House Harkonnen: House Trilogy, Book 2

By: Kevin J. Anderson, Brian Herbert

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 26 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Returning to the vivid universe of Frank Herbert's Dune, this title continues the saga begun in Dune: House Atreides.

As Shaddam sits at last on the Golden Lion Throne, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen plots against the new Emperor and House Atreides - and against the mysterious Sisterhood of the Bene Gesserit. For Leto Atreides, grown complacent and comfortable as ruler of his House, it is a time of momentous choice: between friendship and duty, safety and destiny. But for the survival of House Atreides, there is just one choice: strive for greatness or be crushed.

Listen to more of our titles in the Dune series.

©2001 Brian Herbert (P)2009 Tantor

Critic reviews

"[T]he authors succeed in spinning a gripping adventure while going off in some unexpected directions. Anderson, who has written many successful Star Wars novels, has noted his particular admiration for The Empire Strikes Back, and his desire to emulate that film's dark take on the genre." (Amazon.com review)

Very Good Series

You know you have a good book when you start down-loading the next one (like I am now) before you finish the one you're listening to now, or the one you have recently purchased by the same author.

Worth a "Re-Read"

I still have the old "abridged" versions of the Dune House prequels (CDs) that were surprisingly well narrated by Tim Curry. I put abridged in quotations because they were still relatively long stories that felt fully fleshed out.
This newer series, read by the always excellent Scott Brick, is unabridged and goes so much deeper into the small details that the original audio versions left out, I hadn't realized the depths that Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson had gone to give the readers a worthwhile experience. Definitely worth the credits to hear the unabridged versions. Though I do at times miss Tim Curry's voice acting.

Love it!

Entertainment for hours. You never know what would come next or better yet, when. Excelente performance

Great Back-Story for the Frank Herbert Series

I was slow in warming up to the idea of Brian Herbert/Kevin Anderson adding side-bar stories to Frank Herbert's classic SciFi series. Had it not been for Audible including this title, House Harkonnen, in one of their periodic $4.95 sales, I would likely have never bought it. After having listened to this book, I've now added other Dune books by the Herbert/Anderson team to my wish list.

This book is well written and well performed (by Scott Brick). I appreciate how it remained true to the character personalities portrayed in the original series. Within the first hour, I was immersed in the ever-familiar universe of Dune. It seemed the writing duo made every effort to keep Frank's voice alive in this tale.

Having listened to this book, I now better understand many of the characters and plot setups in the original Dune book. I would recommend this book to any who may have enjoyed the original Frank Herbert series.

If you are new to the Dune series, it may be worthwhile to start with the House series and The Machine Crusade. These books should prove to be a great back-story to the original series.

Entertaining

This is the second in a series of prequels to Dune. The series is detailed and exciting, though it is definitely on the dark side and a little disturbing in places.

Filling in the missing pieces

Herbert and Anderson continue the epic backstory of how the main characters of the original Masterpiece found their way to Dune.

Motivations and circumstances of the noble houses are explained in a detail and style similar to the original works of Frank Herbert.

Well done

Brian and Kevin are amazing story tellers. I loved this book also and so will you.

Amazing

This book is so good! But wow, it is a tear jerker! Prepare yourself for a very emotional book. Very well-written

Very Tragic… in a good way

I really liked how tragic this dune book was, mostly on the main characters. The story was done very well I am looking forward to seeing the next book in the series!

Good book

Not the best from the dune series but I quite enjoy this narrator and gives a lot of background for dune.