The Butlerian jihad Book

Addendum: It's been a few years since I posted this review and the franchise continues to grow in the hands of Brian Herbert and KJA. I thought I might update my review accordingly. I also thought it would be good to let people see exactly what they're NOT missing by refusing to read this.

As a major fan of the elder Herbert, I was quite intrigued to see his son (Brian Herbert) and Kevin J Anderson (KJA) pick up the franchise. I was also curious to see how the elder Herbert's hints about a holy war against thinking machines would be portrayed. I also hoped that it would provide some insight into Dune's conclusion, which was still in the works at the time.

Unfortunately, what we all got was this book, a clumsy interpretation of Frank Herbert's deep background to Dune that read like pulp sci-fi fan fiction. Aside from thinking I'd wasted good money on it, I began to seriously worry about the direction these two were taking with the Dune franchise. Between the plot, the characters, the themes, and the resolution, there was nothing admirable about this novel. To break it down succinctly...

Storyline:
The story begins with an epilogue that tells us that millennia before the main story of the Dune universe began, a group of humans in the Old Imperium were turned off by humanity's laziness, decadence, and dependence on machines. So they reprogramed the "thinking machines" to obey them and take over the human race. But of course, the machines turned on them!

Well, actually, when they say "thinking machines," they actually mean some massive AI named "Omnius" who has many copies across different worlds. All the rest of the machines, save one, are automatons that blindly kill and follow orders. The one exception to this is "Erasmus," a former automaton who got stuck in a crevasse (or something, I don't care) and developed sentience. Yeah, more on that later...

Anyhoo, Omnius took over everything but kept the "Titans" (as they called themselves) alive because of their shared hatred for humans. The Titans, each of which is named after some ancient god, then cheated death by having their brains placed inside big robotic bodies called "Cymecks" (an amalgamation of cyborg and mech). In these monster bodies, they pillaged the known universe, killing any and all humans who resisted.

But a "League of Nobles" effectively rebelled, creating an alliance of free worlds (though they keep slaves to compensate for their lack of machines) that continue to wage war against the "Synchronized Worlds" - i.e. Omnius and Cymecks' domain. The stage is set and this is where the first book in the series opens...

Thread One: The story begins with Selusa Secundus, capital of the League of Nobles, being attacked by a fleet led by Tlaloc (leader of the Titans). They are repulsed by Xavier Harkonnen, a heroic commander with the Nobles' fleet and great ancestor of the Barron Harkonnen, who assumes control and saves the day!

Meanwhile, prominent politician Serena Butler advises bold action to bring the "Unallied Planets" into the League. She opts to begin with Geidi Prime, which was conquered around the same time Selusa Secundus was attacked and is sure they can liberate it. But of course, the League opposes this because they are complacent bureaucrats who don't like to do things.

Despite being pregnant with Xavier's baby, she defies them and mounts the mission, but is captured. She's then sent to Earth where she's given to Erasmus and eventually has her baby (named Manion). Erasmus arranged this since he likes studying humans, which usually consists of cutting them to pieces and trying to understand emotions and creativity (spoiler: he can't, he's a robot!)

While on Earth, Serena meets Tlaloc's loyal son and heir, Vorian Atreides. She convinces him that his father's evil by telling him to learn his history - not his father's memoirs, the machines' own records. He obliges her, and decides to turn against his father (just like that).

Serena has her baby, Erasmus gets jealous that Manion is taking up all of Serena's time. He kills the child and forces her to have a hysterectomy. The humans on Earth begin to revolt in response, and Xavier decides the time is ripe for an attack.

The League once again reluctant, especially when Xavier recommends they use their nukes. Apparently, they've avoided this until now because they didn't want to be "as bad as Omnius," to which Xavier says they should aspire to be "worse than Omnius." They also decide that this MUST be a holy war, so they call it a jihad.

They nuke Earth, Serena, Iblis Ginjo, and Vorian are picked up, and they all fly back to Selusa Secundus to celebrate. Serena tells Xavier and Vorian (both of whom love her) she's going celibate so she can become a figurehead for the holy war and they support that decision. The Butlerian Jihad is on!

