Book Review: Chapterhouse Dune

The sixth and final book in Frank Herbert’s Dune Saga.

Here we are at last: The end of Dune. Or, at least at the end of Frank Herbert’s original novels. I know there’s plenty of expanded universe stuff out there from his son, Brian, but I’ve heard enough about it to know it’s something I don’t really want to explore. It’s taken me four years to read this series—it’s a pretty leisurely pace, and I found I needed a long time between these books to really digest them and be ready for the next. My favourite of the series absolutely remains God Emperor of Dune, and honestly that would have been a comfortable place to stop. Heretics and Chapterhouse, exploring the aftermath of Leto II’s reign, didn’t really live up to the first four, which is a shame. But I’ve already talked about Heretics here, so let’s talk about Chapterhouse below.

Blurb

The long-established galactic order is passing. The Honoured Matres, ruthless and all-conquering, have destroyed the planet Dune. In opposition, hard-pressed but still fighting back, the Bene Gesserit sisterhood co-ordinate their resistance from their as-yet undiscovered home world, Chapter House.

Now as a new Scattering is planned, they still have one carefully nurtured asset: the sandworms, offspring of the only giant worm salvaged from Dune.

Chapter House is to about to turn into a barren wasteland: Chapter House will be the new Dune.

Review

Oh boy, I have thoughts about this one…

There’s been a steep decline in quality for me with these books since God Emperor, and I think the first thing to address is how this final book in the hexalogy leaves things very open-ended. I don’t usually mind that kind of thing, but here it seemed everything that the series felt like it was moving towards—something of greater significance that would bring all the Bene Gesserit machinations, the reveals about the Tleilaxu, Leto’s Golden Path, and all the strange Atreides powers to a head—simply never happened. By the end it felt like the series just wasn’t actually going anywhere. In Chapterhouse there are tentative hints that there might be something powerful out in the wider galaxy driving the human Scattering fleeing back to the old worlds, but we never find out what it is. The conflict with the Honoured Matres which began in Heretics, and culminating here in Chapterhouse, felt like an addition to simply pad out the series.

I don’t think I like the Bene Gesserit very much and I preferred it in the earlier books when they served more like antagonists. Being in their heads for two straight books was exhausting. There’s so much overcomplication that the story of Chapterhouse didn’t really feel like it got going until more than two thirds of the way through. It was a very frustrating read. There were a lot of storylines that didn’t end in satisfying ways—particularly with the Rabbi, Rebecca and the small contingent of Jews hiding away in a container for most of the book. Simply arguing with each other until they got picked up at the end. They did an important job, I guess, but its significance fell utterly flat for me.

And then, the thoroughly uncomfortable treatment of sex in the book continues (thankfully not in as great a quantity as the last), with a particularly disturbing scene involving Teg’s child-bodied ghola and Sheeana.

It was nice that we got a much closer sequel with Chapterhouse, with most characters from Heretics returning and continuing relatively close to where they left off. The Dune Saga otherwise has been replete with absolutely gigantic time skips between books. So here, it was a little refreshing.

There’s something generally that frustrates me about Frank Herbert’s treatment of action in the series, particularly in these latter books where you’ll be left on a cliffhanger at the end of one chapter with something about to occur and a feeling of “oh no, how will they get out of this?” building up excitement to see what happens next, when it cuts to some totally different POV and that person will simply receive a text message saying “they all died” or something. Profoundly irritating.

And the philosophising, which is one of my favourite things about the series… I don’t know. I don’t mind feeling initially confused by heady philosophical concepts when it’s actually going somewhere. And in Chapterhouse, it didn’t feel like it served any real purpose.

Also, from the blurb you may get the impression that the Bene Gesserit transforming their home planet of Chapter House into the new Dune might play a big role. But it’s never utilised in the story at all. In actuality it serves as a good example of a violation of the Checkhov’s Gun principle! There is a set up for it, where the desert is spreading across the planet, and a big moment when baby worms are discovered, but like most of the storylines in the book, it ultimately comes to nothing. Sheanna’s influence over the worms isn’t ever used for anything. And apart from being something happening in the background to secure the Bene Gesserit an independent source of spice, it’s essentially pointless. An ignominious use of the often-mentioned, venerated “pearls of awareness” of Leto II in the baby sandworms.

Overall this one left me disturbed, utterly perplexed, and in want of resolution. For anyone who is thinking of reading the Dune Saga, my recommendation would be to go as far as God Emperor and leave it there. It is peak Dune. Nothing that follows reaches that height, and it just doesn’t really go anywhere significant afterwards.

I know Frank died a year after this book was published, but I’ve seen plenty of discussions about whether or not there was ever meant to be a seventh book. A lot of people seem to think, based on the Afterword for Chapterhouse, that he wasn’t intending to write any more Dune books after this. There is the classic tale of the supposed “notes” for a seventh book which Brian "found” and spun into his sequels, but I remain unconvinced. Perhaps thinking that Frank died before being able to complete the series is more comforting considering how much of a mess Chapterhouse is—to think that it might have gone somewhere had he lived.

But how one could possibly wrap up a series like this is a great question, and perhaps the most obvious answer is the truest one: You can’t—not in any satisfying or meaningful way, at least.

So that about wraps up my thoughts on the Dune Saga. A disappointing end, but those first four books were a hell of a ride.