Dune Series

It probably doesn’t need to be said that this was a reread. I last read Dune in 2007 and blogged about it here. But I didn’t bother with the sequels on that reread, and since the Gateway ebook collection of all six Dune books was only 99p, I decided to buy it and work my way through all of them. Starting with, er Dune. It’s a book I know well, so I was more interested on this reread in how it compared to what I remembered. And yes, the writing is still pretty terrible for much of its length – especially in sentences that contain the phrase “terrible purpose” – but the worldbuilding is still among the best the genre has produced. However, my reading was focused on the scenes. And… the ones I remember liking rang a bit false, such as the time Duke Leto and Paul fly out to see a spice harvester in action. But other scenes I hadn’t liked, like the banquet scene, I much preferred this time around. What I hadn’t forgotten was the casual misogyny and homophobia, which very much made the book a product of the 1960s. I’d also forgotten how slipshod was Herbert’s worldbuilding: some things he’d made an effort to disguise, but in other places he’d simply slotted the Arabic word straight in. There didn’t seem to be much logic to it. Fifty-five years after it was published, Dune remains popular – Denis Villeneuve, movie flavour of the month in some genre circles – is currently filming an adaptation. In two parts, if rumour is to be believed. And there may well be a television series following on from the movies. But while there is a certain timelessness to the universe of Dune, Dune the novel is very much a book of its time. Had it been re-invented each decade, perhaps it would be an even bigger property that it is. Although I suppose the awful Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson sequels and prequels could be considered “re-inventions” but they’re pretty shite. If I had a Swedish crown for every time I’ve heard someone say they’d read Dune but not its sequels, or that Dune is the best of the series and the rest are not worth reading, well, I’d be living in a Swedish palace. A small one. And yet it’s completely untrue. Frank Herbert conceived the first three books as a single story, so all three really need to be read in order to understand the point Herbert was trying to make. And I’ve always maintained the writing improved, at the sentence level, as the series progressed. This is hardly controversial – the more Herbert wrote, the better he got at it. I’m hoping that particular conviction will survive my reread. We shall see. But the take-away from this reread: the best-loved scenes disappointed, but the scenes I’d not liked as much previously read much better than I’d expected.

Dune is a famous science fiction novel that launched science fiction to higher realms. It was one of the favorite books from PBS's The Great American Read. My best friend and I had always heard of it and decided that we would read it together. It was published in 1965 and is part of a six-book series. I'm glad I've read book one, but I have chosen to let it stand alone, as I'm not reading the rest of the series.Duke Leto Atreides has been given stewardship of the planet Arrakis, the planet that has the best harvesting of melange. This planet is completely different from their previous ocean planet. Arrakis is desert; water is scarce. To survive people must hold every drop of water. They wear suits that salvage even their breath condensation. Duke Atriedes is a fair ruler and the people of the planet need better treatment from the previous rulers--House Harkonnen. There is much intrigue. The Atreides are never meant to succeed. Quickly, intrigue and betrayal lead to their fall by the Harkonnens.Paul finds himself and his pregnant mother running. Ultimately, this novel is about Paul. He is the future, but he will have to live up to the expectations of a prophesied savior who knows the way of the desert yet is not of the desert. Paul does easily adapt to the environment, and he has been trained by his mother in the Bene Gesserit. He goes beyond the trained abilities and has visions of the paths his life can take. He has also been trained in leadership by his father. His parents have created a great leader who realizes the importance of sacrificial, strong leadership as well as how to wield amazing powers.The battle between the Harkonnens and the Atreides family is the conflict of the novel. The author is ultimately talking about politics and the way we treat land along with the economics that value one person over another. There is an underlying message about society. I'm glad I've read this novel, as so many people and articles reference it and because it is beloved by so many people. Science fiction is not a go-to genre for me. If you are a sci-fi reader, this is must for you to read--all six! I'm purposefully being vague to allow you to read the novel and not know what will happen--it will unfold for you as it did for the original readers.

