Thursday 18 August 2022

Dune: The Waters of Kanly (2022)

Dune: The Waters of Kanly (2022)
Authors: Brian Herbert + Kevin J. Anderson | Illustrator: Francesco Mortarino | Page Count: 24 x 4 issues (inc covers, etc; it's only about 82 of actual story content)

'There was a traitor among the Atreides... a traitor.'

The Herbert + Anderson machine just keep shitting them out. And while it's well-known that you can't polish a turd, it seems you can stretch it out into four parts.

Set after the Battle of Arrakeen, as it happened in Frank Herbert's first DUNE novel (1965), it follows Gurney Halleck, the weapons master of House Atreides. In order to properly comment on the story I'll need to refer to the outcome of that battle, so there will be MAJOR SPOILERS for the first novel in what follows.

Folks who've read the novel will know that from Gurney's perspective his beloved Duke is dead, as is the noble's son and the Lady Jessica, all because someone inside of House Atreides lowered the shield walls, giving the Harkonnens a strategic advantage. Gurney and about six dozen other survivors lick their wounds and take shelter with smugglers. The Waters of Kanly invents a story of what he did while he was there, before his return in the original text.