Dune: The Duke of Caladan by
Brian HerbertMy rating:
4 of 5 stars
In this Dune novel set after the Prelude to Dune trilogy and before Frank Herbert’s original Dune novels, the eponymous noble, Leto Atreides, accepts an invite from the current Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe, Shaddam IV, with the world hosting the reception on high alert. One notable absentee is the President of the Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles, or CHOAM, a monopoly encompassing all forms of commerce within the Imperium. Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, in the meanwhile, prepares to leave for the reception, although assassination attempts delay his travel plans, with injuries incurred.
At the reception, the emperor wants Leto to spend more time on the planet Otorio, urging him to seek a consort for his teenage son Paul. On the hidden world of Tupile, the secret base of CHOAM for ages, Jaxson Aru talks with his mother the president about breaking up the Imperium in their lifetimes. Back on Caladan, Duncan Idaho shows Paul Atreides the rounds of piloting military aircraft, with target practice against elecrans. Shaddam’s current consort, Empress Aricatha, yearns for Leto to speak of his homeworld, although Jaxson appears via hologram and makes threats against the Imperium.
In the meantime, Leto’s concubine Jessica watches Paul and Duncan’s flight, although an incident threatens their lives, with the former Bene Gesserit using her calming techniques. At the home of the Sisterhood of which she was once part, Lethea, a former Kwisatz Mother, knows the entirety of the Sisterhood’s breeding program and various bloodlines. Terrorism threatens the emperor, with a heavy death toll, and Paul senses something is amiss with his father. Thus begins a new War of Assassins, with Paul continuing his practice with Duncan and Gurney, and Leto wishing to discuss marriage with his son.
The Imperium’s legislature, the Landsraad, addresses the new terrorism, with the empress overseeing the remodeling of the imperial palace and the emperor putting a bounty on Jaxson Aru. The Sisterhood contacts Jessica about marital matches for Paul, and when the Landsraad assembles, they gain an ally in the form of Jaxson’s mother, who condemns her son’s actions. Paul progresses with his training under Duncan Idaho, dreaming occasionally of his future wife, and the emperor’s advisor Count Hasimir Fenring visiting the Harkonnens on Arrakis. On Caladan, Paul and Leto visit a village near a Muadh temple, observing the population.
The baron expresses outrage when he learns that the emperor has imposed a surtax on the valuable spice melange, with Malina discussing this with her other son Frankos. Back on Caladan, another threat emerges in the form of poison from the barra fern, with a cure immediately sought. Baron Vladimir returns to his home on Giedi Prime, making plans to smuggle spice and forming an alliance with Malina Aru. Meanwhile, the emperor ponders replacements for the legislators in the Landsraad, with the Mentat, the Dune franchise’s human equivalent of a computer, training Paul, with the Harkonnens making a new threat in the form of atomics.
Leto and his forces continue to purge Caladan of the barra ferns, with the emperor also discovering that his spice surtax didn’t yield as much revenue as he thought it would. The Duke of Caladan ultimately targets Chaen Marek as a conspirator, with the Imperium assembling a strike force under Colonel Bashar Jopati Kolona. Count Fenring eventually finds himself in the captivity of a smuggler, with a sandworm’s appearance awing the hostage group. Lethea’s health continues its decline, with melange production anomalies discovered, the initial entry in the latest Dune trilogy ending with Jessica en route to the Sisterhood.
All in all, this new Dune novel is definitely an engaging read, very well setting the tone that would come in the chronologically-future entries of the original books by Frank Herbert, with plenty of intrigue, politics, religion, and occasional technology. Readers can also highlight the names of the various characters to get blurbs on them within the Kindle version, although as with most books, I primarily found it difficult to imagine the appearances of the various characters, aside maybe for Baron Harkonnen, especially after watching the recent film adaptation of the first part of the book. Regardless, I definitely don’t regret reading this story and will read its sequels.
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