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I won’t help the conversation here but I really tried to give them a shot. I don’t know if it’s Brian Herbert or the second author that is bad - but it was just such bad writing. I even gave it another shot years after I finished the last Frank Herbert book in a second attempt. Got halfway through before just getting frustrated with it. Tried multiple books just to mark sure I wasn’t hiding one too harshly.

I wanted to. I wanted more Dune content. I may have even given it much more of a chance than I would with any other sci-fi series.

Yes, I enjoyed them all and was rather surprised when I found out years later the internet hated them. I had a small group of Dune fans where I used to live and all of us enjoyed them. Are they masterpieces? No. Are they enjoyable? To me they absolutely are.

Yes:

• Brian Herbert
• People paid by his publisher to astroturf for his books
• Contrarians

His novels are meh at best and most are fanfiction tier. Granted his father's sequels also showed a noticeable drop in quality over time too.

I didn't mind the Preludes trilogy. In fact, there's a scene in House Harkonnen (I think) which has stuck in my mind and made me vow to destroy any Harkonnen I ever meet. The Denis Villeneuve films could do with that sort of scene as currently I don't despise the Harkonnens in his adaptation the way I feel I should.

The Legends trilogy I managed to get through by sheer determination, but the rot was setting in and I only managed half of the first sequels book before giving up.

Bearing in mind that I didn't really think too highly of Heretics and Chapterhouse, but I haven't given them a re-read for many many years.

I think if you go into them for what they are, basically the ‘official’ sequels/prequels, and treat it like any other series, fiction or non fiction, written by another author in another voice, they’re fine. Its really the world you’re reading about. Maybe if they were written on their own without Dunes shoulders to stand on, the voice of the books might not trap you the same way, but i think lots of purists are too hung up on it being ‘not frank’ to possibly give them a fair chance.

I'm not sure Brian Herbert likes Brian Herbert novels.