Dune: House Corrino (Mini-Review)

Dune: House Corrino by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson is a prequel novel set in the Dune Universe. Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV's Amal plot, a secret plan to make artificial spice melange, is nearing its end. Feeling invincible, he decides to become violent to anyone who dares hoard spice. But what he doesn't count on is Hidar Fen Ajidica having his own plots. Plots that will betray not only Shaddam but his own people.

One weak spot of this book is its ending. Shortly before there were a lot of subplots all set up. Each one promising excitement as characters we grew invested in were all involved. But a good majority of them weren't paid off well. An attempt to free Ix and Shaddam's plots to switch the Imperium to Amal are given the most attention. If there were two plots to focus on, those were the two. Ix has been at the center of the last two books and it's tied to the Amal plot.

Duke Leto Atreides continues to rise. He has learned from his past failures and so is stronger. Along with Rhombur Vernius, he helped plan to free Ix from the Tleilaxu rule. To make the plan work Leto ends up making distractions so no one knows what is going on. Luckily Shaddam is too caught up with his own plots to care what Leto is doing.

Interesting aspects of the Kwisatz Haderach are explored in this book. It's brought up that Count Hasimir Fenring could have been the messiah. Which shows that the Bene Gesserit are far from perfect in creating their chosen one. It also shows that they are more concerned with controlling their messiah which sort of diminishes his importance to them. They don't want a savior, they want even more power and the Kwisatz Haderach is the one to achieve that for them. If Lady Jessica had given them a daughter, they would have held all the power in the Imperium.

Shaddam's ego is in full display in this book. He thinks Project Amal is a success and that soon he will hold all the power in the galaxy. So, of course, he decides to lash out at any wrongs he feels have been committed against him. His fear that Hasimir Fenring will try to use him as a puppet makes him doubt the man. Shaddam becomes so delusional that when a Face Dancer impersonates his friend, he believes the imposter.

The twins C'tair and D'murr Pilru have their beautiful story end in tragedy. To test the Amal's effect on Navigators, Shaddam decides to test two Heighliners. One of the Heighliners is piloted by D'murr. So when things go wrong, he is only barely able to make it to safety before dying. He does manage to talk to C'tair before passing. This leaves C'tair with a hole in his very soul. The woman he loved is dead and now his brother has left him for good.

I would recommend Dune: House Corrino to fans of the Dune series. I would also recommend Dune: House Corrino to science fiction fans.