Chapterhouse: Dune

Introspective character perspectives that propel the story forward. A thrilling, imaginative plot, full of wisdom, that flows in river rapids, the currents of a sea. Written vividly and viscerally, developing characters through their internal dialogue predominately. Perhaps the most introspective novel of the series as the Bene Gesserit plan for their survival.

What else is there to say? Hell I didn't even say anything yet, the book speaks for itself. Dune's awesome. This paperback run of the series is definitely cool. Great buy.

In Chapterhouse Dune, the usual players are back with the Bene Gesserit and the Bene Tleilaxu coupled with the Honored Matres, who are hell-bent on destroying everything in their path coming back from Leto the Second's Great Scattering. Previously, the reader briefly meets the Honored Matres, the corrupt offspring of the Bene Gesserit sent out into the Scattering and Heretics of Dune ends with the capture of a valuable Honored Matre in Murbella. Fast forward to the present and Murbella is becoming more and more heavily influenced by the Bene Gesserit and starts to give up her Honored Matre roots to become a full Reverend Mother. In Chapterhouse Dune, Murbella becomes a valuable tool for the Bene Gesserit, both in giving them invaluable insight into the ways and ideas of the Honored Matres but also as a valuable advisor to the Sisterhood itself. In addition, the Bene Tleilaxu are being wiped out in incredible numbers from both the Honored Matres from the Scattering and their own corrupt Tleilaxu that came back from the Scattering. As indicated earlier, the Honored Matres are back from the Scattering and hell-bent on not only destroying every planet in Leto's Old Empire, but intently seek the Bene Gesserit's home planet of Chapterhouse Dune so that they may have a firm rule on the galaxy once and for all. Yet, there are some questions surrounding the Honored Matres that the Bene Gesserit begin to ask. Why are the Honored Matres back from the Scattering? Is it strictly their hatred of the Bene Gesserit and all it represents? Or were they driven back from the Scattering by someone or something? These questions are answered in Chapterhouse and the answers are fairly surprising. In come the Bene Gesserit and their quest to save the known empire. Odrade is now a full Mother Superior stepping in for the deceased Mother Superior Taraza. A lot of the issues that faced Taraza are on Odrade's plate now. A lot of the book revolves around Odrade's "mysterious plan" that she lets others in on in bits and pieces. However, Odrade throughout a lot of the book goes against the typical Bene Gesserit grain and she must balance maintaining order within the Bene Gesserit and it's few factions with battling the Honored Matres against the slaughtering of all of the planets they've worked so hard to populate. There are a few new cogs in her plan as Murbella comes to their side, as Sheeana gradually begins her training for the Bene Gesserit, and a new ghola of an old friend from Heretics of Dune are all part of Odrade's new plan. What I liked a lot about this book was the fact that the Bene Gesserit finally SEEM to be human. For the past 5 books or so, all the reader saw was a very manipulative religious sect that did whatever it could as long as it benefited the Bene Gesserit line. If it didn't benefit humanity too then that was just too bad. Chapterhouse Dune gives the Sisterhood a very human side as their new Mother Superior in Odrade struggles against time honored traditions and rules of the Bene Gesserit in her attempt to adapt the Bene Gesserit into the modern world and for once, saving humanity as well. The main reason I give this book only 4 stars, is the fact that the final battle between the Bene Gesserit and Honored Matres was a disappointment overall. I expected a little bit more of an epic battle/struggle/etc that what transpired in the last 40 pages or so. In addition, an improbable solution between the Bene Gesserit and Honored Matres seems a little ridiculous after their vicious hatred for each other and especially their histories throughout the last 2 books or so. Then the Tleilaxu getting very little face time in Chapterhouse and being passively slaughtered without a big fight really was a little disappointing. They were such an intriguing group in the whole plot against Paul, Leto II, and the Bene Gesserit. Yet, despite my few complaints towards the end, I still absolutely loved Chapterhouse Dune. I haven't enjoyed a series this much since I read Stephen King's Dark Tower Series and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Series. As others have said, Herbert spent 6 years just researching the concepts that would make the Dune Series alone and in a great portion of the books, you can tell it's very well-researched and thought out. Couple that with the fact that a lot of these books are going for bargain prices on Amazon Marketplace makes the series an even more attractive one to any potential Dune readers. I almost gave up on the Dune Series 3 years ago when I couldn't understand the first book in Dune. The terminology sometimes is difficult, but my best advice would be just to read through it. Particularly do a lot of your glossary reading in the first book and even though there aren't any glossaries in the rest of the books, you can deduce a lot of terms just from the first book alone. Above all, Thank you Frank Herbert for some of the best science fiction I've read. -Travis

