(no subject)

[brigdh]

I just finished reading Dune. I've heard bad things about the sequels, but I'm not sure which ones that applies to, or if it's all of them. So, what do you say? Should I read the sequels?

Comments

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

No. Flee from the sequels. They are teh suck.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hee. Alright, I'm sure I'll have no problem finding something else to read.

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

I would second this, except that I can only speak with real authority to whichever one it was that came directly after Dune itself. After that, I saw no point in giving the next one a chance.

My sense was, and remains, that Herbert wrote a big complex book that said everything he had to say about the relevant universe and characters. And then it turned into a commercial monster, and following it up with sequels that would similarly be commercial monsters was irresistable. Unhappily for all of us, though, he had nothing left to say, and the sequels make that very clear. (The first book is a gazillion pages, and the sequels are each something like a standard 192 pages, which tells you something right there.) I don't blame him for going for the fortune on offer -- a guy's got to eat and put his kids through college, after all -- but really, there's no reason to read the sequels unless you're so in love with the original that you'd read stuff about it that you found on ff.net.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Heh. That was my impression of things- anytime a series includes books written by people other than the original author, it's usually a bad sign. Thank you; since I certainly feel no need to read fanfiction, I don't think I'll need to read the series.

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

I think I got about ten pages into the first sequel and went, "Oh, yes, he killed my favorite character last book and now there's nothing more I care about, right."