Dune

Executive Summary: I enjoyed this book. It's not one of my new favorites or anything, but it was good. I'd recommend people read it, but won't start advocating it as a must read.Audiobook: I did the unabridged audio book from Audible. This version had multiple readers. There was the main narrator, and a secondary narrator for all the various excerpts written by Princess Irulan.They also had readers for most of the main characters. Some of the conversations were more like a radio program than a book with the readers conversing with each other as the characters would. The confusing thing to me was sometimes the dialogue used the multiple readers, and sometimes it didn't and was simply read by the main narrator. At first I thought it was maybe for internal dialogue, but that wasn't always the case. I never could figure out the pattern as to why they didn't simply use the multiple readers for every conversation.Full ReviewThis is a book that seems to always finish top 5 in many best of type lists. It's one of my friend's favorites. I got a free audiobook from Audible thanks to the Sword and Laser podcast and I needed a book for my Christmas road trip, so this seemed like a good fit.I really enjoyed all the plotting and politics involved in this book. There was also an interesting array of characters with different backgrounds and desires that often lead to confrontation. This reminds me a lot of Star Trek DS9 or Babylon 5 which I wouldn't be surprised to find were inspired by Dune. Often times the science fiction takes a back seat to the conflict. It's more of a sci-fi setting than a sci-fi story. It shows that even on another planet with strange creatures and technology that greed, honor, war, revenge and many other Human behaviors are really just the same no matter what the setting.If I had any one gripe about the book it was lack of detail in the ending. Everything that has building comes to a head and seems to be over in short order. The ending itself wasn't a disappointment, but I felt like the execution was lacking. This might be what made this book a 4 instead of a 5. It's hard to really say.I may read the second book [b:Dune Messiah 106 Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles, #2) Frank Herbert http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347771287s/106.jpg 3634570] since my friend who loves this series said it is really the second half to this book.I've also got the movie coming from Netflix this weekend so I can re-watch it after reading the book. I hope that I'll enjoy it a lot more than I did back in college, now that I have a clue what I'm watching. :)

Man, where to even start with Dune?

Science fiction can be hit or miss, even the ones that everyone tend to love. I went into Dune with a knowledge of the plot, characters and everything else surrounding it expecting to kind of like it. I can't say enough good things about this book, though.

Paul Atreides is one of the most frustrating characters I can think of. You know what he's capable of, you know what he's walking into, you know what he wants to do, but you can feel things go off of the rails. The system is broken, there is no way for it to be fixed, yet Paul will start going on about his birthright and how he deserves to be the Duke.

You know that he's trying to work over the crowd, but something about it is eerie, like you are beginning to feel like he believes it. Even Gurney noted that Paul had seemingly lost his way and was lacking the compassion that his father was so well-known for. By the time I had finished the book I felt like I really didn't like Paul anymore and that he was headed down a dark path.

That was probably one of the most satisfied feelings that I've ever had with a book like this. The easy way would be for Paul to make all of the right choices, for Paul to cast aside the power and live his life with the Freman, leaving them in peace and harmony out of the reach of the Guild and the Imperium. Instead he chose to become a Messiah, for good or for bad.

You can feel bad for Paul, because he didn't choose that path, it was chosen for him. He was built for greatness and no one was able to contain him, but it was also what led him down this dark path. The best part is that Herbert doesn't outright say that it's a dark path. When I was reading this, I thought to myself, “is this supposed to be good? People actually want Paul to be this conquering hero?” It just made for Dune Messiah to be that much more interesting.

I read this at least once long ago and decided to read it again after seeing the recent movie.
I think it holds up pretty well and I enjoyed the movie and the book.
In the book. much of the dialog is very stilted and the political discussions were tedious.
The movie, while only covering less then 1/2 the book, flows a lot better.

I still own a copy of this book marked “Reprinted August 1972”, so I suppose I first read it soon after that. I never became a fan, but I remember buying the sequel, which I liked even less.

I last read this one in 2004, and commented then in my diary that “It's not as bad a book as I expected; the scenario is well thought out; only the characters and story-telling seem a bit crude, dated in style by now.”

I was honestly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. It's been on that shelf of classics that I knew I should have read by now but feared it would be too dry (you bet your stillsuit pun intended). Also I was once scarred by the image of Sting in a metal bikini. Reading it, however, I was surprised at how quickly I became invested in the characters. I could see how other sci-fi/fantasy authors had been inspired by this series and the way it merges politics and adventure.

Obviously, the setting is the most impressive part of the piece. I must have gone through a couple gallons of water reading the book. They attention paid to every detail of desert life is a credit to Herbert and he's on par with Simmons as far as making me feel the world he has created.