The masterpiece of science fiction and probably the best-known book of the genre to general audiences, is more the examination of humanity and the environment than technology. Frank Herbert’s Dune changed the emphasis of the genre from technology to the future of humanity from beings to various facets of culture that shaped not only science fiction going forward to numerous other genres as well.House Atreides is given the Imperial fief of the planet Arrakis by the Emperor after taking it from their long blood rivals House Harkonnen as part of a scheme by the Emperor and Harkonnen’s to take out the Atreides. While Duke Leto and his staff attempt to prepare for the obvious trap they’ve been put in, his son Paul and his mother Lady Jessica must deal with the move as well as the growing powers of the former in the ways of the Bene Gesserit an all-female order that has been breeding for a male member for millennia. The Imperially trained Doctor betrays the Atreides’ forces but gains revenge against the Harkonnens by setting up Paul and Jessica’s escape to the native Fremen society on Arrakis. After gaining acceptance into a Fremen group, Paul finds himself apparently fulfilling their prophecy of their coming savior which he cultivates then attempts to tap down their fanaticism before it becomes a jihad across the universe. Yet as Paul’s tactics and strategy leads the Fremen to victory and success in their war against the Harkonnens and he becomes further imbedded in their culture, he realizes the jihad is unavoidable. The Emperor and the Baron Harkonnen along with numerous Great Houses brought to Arrakis by the powerful Space Guild attempt to put down the Fremen revolt only to be overwhelmed and conquered resulting in Paul becoming the new Emperor.Herbert’s magnum opus is a quick, easy to read book that is belied by its size. Turning away from tried and true subject of technology that had long dominated science fiction, Herbert focused on humanity, culture, societies, religious, and the environment in the far future. The primary perspective in the novel is from Paul as a hero-savior who both successes and fails, his success is gaining revenge and bringing is new people to power is offset by his failure to stop the resulting fanaticism that will spread bloodshed across the universe in the future. Yet Herbert’s style of writing in which he changes point-of-views and inner monologues from paragraph to paragraph on many pages is a bit too much at times. Also the quickness of the narrative from beginning to end hurts the overall story as many subplots and a lot of characters not named Paul, though he isn’t immune, aren’t fully developed. The book feels like a trilogy squeezed into a single book in which things are covered without much depth or explanation and the reader just has to accept it but leaves everything feeling hollow.Frank Herbert’s Dune is a science fiction classic that after more than 50 years still stands up as a very good story. Yet even though it covers a lot of material, there is no real depth in story or character development outside of its main protagonist. While I no doubt reread this book in the future and enjoy it, it left me with no desire to read further into the franchise that Herbert wrote over several decades.

...And what a terrible movie it was!

Considered a classic of science fiction, and deservedly so.

Dune is a true classic, brining a world to us that, once read, cannot be unlearned. If you are intimidated by the series, at least read this. The sense of self, of communities and involvements is worth exploring.

If you take this book as your personal Bible, you will live a fulfilling and rewarding life.

Without a doubt, the best sci-fi book ever written!

i really loved the intrigue in it. it was such a well developed story, and it was interesting for the majority of a long read.

I love this book. I love the movie by David Lynch. I love Sting in the movie. I even love the soundtrack by Toto.

A memorable and original science fiction universe.

Master SF epic - completely eclipses all the sequels. On its own, one of the greast SF novels of all time. My edition has intro tributes from many authors.

In 1975, while surrounded by the vermillion sandstone cliffs and salmon sands of Northern Arizona, I first read Dune. I was 16, school was boring, and I felt-like most teenagers-profoundly misunderstood. Dune, with its disaffected teenage protagonist Paul Atreides, and a setting I could ABSOLUTELY relate to, grabbed me and has yet to let me go. Comments on the quality of the prose, the development of the characters, and the philosophical implications of the plotlines are superfluous and unnecessary in the context of this forum. I read this book annually, in part because it takes me back to when I was sixteen, and life stretched out before me as an unending adventure, the end of which I, unlike Paul, could not even conceptualize. Arrakis takes me to the desert, a place I haven't seen in over 20 years, but which is forever home to a large part of my heart and soul. And I can revel in remembering what a private pleasure my discovery of this world was. Unlike Tolkien, an obsession shared with many in my circle, Dune was mine alone, and I jealously guarded my treasure. Finally, it is a novel that always rewards re-reading, as some new aspect of it strikes my fancy, prompts conversations with my husband on the same, and allows that most rewarding activity (except for the actual READING) associated with books: sharing.

All right. I'm a science fiction fan (and I recently went to Burning Man), so I'm reading Dune. This way I know what everyone's talking about.

Here's the thing. There are really great parts in Dune -- everything to do with the setting and the world-building is fantastic. Love the Fremen culture, the climate of Arrakis, the language, all that stuff is awesome. But the characterization is boring as heck. Paul is the Chosen One you see in so many stories, a kind of everyman who just reacts to the position he's been put in. The Baron is so stereotypically evil, no motivation there except that all Harkonnens are evil and he's their leader. "See me plot and scheme my evil plots and schemes!" Oh, and he's a "Pervert" too because he likes to fuck men. Nice one, Herbert, you win at homophobia. Jessica's the Wise Maternal Woman, the Matriarch.

