By far, Hunters of Dune is the best that son Brian Herbert and collaborator Kevin Anderson have come up with. The scope is broad--so much so that the book was 1300 pages and divided into 2 sequels to Chapterhouse Dune, Frank Herbert's last book. The subject is the new threat to the Bene Gesserit --the plague hitting the Honored Matres, another threat, the Kralizec, an apocalyptic battle forseen by the Navigators of the Guild, and the Face Dancers in a time-net seen by Duncan Idaho. All are heading for a deadly collision.

Brian Herbert had located some important notes on the sequel to Chapterhouse in a safety deposit box or two. The notes were extensive; what did Herbert-pere intend by the two old gardeners (Face Dancers?) at the end of the book? He must have left some extensive sketches, because "Hunters" has more of the scope of a Dune novel than the prequels done by the Herbert/Anderson team.

Still, Herbert-fils tends more to action and less to conversations. The elegant, twisty dialog that his father wrote is not something he can imitate. The book heads faster to the payoff than one would like, though here, the scope is so broad and the action so wide that this problem is less pronounced than in the prequel books. And the character development is not there either; we know Bellonda, who shows up in this book, Duncan, Murbella and Sheeana, so we fill in the blanks. But the new characters, interesting though they might be, are not fleshed out as well as one would like (at least, the protagonists; the villains are as always, easier to draw.) In particular, Doria looked interesting, and she was quite reminiscent of Dortujla (the punished Reverend Mother found on Buzzell in "Chapterhouse") but we don't get to find out much about her. Likewise, the Oracle of Time is very interesting but we really find out little about her characteristics. I realize the book was getting long long long, but still, some character development is important.

I started enjoying this book immensely, but by the end, I was pretty tired and not as hopeful as I was at the beginning. With good character development, these sequels would have been terrific, as the plot sketches were definitely of the Dune quality. But Brian Herbert's style is his own--it's a valid style but it is not a good match to his father's inimitable writing. But I have to say "Hunters" is probably by far Herbert/Anderson's best effort to date.

The Oracle of Time kept herself aloof. She had existed since before the formation of the Spacing Guild, and in the subsequent millennia she had watched the human race grow and change. She witnessed their various struggles and dreams, their commercial ventures, the building of empires and the wars that tore them back down again.
Within her mind, within her artificial chamber, the Oracle had seen the broad canvas of the infinite universe. The wider her temporal horizons grew, the less significant were individual events or people. Some threats, however, were simply too momentous to ignore.
On her tireless search, the Oracle of Time left her Navigator children behind so that she could continue her solitary mission, while other parts of her vast brain considered possible defenses and methods of attack against the great ancient Enemy.
She plunged intentionally into the twisted alternate...