Mentats of Dune, published in 2014, is the fifth book in the Dune series chronologically, and the second book in the "Schools of Dune" trilogy. It was again written by Brian Herbert, the son of the creator of Dune and author of the original Dune Trilogies, Frank Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson.
This book does have a time jump from the prior novel, but not as large as the time jumps that occurred in the Butlerian trilogy. In this book, the sisterhood is picking up the pieces after the Butlerians and Emporer Salvador Corrino's forces attacked the school. Gilbertus is trying to walk the fine line between keeping his background secret and appeasing the Butlerians so he can continue to operate his school, and Josef Venport is working to try to take down the Butlerians and their leader, Manford Tornodo. Valya Harkonnen and her sister Tula are trying to figure out how to hurt Vorian Atreides, who is trying to finally live a normal life. Anna Corrino is living at the Mentat school with Gilbertus vowing to keep her safe and try to fix her mind from the effects of the poison she consumed at the end of the last book.
The hardcover version of the book is just under 450 pages. It does take longer (at least for me) to read than other books of a similar length because, as has been the case with the prequel novels, the book jumps from storyline to storyline and has a lot of characters to keep track of. Sometimes storylines intertwine with one another and some of the storylines stay separate. The climax of the book involves a cat and mouse escape within a standoff and is very well done. The book definitely sometimes feels like the middle chapter of a trilogy, but it does advance the storylines very well and continues to set up themes in the original Dune novels. It is absolutely worth the time to read.
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