Oh, and forget about the little people, the common folk. The only characters that matter are the Great Men, the Leaders ruling everybody else. People die left, right and centre and it doesn't matter. The politics of the book are basically feudal, even though it's the future and they have space travel technology and all that. Typical space opera.

So yeah. Dune is good, but it's not fabulous and I don't think it warrants the number of sequels it's produced. When you have people like Ursula Le Guin writing around the same time as Herbert, about culture in a much more progressive way, with good characters and spot-on politics (in my opinion), there's no competition -- Le Guin wins at sci-fi hands down. Dune is not the best science fiction novel ever written, as people would have you believe.

What I wrote after I finished reading it:
Finished Dune. It ends in a fucking royal marriage? What the hell! "Oh by the way, love of my life, you're gonna be my concubine (but I love you more, I promise!) but it's for the good of the empire." The book basically outlines how evil and Machiavellian the Empire is (at least in my eyes it does), but does absolutely nothing to destroy it. Paul is just given (is born into!) more power than everyone else, and uses it to gain the throne. Whoop-de-do. Oh and maybe he'll destroy the evil prison planet and try to grow more green things. Good job, King Paul. Way to use your Divine Right to uphold the status quo. Okay this paragraph isn't very articulate but I don't care.

What has mood to do with it? You fight when the necessity arises—no matter the mood! Mood's a thing for cattle or making love or playing the baliset. It's not for fighting.

My problems with Dune are not issues with speculation. My disbelief is maintained through healthy exercise. Much as I am opposed to terms like world-building I can empathize and imagine. Pondering alternatives is a heady philosophical endeavor. That said, I do not like the insistence on the epic in SF/F. What I want is a Month in The Country or a Stoner on some distant world. Maybe that is why Dhalgren and Embassytown hold such appeal. I read the first 300 pages in a rush. I noted that it was the cast of Hamlet involved in the Battle of Lepanto and deciding to stage a production of Othello. Along the way Ned Stark becomes a suicide bomber. Matters sort of went downhill from there. I didn’t pick up the book for a few weeks and then blew through the remaining 200 pages in two days. Lawrence of Arabia imbibes a magic elixir and becomes Harry Potter and the womenfolk just hope for the proper man, both in prophetic terms as well as totems of identity and fulfillment. Wooden dialogue muddied a clever use of stream-of-consciousness.

Alejandro Jodorowsky was an ultimate influence on my reading. His unrealized cinematic adaptation was a superior vision to what was committed to paper by Herbert. Here's to my pledge that the inchoate will never be terraformed.

Dune is one of those thoughtful novels that successfully straddle the genres of fantasy and speculative fiction. SF often deals with philosophical ideas and scientific concepts in a fictional setting where exploration of the conundrum frequently takes precedence over the plot. Fantasy, on the other hand, often shows less interest in mechanisms and tends to go for a variation on a familiar narrative.Dune presents itself as a fantasy (Chosen One has to restore or improve on the previously obtaining status quo using quasi-magical means) with a large dollop of scientific speculation (planetary ecology, resource exploitation, human behaviour and ethics). A cursory reading will pick up on the essential Good versus Evil theme, while a closer reading will consider the dilemmas that the main characters have to confront within the harsh environment they find themselves in. Paul Atreides, the central figure in the story, has to come to terms with his own growing psychic abilities, with political intrigue, assassination plots, treachery and the demands of the arid planet of Arrakis; the fantasy aspect centres on what happens to him and the SF aspect on how it happens. Does it work? I think it largely does, and the fact that Dune has been chosen as one of the Gollancz SF Masterworks series is an indication that this is certainly not an idiosyncratic judgement. A crucial part of the plot machinery is the use of Fate or Destiny, a characteristic Fantasy trope but, I think, rarer in SF: past generations have seeded the idea of a Chosen One on the planet Dune, founded on selective genetic manipulations made by a secretive cabal, but all doesn't go entirely to plan when a male, not a female, and from the wrong generation, gets recognised on Dune as the person who was prophesied and proceeds to act accordingly. This idea of Fate subverted is reinforced by the family name Atreides (which harks back to legendary Greece and their belief in gods ruling human destiny) but is also further developed by linking up with scientific speculation, current in the 60s, on the possible existence of parallel futures based on whether different choices are made or different accidents come about. I think many rationalists would fight shy of predestination, but Herbert makes an interesting attempt to consider how self-fulfilling prophecies can come about but doesn't go as far as Hari Seldon in Asimov's Foundation stories in suggesting that the future can be fairly accurately predicted.Another way of thinking that emerged in the 60s was concerned with holism linked with the idea of self-sustaining planetary ecosystems. While current scientific thinking disputes whether this theory of ecosystems was not largely down to wishful thinking, holistic concepts still remain very powerful and influential in many individuals' beliefs. Dune's terraforming ideas were a reflection of the zeitgeist of that post-war period, an era of optimism for change for the better.Ultimately, however, Dune is a fantasy, tapping into our needs for good storytelling, strong characters (many of whom are shown to have familial relationships) and unexpected cliffhangers. I'm not sure that Arthur C Clarke's assessment of the novel as comparable with Tolkien stands up to scrutiny, but in terms of worldbuilding Herbert comes close. Certainly there is similar apparatus of appendices, map and glossaries; use the glossary as you read the novel, by all means, and try to relate the action to the map, but leave the appendices to after a first reading.

