Dune

I can't believe I waited almost 20 years to read this book! This book blew my mind and I can see why it's been called the best science fiction novel in history.

The world Herbert has created is immensely rich in detail. He has put an immense amount of thought into the planet Arrakis, its landscape and ecosystem, the political and religious setting of the world around it. By the end of the book I feel like Arrakis is a real place I have seen.

Dune has it all: fighting and laser guns, politics and conspiracy, superhuman mental abilities and witches, a likeable protagonist-a hero, a barren planet with a rough climate where only the toughest and the strongest survive and huge worms. And spice.

I can't wait to see the movie that's supposed to come out this year and I hope it does the book justice.

Right after reading this, I would only have given it three, maybe even two-and-a-half stars. But if you let it sit a bit, the book actually grows better in your memory. Amazing story with fantastic ideas and compelling characters. I just didn't like the style much.
More detailed review here: SFF Book Review

For as long as this book was, it was a surprisingly easy read. The world was interesting, the character building was engaging, though towards the end of the book ...I found myself not particularly caring for or about any of the characters.

I had extremely high expectations for this book, and perhaps that ultimately contributed to my disappointment with the lapse into being a product of its time - primarily, in regard to its treatment of women. I had hoped, especially with the initial introductions of the two most important female characters, that sexism would be less rampant in Dune compared to other sci-fi novels of the time, and while lessened, it was enough to affect my overall enjoyment.

I think this is the first book I've finished that the most people on my friends list have given 4-5 stars to.

There's no point in adding a review to such a well known book so I will simply say, I did not realize this film had such an environmental bent. I can't believe it was written in 1965. I really enjoyed it and it's plain to see the influence of Dune on other writers is profound.

I really struggled with this book. The massive amount of “made up words” threw me off. I didn't understand half of what went on in this book. If your book requires you have a dictionary in the back...you're doing something wrong.

It was not an easy book to get into...I stopped reading it at one point early on but I forced myself to read this book. If only because a lot of people seem to think it's a must read for sci-fi lovers...it's not. It's dull and needlessly convoluted.

The only saving grace for this book is the setting. I thought the setting in a desert planet was pretty cool. I also liked the plans the Fremen had for reshaping the planet.

But the writing...I'm a fast reader and it took me nearly a month to read this small (in my opinion when compared to some of the things I've read) book. Somethings wrong with that.

People keep calling this book a “grand epic”...I can think of plenty of other books that fit that title a lot better.

A cerebral piece of writing that weaves scifi with religion, politics and espionage more deftly than any other work I've read. Herbert also does a great job of peeling back the construct of mythology and legend and showing the power that they hold over a society. The fact that the book is also written partly like a religious text adds a lot to the atmosphere of the book. While the pacing occasionally struggles, it is more than made up for by the world building and the intricacy of the dialogue between characters. 4/5.

I can't argue that Dune is a major foundation for Sci-fi and that a big part of my critic is based on things that didn't used to be done at the time. In the overall I liked the book but I will talk about what was lacking.

The book is interesting and the universe is full potential! Potential that sometimes I found unexplored. The spice for instance, or the sandworms. We know they are the most important parts of the story but were rarely used for the development of the story. For example, Paul riding a sandworm had no impact on the main story whatsoever.. Which leads me to my next point ;

Paul Atreids. Paul is the definition of the Chosen One trope on steroids making him way too over powered and therefore making the audience easily detached from the character. The event I mentioned earlier, riding the sandworm, even if it was Paul's ultimate test to be seen as a Fremen, was done with no struggle whatsoever.
I loved Paul at the start of the book but the more the story developed the more I found myself hating Paul. I was wishing he'd get killed at the end by Feyd-Rautha which would've given the story a kind of interesting/unpredictable ending.

But in the end I'd say that my major disappointment with this book is how predictable everything is. The more the book progresses the less you'd feel tension for the characters as you realize that events never deviate from the predictable path.

