Dune Revenant

by William A. Mitchell

Dune Revenant ("Fan Fiction" version of sequel to Chapterhouse Dune)

Unfinished draft 9/9/2000 by William Mitchell

Dune Revenant, described by author William Mitchell as an "unfinished draft," is a "fan fiction" speculative sequel to the Frank Herbert Dune Chronicles. The first book of the Dune Chronicles, Dune, was published in 1965. Frank Herbert's sixth and last book in that series, Chapterhouse Dune, was published in 1985. Frank Herbert died in 1986.

Enthusiastic readers of the Dune Chronicles have spent considerable time contemplating what could happen in "Dune 7," a sequel to Chapterhouse involving that last book's cliffhangers involving some very compelling characters and events. The advent of "fan fiction" sequels created to further (as well as at least partially salve) this contemplation is a productive and pleasing development and a generous gift to fellow Dune fans.

Notably, Mitchell's text, offered on the website in both PDF and document format, was written before the publishing of sequels to the Dune Chronicles written by Frank Herbert's son Brian Herbert and Brian Herbert's co-writer Kevin Andersen.

William Mitchell's 101-page text has received numerous strong positive responses from Dune fans in Dune-topic chat forums, praising Mitchell's writing as satisfyingly similar to that of the late Frank Herbert. Some fans who have read Mitchell's text have speculated in chat forums that they might have a harder time appreciating Brian Herbert and Kevin Andersen's own sequels to the Dune Chronicles in comparison to Revenant.

101 pages, downloadable PDF, document, "Unfinished draft"

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Chen-Wei Cheong · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed a lot of the speculative fan fiction that was written in this, and I would have loved to see some of it included in the final Dune 7, but alas, it was not meant to be.
The writing was imaginative and drew on a lot from the previous Dune novels by Frank Herbert. I enjoyed how the Ixians developed their technology along the lines where they were almost robots.
Recommended for all Dune fans out there.

[Clayton]

Just to get some obvious things out of the way… this is fan fiction written before Hunters and Sandworms of Dune. Not only is it fan fiction, it’s incomplete fan fiction. So if you want to know right off the bat whether this is good or not, then the answer is no - it’s not good. But if you finished Chapterhouse Dune and need something to scratch that itch, maybe this will help? I hesitate to say that it’s a satisfying take on Dune 7 because there’s a lot of bad writing and many plot points that seem wildly divergent from where Frank Herbert was going at the end of chapterhouse, but there’s also stuff that will make you think maybe this is along the right path?

Probably the single thing that I was most disappointed in where the focus on Ix when it seemed pretty obvious to me that Frank Herbert felt like their role in the series had ended with the invention of the no ships. Every time they’re mentioned afterwards, it’s usually to say how much they’ve declined. So for them to all of a sudden be such a large focal point of the story is inconsistent with Frank Herbert’s vision.

At the same time it’s also nice to see some things that are clearly drawn from Heretics and Chapterhouse. Namely, the idea that Sheeana leaves because the Bene Gesserit/Honored Matres union will be the ultimate bureaucracy and that this victory is not really good news. I also appreciate that the one of many faces are face dancers and not thinking machines.

[Ben]

seems quite promising

[Daniel]

Need to definitely re-read it...

[Kirk Lowery · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fan fiction. Not great.