And now, the rest of the story ... (part II)

(a continuation of part I from the previous post, looking at continued works of authors after they have passed away, starting with the list)

• While various authors have written novels with Ian Fleming's James Bond, Sebastian Faulks was commissioned to write Devil May Care (2008)
• Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson have written several prequels and a couple of sequels to Frank Herbert's Dune novels
• Roger Zelazny's estate authorized John Betancourt to write a five-prequel series to Zelazny's ten Chronicles of Amber books (this Dawn of Amber series was cancelled after the four books)
• Robert Ludlum's estate gave permission to Eric Van Lustbader to write new Jason Bourne stories (and three have been published)
• Robert Jordan's widow selected Brandon Sanderson to finish the last book in Jordan's Wheel of Time series (which is still in progress and unpublished)

Honestly, I have only read one series of these authorized continuation books in this list, so I can't comment on most of them specifically.

I did have the misfortune of listening to the Legends of Dune trilogy [The Butlerian Jihad (2002), The Machine Crusade (2003), The Battle of Corrin (2004)] This trilogy takes place thousands of years before Dune (1965), to explain how the technology, social structure (including ruling families and other organizations) and culture in the Dune universive began. If I had other audio books to listen to at the time I probably wouldn't have finished these.

Some of it could have been the reader, but beyond that I found the stories to be cliche ridden and void of the plot complexity, thought provoking themes and ideas, and realistic characters and character development that Frank Herbert had in his Dune novels (well, OK, most of his Dune novels - at least the original trilogy and the fourth). With these I felt like I was listening to the first attempt of an author from the 1950's to write a space opera. I kept hoping that each book in the Legends trilogy would get better than the previous, but they didn't. (If I had to recommend one of the three to read upon pain of death, it would be the middle one though. But you have been warned.)

As you might guess, I doubt I will read or listen to any more Dune books by these two. I have read and enjoyed other books by Brian. Perhaps the collaboration of these two authors actually produces something a minuscule of a fraction of the work as their individual and independent worked combined. I assume Brian Herbert worked from notes or outlines his father created at some point, but I started to wonder more and more how much Brian, or Kevin Anderson, followed or modified those notes. I would have preferred an original timeline with notes to these bloated doorstops.

Where am I going with all of this? I would guess that it boils down to if the new author manages to continue with the characters, worlds, or ideas in a way you would feel the original author would, you will like the book. And this is going to vary from author to author, and story to story. With stories that are your favorites, I would guess you are going to be less likely to enjoy the new versions.

I wish Colfer the best of luck with his book (even though I think Terry Prachett might have been a better choice). As Colfer has written six Artemis Fowl books I would imagine he is use to getting both criticism and praise for each new book in that series, which should prepare him for the response from Adam's Hitchhiker fans.

Regardless of what you think about a non-Adams Hitchhiker book, or about Colfer as the choice, I hope that this exposes the Hitchhiker universe (and everything) to more people so they can experience the original books themselves where they might not have otherwise.

What are some other official, authorized or commissioned sequels or prequels of contemporary authors would you add to the list? How do you feel they did with the characters, worlds and ideas they were working with? I am interested to find out.