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A review by catsflipped
House Harkonnen by Kevin J. Anderson, Brian Herbert
4.0
When I started my Dune adventure I decided to read the books in chronological order starting with a short story called 'Hunting Harkonnens' the very beginning indroduced me to Piers Harkonnen stranded on Caladan hunted by Cymeks. Piers came over in a few short pages as a peacful, thoughtful, kind human being.
In the next book 'The Butlerian Jihad' you meet Piers brother Xavier who went on to become one of 3 heros of the Jihad giving his life like a martyr to stop the traitor Iblis Ginjo, Xavier Harkonnen was a brave, honourable man but history is written by the survivors, his name was tainted and he was wrongfully named the traitor.
From that point on the name Harkonnen was no longer associated with honour or honesty and the family was shunned. Xaviers grandson Abulurd was befriended by Vorian Atredies and together they planned to clear the Harkonnen name and uncover the truth of what happened. But in the final battle against the Cymeks Abulud lost his nerve and disobeyed Vorian's orders almost causing disaster. Abulurd was stripped of everything and exiled to live out his life in shame.
In later years Abulurd's grand-daughter Valya saught revenge against Vorian, still alive over 100 years later due to life extending treatment he had received. Vorian tried in vain to help the Harokennens but Valya's determination and hatred of the name Atredies started a blood feud that continues over a thousand years later in the Prelude to Dune trilogy.
This book 'House Harkonnen' gives no indication that the name was ever anything other than a name to be feared, the Harkonnens now a cruel, viscious family who think nothing of hunting children and torturing slaves for fun or even killing their own family members when they don't agree.
The first half of the book spends a lot of time giving short introductions to the characters for those who have not read the previous stories and while the history is needed for that purpose wanted the book to just move on and get to the story. When the story does kick in the action moves fast and you don't want to stop reading.
Covering other families and not just the Harkonnens the flow of the book shows how the Harkonnen's cruelty is earning them many enemies and those who survive are slowly finding each other. I look forward to the final book and hope for some revenge however over the course of the Dune books I have come to hope for the best but expect the worst as things never do seem to work out how you want them to.
I have got used to the writing style of these 2 authors who I have to admit I struggled with initially and now I find I enjoy the books more knowing the history behind them and have no regrets about starting from the beginning.
A solid 4 star book
In the next book 'The Butlerian Jihad' you meet Piers brother Xavier who went on to become one of 3 heros of the Jihad giving his life like a martyr to stop the traitor Iblis Ginjo, Xavier Harkonnen was a brave, honourable man but history is written by the survivors, his name was tainted and he was wrongfully named the traitor.
From that point on the name Harkonnen was no longer associated with honour or honesty and the family was shunned. Xaviers grandson Abulurd was befriended by Vorian Atredies and together they planned to clear the Harkonnen name and uncover the truth of what happened. But in the final battle against the Cymeks Abulud lost his nerve and disobeyed Vorian's orders almost causing disaster. Abulurd was stripped of everything and exiled to live out his life in shame.
In later years Abulurd's grand-daughter Valya saught revenge against Vorian, still alive over 100 years later due to life extending treatment he had received. Vorian tried in vain to help the Harokennens but Valya's determination and hatred of the name Atredies started a blood feud that continues over a thousand years later in the Prelude to Dune trilogy.
This book 'House Harkonnen' gives no indication that the name was ever anything other than a name to be feared, the Harkonnens now a cruel, viscious family who think nothing of hunting children and torturing slaves for fun or even killing their own family members when they don't agree.
The first half of the book spends a lot of time giving short introductions to the characters for those who have not read the previous stories and while the history is needed for that purpose wanted the book to just move on and get to the story. When the story does kick in the action moves fast and you don't want to stop reading.
Covering other families and not just the Harkonnens the flow of the book shows how the Harkonnen's cruelty is earning them many enemies and those who survive are slowly finding each other. I look forward to the final book and hope for some revenge however over the course of the Dune books I have come to hope for the best but expect the worst as things never do seem to work out how you want them to.
I have got used to the writing style of these 2 authors who I have to admit I struggled with initially and now I find I enjoy the books more knowing the history behind them and have no regrets about starting from the beginning.
A solid 4 star book