Many events were also pointless or had no impact on the story, for instance, again the sandstorm riding, Gurney believing Jessica was the traitor..

Summary: Underwhelming. Didn't meet high expectations. Unfortunately became a bit of a slog to get through.

The Good: Herbert creates a world, highly realized, with its unique cultures and language and history and politics. With depth and detail. Well plotted, bringing together many threads and characters with political intrigue.

The Bad: Despite such a variety of characters, with a variety of roles and actions, somehow they lack humanity. All their dialogue, all their thoughts, all their actions, tend to be in the service of the plot, or exposition, or enlightening the reader to this world. But despite seeing deep into the thoughts of the characters, we seem to get little enlightenment of their feelings on the matters at hand, let alone personal, particular, character-driven, and character-revealing aspects of their thoughts and feelings. Characters often seemed hyper-intellectual. I don't think there was a single argument based upon emotional conflict, or bit of humor in the entire book. Another for instance: the deaths of characters close to others did not seem to elicit much emotion, thought, or feelings on the matter. Characters felt too often unrelatable (as a result). I think this is why I did not feel enough care for what happened to the characters.

The Ugly: Suspenseful moments there were, but more as a result of the plot, and less the result of how he handled those plot moments, or how they actually played out on the page. Similar with the action scenes, which were intense almost despite the writing itself. A great hero, but one which did not have a lot of endearing or relatable qualities. And one who felt too entrenched in the tired (and even racist) trope of the civilized/western/white hero going in to lead and save the savage/exotic/eastern people of color (a la the films “Dances with Wolves” or “The Samurai,” which while I might have enjoyed, can nonetheless be rather troubling and problematic from a race perspective). Chapter introductions from books written about the events of the story, giving interesting insights and commentary, but whose foreshadowing crossed the line into actual spoiling what otherwise would have been suspenseful events if the outcome wasn't already known. A glossary that was helpful, but also felt a bit of a crutch, as Herbert then appeared to feel free to simply not bother to try to integrate the explanations of their meaning within the text itself (which would have required a more deft hand with storytelling, but which would have been more enjoyable and easier for the reader. The metaphysical/supernatural aspects lent some more other-worldliness to the story, but at times left me a bit confused or uncertain about their meaning, significance, or even a good sense of what was actually happening. A compelling tale, but one which at times seemed rather derivative of history (see T.E. Lawreance “of Arabia.”) Interesting cultural idea, but ones which also seemed extremely derivative. A story which might be an interesting analogy on the times in which it was written (Middle East politics, oil), but if there was something beyond just being borrowed or derivative, and which actually might be a commentary, I did not see it (though I acknowledge both that it might be my failing to see it, and that all works are derivative in some sense).

Disclaimer: Expectations can be important. I did see (at least most of) the 1984 film something over 20 years ago. My rather awful impression of it colored my view of the book. I wish I had not seen it beforehand. On the other hand, my expectations were high due to the rave reviews and #1 rankings on the all-time-best science fiction lists.

Admito que me sentí un poco perdida al inicio. Me tomó casi 100 páginas para entender qué estaba pasando y familiarizarme con la geografía. Pero conforme avanzaba la historia, todo se volvió claro.

Leí que Frank Herbert había planeado este libro como autoconclusivo, pero la verdad que me pareció más una muy buena introducción. La historia tiene un final, pero los acontecimientos exigen una continuación.

En cuanto a los personajes, no tengo quejas. No me gustó mucho el romance, pero la escena final compensó todo. Ademas, cada uno de los personajes es tan complejo que siempre quieres saber más de sus motivaciones. Dicho sea de paso, me encantó el protagonismo que le dio el autor a las mujeres. Teniendo en cuenta el año de publicación, creo que fue un visionario para su tiempo y sigue siendo relevante en la actualidad.

En general, me encantó esta novela. Mi único pesar es que no lo leí antes; pero a la vez me alegra haber esperado porque esta edición es magnífica.