Perhaps I was too young when I read "Dune" but I just found it slow and tedious. The story took a long time to get going and while I see that other reviewers have called the plot "intricate", I would use the term "bamboozling".

There's really not much I can say about this scifi classic that hasn't been said better by others. The characters, premise, plot and writing are fantastic.

In Dune, Frank Herbret tells the story of Paul Atreides, whose noble family gains stewardship of the planet Arrakis, the source of spice mélange which grants special abilities, as part of a plot from the rival Harkonnen family. Through mystical dreams that result from his Bene Gesserit mother’s training, Paul has visions of the local people, the Fremen, and the world they inhabit. After a Harkonnen coup that kills his father, Paul and his mother enter the care of the Fremen, where he assumes the name Muad’Dib, and trains them to fight back against the Harkonnens who oppress the people. My summary naturally leaves out a great amount of detail, but the fifty-year-old science fiction novel is one of the classics of the genre, leading to a 1984 film adaptation directed by David Lynch and a 2000 Sci-Fi Channel miniseries as well as references throughout popular culture. Even those who have not read the novel know many of the elements.The other main significant science-fiction works prior to Herbert were Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Barsoom series with John Carter, focusing on a desert groups engaging in tribal warfare, and Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, featuring a galaxy-spanning Empire. While elements of these two can be seen in Dune, Herbert engaged primarily with the mysticism, religious experimentation, and consciousness-exploring that appealed to the Beats and later Hippies as well as proto-environmentalism through the role of people in shaping their ecosystem. His focus on a society of warring noble houses that use traditional knife fighting and pitched battles over other trapping of science fiction (explained by a distrust of advanced computers) influenced much of later science fiction, particularly Star Wars. The Fremen society, based on the Bedouin and with its use of Arabic and Arabic-inspired words, relies on a form of Orientalism that separates it from the more Euro-American-centric science fiction of others at the time and since.In his afterword, Brian Herbert writes, “[Dune] is to science fiction what the Lord of the Rings trilogy is to fantasy, the most highly regarded, respected works in their respective genres. Of course, Dune is not just science fiction. It includes strong elements of fantasy and contains so many important layers beneath the story line that it has become a mainstream classic” (pg. 546). According to Brian Herbert, “Having studied politics carefully, my father believed that heroes made mistakes… mistakes that were simplified by the number of people who followed such leaders slavishly” (pg. 547). This explains Paul’s concerns about his actions leading to a jihad he cannot control. Further, “Dune is a modern-day conglomeration of familiar myths, a tale in which great sandworms guard a precious treasure of melange, the geriatric spice that represents, among other things, the finite resource of oil” (pg. 549). Finally, Brian Herbert writes, “At the end of the book, he intentionally left loose ends and said he did this to send the readers spinning out of the story with bits and pieces of it still clinging to them, so that they would go back and read it again” (pg. 552).This Folio Society edition reprints the original text with an introduction from Michael Dirda that helps contextualize the novel. Brian Herbert’s afterword relies on much of what he examined in his biographical work of his father, Dreamer of Dune. Finally, Sam Weber’s illustrations gorgeously recount specific scenes in almost photo-realism, but with just the right touch to make these scenes look appropriately fantastic.

