Chapterhouse Dune

Great Story! Horrible way to compile a narration.

I love the story. I been reading all the dune series that Frank Herbert wrote and been doing the audio books too. The worst narration was Dune Messiah. This narration has the same problems as Dune Messiah. Instead of using differ narrators for differ characters they just had them all narrate random chapters. Like they are all practicing narrating and not taking this one seriously. A message to whoever produces this audio book: We do not want random narrations that are disjointed. We want a male narrator doing male voices and a female one doing the female voices. Quit messing up our audio books. These narrators are great but who ever produced this is dumb as all can be.

32 of 37 people found this review helpful

Unchallenged Series Finale

Have read this book many times along with the rest of the Dune Series. First time listen on the audio format and all of the books were great. Could have done with out the female narrator of Chapterhouse however. She needs some serious work on tonality and timing. Other than that small irritation all was splendid!

9 of 10 people found this review helpful

Did the narrators talk to each other?

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

The book would only make sense to someone who has read the other books in the series.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The narrators used different accents for some of the characters; for example, one narrator gave Murbella a generic Eastern European accent, while the others used their own accents. The character Scytale was pronounced as "Skytale" by one narrator and "Sigh-tale" by another. It was distracting.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Too long.

Any additional comments?

I love all of the Dune books.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

…..Bucket list complete.....

Back in the day I read the original DUNE and then followed with DUNE MESSIAH and CHILDREN OF DUNE, but then I stopped because I didn't like the direction the series was going. Over the intervening years I kept hearing high praise for the rest of the series. I just wasn't motivated enough to undertake reading all six books. But now that they are available on Audio I thought I would give it a try. After all I had been richly rewarded in a similar situation involving the works of Neal Stephenson. (I had avoided The Baroque Cycle after loving Snowcrash but disliking The Diamond Age) So, in the case of the Dune novels I felt compelled to check off this nagging omission from my bucket list. I was hopefully expecting a buried treasure. Sadly, my original estimation was confirmed. The original DUNE is wonderful and inventive, fresh and new. The balance of the Dune novels are slow plodding—focused too much on fanciful, imagined philosophy. The second book, DUNE MESSIAH, reads like an outline—just advancing the plot so the third, CHILDREN OF DUNE can be told. This third book has some mildly interesting characters and promises a Space Opera scale expansion of the story for the remaining novels. The fourth, GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE, documents the tyrannical reign of human-turned-worm Leto II but does not make good use of the vast scale of a multiple-planet empire. The creepy giant larvae-like emperor, and his entire dialog, seems less then majestic or oppressive, as later recollections will portray his reign. The idea is there but the execution is lacking. The next, HERETICS OF DUNE, advances the plot but leaves much to be desired when it comes to holding my interest; which it could have done with more interesting people or with witty dialog (Again the reader is referred to The Baroque Cycle). And this last novel is no improvement. Mercifully, Frank Herbert ended his series with CHAPTERHOUSE DUNE. This last novel has the same feel as the previous two books. I did not like it. And unless someone can convince me that the other Dune books, written by Frank Herbert’s son are of a completely different quality, my exploration of Dune is at an end.

As a public service I can say that if you enjoy exploring the outlining of a future society based on treachery and long range planning—but without fleshing out the characters or establishing an engaging storyline, then the last five Dune novels may be for you. My chief complaint is that the new characters which necessarily populate the later novels are just not very interesting. I was never made to care about them and so had a hard time following their concerns.

I sympathize with the plight of the narrators. The dissertation-like nature of the text as a sociological treatise demands a slow monotone reading, and the narrators faithfully comply.

12 of 16 people found this review helpful

Horrendous narration

Listened to all the books this series up to this one. Could not finish this book due to horrendous narration by a female. The absurd out of place voice inflections and intonations, the changes from audible speech to whisper, without any reason for it, the British accent that made it next to impossible to understand passages, and the overall equal pacing of her speech which blended the whole thing into a mess, and zoned me out.

At first, I had to chose between continuing the book, or dropping it all together. I had made the choice to continue, but skip the section narrated by her. Then, I just dropped the whole book.

What a waste. A wonderful saga ruined by this horrible decision, to mix narrators, and the worst of it, to introduce one who utterly ruined the whole book. I wonder how many other books were ruined by that “executive” decision.

The first out of over two hundred books on Audible that I could not finish.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Exciting all the way to the end.

If you could sum up Chapterhouse Dune in three words, what would they be?

Suspenseful, Engaging, Thrilling

What was one of the most memorable moments of Chapterhouse Dune?

I found the moment when O'drade took to the failing sea for one last swim to be the emotional low of the book.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

Duncan Idaho is the character who is most interesting as a person. His unwavering morals make him my favorite.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. I use audio books to get through long sessions such as those in a work environment which involves repetitive labor.

Any additional comments?

Chapterhouse Dune ends the Dune Chronicles nicely and gives the reader a sense of completing a great epic journey through humanity's common history in the universe.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

This is the ONLY series Scott Brick should do

I have been a Frank Herbert fan since he first hit the bookstores. I have a first edition of the first three of his published books and really enjoy his style, characters and worlds. This is the where I was first introduced to Audiobooks and Scott Brick. He does a very good job making the stories believable, but he is predictable and after listening to all of the Dune series I can honestly say I can predict his tone and voicing for any part of the book BEFORE he has recorded it.
Scott Brick has really made it so I won't buy many books, not because I don't like Scott Brick but because of the way he performs every book in the same manner as he has with Dune. Somehow Red Rabbit and Atlas Shrugged don't seem right when he reads them.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Great book

One of the best scifi books ever. Even in its fictional nature it has things that are just true.

Within all fiction we can find the inner truth

Much like the Dark Materials you find the writer compels you look beyond the pages to the inner truth of Mankind and the Corruptible that seek Power over the people for their agenda and not the wellbeing of the land and it's people, while at the same time reveling WE ALL HOLD THE POWER to be more then the Sum of our parts.

Herbert has me hooked yo.

I mean really you'd think I'd tire from this space opera but can stop won't stop listening to this world.