Dune: The Machine Crusade
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 US 1st ed. cover art |
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| Author | Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson |
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| Cover artist | Stephen Youll |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Legends of Dune |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Tor Books |
| Released | 16 September 2003 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 624 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-7653-0158-X |
| Preceded by | Dune: The Butlerian Jihad |
| Followed by | Dune: The Battle of Corrin |
Dune: The Machine Crusade is the second book in the Legends of Dune trilogy written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson, set in the beginnings of the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert.
[edit] Plot summary
Legends of the Dune trilogy is a prequel to the original Dune books by Frank Herbert. Dune:The Machine Crusade moves us forward into the centre of the Butlerian Jihad, described in the first book of the trilogy, Dune: The Butlerian Jihad. Leading the movement is the ex-slave and ex-machine trustee Grand Patriarch Iblis Ginjo. However, Iblis appears more interested in politics and his own personal legacy than in the Jihad.
Vorian Atreides, despite the long life given to him by his father, the Titan Agamemnon, begins to show the vestiges of wanting to settle down after visiting the planet Caladan, and meeting the woman, Leronica Tergiet, who is to become his long-term concubine.
Xavier Harkonnen manages to free Ix from the thinking machines and must eventually make the ultimate sacrifice that will tarnish his name.
The robot Erasmus continues with his enlightening human experimentation, and makes a curious bet with the Omnius entity on Corrin, where he claims he can raise a human being to be orderly and civilised like a machine. This child is Gilbertus Albans, the first true mentat.
Omnius himself suffers badly from a computer virus created by Vorian Atreides and spread unwittingly by his old companion Seurat.
On Ginaz, the aging Zon Noret is killed in a training accident by a mek called Chirox, a captured and reprogrammed fighting machine. Though Noret did not live to pass on his skills to the other Ginaz mercenaries, Chirox remained to train them into the greatest of all mercenaries, the Swordmasters, who will be the ultimate fighting force against the thinking machines.
On the planet of Poritrin, Norma Cenva leaves the world just in time to avoid a slave uprising, where, among other things, a lasgun accidentally hits a Holtzman personal shield. The resulting explosion wipes out Holtzman's labs and the slave revolt is eventually brutally crushed. Meanwhile, Norma Cenva, due to her heritage as daughter of the main Sorceress of Rossak, finally taps into her latent powers under great pressure, precipitated by her capture and subsequent torture by the Titan Xerxes to become the spearhead of humanity.
As for the slaves on Poritrin, a small band of Zensunnis steal the first space-folding ship and flee to a lonely desert planet called Arrakis, where they will join the followers of Selim, and become the Free Men of Arrakis.
Finally, the remaining Titans take their chance becoming independent from their machine master Omnius on the planet of Bela Tegeuse.
| The extended Dune series |
|---|
| by Frank Herbert: Dune • Dune Messiah • Children of Dune • God Emperor of Dune • Heretics of Dune • Chapterhouse Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson: |