My only real struggle is the treatment of women on Dune. We get this all powerful force of female mysticism in the Bene Gesserit, but their entire goal is to create a single man whom they can control. Jessica is a well-rounded, intriguing character but the other women all fall into typical SF tropes. I may continue the series just to learn a bit more about the Bene Gesserit and how the world moves on now that Paul has assumed control.

Not quite 4 stars for me, but definitely a solid 3.5!
Anyways, I am really glad that I gave this book a second chance after dnf'ing it like 20 pages in in 2020 after thinking it ‘too dry' (pun intended).
Having seen the movies (and riding the hype train, ngl) really elevated the reading experience for me.
Reading the novel gave depth to the lore, the world and characters I had experienced on the big screen, while having seen the movies granted a sort of epicness and visual brilliance to the words on the page.
Sounds fucking pretentious, I know, but I really am in awe at how well the source material and the movie adaptation complement and complete each other in a way. Especially when in 90% of the cases I catch myself saying “the book was better”.
Can't wait to read Dune Messiah with this new-found appreciation for Herbert's work (and to bridge the waiting time for the next movie).

Not gonna lie, I struggled a lot getting through this book as its pace became dreadfully pedantic at certain points of the story.

I found the protagonist to be rather bland and one-dimensional throughout most of the story, as it's made clear he is “The Chosen One” on top of the fact that he has an ability that almost strips him from being in peril. On the other hand, the construction of the antagonists and the way they executed their plans was enthralling, which gave you insight to what the protagonist would face in the future as well as providing the reader with worldbuilding (which is splendid, but at the same time challenging).

Yet (after pushing myself to continue reading), at around 78% into the book the protagonist does a complete 180 and surprised the shit out of me. All this build up, all the thoughts of people telling you he was incredible, all the people praising him, truly paid off. I say this because I couldn't believe he was the same character, as he suddenly delivers killer dialogues, takes smart and intelligent decisions, and completely destroys (verbally, spiritually, and physically) every single antagonist, person who tried to manipulate him, and those who underestimated or took him for granted; I mean, holy shit, it was EPIC, not because characters were telling you, but because you could see it; Suddenly, I could see just why the protagonist and novel are praised.

It turns out that many readers and critics also acknowledged that the book is hard to get through, mainly due to the surplus of themes that are delivered. So, after multiple readings, the novel improves. The prose itself was also quite challenging, as I found myself revisiting paragraphs many times to figure out what exactly happened, the more so whenever action “scenes” took place; it takes time to get used to. Nevertheless, I must say that Frank Herbert did create a phenomenal epic that definitely deserves the praise, but it's not one I would recommend to a casual reader unfamiliarized with the genre.

“He looked at his hand. How inadequate it appeared when measured against such creatures as that worm.”

This is one of those books I always felt like I should read, but never actually ended up doing so. The mixed reviews from friends that oscillated between it being the best book ever to it being the most boring book ever didn't really instill confidence in me, and it's quite a large book to commit to if you're not even sure people like it. If it wasn't for the movie coming out, I likely would continue kicking the can down the road until I either ran out of can or ran out of road. My friends goaded me into finally reading it, and while it took me forever, I can finally say I've read it. I can also confidently say that this is the best book I'll never revisit.

For the good, the worldbuilding is spectacular, and the entire reason I finished the book. Full disclosure, I did not read the appendices, but what was included in the actual novel was enough to keep me engaged. I wanted to love this journey I was on, Frank Herbert kept my imagination fed and made it easy for me to picture the desert, the vistas, the people, the scenes. I loved reading the descriptions for that alone.

Unfortunately pretty scenery does not a great book make. I found the characters vaguely unpleasant, and boring in some cases. Herbert's reliance on the auto-win Bene Gesserit button also made any conflict predictable and flat. The pacing also felt really weird in places; things have a slow steady buildup in the beginning, and then suddenly we're clearing entire years in a few pages with very little warning.

I'm glad I read this in anticipation of seeing the movie, but I likely will not re-read it, nor will I read the followup novels.

I bounced off this pretty hard the first time I tried to read it, but decided to give it another chance and I'm glad I did. Seminal sci-fi masterpiece that creates an imaginative world. At this point, I think Dune is so subsumed into the collective literary consciousness that it's hard to talk about, because so many people are at least familiar with it. References to it abound in popular culture, so much so that even I could recognize them without having read it.

Two chief complaints:

1. The writing is inconsistent. Mostly, it's fine. Occasionally, especially at the beginning, it's unacceptably expository, with characters discussing things that they should all know perfectly well for the benefit of the reader.

2. Paul is borderline omniscient, except when he's not. You can see the roots of R. Scott Bakker's Kellhus here with the Bene Gesserit training, but when it's convenient plotwise, those abilities suddenly don't seem as powerful. Little explanation is generally offered.

Loved it anyway. Definitely worth a read.