The story telling is, without saying, mesmerizing. I read them all for the third time on Kindle and it was even better than before. I read it in the past and much was lost on me. I read it now and, I must say, Herbert is 100% correct. The present affects your past. When I read it again in the future under a lamp of unknown and unguessed qualities how will I interpret his words then? You get out of this final chapter what you have to put into it. Spoiler Alert!!! This time around and, after reading his son's collaborations, I especially enjoyed the dropped hints that Holtzman was not the originator of the Holtzman equations. In the text itself he demonstrates that the written word of history cannot be relied upon. Brilliant. The second thing I noticed is the prediction of the Cycle of Government. Rebels, Entrenched power, Bureaucracy, Aristocracy, and finally: Oppression to maintain the status quo. It is interesting that this seems to be happening now. Or already has happened (again). Interesting Times. While this work it much more "cerebral" than Heretics, It winds up the Old Empire, the Golden Path, and the players of the finite game. All the crazy Atredies Heretics with their wild Siona genes going freaking wild in a infinite Universe. Unleashed. Finally. Sort of leaves you wanting more.

Excellent chapter in an excellent series of books. The amazing continuity in the entire, 6 book series as it spans vast millennia is wonderful. I consider this series to represent a perfect melding of sci-fi & fantasy, with technology as well as sword wielding, feudal societies, and mystical powers. Plots & conspiracy that have been adhered to and advanced over those millennia, The Bene Tlielax, purveyors and creators of fantastic and forbidden technologies and secret practitioners of a supposedly extinct religion, the Bene Gesserit(sp?) (witches, to some) a society of Women who outwardly exist only to serve, and they do serve well, often enriching those they serve, but with, some would say dark ulterior motives, at the center of which is their ancient breeding program whereby they seek to control the evolution of the whole human race. Women so in tune and in touch with their minds, musculature & nervous systems as to appear to be possessing mystical powers such as Voice the ability to read another so well that one can pitch their voice in just the right tone so as to force compliance on a subject with a word, Truthsense, the ability to read falsehood in almost anyone, genetic memories spanning thousands of generations, passed on from Reverend-mothers about to die with another adept to preserve the combined wisdom and knowledge acquired through the ages. The ability to be relaxing, to be slouching in a chair one instant and be across the room holding your larynx ripped from your bleeding throat quicker than you can blink. There are body shields and house shiields, that stop projectiles making guns all but obsolete, hence the swords. V-STOL aircraft called ornithopters (for their birdlike wings) or thopters for short. The Spacing Guild with their monopoly on inter-stellar travel which they hold in an iron grip. Sword masters who are adept with a wide array of weapons and lightning reflexes and minds that come closer to the Bene Gesserit than almost any others. Mentats, human computers to skirt the ancient laws spawned by the Butlerian Jihad outlawing most "technology" but most especially "thinking machines." and at the heart of it all, The Spice, "Melange" produced once only by the giant sand-worms (the holy makers, Shai-hulud) of Arrakis (Dune). the substance that prolongs life, that sharpens physical and mental prowess, that grants the Spacing Guild navigator their ability to "fold space" to achieve faster than light speed travel, that gives prescient abilities to the Bene Gesserit and to Paul Muad Dib and his descendants,and is highly addictive with the most apparentsymptom being the entire eyeball turning blue, the pupil, the irisand the white. A vast rich universe of adventure. I highly recommend the entire six book series.

