The new Dune book The Winds of Dune will debut at number 15 on the New York Times bestseller list after only one week on sale, the book’s co-author Kevin J. Anderson announced this week. But how good are the new books in the series, compared with Frank Herbert’s originals?

In a lengthy and detailed post over at The Wertzone, Adam Whitehead eviscerates the books published since Herbert’s death in 1986 by Anderson and Herbert’s son, Brian Herbert.

Whitehead writes that he had initially been excited to hear about the publication of the new books, due to what he saw as the potential to enter the Dune universe again with canon material coming from Frank Herbert’s own notes. The first new book, he writes, House Atreides, was merely uninspiring, with some weird plot points.

But it was during the Legends of Dune trilogy that Whitehead seems to have become actively angry about the books, describing the quality of the writing as “astonishingly bad” and noting there were many differences between the depiction of the machine/human war known as the Butlerian Jihad in the Dune universe and Frank Herbert’s original vision.

Whitehead was further annoyed when, he claims, Sandworms of Dune and Hunters of Dune were released, with successive interviews putting paid to the idea that Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson were working from unreleased Frank Herbert material:

“The new Dune books were revealed to be what, in fairness, a lot of less-invested SF commentators had been saying for years: a cynical cash-grab designed to exploit a respected intellectual property and turn it into a franchise … The worst part of all of this is that when I went to reread the original Dune itself a couple of years back, I found myself completely unable to get into it. The sound of Frank Herbert spinning in his grave made it impossible to concentrate on the text.”

Of course, not everyone agrees with Whitehead. As Anderson notes on his blog, The Winds of Dune is the fourteenth Dune novel to hit the New York Times bestseller list. Someone’s buying this stuff. It’s “a winning streak unmatched by any other original science fiction series,” the author writes. “Our publicist wrote us to say that not even Robert Jordan or Terry Goodkind have matched that.  Tor sent us a bottle of champagne to celebrate.”

“Great Winds of Dune signing and talk at Washington DC Borders,” the author added on Twitter this week, referring to his current tour with Brian Herbert. “Six members of 501st in full costume, about 70 people in audience.”

There’s also plenty of positive reviews for the new Dune books to be found.

“Unquestionably, Herbert & Anderson can spin a great yarn; while technically producing a vivid, mystifying universe, filled with characters that are both endearing, and loathsome.” writes Ken on BookSpotCentral. “I recommend this one highly, but be warned, if this is the first Dune book you are reading, get ready to hit the bookstore, because I promise you, it will not be the last!”

And from Library Journal, a brief plaudit:

“Fill[s] in the gaps between the late Frank Herbert’s classic Dune and its sequels Dune Messiah and Children of Dune . . .  This sequel to Paul of Dune is an important addition to the Dune chronology and will be in demand by Herbert fans.”

Even some more traditional sci-fi/fantasy review sites have enthusiastic reviews. On SFCrowsnest.com, Rod MacDonald writes about the audio version of The Butlerian Jihad: “This is interesting and essential listening for all those immersed in the ‘Dune’ universe!”

Commentary
As I’ve noted in a previous article, I don’t think the new Dune books live up to Frank Herbert’s original vision. However I am puzzled by their success. Is it just due to the Dune “brand”? Or is there something here that hardcore Dune fans like myself are missing, that the wider science fiction fan base is appreciating?

Several people critical of Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert’s new Dune books have started to lampoon Anderson using the Twitter social networking tool.

Not everyone is happy about the way the author and Brian Herbert, son of the original author of Dune, Frank Herbert, have re-worked the series which many believe to be the greatest science fiction masterpiece ever written. Anderson maintains a Twitter account — @thekja — through which he posts updates about his life and his work.

“Would FH have accepted his McDune crap as canon? Probably not.”, wrote one of Anderson’s followers on Twitter recently. The follower, whose real name appears to be Ronald Craig but who tweets as @thekjanonfan (apparently meaning not a fan), also runs a website, the Hairy Ticks of Dune Blog.

The blog contains a variety of posts accusing Anderson of poor quality writing, and critics of his work on Amazon of being unfairly biased towards the new Dune books. Craig writes about the latest Dune book, Winds of Dune:

“The Winds of Dune … showing even more than its predecessor why Frank Herbert chose not to write about those interim “gaps” between his books … and, again, just how little Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert understand the fictional universe they are playing in.”

Another Twitter critic, @realdune, who brands himself the “Ghost of Frank”, has also recently started targerting Anderson on Twitter. “He left it unexplored for a reason, hack,” he said to Anderson this week on Twitter. “In 10 books, you have added NOTHING to the Dune saga.”

Anderson seems aware of the taunts. In a response to one Twitter post from another poster, he contended that many fans and reviewers didn’t think he was flogging a dead horse. “Frank Herbert left 15,000 years of history to explore,” he wrote.

And in another, he posts what he says is a correction for “a couple of fringe Dune fans”, saying The Dune Encyclopedia, a 1984 collection of essays written as a companion to the original series, was never accepted as canon by Frank Herbert.

There is also a protest group on Facebook. Dubbed the ‘Orthodox Herbertarians’, the group describes itself like this:

“This is a group for all of those that enjoy classic Dune, and do not accept the novels of Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson as Dune. Orthodox Herbertarians Unite!!!”

However, the Kevin J. Anderson fan groups on Facebook have far more members.

Some other people on Twitter, aren’t so critical of Anderson. A number of fans are using the platform to interact with the author in a positive way. “Congrats to @TheKJA for publishing his 100th novel. Absolutely amazing. The hardest working man in SF,” writes one.

Commentary
There is no doubt that Brian Herbert and Anderson’s decision to continue the Dune series after Frank Herbert’s death has angered many fans of the great series, and will continue to do so.

Personally, I don’t think the new books live up the original series — and how could they? Frank Herbert’s masterpiece is universally hailed as being a contender for the best piece of science fiction literature of all time. As a Dune fan myself, I also feel Brian Herbert and Anderson should have left the series alone.

However, this doesn’t mean fans of the original series should lower themselves or insult Anderson — who after all has devoted his life to writing science fiction — in a petty way. If we lose respect towards the authors who make up such an important part of our lives through their work, we’ll lose respect for ourselves as readers. And the authors don’t deserve such behaviour.

By all means, satirise Anderson if you feel you must, heavily critique his work and hold his quality to account. But do it in a way that shows you respect his courage for making the attempt to keep Herbert’s great vision alive. Give the guy some cred.

The ultimate course of critical action is also completely open to everyone. Simply write a better book yourself!