it or hate it. My mind is set something in between. I usually don’t care for epilogues, most of the time I feel they’re useless and not more than a filler. This time I strongly felt the need for one. Maybe the writer did too, and once he started writing he realized there is a whole story to say and he just couldn’t stop, until another novel-like story saw the light of day. Well, not quite.

As a stand alone novel Dune Messiah, while loaded with interesting concepts and analysis, is not as solid and powerful as Dune. Further more, it misses the intricate background masterly portrayed in Dune and, a personal objection, it’s rather short. If the fan fiction concept had existed at the time, I would have said that someone had taken only the needed element from the original work and used them to play at will. Of course, Herbert’s wisdom and personal views are recognizable although the book and no aspiring writer would have been able to produce such a finite work.

As a sequel, it comes with a slightly different vibe, familiar characters are left unused and contrary to the escalation known tendency for sequels it focuses predominantly on Arrakis and on a single person, Paul. In a way this can be considered a biography of a fictional hero, only that, again, the covered period of time is too short. The hero gets discarded way too soon, or so we’re left to believe, and frankly who would want to shoot the cashing cow?

So neither concept really works. For me though, I like to consider it an intermission, a bridge between the main body of work called Dune and the real sequel Children of Dune. From this perspective the whole array of books works for me. Each one is different in its own way having its particularities and you don’t have to love them all as long as you don’t skip any of it.

And what is it about? Oh, just Paul’s life on Arrakis, torn between the loved one and the path he has to take. But don’t let me get into details, read it for yourself!

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Written for Nemira Fan SF campaign:
“Aceasta recenzie face parte din campania Fan SF”

Book Review: Frank Herbert - Dune (1965)

Published by www.nemira.ro

For a new campaign let’s start with a new series…

I first read Dune in eight grade when my dad bought it for me. At the time I didn’t know the novel had won the Hugo and Nebula Awards and I hadn’t read anything by Frank Herbert before. It was all new to me. From the first reading I was sold. Dune became my favorite SF book, hell, favorite book all together, and it turned me into a major SF fan. So I guess Mr. Herbert gets the blame for it, or all the prizes, depends on how you look at it.

Imagine an Empire spread although the entire known universe. In this Empire imagine one

little planet that holds the key to the life as we know it. Dune. Or Arrakis as the indigene population calls it. A planet covered in sand, hiding an immense treasure in its depth. The Spice. The spice mélange is the energy that fuels all activities in this universe. It prolongs lives delaying aging and it enhances prescient awareness. Without it there would be no space travel.

In such circumstances the one who controls the spice controls everything, and in this case the Emperor Shaddam IV does. Laws prohibit the storage of spice and he has control over Arrakis so his position is secure. But there’s another major House that is making a powerful impression on the political scene. Duke Leto Atreides is highly respected by the other Great Houses and his fighting force is close to competing with Emperor’s Sardaukars. To top it all the Duke is a distant cousin of Shaddam and therefore first in line to the throne. Of course the Emperor is worried, he put too much work into getting to that throne to let Leto have it, regardless the fact that Duke Leto is well-known for his justice and loyalty and would do no such thing.

It’s time to setup a trap. House Atreides is awarded the honor to supervise the production of spice on Arrakis, a fief until then run by the Harkonnens, the long time enemies of the Atreides. Following the Emperor’s orders Duke Leto is forced to leave his home planet, the green Caladan, and move to Arrakis along with his concubine, Jessica, teenage son, Paul, and entire house. The wheels are spinning.

Fighting and ditching intricate plots we witness Paul’s raise to power in an environment where everything from nature to people seems to be working against him. The planet itself is used as a device to make a statement concerning the ecological threats, this being considered one of the first majors attempts made by a fiction writer to infuse his ecological views into his work.

The story ends leaving plenty of room for the novels to come. It is in fact the story of young Paul Atreides, following the path led by his father who also lost his father while very young and going far beyond that. We see the circumstances and reasons that led to major changes in the known and unknown future, in a world ruled by complicated political plots and strong and complex characters we do not wish to part with.

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Written for Nemira Fan SF campaign:

“Aceasta recenzie face parte din campania Fan SF”

E-mail from Hugh Jackman regarding Wolverine

Hugh Jackman has had enough with all the rumours regarding the X-Men Origins: Wolverine reshooting currently taking place in Vancouver and he sent Ain't It Cool an e-mail to clarify the situation. He also attached a new promotional photo:

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - An Unofficial Website

Two New Terminator Salvation Photos

Check out two new Terminator Salvation photos at:

A Terminator 4 Bale - An Unofficial Website

New Wolverine Photo

Check out a new Wolverine photo from X-Men Origins: Wolverine at:

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - An Unofficial Website

The Dark Knight FF

A sequel to The Dark Knight:

Twelve Days To Christmas

Movie Review: Australia

*** MIGTH CONTAIN SPOILERS! ***

Featuring: Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Brian Brown, David Wenham

Genre: drama, romance, adventure

Plot: British aristocrat goes Down Under to inherit a cattle farm, which she fights to save.

