Wednesday 16 November 2016

Dune by Frank Herbert

Book Title: Dune (Dune #1)
Author: Frank Herbert
Genre: Science Fiction
My Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Source: My own copy
Goodreads, Amazon UK 
Goodreads Summary: Set in the far future amidst a sprawling feudal interstellar empire where planetary dynasties are controlled by noble houses that owe an allegiance to the imperial House Corrino, Dune tells the story of young Paul Atreides (the heir apparent to Duke Leto Atreides and heir of House Atreides) as he and his family accept control of the desert planet Arrakis, the only source of the 'spice' melange, the most important and valuable substance in the cosmos. The story explores the complex, multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion as the forces of the empire confront each other for control of Arrakis.
What did I think? I seem to be keen to read science fiction lately. Dune is a classic and cornerstone of that genre, and I'd never read it before. Obviously I had to change that and this weekend I finally did.

It took me a while to get into the book. I'd tried a few times before, in fact the book has been on my shelf for well over a year now. I always failed. Page 2 is filled with a bunch of unknown names, places and other things that can't be pronounced, and I remember thinking, uh-hoh, this is too confusing. This time I decided to stick with it no matter what.

For anyone like me who is struggling with the beginning: it gets easier.

In fact, I fell in love with this universe. There are however a few bad things. This book is dated. It's over 50 years old and you can tell. The dialogue is painful in places. Herbert loves to have characters think the obvious, marked with italics, to make sure the reader doesn't miss anything important. That results in a lot of 'telling' and I have the impression 'showing' wasn't Herbert's strength.

But apart from that? Amazing world-building. The planet, the dunes, the sand, the worms... those worms. (Fun fact: the first time I looked at the cover - which is the edition I own - I thought we were looking at the desert from inside a cave which just happens to have an interesting opening. I didn't see the worm.) Paul's journey. His mother's journey. The mythology. The book is filled with politics and intrigues. A wonderful world and I'm actually excited to read the sequels (at least the ones written by Frank Herbert himself.)

7 comments:

  1. Oh gosh! I used to love the Dune computer games when I was younger. I have never read the book though and now you're making me want to get it!

    Great review.

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    1. I didn't know there were computer games, I'm intrigued.

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    2. The first one was out in 1992 - so a very long time ago now :) Still, my cousin and I loved it! It was a first person game and you took the character of Paul Atreides. The second game was a real time strategy game (the first one I ever, ever saw) and you could choose to command Atreides OR Harkonnen. You build your base, mine spice and create military units etc. Again, I loved this one too!

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  2. I love that cover, one of the best Dune covers I have seen. I read Dune years ago when I was in my teens, so I don't remember a lot. I do think reading it though I would probably agree - I think a lot of that older SF is like that- they tell ya everything! And the dialogue can be very awkward. :) But yeah I remember there being a very mythology feel- with the spice guild or whatever, the navigators. And if you hadn't mentioned it I would have thought that was a cave opening too! In fact I did.

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    1. It's such a gorgeous cover. I'm glad I'm not the only one seeing a cave opening. And yes, a lot of older SF is like that, and I often can't get past it. But this one really grabbed me.

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  3. Cool review, Olivia! I am not really a fan of genres aside from contemporary romance but this one seems interesting. And I agree with you on the book's cover. I saw the same thing as what you saw! ☺

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    1. Thank you. I'm mostly a genre fiction reader. YA, sf, fantasy, horror, I like it all. But I also read the Classics and contemporary. I love a good romance every now and then, but I admit it's not my most read genre. And I tend to go for the paranormal (Black Dagger Brotherhood), regency, or fantasy like Outlander... I'll have to grab a few of those you mention on your blog :) now that winter is here and a lot of time is spent cuddled up underneath lots of blankets and dogs, it's the ideal time!

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