Thread Two: Erasmus makes a bet with Omnius that humans will revolt is given half a chance. Erasmus feeds the myth that there's a resistance on Earth by sending around fake messages to human trustees, which encourages a trustee named Iblis Ginjo to start plotting a revolt. To be sure, he visits the Cogitors, humans who have also removed their brains and keep them in a solution to become immortal.

The Cogitor he meets tells him "anything's possible," to all his questions. But somehow, Ginjo feels that there is special significance when he asks directly about the possible existence of resistance on Earth. Ginjo begins stockpiling weapons without the machines noticing (somehow) and then launches the revolt when the people rise up in anger over the death of Manion.

Thread Three: On Arrakis, a young boy named Selim is exiled to the desert after being wrongfully-accused. He begins eating spice and experiencing visions that foretell of outsiders coming to his world to take the spice. He also forms a bond with the worm, Shai-Hulud, and learns to ride it - earning the name "Selim Wormrider."

Aurelius Venport, who lives on Rossak and is stepfather to Norma Cenva (who he'll eventually marry) runs a pharmaceutical company that makes drugs from all of Rossak's wild flora. He meets an enterprising Tlulaxa who introduces him to the spice, which he begins to market.

Thread Four: Norma Cenva is introduced, a young woman stunted of body, but brilliant of mind. Her mother is Zufa Cenva, leader of the matriarchal "Sorceress of Rossak" (the ancestors of the Bene Gesserit). They have psychic powers, can shoot lightning from their fingertips, hover in place, summon electromagnetic storms, and have a breeding program designed to create more powerful telepaths.

Cenva, who's mother resents her for being physically imperfect, goes off to study under Tio Holtzmann (who's less brilliant than her and a total asshole) on Poritrin. Together, they invent glow globes, suspensor fields, Holtzmann shields, and just about very other invention that has become commonplace in the Dune series. She also begins work on jump drives, which will eventually lead to foldships.

Cliches and Contrivances:
If you're starting to get the feeling that this story is not at all like the original Dune novels, or is bad fan fiction, then you're on the right track! From start to finish, this whole book feels like an abortive exercise in trying to get the entire Duniverse and its main characters to their starting positions.

Overall, they interpret the entire Butlerian Jihad as a war between free humans and evil thinking machines. The good guys are saccharine and pure, the bad guys are evil for evil's sake, and the plot is packed full of deus ex machina twists and obvious turns. For starters, the reason for the war itself was ridiculous. After generations of stalemate and billions killed, all of humanity decides to go to war because of one murdered child?

Second, the entire key to the war is unleashing nukes? These are the trump card humanity finally deployed to take on a race of networked artificial intelligence that every advantage over them? The only reason they didn't think to do that so far was that they were trying to preserve some moral high ground?

Third, the rebellion that inspired the Jihad, this all began as a bet between Erasmus and Omnius? And the thing that clinched it for Ginjo, it was a brain in a jar telling him "anything's possible" (which is how they answer everything, apparently) in some special, meaningful way? And he managed to stockpile guns, missiles, and explosives without anyone noticing a thing?

Fourth, Vorian Atreides, the son and golden boy of Tlaloc. Are we to believe that all it takes for him to turn against his own father and everything he's ever known is to read an account about his father that's accurate for a change? Even more ridiculous is the fact that he finds it so easy to believe because "hey, machines don't lie."

Fifth, the Bene Gesserit, a matriarchal order that specializes in unlocking ancestral memory, reading people perfectly, commanding them with the Voice, manipulating their biochemistry, glimpsing the future, and fighting all fancy-like, they evolved from a bunch of telekinetic, telepathic women who shot lightning from their fingers and could summon EM bursts? These are supposed to be priestesses, not freaking Jedi!

Sixth, the whole thing suffers from a terrible sense of duty. It was like watching the Star Wars prequels, where every character and aspect of the original films has to be previewed and packed into three movies. And like those same prequels, the way it's done feels so very forced and unnatural.

As a sidenote, what the hell is with all the disembodied brains? Do bad sci-fi writers think that becoming a brain in a tank hooked up to hoses makes you immortal, because it totally doesn't! All it does is make for a much smaller corpse when your brain inevitably dies.