I enjoyed Chapterhouse Dune. But I enjoyed it the way I enjoy most science fiction; I'm a fan of the genre and Herbert is an excellent writer. This novel, along with it's predecessor Heretics of Dune are both a long way (both narratively, universally and chronologically) from the first three books of the Dune series. In this book, Herbert transitions away from the local environment as the primary influence on personal and social behavior and moves to the interpenetrated relationship of society and environment. This stands in stark contrast to the earlier Dune books which focuses on the role of the environment in shaping people. In some ways I feel that Herbert is like Leto II of the earlier books in this series, he is trying to break away from the narrative he established earlier and finding it very difficult. Also like Leto II, he cannot seem to rid himself of Duncan Idaho. The Chapterhouse Dune has all the philosophical and political discussions of his earlier works, but many of the arguments are familiar by this point. This is still a great book, and well worth reading but simply doesn't measure up to the earlier texts.

Recomiendo todas las noveles de DUNE.

Ah, Frank. You left us too soon. So ends the Dune Saga. Unfinished, with one planned book remaining. Of course there are the books by his son, Brian, but that's not a can of worms (no pun intended) I need to open here and now. It's a sad thing, when a master cannot complete their opus. I've seen it with Robert Jordan and the Wheel of Time, though admittedly Sanderson stepped in and did a better job than I have any reason to expect Brian Herbert did. Can of worms, can of worms... Chapterhouse: Dune opens shortly after the events that concluded Heretics of Dune. It is not made explicit how many years have passed, but it can't have been more than a decade (and this is quite a short span given how many years passed between books four and five, and between books three and four before it). For this reason, it was very fun to fall into the novel shortly after Heretics. As is typical of Frank, he sets up new and interesting pieces to move around his cosmic chessboard while maintaining the complexities of the series at large, and continuing on with the same ultimate issue of the fifth book: The Honored Matres. One of the best things that can be said for Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune is that they both dive so, so deeply into the Bene Gesserit, who are in general one of the most fascinating groups I have ever read about. They are an incredible mix of philosophical wisdom, metaphysical insight, moral fitness, and pure discipline. They are that ultimate guiding hand in the background, the universe's teachers ensuring the maturation of humankind. This being the case, we see in the Honored Matres a natural enemy for the Sisterhood. They who thrive in chaos. The wild thing that no one can govern. An unknown entity out of unknown space, remnants of the Scattering of humankind. Throwing these two groups at one another, not to mention the other players still making waves in the Dune universe, makes for some of Frank's most enticing conversations. But it must be said, he was faltering at times, here at the end. Frank spent a great deal of time dealing with what felt like needless obfuscation in this final entry. The Bene Gesserit have always been a group so far advanced in mental disciplines that you can read the words and feel like you're missing the real meaning. This has actually been something I've always enjoyed about them, because it doesn't feel like nonsense. It feels like a real offshoot of modern humanity, and a believable eventuality of dedicated breeding in a sci-fi universe. Be that as it may, it felt like Frank was shuffling his feet in some areas here. One could site real-life influences for this (Frank gives an absolutely beautiful tribute at the end to his wife Bev who died during the writing of this book), or perhaps it had more to do with my own mental space and mood while reading it, but no matter the reason it is a truth of my experience. Important to note though, I think he wrote a hell of an ending for this one. The problems I had with the earlier portions of the book completely dropped away in the last hundred pages or so, and I was incredibly eager for more. Which, of course, made Frank's death only a year after the publishing of Chapterhouse hurt even worse. I also want to mention that there were a surprising amount of errors in the kindle version of this book. Grammatical errors, missing letters, misplaced italics. None of the other installments have these issues, so I can only imagine it will be fixed for future readers (especially with so much buzz around the series right now due to Villeneuve's forthcoming adaptation--the very inspiration for my own re-read.) Problems with this installment aside, facts are facts. Frank Herbert was a master. A giant in the genre who paved the way for so many. I owe a lot to him, and to Dune. It will hold a special place in my heart for the rest of my life. And I look forward to revisiting it for many years to come.

