Chapterhouse: Dune Paperback – June 4, 2019

Introspective character perspectives that propel the story forward. A thrilling, imaginative plot, full of wisdom, that flows in river rapids, the currents of a sea. Written vividly and viscerally, developing characters through their internal dialogue predominately. Perhaps the most introspective novel of the series as the Bene Gesserit plan for their survival.

Great book, good read

In Chapterhouse Dune, the usual players are back with the Bene Gesserit and the Bene Tleilaxu coupled with the Honored Matres, who are hell-bent on destroying everything in their path coming back from Leto the Second's Great Scattering. Previously, the reader briefly meets the Honored Matres, the corrupt offspring of the Bene Gesserit sent out into the Scattering and Heretics of Dune ends with the capture of a valuable Honored Matre in Murbella. Fast forward to the present and Murbella is becoming more and more heavily influenced by the Bene Gesserit and starts to give up her Honored Matre roots to become a full Reverend Mother. In Chapterhouse Dune, Murbella becomes a valuable tool for the Bene Gesserit, both in giving them invaluable insight into the ways and ideas of the Honored Matres but also as a valuable advisor to the Sisterhood itself. In addition, the Bene Tleilaxu are being wiped out in incredible numbers from both the Honored Matres from the Scattering and their own corrupt Tleilaxu that came back from the Scattering.As indicated earlier, the Honored Matres are back from the Scattering and hell-bent on not only destroying every planet in Leto's Old Empire, but intently seek the Bene Gesserit's home planet of Chapterhouse Dune so that they may have a firm rule on the galaxy once and for all. Yet, there are some questions surrounding the Honored Matres that the Bene Gesserit begin to ask. Why are the Honored Matres back from the Scattering? Is it strictly their hatred of the Bene Gesserit and all it represents? Or were they driven back from the Scattering by someone or something? These questions are answered in Chapterhouse and the answers are fairly surprising.In come the Bene Gesserit and their quest to save the known empire. Odrade is now a full Mother Superior stepping in for the deceased Mother Superior Taraza. A lot of the issues that faced Taraza are on Odrade's plate now. A lot of the book revolves around Odrade's "mysterious plan" that she lets others in on in bits and pieces. However, Odrade throughout a lot of the book goes against the typical Bene Gesserit grain and she must balance maintaining order within the Bene Gesserit and it's few factions with battling the Honored Matres against the slaughtering of all of the planets they've worked so hard to populate. There are a few new cogs in her plan as Murbella comes to their side, as Sheeana gradually begins her training for the Bene Gesserit, and a new ghola of an old friend from Heretics of Dune are all part of Odrade's new plan.What I liked a lot about this book was the fact that the Bene Gesserit finally SEEM to be human. For the past 5 books or so, all the reader saw was a very manipulative religious sect that did whatever it could as long as it benefited the Bene Gesserit line. If it didn't benefit humanity too then that was just too bad. Chapterhouse Dune gives the Sisterhood a very human side as their new Mother Superior in Odrade struggles against time honored traditions and rules of the Bene Gesserit in her attempt to adapt the Bene Gesserit into the modern world and for once, saving humanity as well.The main reason I give this book only 4 stars, is the fact that the final battle between the Bene Gesserit and Honored Matres was a disappointment overall. I expected a little bit more of an epic battle/struggle/etc that what transpired in the last 40 pages or so. In addition, an improbable solution between the Bene Gesserit and Honored Matres seems a little ridiculous after their vicious hatred for each other and especially their histories throughout the last 2 books or so. Then the Tleilaxu getting very little face time in Chapterhouse and being passively slaughtered without a big fight really was a little disappointing. They were such an intriguing group in the whole plot against Paul, Leto II, and the Bene Gesserit.Yet, despite my few complaints towards the end, I still absolutely loved Chapterhouse Dune. I haven't enjoyed a series this much since I read Stephen King's Dark Tower Series and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Series. As others have said, Herbert spent 6 years just researching the concepts that would make the Dune Series alone and in a great portion of the books, you can tell it's very well-researched and thought out. Couple that with the fact that a lot of these books are going for bargain prices on Amazon Marketplace makes the series an even more attractive one to any potential Dune readers. I almost gave up on the Dune Series 3 years ago when I couldn't understand the first book in Dune. The terminology sometimes is difficult, but my best advice would be just to read through it. Particularly do a lot of your glossary reading in the first book and even though there aren't any glossaries in the rest of the books, you can deduce a lot of terms just from the first book alone. Above all, Thank you Frank Herbert for some of the best science fiction I've read.-Travis

