Dune: The Battle of Corrin

Authors: Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson {DAYSSINCEBIRTH(birth=2004-08-17,birthphrase=Release)}{DAYSSINCEBIRTH} I read: March 23 - April 9, 2007 Non-spoilery short description:

60-ish years after the previous book, the fightings continue, and eventually conclude.

Totally spoilery summary:TOBEMODIFIEDSOONNOWITSJUSTTHEPREVIOUSONE

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|<td>Again I'll do this character by character. 
<p>'''Titans''' <br>''Agamemnon'': The Titans are slowly losing ground to Omnius, and finally end up bailing on Bela Tegeuse. They end up taking over Hessra as an out-of-the-way place, for the electrofluid production facilities, and for the fun of offing the cogitors. He's tricked by Vorian into thinking Vor wants to become a cymek again, and lets his guard down. His canister ends up pushed out a tower and smashed on the ground. <br>''Juno'': Her brain ends up lasered to pieces by a vengeful Quentin Butler, the day the Titans died. <br>''Dante'': Didn't really do much. Ended up being the last remaining Titan, killed when Quentin-in-Agamemnon's-ship rammed into him. Other than being one more Titan this guy really didn't do much over the course of decades and three books. <br>''Beowulf'': Though they've put up with his brain-damaged state, the other Titans finally get tired of putting up with him and the dangers an incompetent ally bring, and off him. 
<p>'''Thinking machines''': <br>''Omnius'': Omnius just gets nuttier. After the human worlds are reeling from the plague, he rounds up ALL of his ships for a last attack run... which gives the humans a chance to take out all of his worlds while the door is open, essentially. Corrin's Omnius Prime ends up running alongside two other incarnations brought from other worlds, nicknamed SeurOm and TheurOm by Erasmus. They continue to diverge, and eventually Omnius Prime wants to get rid of them. Of course they don't care for that, and end up smoking Omnius Prime and running things as a duo instead. In the end it seems Erasmus managed to get Omnius Prime barely ticking again while there's still time enough for him to transmit himself as a data burst into space... perhaps he's picked up again. We never did hear what became of the many probes sent out by Giedi Prime Omnius in the first book. <br>''Erasmus'': Though he continues with his various human experiments, his favorite is by far Gilbertus Albans, who he's taught to think like a machine and refers to as his Mentat. In his love and worry for Gilbertus, he truly seems to begin experiencing the human sensations he's tried to rationalize before. This love causes him to deactivate the switch that would've exploded the Bridge of Hrethgir, since Gilbertus was up there. In the end he shuts down, but Gilbertus takes his data gelsphere. <br>''Seurat'': Eventually escapes from the Titans on Bela Tegeuse, which is one of the last straws to make them abandon ship. He returns to Omnius and ends up holed up on Corrin. When the final battle arrives he tries to trick Vorian with talk of negotiations, but ends up being destroyed in a suicide run on Vor's vessel. Goodbye, Old Metalmind. 
<p>'''League humans''' <br>''Xander Boro-Ginjo'': Latest Grand Patriarch. Unimpressive, but also without much of a jihad during the later days. Killed by Yorek Thurr. <br>''Norma Cenva'': After many years of trying, she eventually realizes that her new lumpier, spice-deformed self can be the missing piece of the foldspace puzzle, presciently anticipating and making course adjustments before things go wrong. This seems to work, so the plan is to recruit more capable of doing this on a larger scale. <br>''Raquella Berto-Anirul'': <br>''Quentin Butler'': <br>''Abulurd Harkonnen'': Grandson of Xavier, son of Quentin Butler, born with the Butler name but wants to reclaim Harkonnen as a name of good and erase the tarnish from his grandfather's name. Though his brothers and father aren't with this, he has much support from Vorian. Proving himself capable, he eventually gets promoted to right under Vorian. However, they have a falling out at the very end. Vorian wants to go through the Bridge of Hrethgir, but Abulurd thinks the deaths are unnecessary and that Vorian is acting like a monster. When ordered off the bridge, he deactivates the targeting equipment on their fleet, making things much more difficult. This ruins their relationship, but Vorian requests a punishment worse than death: branding as a coward and banishment. He takes up residence on Lankiveil, where his offspring feel bitter about their poor lot in life due to the Atreides. Thus, a hateful feud. <br>''Vorian Atreides'': Goes on to have a full happy life with Leronica, though he's never very close to his sons, who go back to Caladan when they're older. Abulurd Butler/Harkonnen is more like a son to him. On a quest to find out if he has other offspring from his earlier, pseudonymous days, he does learn of a granddaughter: doctor Raquella Berto-Anirul. Later, when it's clear a massive Omnius fleet is headed to Salusa Secundus, he realizes this gives the humans a chance since Omnius would leave his other worlds undefended. Though the attrition rate is high, they use the unreliable space-folding ships to take out almost all of the synchronized worlds (and the human slaves on them) in short time. However, the Omnius fleet turns back to Corrin having learned something is amiss, so by the time it's the only world left, both sides are at a stalemate which lasts for 20 years. As people feel safe, it's hard to convince them that they must launch an all-out attack on Omnius. Abulurd notes that he's become quite a hawk over the years, so Vorian makes that his symbol. He eventually fake-retires, convincing Agamemnon that he's returned to join the cymeks. A ploy that works and ends up destroying the Titans. Later Vorian leads the attack at the Batle of Corrin, the the results of which are mentioned elsewhere. <br>''Rayna Butler'': 
<p>'''Others''' <br>''Ishmael'': No longer leader of the Free Men, he's passed the duties on to Selim's son El'hiim, who is a proponent of working with offworlders and forgetting the desert ways. Even raids by slavers on the Arrakis Zensunnis aren't enough to change El'hiim's mind, so Ishmael eventually challenges him to a worm duel for leadership of the tribe. Ishmael loses, but survives. He decides to leave the tribe, and a fair number of others go along with him to live in the older ways. <br>''Gilbertus Albans'': </td></tr>

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