Loved it

I loved listening to an awesome book that I read over forty years ago when I was younger

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

audio distortion

many spots of audio crackle or skip. disrupts flow and immersion of the story. please fix

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Great story, poor producing / narration

don't want to replicate what others are saying but it's hard not to. how such a poor narration, with gross mispronouncing of key words (honored matters still bugs me, how not a single person told the voice actor to Redo it properly is confusing).

even weirder there's an entire section left in with audio cutting out and jumping, did not a single producer listen to the recording.

introducing so many voice actors for the final in the saga, with such diverse and in some cases very poor performances only takes away from the story. it might not be the greatest in the saga, but it deserved better.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Good sequel, narration is hit or miss

Most of the narration is fantastic and immersive. But at least one narrator draws out their words excessively and doesn't change their voice enough between characters, making it difficult to tell which character is speaking..

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

What’s up with the pronunciation??

Great story, if a little sexual.

Unfortunately the narrators did not unify their pronunciation of particular words... where was the director?

- Matre
- Tleilaxu
- Scytale
- Shaitan
- Naib
- etc.

It’s frustrating when the words you are listening to are not consistent.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

still a great book

I agree with all the comments about the narration. Having different people read it was a bad decision to begin with but having them mispronounce words is pretty annoying. Also, through the whole series, I found it hard to get over the unnecessarily overacted voice of the guy reading the quotes before every chapter. I didn't think the lady did a bad job, other than mispronouncing a bunch of Dune specific words but that happened with the other narrators too. However, her voice is breaking the story flow somehow. For the first minute or two after she starts reading it sounds like a different book. It was unnecessary. I can't imagine for what reason it was decided to have multiple people read this series.
Anyways, this book might not be as strong as the others in the series but it's still very good. It left me with that depressing feeling that it's going to be hard to find something satisfying to read for a while.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

This universe just keeps on giving

Definitely enjoyed this book. It is a direct continuation from the previous book.
I felt that the plot of this book was fresh as it deviated from the 'sandworms/melange' being the focal points of the universe. Though the worms are still important, they aren't the end all beats all.
The shift allowed for a larger look at the universe and how events have moved from the days of Leto II, through the Scattering , to now and the foes plaguing the universe.
Also got a deeper dive into the Bene Geserit mindset which really helped to understand their motives and lift that shroud of mystery around them.
Plus the evolution of my boy Duncan, loved it.
In addition, with the stories of Muadi'ib, Leto II, and now the Scatterer's Return being so far apart in time from eachother, we can really explore how humanity has the chance to evolve, all the while living in a cycles. Doomed to repeat past mistakes until they get it right.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Only for the die hard fans

As each of the original books books go, this was by far the most babbling and convoluted of the bunch. Herbert was clearly a genius, and deeply thoughtful, but his ability explore complex intersecting ideas reached its limits and perhaps exceeded them in Chapterhouse. God Emperor was preaching and poorly paced, but at least I found the individual characters more enjoyable than in Chapterhouse. The beginning of the book does a poor job of establishing its protagonists and their values in the story. If you love this series and its lore you should absolutely listen, especially for the in depth exploration of the BG ideology, but expect constant digression and do not expect dialogue to follow any logical thread. There is also a somewhat disgusting point in the book essentially describing a sexual encounter between a child and an adult woman. I found myself cringing through it, and was left feeling disconcerted and a little confused of its intent. Herbert was often willing to go to the limits of what would could be considered acceptable in the context of children and sexuality, as in Children of Dune and its barely reasonable position given the specific context of its characters, but I dont see how this particular scenario benefitted the story, and was graphic and gross in nature. Also, take a shot every time the word Whore is used. Herberts obsession with sexuality is at its most obvious in this book, and provides essentially no value to the lore of Dune or any meaningful commentary on human nature, which is something he was more adept at on previous books.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Not the best, not the worst

Chapterhouse continues on shortly after where Heretics of Dune left off. I found this to be much more enjoyable than Heretics, it is less choppy and the characters are a bit more interesting. However this book still suffers from a mostly dragging story line, it really takes a long time to get things set up and the narrators are constantly lost in a sea of rambles. I love this series and the story gives a very ambiguous ending that I found fairly satisfying. Overall it is disappointing that Herbert died before he had a chance to finish the series, to me the last few chapters are the most interesting and were taking the narrative in a much needed new direction. However there probably was never going to be a satisfying conclusion to this epic saga, so this is good enough for me. It was nice to finish the series.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Graphic depiction of sexual assault against a child

I will be returning this book. It was absolutely unnecessary to include the rape of a child to progress the plot. I'm done with this franchise.

Gross.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!