Well- very readable, otherwise I wouldn’t have got them finished by now, but as novels, rather than as historical sketches, they are ultimately very disappointing. Totally arbitrary changes in characterisation in many places (that of Ishmael is the most gratuitous and striking); no development of some of the most interesting characters; much less exploration of the philosophical problems – they even start reproducing quotations used as chapter headings that they have used several times before. Not good.

Glad I’ve read them – they’ve re-introduced me to the Dune universe so I’ll now re-read the whole sequence again – but I can’t see myself re-reading these ones.