American author Brian Herbert was born on June 29th, 1947 and lives in Washington state with his wife, Jan. Herbert writes predominantly science fiction novels, and he is also known as the oldest son of science fiction author Frank Herbert, who was famous for writing the Dune series. Herbert has taken over the continued writing responsibilities of the Dune Saga series after his father died, collaborating with science fiction and fantasy author Kevin J. Anderson. Herbert and Anderson had written several prequels to the 1965 classic science fiction novel, Dune, and they had also completed the two sequels that were left unfinished by his father due to his death in 1986. The two sequels were written by Herbert and Anderson based on the notes and an outline that were left by Frank Herbert. Although Herbert has had commercial and critically acclaimed success in the continued writing of the Dune Saga series in his father’s place, he is also known for his own works of science fiction, fantasy and nonfiction.
Brian Herbert has won many literary honors which include the New York Times Notable Book Award. Herbert has also been nominated several times for the most prestigious awards in science fiction. In 2003, Brian Herbert wrote the biography of his father Frank Herbert, Dreamer of Dune. This book not only served as a well written biography, but it was also an excellent tribute for his father. His father’s biography earned him a finalist nomination for the Hugo Award for Best Related Book.
Brian Herbert wrote a science fiction or space opera series called The Timeweb Chronicles series or Five Star Science Fiction & Fantasy series. The first book of the series is simply called Timeweb, published in May 2006. Timeweb is described as a cosmic webbing, which is a vast canvas of space and time that can be utilized for many things. Because this space web is so complex and not much is known about its potential, it is misused. Humans are existing as a mercenary society throughout the galaxy, but they are completely oblivious to another domination that lies just beneath the surface of the galaxy. It’s one that threatens to unhinge things as all inhabitants know it and cause the galaxy to descend into chaos. Noah Watanabe, a galactic ecologist launches a long and difficult journey in an attempt to restore the galaxy to the ancient balance that once embodied it long ago. He needs to try and work with difficult and different alien races in a dire attempt to uncover the secrets about the ancient times of the universe that could hold the solution to a very extensive and complex celestial puzzle. Timeweb and its depths are still misunderstood until Noah begins to understand how to tap its potential, but that understanding of its potential will serve as a catalyst and instigation for a power struggle that threatens to envelop the entire galaxy and all its inhabitants.
In the second book of The Timeweb Chronicles series, The Web And The Stars, published in December 2007, picks up where Timeweb left off. The Timeweb was established as a galactic web of space and time that serves to interlink the cosmos, which can be utilized as a transportation substructure for sentient space vehicles. But in this second installment, the integrity of the web is collapsing, which would cause the universe to crumble into obscurity and chaos. Noah Watanabe, the galactic ecologist is battling to keep the cosmic webbing intact, while the evil shape shifters called the Mutatis threaten to employ a doomsday device to obliterate humanity. Noah possesses his own paranormal ability that will allow him to travel to the deepest, darkest parts of the universe, but because he has made a few enemies of his own, which include a third powerful force determined to destroy all galaxy inhabitants, he has more to deal with than just the Mutatis.
Herbert has received mixed reviews concerning his Timeweb Chronicles series. Some readers like his inventive use of different alien species, galactic ecological philosophy, intrigue, suspense and the stories are well written to create a fast flowing story without giving the reader the feeling of jumping around the story lines. However, some readers claim the endings came too abruptly. Some also said that Herbert had a lot of good ideas, but did a poor job of fleshing them out as a writer, and the readers say as a whole, the books are poorly written. It seems that Herbert had a better reception with the second book of the series versus the reception of the first book. There are two extremes represented in the readers of The Timeweb Chronicles series. Either the readers really like the series, or they don’t like them and won’t waste their time reading another book of the series.
There are many readers who compare Brian Herbert to his father, Frank Herbert, and their abilities to write science fiction. Many readers claim that Brian has a long way to go before he is the same caliber of science fiction writer as his father was. Undoubtedly, his father inspired Brian to become a science fiction author. Readers say that Brian lacks the technological depth that his father had when writing science fiction, especially when referring to the Dune prequels and sequels that Brian had written after his father’s death. Many Dune Saga fans don’t like the books that Brian had written because he doesn’t do a competent job depicting the Dune universe just as his father did. Dune Saga fans believe that Frank Herbert wouldn’t like the direction in which Brian took with the prequels and sequels of Dune. The Road To Dune was a collaboration with his father and it is a companion book to the Dune novels and was published in September 2005. The collaboration between Frank and Brian Herbert was achieved by using all of the information that was provided in the original notes written by Frank, letters that Frank had written to his editor and the original article that was written by Frank Herbert that inspired the creation of the original book, Dune.
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