I guess it's been quite inevitable that I would read this book. My favourite book of all time is the first of Frank Herbert's Dune series - and, of late, Kevin J. Anderson has become one of my favourites of all the current sf epics – his magnificent Saga of the Seven Suns. However I have fallen foul of such expectations before, wanting a book to be so good and having it disappoint me, so it was with a slight feeling of dread that I picked this book to take with me on our recent Italian holiday.

Well there was one thing about it that I was a little concerned about right from picking the book up. This is the first book in a prequel trilogy. I've never been a fan of prequels, I always feel that there is a lack of suspense in some areas with them. We've seen the future of this reality, we know how things have to start in the other books so…

BTW – I felt this way with the recent new batch of Star Wars films, and with Star Trek Enterprise when it aired. So having had two disappointments with film and TV prequels was this going to complete the set with the book variety.

Thankfully, no. But then again Kevin J. Anderson has such a wonderfully easy-to-read style, and is capable of such gripping plotlines then I suppose he was going to be the author to make the form work. Now, okay there are still a few things about it that we know have to happen. Duke Leto Atreides is a major character in this book, but not the mature composed Duke from the beginning of the first Dune book. In this title e is about the same age Paul was in Dune, a teenager just beginning to make his impression on the Universe.

But the fact that we know he becomes the mature Duke Frank Herbert wrote about, means we know he survives this series, so Anderson and Brian Herbert had their work cut out to make this a gripping tale.

They were more than capable of the task though. This is a superb book. They recreated the feel and immensity of the original series, all of the many elements of the Dune Universe are here, and all vying for position with the Empire. This is a book filled with machinations and plottings.

The Bene Gesserit are attempting to breed their Superman, the Harkonnen are trying to secure their power base and defeat their enemies the Atreides. Crown Prince Shaddam wants his father's throne, and the Fremen have their prophecy of a messianic being arriving to deliver them into the promised land (so to say).

And it's in managing these many various strands and interactions that the authors show their skill to the utmost. It would be so easy with the enormousness of this Universe for things to become a little cluttered and the story become shrouded in confusion – in ways that some of the later books in Frank Herbert's Dune series had a tendency to do from time to time. In this book everything is kept under control, at no point do you feel lost or confused when the action changes direction.

This is a treat for a Dune fan. I just wish I had read them before. Mind you, had I done that I would not have the antcipation of reading the rest in the months and years to come.

I must admit that I was not sure about this new series of three books, essentially prequels to Frank Herbert's masterful Dune series, when I first picked up my paperback copy of Dune, House Atreides at the local Barnes & Noble some time ago. Now that I have finished the first installment, I am happy to report that I find myself eager and anxious for more.

Of course, fans of the first Dune series must expect any new material set in the Dune universe to be just as compelling, complex, grandiose and magnificent in scale as the late Frank Herbert's original masterpiece. This would be no small task for any author, or authors, attempting such a feat but I think Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson have come as close as they possibly could to achieving their goal.

Dune, House Atreides takes place not in the far past of the events depicted in the original series but in the rather recent past. This is where the two authors struck gold. By going just far enough back to key in on some of the earlier exploits of characters made familiar in the original books, they were able to capture my interest and further delve into the mysteriousness of the Dune saga. The protagonist of this first installment is none other than Leto Atreides, who is just a mere boy at the book's beginning. Thus, the reader gets to learn much of what Paul Maud'Dib Atreides' father was like as a child, before he became Duke and when House Atreides was still firmly entrenched on Caladan. We also get to meet Paul's Grandfather, Duke Paulus Atreides (Leto's Father), in the first half of the book, whose interactions with Leto set up the reader's understanding of the famous Atreides honesty and sense of honor. There are also plenty of sinister Harkonnens, mysterious Bene Gesserit "witches," filthy Bene Tleilaxu, and noble nomadic Fremen to go around. Throw in an aging and vengeful Emperor Elrood, the scheming Crown Prince Shaddam, a pre-teen Duncan Idaho, some melange-mutated Guild Navigators, an invigorated Pardot Kynes and the usual brood of corrupt Imperial lackeys and this novel becomes a first-rate romp across the intricate Dune universe created by Frank Herbert.

Although this book lacks most of the spooky religious mystique that set the original Dune apart from so many other novels thirty-five years ago (an utterly mysterious quality that still sets the original books apart from most other novels even today), Dune, House Atreides more than makes up for it with its fast-paced action, many vivid locations, perfect characterization and imaginative portrayal of these unknown past events. One thing which the authors deserve credit for was to set most of the book in locations other than Arrakis (Dune), concentrating most of the action in places which Dune fans are not so familiar with. This allowed them a much broader area in which to create their story, instead of trying to put the reader in a place made so familiar to them by Frank Herbert in the original series.

One thing is for sure, even years after his death, Frank Herbert remains the master when it comes to creating an entire universe in such intricate detail like he did with Dune. I believe that his son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson deserve a lot of credit for daring to revisit what many sci/fi fans consider sacred ground but, in my opinion, they did a very good job. Although somewhat long at close to 700 pages, Dune, House Atreides moves along quickly. The story is easy to follow, the characters are alive and believable, the locations are vivid in the reader's mind and the last few chapters leave you wanting more. The second installment of this new Dune trilogy, Dune, House Harkonnen, and the third installment, Dune, House Corrino, are also available right now (and are both sitting on my book shelf, just waiting to be read), as well as another new Dune book by these same authors, Dune, The Butlerian Jihad. Please re-visit the wonderful universe of Dune in this first book of the new series. I think you'll find it a good enough read to make you pick up the rest of the series.

This review was first published in a slightly different form on The Outer Rim Website