CHAPTERHOUSE: DUNE (DUNE, NO 6) Hardcover – January 1, 1988

My one star review is not for the writing, this is as good as all of the Dune books (more or less).My one star is for the quality of the conversion of this book to kindle format. There are typos everywhere, multiple times in every chapter. Herberts prose is completely shattered. His thoughts and prose can be challenging to grasp but the numerous typos and word substitutions make this one not worth the effort in ebook format. Avoid avoid avoid.

Ah, Frank. You left us too soon.So ends the Dune Saga. Unfinished, with one planned book remaining. Of course there are the books by his son, Brian, but that's not a can of worms (no pun intended) I need to open here and now. It's a sad thing, when a master cannot complete their opus. I've seen it with Robert Jordan and the Wheel of Time, though admittedly Sanderson stepped in and did a better job than I have any reason to expect Brian Herbert did. Can of worms, can of worms...Chapterhouse: Dune opens shortly after the events that concluded Heretics of Dune. It is not made explicit how many years have passed, but it can't have been more than a decade (and this is quite a short span given how many years passed between books four and five, and between books three and four before it). For this reason, it was very fun to fall into the novel shortly after Heretics. As is typical of Frank, he sets up new and interesting pieces to move around his cosmic chessboard while maintaining the complexities of the series at large, and continuing on with the same ultimate issue of the fifth book: The Honored Matres.One of the best things that can be said for Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune is that they both dive so, so deeply into the Bene Gesserit, who are in general one of the most fascinating groups I have ever read about. They are an incredible mix of philosophical wisdom, metaphysical insight, moral fitness, and pure discipline. They are that ultimate guiding hand in the background, the universe's teachers ensuring the maturation of humankind. This being the case, we see in the Honored Matres a natural enemy for the Sisterhood. They who thrive in chaos. The wild thing that no one can govern. An unknown entity out of unknown space, remnants of the Scattering of humankind. Throwing these two groups at one another, not to mention the other players still making waves in the Dune universe, makes for some of Frank's most enticing conversations. But it must be said, he was faltering at times, here at the end.Frank spent a great deal of time dealing with what felt like needless obfuscation in this final entry. The Bene Gesserit have always been a group so far advanced in mental disciplines that you can read the words and feel like you're missing the real meaning. This has actually been something I've always enjoyed about them, because it doesn't feel like nonsense. It feels like a real offshoot of modern humanity, and a believable eventuality of dedicated breeding in a sci-fi universe. Be that as it may, it felt like Frank was shuffling his feet in some areas here. One could site real-life influences for this (Frank gives an absolutely beautiful tribute at the end to his wife Bev who died during the writing of this book), or perhaps it had more to do with my own mental space and mood while reading it, but no matter the reason it is a truth of my experience. Important to note though, I think he wrote a hell of an ending for this one. The problems I had with the earlier portions of the book completely dropped away in the last hundred pages or so, and I was incredibly eager for more. Which, of course, made Frank's death only a year after the publishing of Chapterhouse hurt even worse.I also want to mention that there were a surprising amount of errors in the kindle version of this book. Grammatical errors, missing letters, misplaced italics. None of the other installments have these issues, so I can only imagine it will be fixed for future readers (especially with so much buzz around the series right now due to Villeneuve's forthcoming adaptation--the very inspiration for my own re-read.)Problems with this installment aside, facts are facts. Frank Herbert was a master. A giant in the genre who paved the way for so many. I owe a lot to him, and to Dune. It will hold a special place in my heart for the rest of my life. And I look forward to revisiting it for many years to come.

Excellent chapter in an excellent series of books. The amazing continuity in the entire, 6 book series as it spans vast millennia is wonderful. I consider this series to represent a perfect melding of sci-fi & fantasy, with technology as well as sword wielding, feudal societies, and mystical powers. Plots & conspiracy that have been adhered to and advanced over those millennia, The Bene Tlielax, purveyors and creators of fantastic and forbidden technologies and secret practitioners of a supposedly extinct religion, the Bene Gesserit(sp?) (witches, to some) a society of Women who outwardly exist only to serve, and they do serve well, often enriching those they serve, but with, some would say dark ulterior motives, at the center of which is their ancient breeding program whereby they seek to control the evolution of the whole human race. Women so in tune and in touch with their minds, musculature & nervous systems as to appear to be possessing mystical powers such as Voice the ability to read another so well that one can pitch their voice in just the right tone so as to force compliance on a subject with a word, Truthsense, the ability to read falsehood in almost anyone, genetic memories spanning thousands of generations, passed on from Reverend-mothers about to die with another adept to preserve the combined wisdom and knowledge acquired through the ages. The ability to be relaxing, to be slouching in a chair one instant and be across the room holding your larynx ripped from your bleeding throat quicker than you can blink. There are body shields and house shiields, that stop projectiles making guns all but obsolete, hence the swords. V-STOL aircraft called ornithopters (for their birdlike wings) or thopters for short. The Spacing Guild with their monopoly on inter-stellar travel which they hold in an iron grip. Sword masters who are adept with a wide array of weapons and lightning reflexes and minds that come closer to the Bene Gesserit than almost any others. Mentats, human computers to skirt the ancient laws spawned by the Butlerian Jihad outlawing most "technology" but most especially "thinking machines." and at the heart of it all, The Spice, "Melange" produced once only by the giant sand-worms (the holy makers, Shai-hulud) of Arrakis (Dune). the substance that prolongs life, that sharpens physical and mental prowess, that grants the Spacing Guild navigator their ability to "fold space" to achieve faster than light speed travel, that gives prescient abilities to the Bene Gesserit and to Paul Muad Dib and his descendants,and is highly addictive with the most apparentsymptom being the entire eyeball turning blue, the pupil, the irisand the white. A vast rich universe of adventure. I highly recommend the entire six book series.

After now having read the 1st 6 books, I found this to be my least favorite, which is not to say it wasn't good. As with much of Herbert's writing, there are times when I question if I'm reading a story or attending a college lecture. While I liked how it ended, it seemed to take SO much time getting there!

I read the first two Dune books published by Hodder, namely,https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dune-Frank-Herbert/dp/0340960191/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Dune&qid=1610199398&sr=8-1andhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Dune-Messiah-2-Frank-Herbert/dp/1473655323/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Dune+2&qid=1610199463&quartzVehicle=72-1783&replacementKeywords=dune&sr=8-3These were all right editions of these great science fiction novels, and I couldn’t wait to receive Dune 3-6, so that I could continue the story. But the quality of this edition is disappointing (typos, varying margins, etc.), so I sent it back and I’m now looking for a better edition. It’s a pity that Hodder doesn’t publish Dune 3-6, I’d definitely buy it.

The spirit of the saga has not disappeared with planet Dune. I love how Frank Herbert re-imagines his universe over and over with each volume. The slow pace has taken over the last of the series he wrote, although the inevitable tension remains. I am reading it at the moment and the hypnosis is still effective, from the first book to this one, I feel captivated by this world and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the book!

Frank Herbert at his best. Twists and turns, politics and scifi. What a cliff hanger at the end too. Amazing.

Not as good as 1-4

Yep, maybe, always. Drags you into the world of time and space and the way we as humans think of those things.