House Harkonnen
Review #1
House Harkonnen audiobook free
After reading the multitude of reviews here I felt compelled to write my own and lend support to the novel as a whole. Living in a country where ‘instant gratification’ is a must has its down-side. I think that this is where the original Dune had its problems when it first came onto the literary scene as well. The original Dune was not well received because it delved into the human psyche of people 10,000 years into the future and delt with uncomfortable characters in an incredibly textured universe. Dune did not receive critical acclaim until years later when a following of people looked it over and said, “hey, this is an outstanding novel.”
Do I think that the same will happen with House Harkonnen? No. But let me tell you why. D: HH is a history of characters in the Dune universe written for the current readership that is amongst the populace (not the 1960’s populace in which the original came out). It is speedy, dives us into the history of the original characters, throws plots at us that develop into the original schemes in the Dune novel and does it all for the current ‘instant gratification’ audience of readers that is out there.
Do I recommend Dune: House Harkonnen? Definitely. But don’t expect Dune. It’s not a 1960’s novel, it’s a 2000 novel. Read it from that standpoint and you won’t be disappointed. I guarantee it.
Review #2
House Harkonnen audiobook Series Prelude to Dune
But don’t even think of reading it unless you read House Atreides first … although reading the “Legends of Dune” trilogy (The Butlerian Jihad, The Machine Crusade, The Battle of Corrin) is not required reading to the “Prelude to Dune” trilogy (House Atriedes, House Harkonnen, and House Corrino).
It’s very helpful in reading these prequels to not burden them with a weight too great for them to bear: measuring them by Frank Herbert’s classic Dune series (which a few of them were not so great either…)
As a stand-alone SF novel, House Harkonnen (as I said) is the best of the bunch, and the only one I really hate to put down. Why is it better than House Atreides it’s predecessor? Hard to say, intangibles perhaps, and maybe we’ve learned to care more about the characters now through two novels. Characterization is definitely better in HH, regardless of what the nay-saying scoffers say. It’s more exciting, and looming in our minds is how the characters will age and mature into the ones we know and love in Dune.
Review #3
Audiobook House Harkonnen by Kevin J. Anderson
Don’t let the title fool you: The driving force of this novel is not House Harkonnen but Duke Leto, House Atreides, and those loyal (and disloyal) to them. If you’ve gotten to this point, you’ve presumably read the six original Dune novels by Frank Herbert as well as the first House book. I have found a pattern from the third Dune novel through this one, where the books begin and end extremely strongly but have a tendency to drag a bit in the middle. They are all rather long novels (this one’s 733 pages), and are very, very detailed, which is part of the appeal but can also slow the pace at times. It’s worth the effort, though. I have been extremely satisfied with these prequel novels. The universe of Dune has been kept alive in brilliant fashion. If you liked Dune: House Atreides, I’m sure you’ll like House Harkonen just as much.
Review #4
Audio House Harkonnen narrated by Scott Brick
Tho the construction of the paperback is not as good as I would expect, the book is wonderfully written. As do nearly all of the Dune books, House Harkonnen keeps you on edge wondering what will be next for your favorite heroes and villains. Being over 700 pages long the book is unwieldy as a paperback. The weird size is overshadowed by the amount and quality of it’s contents. I would recommend this book, and the entire series to anyone wishing to lose themselves in a futuristic science fiction galaxy.
Review #5
Free audio House Harkonnen – in the audio player below
I don’t know what it is exactly, but these prequels just don’t have that Dune feel. It is hard to explain. The stories are pretty good, and the writing is fine, it just doesn’t feel right.
Dune is, of course, a classic and I don’t want to judge these prequesls too harshly. However, if you read the original Dune there is just an air of deception on every page, and while there are heroes, almost every character has an edge to them. While Dune is a Science Fiction book, in my opinion it strength lies in the intrigue and political maneuvering. This book and House Atreides just don’t have that. These prequels would fit better in the Star Wars or Star Trek universe as very light science fiction. I like light sci-fi too, but Dune is not light sci-fi, it is an impact novel and has a complexity and depth that is astounding. The prequels just sort of read like documentaries and really don’t ever get you involved all that much.
I do recommend you read them just to get the background on some characters. It is interesting to see how they explain the characters attributes that you already know, and how they got that way. One thing though, I already was never too impressed with Thufir Hawat from Dune, since he essentially fails to protect Duke Leto at all in that book, and these prequels paint him to be an even more idiotic mentat. So far in two books he has lost one Dukes life and almost anothers. He is quickly becoming a character who is written as having a great reputation, but you never see evidence of it and more often then not he plays no real impact other than to apologize over and over for his mistakes.
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