Herbert Brian 03

Reviews & Overviews by Rod Cameron

House Corrino - Prelude to Dune III by Brian Herbert & Kevin J Anderson

House Corrino is the third book in the Prelude to Dune trilogy written by Frank Herbert's son Brian, and Kevin J Anderson. The first two books being House Atreides and House Harkonnen. House Corrino takes up where the second finished, essentially completing the description of Duke Leto Atreides' life, and describing the events that lead to the transfer of control of the desert planet Arrakis from House Harkonnen to House Atreides, as occurs at the beginning of Frank Herbert's book Dune.
On the royal planet Kaitain, the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV succumbs to an unfortunate combination of paranoia and megalomania, with fatal consequences for a newly discovered half brother, and a number of innocent planets. His preoccupation with 'his' artificial substitute for spice leads almost to the destruction of the Empire. On Dune, Liet Keynes and the Fremen continue to strike against the Harkonnen overlords while waiting of the appearance of the messiah that will free them. On Caledan, the concubine Jessica has conceived the boy she will give to Leto to heal his broken heart. She is unaware of her Bene Gesserit sisters plan to use the daughter she was ordered to conceive to create the Kwisatz Haderach, the messiah they have been attempting to breed for centuries. Also on Caladan, a now semi-mechanical Prince Rhombur Vernius, with the help of Duke Leto and his forces, is ready to liberate his unhappy home world of Ix from the tyranny of the Tleilaxu Masters.

So, how was the book? The standard and quality of the writing was as good as the first two, but it left me disappointed. I am afraid I felt this to be the weakest in the series. There simply aren't enough story lines left over from the first two volumes before the start of the novel Dune proper. The emperor's attempt to develop an artificial spice using the Tleilaxu is an important thread throughout all three books - at one point, there were plans to call this book The Spice Wars. However, I cannot help feeling that the whole thread of the Tleilaxu takeover of Ix, and the subsequent attempts by Prince Rhombur to recapture it, are just so much padding. This may go some way to explain the unconvincing description of the re-invasion of Ix. It feels more like the capture of a small town than a planet. Ironically, when I reviewed House Harkonnen, I said that "pleasantly the book was not a filler". Unfortunately, House Corrino is. Don't be completely put off though. There are some highlights in the book. If you have read the first two, then I suspect most will want to complete the exercise. Best to wait for the paperback.

Publisher: Hodder & Stroughton
Date: 2001
Pages: 590 pages
Price: £17.99
Format: Hardback
Reviewed by: Rod Cameron
Review Date: September 2001