The Machine Crusade

Twenty-four years have passed since the independent Thinking Machine, Erasmus, killed Serena Butler's son and began a bloody Holy War against Omnius, a computer evermind. Leading the League's Army of the Jihad are Primeros Xavier Harkonnen and Vorian Atreides, the son of cymek (human brain/robotic body) General Agamemnon, who, along with his fellow semi-immortals, shares the computer evermind's wish to eradicate all unnecessary humans but secretly also wants to destroy Omnius. Harkonnen and Atreides loyally report to their Priestess leader, unknowingly the political puppet of Grand Patriarch Iblis Ginjo, a former Earth slave-master. Unfortunately, the short spacehopping chapters neglect some characterizations and more intriguing story lines, such as the Arrakis conflicts swirling around Selim Wormrider's growing outlaw band and the relationship of Erasmus with his human son, in favor of too long battle segments and extraneous details about the emotionally remote Ginaz mercenary, Jool Noret.