Reviews for The machine crusade

The average rating for The machine crusade based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-08-11 00:00:00 Michael Holzwarth Buddy read with Athena! "There are countless ways to die. The worst is to fade away without purpose." After decades of standstill, the Butlerian Jihad is rising. The almost fanatical priestess Serena Butler and the power-hungry patriarch Iblis Ginjo have led it from an idea to a universe-spanning holy war. And in the spearhead of the movement stand the now legendary generals Vorian and Xavier, two brothers in arms whose surnames happen to be Atreides and Harkonnen. A curious statement that pulled this book from mediocrity to greatness: This is Dune. The Butlerian Jihad was something else. A depressing dystopia with little to no action and little to no connection with the most popular sci-fi universe in literature. In the second half of this book, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson take the series back to where it belongs, and starts building the setting for what is to come ten thousand years after these stories. "Long ago, we conquered the Old Empire, and then lost it to Omnius. Now, the Synchronized Worlds are weakened from decades of war against the free humans. The Army of the Jihad has worn down the thinking machines for us - an opportunity we must seize!" The wild cards of this story are fully unleashed. The treacherous Titans are conspiring against the machines and the free humans both. The legend of Selim Wormrider travels across the sands of Arrakis and leads a band of Zensunni slaves to the heart of Dune. From the schools of Ginaz, the greatest swordmaster in history arises. An Atreides sets foot on Caladan for the first time. Tensions are rising between the leaders of the Jihad. And Serena Butler uses all means to ignite the flames of war one last time. "I am no more than a woman with a mission. That is all I have ever been." Then she murmured, "That is all I ever need to be." This book did not only continue the story of the machine crusade with great success; it also started building the foundation of the rest of the series, and did so amazingly well. In contrast to the first book, this one definitely fit into the name of the trilogy: Legends of Dune. This is what I hoped for when I started reading these books. Unfortunately, a huge chunk of this book was incredibly boring. Not more so than almost the entirety of the first book, but still pretty disappointing. There was little plot development, little character development, little action. It still wasn't bad, but it wasn't exactly good either. Fortunately, about halfway through the book, it suddenly rose to become almost mind-blowingly amazing. From that point on, there are great twists and developments in every chapter. I felt that the authors never fully utilised the material they were working with in the first book, but here they've done a truly impressive job. The Prelude trilogy was like a breath of fresh air into the series when Frank Herbert's writing grew tiresome, but this was like the best of both worlds. And the result is astounding for a Dune fan. So it turns out I can forgive hundreds of pages or practically nothing, when the remainder of the book is most likely the best part of the series since the Great Dune Trilogy, and certainly the best contribution by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson so far. I'll finish off this review with the quote that truly made me love this book: "She saw mankind's future, with space-folding ships connecting a vast empire... a civilization that remained linked to the past through a long line of Sorceresses dressed in black, hooded robes. And she heard a harmonious, hypnotic chant from the desert: "Muad'Dib... Muad'Dib... Muad'Dib..."

Review # 2 was written on 2008-02-07 00:00:00 Randy Simpson This book makes me want to scrub my brain with a brillo pad to get it out. Having established that Herbert & Anderson are just PLOT VOMITTING things out by now instead of telling a good story, this volume of the Butlerian Jihad trilogy features all your favorite hints of amateur writing. We have random skips through time, checking in on characters whenever the authors get too lazy to finish their stories. We have random character deaths after pointless circumstances in which you've invested significant page counts (did these guys get paid by the page??? they musta...). We have the melodramatic dumbassness that originates the Atreides/Harkonnen feud. Am I missing anything? Oh yeah, we also have blatant attempts at seeding "backstory" for the next trilogy these two assholes are gonna write! Fuck me sitting! Do thyself a favor and just stop with this shit. DO NOT WANT.