Chapterhouse: Dune" stands as a literary triumph, skillfully concluding Frank Herbert's epic saga. This five-star masterpiece is a captivating blend of intricate plotlines, profound character arcs, and philosophical brilliance. Herbert's unparalleled world-building reaches its zenith, enveloping readers in a tapestry of intrigue and suspense. The interplay between factions adds layers of complexity, creating a narrative that is both compelling and thought-provoking. "Chapterhouse: Dune" is a must-read for science fiction aficionados, offering a fitting and satisfying conclusion to a legendary series. Its timeless themes and Herbert's imaginative prowess ensure that the echoes of this captivating journey will resonate long after the final page.

Great value for a great book! Price keeps it affordable to read all 6 books in the series.

The story was a slow burner, really building up the suspense. However, the ending came abruptly and I felt he could have stuck the landing better. Also contained some unexplained plot lines (the Rabbi for example) which were jarring

Excellent chapter in an excellent series of books. The amazing continuity in the entire, 6 book series as it spans vast millennia is wonderful. I consider this series to represent a perfect melding of sci-fi & fantasy, with technology as well as sword wielding, feudal societies, and mystical powers. Plots & conspiracy that have been adhered to and advanced over those millennia, The Bene Tlielax, purveyors and creators of fantastic and forbidden technologies and secret practitioners of a supposedly extinct religion, the Bene Gesserit(sp?) (witches, to some) a society of Women who outwardly exist only to serve, and they do serve well, often enriching those they serve, but with, some would say dark ulterior motives, at the center of which is their ancient breeding program whereby they seek to control the evolution of the whole human race. Women so in tune and in touch with their minds, musculature & nervous systems as to appear to be possessing mystical powers such as Voice the ability to read another so well that one can pitch their voice in just the right tone so as to force compliance on a subject with a word, Truthsense, the ability to read falsehood in almost anyone, genetic memories spanning thousands of generations, passed on from Reverend-mothers about to die with another adept to preserve the combined wisdom and knowledge acquired through the ages. The ability to be relaxing, to be slouching in a chair one instant and be across the room holding your larynx ripped from your bleeding throat quicker than you can blink. There are body shields and house shiields, that stop projectiles making guns all but obsolete, hence the swords. V-STOL aircraft called ornithopters (for their birdlike wings) or thopters for short. The Spacing Guild with their monopoly on inter-stellar travel which they hold in an iron grip. Sword masters who are adept with a wide array of weapons and lightning reflexes and minds that come closer to the Bene Gesserit than almost any others. Mentats, human computers to skirt the ancient laws spawned by the Butlerian Jihad outlawing most "technology" but most especially "thinking machines." and at the heart of it all, The Spice, "Melange" produced once only by the giant sand-worms (the holy makers, Shai-hulud) of Arrakis (Dune). the substance that prolongs life, that sharpens physical and mental prowess, that grants the Spacing Guild navigator their ability to "fold space" to achieve faster than light speed travel, that gives prescient abilities to the Bene Gesserit and to Paul Muad Dib and his descendants,and is highly addictive with the most apparentsymptom being the entire eyeball turning blue, the pupil, the irisand the white. A vast rich universe of adventure. I highly recommend the entire six book series.