POLL RESULTS: SF Signal Reader Challenge #1
By John DeNardo |
Monday, April 17th, 2006 at
12:00 am
Here are the results of the latest SF Signal poll.
QUESTION
Which of the following SF Signal Reader Challenge winners is your favorite book?
RESULTS
| (66 total votes) |
People sure do love Dune, don’t they? I remember loving it, too, when I first read it. My reading experience wasn’t as positive on a re-read, though. Did any Dune voters re-read it and still enjoy it (besides JP), or was that just me?
Be sure to vote in this week’s poll on the new Doctor Who.
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- POLL RESULTS: What We Do With Books
- POLL RESULTS: Time for Video Games
- POLL RESULTS: Your Entertainment Dollar
- POLL RESULTS: The Best Years of Science Fiction
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I still like Dune, even after several readings. I’ve found no other books with the same vast scope, and quality. The first book (Dune) was still a great read, but it improved when i compared it to the next two books in the series (Dune: Messiah, Children of Dune) in which the accomplisments of Paul Muad’ib was rejected by himself and undermined by his son. The story of what happens after Dune ends makes for a very interesting read indeed, however these books are not quite up to the literary standard and complexity of Dune.
The last three books were not really any way near as good, but i will maintain that the sixth book seemed to draw up an intersting canvas for the series’ conclusion.
If you consider the universe as a whole, and not only the fisrt book, it is a very interesting universe and thus it recived my vote.
-my two cents
I’ve re-read Dune at least 3 times now. blows me away everytime.
Thanks for the feedback.
Another question: How do you think the Kevin J. Anderson’s and Brian Herbert’s Dune prequels hold up?
I have enjoyed them every time I read them. I think I’ve read them three times? The only one I have to force down is “Chapterhouse” which just feels “tacked on” to the other books.
In the poll I actually choose “Ender’s Game” which has the same issue with the Dune books in the end as well. The last book in that series felt clumsy but I think it was a better end than the Dune series.
To answer your question John, I haven’t given the prequels a chance yet. Maybe I will when I’m retiring at (what 67 now? sheesh) I’ll take the time to read them.
I have read use of weapons 3 times and loved it everytime.
I only read Dune once but liked it at the time.
I hated hyperion and refuse to read the next in the series even though there are like 6 unresolved plot lines at the end of the first book.
someone has got to give me an explination of why it ever made it on this list.
Amen, Joshua. I hate Hyperion with a passion. I enjoyed it somewhat in the beginning. I remember reading it and getting closer and closer to the end wondering how he was going to wrap up the main plot only to be shocked and angry when the book just ended. I did read book 2 and didn’t much care for how everything resolved either.
Lately I have been reading this year’s Nebula and Hugo nominated short fiction and some classic SF novels (none more than 300 pages). I really enjoy how all the stories no matter what the length, tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end without leaving any obvious loose ends. I don’t care much for the never ending series; I avoid reading them. I hate books that only tell half the story, and require two or more books to tell a complete story. Personally I am unhappy with the direction the SF publishing has taken, but I seem to be in the minority.
Uh-oh. You Hyperion-hatahs are going to have answer to JP, methinks.
Kristen, have you seen our post on Booksplitting?
Kevin J. Anderson & Brian Herberts first three prequels (House Atreides, House Harkonnen, House Corrino) was actually ok. They were no where near as good as the original works of Frank Herbert, but they did explain several things in Frank’s books. They expanded the scope of the universe, telling stories from other sides and characters. But they really didn’t add anything really new, they merely explained and told a more detailed story.
The last three books however (Butlerian Jihad, Machine Crusade, Battle for Corrin) did try to tell a new story, that of the butlerian jihad. In doing so, they had to move away from many of the main ingredients of the Dune Universe that I have come to love. The mystisism was gone, the religious musings of Frank was nowhere to be found, and the level of intrigue was lacking compared to Franks’ books. Frankly, i didn’t like the last three books at all.
Now they are completing two new books to conclude the entire saga, based upon notes from Frank found in a bank deposit box years after his death. I will buy and read them. But I am very curious as to how they will be. Anderson & B. Herbert have their own writing style, and I don’t think they are up to Franks’ standard, but then again i am realy curious as to how the saga is about to end. I have lived with too many questions for far too long to aviod reading them when they are published.