I'm too good a person to waste my time on this book. Lazy writing, impossibly slow, 1 dimensional characterization, all tell no show etc etc it was a bad time.

I was excited to finally read this science-fiction classic. It starts out incredibly dry; the chapters even begin with quotes from fake encyclopedias. This is probably deliberate. Herbert tries to richen the tone toward the end of part one, when Paul Atreides, Duke Leto's heir, takes his prophesied position as a leader of the Arrakis Fremen, for their rebellion. But I think the tone shift fails. The writing never gets better, and the shift from moderately hard science fiction to soft, I-can-see-the-future mysticism breaks the story. Still, it is a fast and imaginative read, with epic scale and ambitions.

I really wanted to like this one more than I did. The general premise was interesting and it is revered by many people whom I respect. However, I found it slow going, particularly at first with all of the jargon and vocabulary that is barely explained by context if at all. I fear for Paul and what his sight tells him is in store for him, but I grow tired of reading about the endless evil machinations of everyone around him. Even he, as the hero, is not a totally sympathetic character. In fact, Chani is the only character I can think of whom I actually liked. I'll give Dune Messiah a chance, but if it fails to grab me, I think I'm okay not reading this series.

Dune drops you into a universe that is hard to make sense of at first, but as you read along the plot and world become more interesting and you understand things better. The world building is incredible and the story is just as good. Paul and his family go to a new planet, the emperor is in cahoots to end Paul's fathers family with the family's enemy. They attempt on Paul's life and his mom failed, but they are thought of to be dead so they hide among the planets natives. The natives think Paul is the foretold prophet that will lead them to rule the planet and maybe more. This quick summary does not do the book justice. It is more intricate with lots of details that add a great deal to the story.

A great book full of grand themes.Time has only made it grander in its vision. I mean, there was a time when Islam wasn't the great, dangerous "other" to Western eyes. Moderate Islam had an appeal to the west, for example, Goethe's west-eastern Divan. Dune stands in this tradition. It describes a world which is full of Islamic thought. It is world in which Islam probably pushed aside Christianity to become the world's leading religion. In demographic terms, Herbert will most likely turn out to be correct. Also, Paul Atreides is a soldier as well as a religious leader, that means, he is not a Jesus figure (who was not a soldier); he is a Mohamed, the leader of a state and of a religion. Then there are the themes of climate change, genetic engineering, the artificiality of religion, which were prophetic. Herbert had a keen eye for the themes that would dominate the next decades (centuries?)And then there's the literary impact, for example, the way the inner thoughts of the characters is written in italic. “The Song of Ice and Fire” copies that. And thinking about it, the story arc of Robb Stark has similarities to that of Paul Atreides: their fathers are being made an offer they can't refuse and are being forced to relocate to a hostile environment (the desert/the south); the fathers die in a political intrigue and the son and his mother lead the army to avenge them; if it wasn't for the Red Wedding, Robb Stark's arc would have (almost) been the story of Paul Atreides. However, the supernatural elements of the Atreides' character are transferred to Bran Stark.I don’t like all the sequels; had to read book 5 and 6 twice though to really mildly enjoy them, and the philosophical basis of the narratives wears thin at some point. I mean, the sequels mostly tell stories that are being described as logical consequences of their predecessors. Paul Atreides's rise must lead to his downfall. Leto Atreides does what Paul couldn't do, and then things happen the way Leto predicted them. And then the books stop before the ulterior motive (possibly shoehorned into the Dune world at the time of book 4) is revealed. But I guess the Star Wars novels sort of picked up that concept with the Yuuzhan Vong.Some random thoughts:- The more recent mini-series version of Dune & Children of Dune provided a story much closer to Frank Herbert's original;- David Lynch's version still gives me nightmares - the scenes on Salusa Secundus are quite horrifying; I always knew the Harkonnens were bad from the book, but that bad? whoa. On the other hand there are some aspects I think Lynch really did well - the Giger-esque sets were based on the sketches for Jodorowsky's film. Sting in cod-piece? Classic!- The music by Toto was still pretty good, and don't forget one of Brian Eno's most famous pieces "Prophecy" is used for Paul's first vision. Also Patrick Stewart as... Patrick Stewart. Actually Gurney Halleck, but since I saw him in this before Sting I picture him more as a lute-playing scottish-sounding psychopath;- What amazed me about the original Dune series was how almost all the real action occurred 'off screen' as it were; the narration only showed action scenes that were very small, but highly pivotal events. This evokes to me the real coverage of wars we see in the media - we only see 'news-bytes' and little 30 second vignettes of what a clearly larger, far more complex events. Growing up reading action novels and other media like Star Wars or Star Trek, Dune was a real eye-opener to another way of story-telling, and I felt a superior one;- I gave up on the mini-series almost immediately, due to the fact they gave away the big twist at the end of the novel very early on, as if it were no big deal. Paul's eventual control of the Spice on Arrakis gives him complete control over the so called Spacing Guild (who have a monopoly on space travel) and therefore over interstellar travel, due to the fact that the Spacing Guild need the Spice to make interstellar calculations. This is the big reveal at the end of the novel. It's this complete control of the Spice that gives Paul complete power over the empire. The Spacing Guild had been keeping their total reliance on the Spice a secret. The first prequel novel also made it seem as if everyone knew the Spacing Guild were completely reliant on Spice for their abilities. I gave up on it almost immediately. Yes, I'm a Dune nerd;- As for George Lucas, I had read Dune by the time I saw 'The Empire Strikes Back' so I was well aware of how much George Lucas outright plagiarized it. 'Dune Sea' - verbatim. Sandpeople = Fremen, Mos Eisley = Arrakeen, Jabba's Palace = Ducal Palace / Paul's Palace, Moisture farmers, sandcrawlers, the skeleton of what is clearly a sandworm, the Sarlac; rather pathetic. I seem to recall Mr Herbert was disgusted by the wholesale rip-off of many of his themes;- Tried to read all of the prequels as well, seduced by their bullshit claim of having found a trove of Frank's notes, but once I got to Dune 7 and read the hack, trite garbage they had coming out of my beloved characters' mouths I realize I had been royally buggered. Literately speaking;- Another ingredient was Charles L. Harness for the semi-permeable shields causing a return to swordplay and a lot of the drugged-up superbrain stuff.(View from above)- The basic point about 'Dune' was that it came just after Mariner IV robbed writers of the default exotic locale of Barsoom. Arrakis is one of the first times an author had to invent a planet from scratch to do this sort of thing, rather than as an end in itself as Hal Clement had been doing;- My memory of the sequels is that the "odd" books were good and the "even" books were terrible, though I confess that the only one I ever return to is the first, and the way Herbert built major changes into his future-history is something I probably overlooked at the time;In all of the above-mentioned points it's an odd kind of SF; Dune’s world is entirely self-contained. Herbert also had the knack (beautifully developed further by the late great Iain M. Banks) of dropping just enough hints about the historical origins of his world and other "off-stage" establishing details - enough to make you believe that he conceived a totality, without having to explicitly spell it out.

