Either Dune 6.5 or 7. This book and its successor are based upon a two-page outline for Dune 7 by Frank Herbert, which he never got around to write before his death.

I’m not sure what to think of it. There are parts that I find very good, yet many parts seem to lack the soul/greater purpose/vision that was so prominent in Frank’s books. The style is certainly different and there are things that I didn’t like. But overall I think they did a decent job. I don’t like everything in the original six books either. My biggest complaint would probably be how much they refer to events from their own dune books, even though they are mostly set before the first Dune novel, between ten thousand and five thousand years before Hunters of Dune.

The writing style is more direct/explicit than Frank Herbert’s. There are times where I prefer this style, and sometimes the other way around. As I wrote in the Heretics of Dune review, Frank omitted some important battles completely, ending one chapter with an epic rally speech and beginning the next with the aftermath of the battle. On the other hand, I think sometimes it’s better to leave some things unexplained and let the readers imagination fill in the rest.

Next up: Sandworms of Dune, the eight and final book in the main Dune series and second half of “Dune 7”, although there are about a dozen more spin-offs.