Books: Africa, Dune, and Drew

[woodwardiocom]

Nyambe: African Adventures (RPG)

-This is a third-party Dungeons & Dragons supplement presenting a new setting and new rules for roleplaying in a non-cliched African style. Not knowing much about historical Africa, it seemed pretty good to me. It's very businesslike, though. It gets in, presents everything you need with a minimum of fuss, and gets out. I wholly approve.

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

-Second in the Dune series. Kinda dull. Lots of pretentious yapping. We begin the book 12 years after the end of Dune, with Paul as Emperor, and also the head of a religious jihad that has [checks book] killed 61 billion people, sterilized 90 worlds, completely demoralized 500 others, and wiped out 40 religions. We don't, however, get to see any of the jihad. Cuz, y'know, that might have been interesting. Mostly we get to see people standing around talking about destiny.

-Well, it was free.

Nancy Drew and the Bungalow Mystery by Carolyn Keene

"The tree was a small one and Nancy though that two men could move it quite easily. Unfortunately, the two men were not in evidence." [snicker] The original, unedited story, with classism intact. Still, entertaining, and Nancy makes a good role model.

Comments

[minkrose]

Hey, if you enjoy Nancy Drew on any level, you should check out the Judy Bolton series by Margaret Sutton (useful link). She was my favourite - we own very old (if not original) editions of Nancy & Judy books that belonged to my grandmothers and I LOVED them. Different author, similar idea: female sleuth.
I always liked Judy better, though. She did things herself, she dated a lot of different and interesting men... I really should go back and read those again. Nancy always ALWAYS ends up locked in a closet. You'd think she would learn that she just shouldn't go near closets. But, more has been done to modernize Nancy Drew and I think it's really important to reinterpret a story for the current generation.


Also, they're making a Nancy Drew movie. The trailer DIDN'T make me totally cringe with horror, so I may rent it someday.

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

Hey, if you enjoy Nancy Drew on any level, you should check out the Judy Bolton series

-Cool, I'm making a mental note. Thanks!

[mrw42.livejournal.com]

While I agree that #3 and #4 are much better than #2, they all pale when compared to #1. If I had it to do over again, knowing what I know now, I'd just read _Dune_ and spend the rest of my life thinking that Herbert was a genius.

[aota.livejournal.com]

Dune Messiah seemed to me to be a filler book. I think someone at Herbert's publisher said trilogies sell better and he cut some out of Children of Dune and beefed it up with lots of unnecessary dialog.

[graykin.livejournal.com]

I second mrw42's comment. I always thought the rest of the series was something like... Publisher: "So when is the next Dune book going to be done?" Herbert: "There's only going to be the one. I told what I had to tell." Publisher: "How about if we give you this whellbarrow full of money?" Herbert: "Well....OK."

[crazybone.livejournal.com]

There's also a few Nancy Drew graphic novels out with an updated setting. I saw them at Panemonium.
As for Dune, I read them in high school after seeing the David Lynch Dune in the theaters. I liked #1, #2 I barely remember, #3 was better and #4 was hard to get through because of the 1,000+ year jump from #3 to #4. I got through it, but it didn't make me want to continue with the series.

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

I may not need to warn you about this, but just in case: don't don't don't don't don't don't DON'T read any of the Dune books by Brian Herbert (Frank's son) unless (to quote Holden Caulfield) you want to puke all over yourself.

Here's my review of Dune: The Butlerian Jihad, if you didn't read it in 2003. I can summarize it as "Someone should have chopped Brian's hands off at birth".

As for Dune...I liked the series, but I'd recommend Whipping Star and its sequel, The Dosadi Experiment over Dune. They're more readable, and frankly more fun.