Easily one of my favorites, and I read it at least once a year (sometimes more). If you only read one sci-fi book in your entire life, read this one.

Read this as a teenager in the 80s. I spent the whole summer holed up and read the first 4 books. Herbert was a master to say the least. The story just does not get the justice it deserves on the screen. I am probably one of the few who enjoyed the lynch film. It is so complex and daring that I doubt it will ever be put on film properly. This series is like a bag of onions. Peel them carefully and take in all the aroma that is a harsh universe.

Read this long ago and then again over the years. A science fiction classic that has held up over the years, happy enough to reread for a book club about Great Books.

I always think of the Dune series as the only real books I remember my dad reading when I was a kid. Now that he has retired, my dad is reading all the time (yay, pops!) and when he loaned me his Dune books after re-reading them, I added them to the top of my pile. Y'all: Dune was super amazing. I'm a science fiction fan, but this is just a perfect mix of action, philosophy, religion, cool space travel / anthropology / technology, and just good writing. It also has some amazing, interesting, and vital female characters, which is not the case for 90% of science fiction written before 1970. Can't wait to read the rest of them (and to re-watch the David Lynch movie).

Dune drops you into a universe that is hard to make sense of at first, but as you read along the plot and world become more interesting and you understand things better. The world building is incredible and the story is just as good. Paul and his family go to a new planet, the emperor is in cahoots to end Paul's fathers family with the family's enemy. They attempt on Paul's life and his mom failed, but they are thought of to be dead so they hide among the planets natives. The natives think Paul is the foretold prophet that will lead them to rule the planet and maybe more. This quick summary does not do the book justice. It is more intricate with lots of details that add a great deal to the story.

It was a bit of a long read but worth it. It was a mixture of "Game of Thrones," and "Ender's Game". I love the political undertones. I commend Frank Herbert for building this amazing world and characters. I just wish that sometimes there are illustrations.