Star Rating: 5 stars

Note: This is the 3rd and final book in the Legends of Dune series and the 3rd in the overarching Dune Universe so this will not be an in-depth review.

After discovering Dune in my local public library and falling absolutely in love (It went from a book I’ve never heard of to my FAVORITE book of all-time.), I decided that I wanted to pick up all the others in the same universe and particularly that I wanted to read chronically so I started to read the Legends of Dune series (They are first in chronological order.), and the one I was most recently able to get to was The Battle of Corrin, the last and final one in the aforementioned series. This one wraps up the story of Xavier Harkonnen and Vorian Atreides and their associates as well the fight with the thinking machines and sets the stage for the next series in chronological order, Schools of Dune.

My favorite part about this series is the commentary that the authors include, and although it was not as prevalent in this installment as some of the others, I still enjoyed what was there. In this one, there was a lot of talk about history (how it is remembered, who gets to write, why finding and understanding the truth and scope could have lasting consequences) and religion (how one forms, what effect it can have on society, whether harmful or beneficial, and how it can change and adapt over time).

When it comes to this book in particular, my favorite part was the discussion on the dichotomy of heroism and villainy. Over the course of this series, humanity has been fighting a war to eliminate the thinking machines (machines that they created to make their lives easier but that eventually gained sentience and conquered humanity), and depending on their actions, have either be labelled as a hero or a villain, sometimes both, and through these depictions, we learn that the line between the two is not always as black and white as people think.

This book had a lot more action and moved a lot faster than the previous installments, and that makes sense because it is wrapping up one narrative and setting up another one. I was a little worried when I realized it was like that as authors sometimes have trouble pulling off satisfying endings with this kind of fast pace, however, I shouldn’t have been. The authors pulled this one off flawlessly because while you realize that all those little details they have been placing and building on are going to snap together in ways you didn’t see coming, but that are extremely satisfying. It just showed me, once again, that they are masters of their craft.

All in all, I know this series isn’t for everybody and a lot of people have problems with it, which I won’t get into as to me, their qualms/problems don’t make sense, but I absolutely love it. It remains my favorite series of all-time and I can’t wait to keep reading. 5 stars!!!!!

Currently reading aloud to Kenneth. Anxious to get through this series so we can jump to the sequels to original Dune series.