Se siete arrivati al sesto volume, sapete già che non si torna indietro. Ho acquistato questa edizione di Chapterhouse: Dune (copertina flessibile Ace, edizione 2019) per mantenere la coerenza visiva con gli altri volumi della serie che hanno questo stile grafico moderno e geometrico. È un volume agrodolce, essendo l'ultimo scritto interamente da Frank Herbert prima della sua scomparsa, e questa edizione "Trade Paperback" (il formato più grande, non il tascabile economico da edicola) rende l'esperienza di lettura decisamente più piacevole. Punti di Forza (Pro) Leggibilità Superiore: A differenza delle edizioni "Mass Market" (quelle piccole e tozze dove il testo arriva fin dentro la rilegatura), questo formato "Grande libro" ha margini ariosi e un font di dimensioni umane. Potete leggere per ore senza dover forzare l'apertura del libro rischiando di spezzare la colonna vertebrale... del volume. Design da Collezione: La copertina, con quel design astratto e la palette nero/oro/verde acqua, è splendida dal vivo. La finitura è opaca e vellutata al tatto, dando una sensazione molto più "premium" rispetto al prezzo di circa 11€. Flessibilità: La brossura è resistente ma morbida. Il libro si lascia sfogliare bene e rimane aperto sul tavolo senza doverci appoggiare sopra un fermacarte pesante. Aspetti da Considerare (Contro) La "Maledizione" del Soft Touch: La copertina opaca è bellissima ma è una calamita per le impronte digitali e l'unto. Se leggete mentre mangiate patatine, lascerete il segno (letteralmente). Inoltre, gli angoli tendono a sbucciarsi leggermente se lo infilate in borsa senza protezione. Carta Standard: Non aspettatevi la carta pregiata delle edizioni Deluxe. Le pagine sono nel classico colore crema/grigiastro tipico dei paperback americani; funzionale, ma niente di lussuoso. Esperienza d'Uso Tipica L'ho letto principalmente la sera sul divano. Il peso è bilanciato (non è un mattone come le edizioni Hardcover Omnibus) e la carta non riflette la luce della lampada, il che aiuta molto. Visivamente, messo in fila con Heretics of Dune e God Emperor della stessa collana, fa un figurone sullo scaffale. Conclusione Questa edizione Ace è il miglior compromesso tra prezzo ed estetica per chi vuole leggere il finale della saga originale. Consigliato a chi sta collezionando la serie con le nuove copertine grafiche e vuole un testo leggibile. Sconsigliato a chi cerca un libro "da battaglia" da maltrattare nello zaino: la copertina è troppo delicata per sopravvivere indenne. La Dritta in Più: In queste edizioni americane "Trade Paperback", la colla della rilegatura può essere un po' rigida all'inizio. Non aprite mai il libro di scatto a 180 gradi appena comprato. Il trucco: appoggiate il dorso su un tavolo, aprite poche pagine alla volta alternando fronte e retro, e premete delicatamente vicino alla rilegatura. Questo "scioglie" la colla e previene che il libro si spacchi a metà o perda pagine tra qualche anno.

Book came scratched on the cover

Aight, this one was the most boring Dune entry I’ve read. Every single gripe, that everyone said about the continuation of the series creates a prominent issue here. Politics is less exiting and borderline boring, characters are just hanging around and talkin(like a lot) not many stuff happens. Kinda bummer Frank had to say goodbye to this series with the weakest Dune book.

This was a gift. It was well received, just what he wanted. Arrived very quickly on time for a birthday.

I wouldn't say much about the Dune storyline, and this is not my review of it rather just wanted to post photos of the book cause so many buyers like me look for the physical book photos (of how it looks). So I hope this would help them. The binding is very good, smooth and relaxed, convenient for power reading. Short Opinion about DUNE: So, the more you read the Dune books the more you realize that it's not just a Sci-fi epic but it's deep philosophy that Frank Herbert wrote, every page is full of it, and of course with dosages of an epic science fiction saga as well. Although at times very difficult to read and keep focus. So I would suggest anyone, to read at a steady pace and take more breaks. Right now there's so many YT channels about DUNE explanation and story summaries, so watching them also helps a lot. Cheers!