Here, we have the destruction of Rakis, also known as Dune, and the Bene Gesserit doing it’s own thing to preserve its main asset, the sand worm, transport it secretly to the planet Chapter House.

The plan is to make a new ‘Dune’. Of course, things don’t always go quite to plan and the Sisterhood are master or should that be mistress manipulators in keeping control of everything.

This was Frank Herbert’s last ‘Dune’ book, dying a year after he wrote it. All the indications were, at least at the time, that he was building up to a new cycle further into his best known reality and we all mourned his passing. Probably the best highlight of this book is seeing this reality from the Bene Gesserit point of view.

They might have been forced to take a backseat during the reigns of Paul Muad’Dib and his son, Leto II, but the Sisterhood are there for the long term plan.

If you’ve read all the books to this point, then you won’t be missing this one either. The series of ‘Dune’ is the classic from which most modern day SF authors have learnt how to scale their realities. At the reasonable price Gollancz is selling them for, you can’t really afford to miss out in owning a set.

GF Willmetts