Winner of the first Nebula award in 1965 and co-winner of the Hugo award, Dune is regarded with an almost reverent awe by some. As one of the first science fiction novels to emphasize characters, Dune is the precursor to many of the modern books in the genre that we read today. In spite of its reputation as a must-read novel in the genre, I put off reading it for years, thinking it was probably dry and dated with flat, boring characters and lots of technobabble. Fortunately, I found these preconceived notions of mine to be wrong. Although it is not a perfect novel, Dune contains interesting characters, political intrigue, religious themes, a very detailed world, and philosophy that made for an enjoyable and profound reading experience....

http://fantasycafe.blogspot.com/2008/06/review-of-dune.html

Dune is a great book, and the cultural impact it has had is immense. I loved the world building and I thought the underlying themes touched on issues that are still relevant to this day (e.g. oppression of indigenous peoples such as the Fremen).

I really wanted to love it enough to give it a 5 star rating but although this book was engaging, it wasn't necessarily a can't-put-down book for me. The ending also felt a little anticlimactic for me and though I love the Middle Eastern and Islamic undertones, is it just me or does it also feel like appropriation?

Dune is a great book, and the cultural impact it has had is immense. I loved the world building and I thought the underlying themes touched on issues that are still relevant to this day (e.g. oppression of indigenous peoples such as the Fremen).

I really wanted to love it enough to give it a 5 star rating but although this book was engaging, it wasn't necessarily a can't-put-down book for me. The ending also felt a little anticlimactic for me and though I love the Middle Eastern and Islamic undertones, is it just me or does it also feel like appropriation?

When I decided to start “really reading books” for the first time a few months ago, I started with the best ones I could find. Ender was the first one I read, and already became my number one book.

Dune took away that title. Easily. Mostly because of the more fantastic like setting, with super powers involved. Where Ender was a nearly impossible intelligent 6 year old boy in a future Earth-Like world, Paul of Atreides was a supernaturally intelligent and logical young man in an impossible arid planet.

There was a perfect blend of royal-blooded learned skills and centuries old genetic breded ones. They focused on self control, the use of reason/logic to overcome pain and emotions, the prediction of the future, battle tactics and give leader traits.

All of them were very richly described, as was the setting. The rarity of water created some very unique situations.

An entertaining story that just begins to touch on a seemingly boundless universe.

I really enjoyed Dune. The story was paced well and the underlying themes were woven into the fabric of the tale seamlessly. I feel like I'll need to read this again at some point to fully understand what's going on, and for that reason I can't give it 5 stars.

This was a very interesting read. Very different from all the books I've read till now. I liked the SciFi part, but the fantasy part made no sense (at all).

Parts 1 and 2 were great. But I needed more from part 3. The time skip threw me off. The stupid decisions did too. Good job, Paul. Where the heck is the story even going?!

Gurney Halleck was my favourite character!!

Things I loved about this book:
- Really good action/fight scenes
- The science fiction gadgets and technology were cool
- Paul seems like a nice kid
- The descriptions of Dune's environment and the critters that try to survive there were powerful
- The obvious nods to Arabic and Bedouin cultures were cool

Things I hated about this book:
- It is ~10,000 years in the future so why is everyone talking and acting like it is Medieval England
- Wife, mother, servant, or sex slave were the only roles available to women
- The Bene Gesserit: WTF is that bullshit
- It changes from a sci-fi adventure into a religious fantasy novel

So I hated it a tiny bit, then I really liked it, then I hated it again while understanding and grudgingly respecting what the author is trying to show us, then I liked the final bit. About halfway through the book I started noodling around online and saw that this book is actually considered more of a prequel to the rest of the Dune series rather than the first book; it is Paul's origin story, and is just setting the stage for the later books. Once I saw that this book made tons more sense, and I could more easily swallow what was happening.

Overall I was truly drawn into the world of Dune but a little disappointed by what I found there.