Characters:
Did I mention yet how awful the characters are? Because that is one of the worst things about this book and the series in general. To a person, all are one-dimensional cliches, the kind of cardboard cut-out heroes and villains you'd expect to see in children's cartoons. The bad guys are too bad, the good guys too good, and there's no sense of motivation to any of them.

Xavier Harkonnen is a wooden hero, the guy who does everything and sacrifices all for the sake of protecting others and doing what's right. Serena, she's the same, a cross between Joan of Arc and the Virgin Mary, whose character arc is destined to end in martyrdom! And of course, they both have to fight uphill against people who refuse to believe them or back them. How else would they distinguish themselves as selfless heroes, if not by going it alone?

Then you got Vorian, a hapless follower one moment, then a poor man's Han Solo the next, being all brash, dashing, and derring-do. Iblis Ginjo, lastly, is a perfect cliche of the "neutral good" character. He's fast-talking, slick, and starts out working for the bad guys, but joins the good guys. He's the Lando of the group, but with way less character or depth.

As for the bad guys, their motivation is even weaker. Why, for example, do the "Titans" hate humanity so much? Why did they reprogram the Imperium's machines to take over the universe and murder billions? Are they Evil the Cat or something? Because, if as alleged, they were so disgusted by reliance on machinery, why the hell did they go the "Cymeck" route?

Erasmus and Omnius are no better. Their names (like all names in the book) are uninspired, they are both doddering and stupid, and the only reason they seem to do anything is that these "emotionless" robots hate humanity so much. It's like The Machines and Skynet had a terrible child with way less personality or intellect.

Totally Missed the Point:
Worse than all that, this story and the series itself feels like they completely misread what Frank Herbert had intended. Was this an amateur mistake, or were they going for the cheap and easy?

Putting aside for a second the fact that we don't get "thinking machines" in the Legends of Dune series - we get an overmind AI that commands an army of automatons with one that's able to think for itself - there's also the way it totally misses the subtlety and nuance Frank Herbert was known for.

Here's how the elder Herbert described the jihad in the Terminology of the Imperium:

"the crusade against computers, thinking machines, and conscious robots begun in 201 B.G. and concluded in 108 B.G. Its chief commandment remains in the O.C. Bible as 'Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.'"

In God Emperor of Dune, Leto II explained the Jihad further:

"'The target of the Jihad was a machine-attitude as much as the machines,' Leto said. 'Humans had set those machines to usurp our sense of beauty, our necessary selfdom out of which we make living judgments. Naturally, the machines were destroyed.'"

Somehow, Brian and KJA interpreted this "crusade" and "enslaved" in the most literal sense possible. And as they note in the preamble to this series, writing it was a challenge compared to the Houses of Dune series since Frank left no descriptions or notes about The Butlerian Jihad beyond a few snippets and mentions (like those above).

There are those who speculated that the name of the revolt was inspired by British author James Butler and his 1863 essay "Darwin among the Machines" and his satirical novel Erewhon. In both, Butler predicted the evolution of conscious machines and advocated the destruction of all advanced machines before it could happen.

Whether this is true or not, Frank made no indication whatsoever that this important event in his fictional universe had anything to do with evil robots or a titanic struggle between good and evil. If anything, he seemed to suggest that the Jihad was a sort of Luddite rebellion that happened on a galactic scale, which had ambiguous motivations and ambiguous consequences.

The way these two went about it, I wish I could say it was like two adoring fans picking up their idol's franchise and trying to carry it on. But in reality, it seems that commercialism and exploitation played a pivotal role in the whole enterprise. Also, the reason I've made repeated allusions to popular sci-fi franchises is that I'm convinced that's where Brian and KJA got most of their ideas from.

This makes sense since KJA is known for his fan-fiction and spin-off novels for popular sci-fi franchises. That's all fine and good when dealing with Star Wars, X-Files, or Starcraft, but this is Dune! Frank Herbert LITERALLY wrote the book that taught readers to take science fiction seriously!

To see his beloved franchise end up here, in the aisle next to fan fiction novels, was a major disappointment! Save your money, avoid these books at all costs! And that goes double for those horrible sequels (which I also reviewed).