Official website: http://www.australiamovie.com/

Comments: What can I say? I honestly had high hopes for this one. I mean, it’s not often that you get Jackman, Kidman and Luhrmann on the same set. Unfortunately the director forgot something, in order to make a great movie you can’t rely only on great visuals and no matter how good the actors are and how hard they try, you still need a decent plot and, most importantly, script… which was missing. Too bad… ‘cause this could have been great. And it wasn’t.

Rating: 8/10

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Official Trailer and Screenshots

Watch the X-Men Origins: Wolverine trailer and check out the screenshots on:

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - An Unofficial Website

Book Review: Vernor Vinge – A Fire Upon the Deep (1992)

Published by www.nemira.ro

In an universe built of layers of zones of thoughts, a superior Power is threatening to destroy like a plague the world as we know it. Researchers studying old archives that are suspected to hide something related to the menacing Power manage to run away with the secret that can save everyone and in their way to take it to a safe place their ship crashes on a planet from an inferior zone of thoughts.

The medieval society living on that planet is formed of a species of dog-like intelligent creatures. They live in packs of up to eight individuals, the more members in the pack the more intelligent the creature as a whole being. The advantage of the packs’ is the hive mentality and capacity to act and think like just one person. The down side of it is the fact that such packs can’t get close together or touch one another except during battle or orgies because their mental waves get mixed up when in near proximity and they lose themselves as a whole.

In this world there are two major clans that are at war, Lord Steel, known for his cruel experiments who continues the work of Skinner, another controversial personality famous for its cruelty, and the Woodcarver, possibly the oldest pack still alive, which is more on the creative side. The ship crashes in the middle of the on going conflict and from the occupants of the ship, a family with two kids, the adults are killed during the crash by the indigene population. A pilgrim pack saves the older girl and takes her to the Woodcarver, while the younger boy, the ship and its entire content which includes over 150 children held in capsules in catatonic state are held captive by Lord Steel.

Separately they learn to communicate with each other and learn from one another, especially the dogs from the humans. The girl has a computer with her that facilitates communication and teaches dogs to speak the human’s language. The boy is raised together with a pack of puppies with advanced math skills, which accepts him as a member of the pack.

The ship is broken but the boy figures out how to use the radio and contact an employee working at the Relay, the main data communication system in the universe. They are also in contact with an old Power that succumbs to the plague’s attack. Before dying though, this one uploads into his made-up human counterpart the info and procedures needed to fight the plague. And so the woman from the Relay and the man from the old age go on a ship of two merchant skroderiders, vegetal life forms possessing special vehicles that enhance their short term memory, and together they start on a long journey meant to save the child, help the dog clan allegedly under attack and save the universe.

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Written for “Scrie ca sa primesti…o carte”

Book Review: Frank Herbert & Bill Ranson – The Ascension Factor (1988)

Published by www.nemira.ro

The Ascension Factor is my favorite book from the trilogy, maybe because is the first I read years ago. I was still fresh from entering the Dune universe and had proclaimed myself a Frank Herbert lover although I hadn’t read anything else beside the Dune series, so I was quite excited to delve into another, thick, book written by him.

As a stand alone piece this book works quite well, and the aquatic universe was a nice change after the sands from Dune, even if the pace and style is a little different. Compared to the events in the previous book from the trilogy the conditions and environment have changed. The seaweeds have been used to create the inexistent ground at the surface and now there are continents.

People living on them are still oppressed, the politic of starvation and food control being continued by the current leader. Ironically, this one is a clone of the original priest/psychologist from the Ship that has brought them there on Pandora, the same person who was brought back from cryogenic sleep in The Jesus Incident to teach people how to worship the Ship. He keeps things on a tight leash, his tyrant reign causes the people to revolt setting up a rebel move that fights against him. His current project is to design a spaceship similar to the original Ship and move the population to another planet in order to preserve it.

Meantime the seaweeds are kept under a certain control by the current control center placed on the orbit, and repeated bombing. The large vegetation mass that calls itself Avata is not as docile as it seems though. Scintillations appear in the seaweed population on and off in a sort of communication language and there’s a young woman who has been found in the water, presumably being a creation of the seaweeds, and kept prisoner by the ones in charge for several years. She has no recollection of the time spent in the seaweed environment and little connection with the world and outside people, while she shares the memories held by Avata and possesses a large amount of mental power that make ordinary people consider her a God-like. An entire religion is built around her.

In these circumstances a well-known journalist who is supporting the rebels goes underground along with the escaped woman to investigate the new ship that is being built and help the resistance. Separately they have no answers but together along with Avata they found what they need to prevent a catastrophe.

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Written for “Scrie ca sa primesti… o carte”