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Loading... Dune (1965)by Frank Herbert
  
» 86 more Favourite Books (19) Best Fantasy Novels (117) BBC Big Read (51) 501 Must-Read Books (128) Favorite Series (57) Books Read in 2018 (88) 1960s (11) Best Young Adult (86) Elevenses (63) A Novel Cure (69) Nebula Award (7) SF Masterworks (14) Best American Books (16) Top Five Books of 2016 (502) Books Read in 2017 (970) Books Read in 2015 (850) Favorite Long Books (175) Farm Boy Fantasy (14) Epic Fiction (4) 20th Century Literature (536) Overdue Podcast (96) Carole's List (133) Books Read in 2005 (71) Books tagged favorites (206) Page Turners (66) SF Masterworks (13) Space Voyages (12) Science Fiction (20) Read in 2013 (24) KayStJ's to-read list (1,276) Space Opera (1) Alphabetical Books (168) Generation Joshua (57) Allie's Wishlist (77) Five star books (751) Great American Novels (129) Biggest Disappointments (460) Unread books (961)  ShiraDest | Mar 6, 2019 |  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. (  )1  jonfaith | Feb 22, 2019 | This book isn't really as long as it looks; the publisher spaced out the type in order to milk a few more bucks out of the reader. However, it felt quite long--not because a lot happens it it, but because virtually nothing does. I did enjoy the book at first. You expect an epic like this to start off slow, for world-building, introduction of characters, etc. But once that's all done you expect it to pick up a little. Instead, it actually gets slower. By the mid-point I was getting really bored. The lack of action of any kind is even further bogged down by a lot of mysticism. If you want to see where George Lucas got the idea for "the Force", as well as quite a few other elements of his movie saga, read this book. The swipes are so blatant, I'm surprised there was no legal action on Herbert's part. Anyway, back to the book. It was a struggle to finish. At the end of the book is a jarring shift to an action packed finale that feels unearned and out of nowhere. While it doesn't exactly end on a cliffhanger, I wouldn't say this was a stand-alone novel. It feels like a first chapter...that's several hundred pages long. I also struggled to see what people found of value in it. The litany on fear is a good one, but you can find it in the first ten pages. No need to wade through the rest. ( ) chaosfox | Feb 22, 2019 | It was the Sci-Fi channel's mini-series that got me to finally pick up this book but I'd been introduced to Dune before that by mom. She's a big synopsis talker, the kind of lady who won't bother you with her opinion about a book or movie, but will detail several key scenes for your benefit. When we came across her Dune books while going through boxes in the garage I was given a verbal sketch of a mother and son caught in a desert planet, driven to the edges of eveything that they knew. In that way a lot of books were impressed on me long before I picked them up for myself. Dune is a vast book and one that is as sucessful today as it was when it was first written. In my opinion it's the first epic speculative fiction novel after Lord of the Rings, and has imitators and decesendents on both sides of the, more or less arbitrary these days, division line between fantasy and science fiction. Herbert did an extraordinary thing with his chapter headings, snippets from histories, songs, prayers, etc., that foreshadowed and enhanced events of the book that are hundreds of pages away. I have yet to read any other book that uses this method so effectively to develop the awesome scale of history and tradition that most other authors can only attempt to mimic. The future here is by millenia more distant than that dealt with by most novelists, but Herbert makes his feudal space society plausible. The more of these great, influential books I reread the more I realize how rare the ones that stand up to my oh-so-adult scrutiny are, how few don't fall prey to the weaknesses of their times. Herbert had some heavy homophobic issues, quite literally in the case of the vile Baron Harkonnen, and his women often failed to come out from their behind-the-throne string pulling or homemaker roles, but the book is so well-balanced that I'm not sidetracked by them as I was by gender issues of some genre author I could mention.. Plus, I have high hopes for the sequels, which I'm reading soon, to advance certain characters more, such as Alia and Irulan (I have no hope for Chani), even if on the whole the sequels are not as great as the original. One last thing, I love how perfect the ending of Dune is, the whole book we're treated to excerpts from books written or compiled by Princess Irulan only to be given that punch of an ending line. It still shocks me and adds a disquieting edge to Paul's own thoughts earlier on how he can't prevent the coming jihad that will be held in his name. (  )2 ManWithAnAgenda | Feb 18, 2019 | A brilliant work of science fiction, Dune follows the ancient dispute of the noble houses Atreides and Harkonnen, with the usual suspects of politics, rulers, religion, business and the economy, the military etc. having a role in it. The universe is very detailed and well-thought out, with well defined social class structure, religions and technical advancements. The main character is the son of the Duke Atreides, Paul, who even as a teenager exhibits mental prowess and premonition abilities, partially brought on by his Bene Gesserit training, illegally administered by his mother, the ducal concubine Lady Jessica. Paul and his family leave their home-world of Caladan for the desert planet Arrakis-Dune in an imperially mandated change of fief. But, are they gaining a new planent rich in precious melange spice, or are they walking into a Harkonnen trap? ( ) matija2019 | Jan 8, 2019 |
 Why is Blanch’s influence on Dune worth recognizing? Celebrating Blanch is not a means to discredit Herbert, whose imaginative novel transcends the sum of its influences. But Dune remains massively popular while The Sabres of Paradise languishes in relative obscurity, and renewed public interest in Blanch’s forgotten history would be a welcome development. Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy was famously inspired by Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. J. R. R. Tolkien’s background in medieval languages helped shape the mythology of Middle Earth. Frank Herbert’s Dune is no different, and rediscovering one of the book’s most significant influences is a rewarding experience. One of the monuments of modern science fiction. Is contained inThe Great Dune Trilogy: Dune / Dune Messiah / Children of Dune by Frank Herbert Dune / Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert The Dune Collection: Dune / Dune Messiah / Children of Dune / God Emperor of Dune / Heretics of Dune / Chapterhouse Dune by Frank Herbert ContainsHas the adaptationIs abridged inIs parodied inIs replied to inInspiredHas as a studyDune and Philosophy: Weirding Way of the Mentat (Popular Culture and Philosophy) by Jeffery Nicholas Has as a student's study guide
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The troubles begin when stewardship of Arrakis is transferred by the Emperor from the Harkonnen Noble House to House Atreides. The Harkonnens don't want to give up their privilege, though, and through sabotage and treachery they cast young Duke Paul Atreides out into the planet's harsh environment to die. There he falls in with the Fremen, a tribe of desert dwellers who become the basis of the army with which he will reclaim what's rightfully his. Paul Atreides, though, is far more than just a usurped duke. He might be the end product of a very long-term genetic experiment designed to breed a super human; he might be a messiah. His struggle is at the center of a nexus of powerful people and events, and the repercussions will be felt throughout the Imperium.
Dune is one of the most famous science fiction novels ever written, and deservedly so. The setting is elaborate and ornate, the plot labyrinthine, the adventures exciting. Five sequels follow. --Brooks Peck
(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 12 Mar 2015 18:10:37 -0400)
This Hugo and Nebula Award winner tells the sweeping tale of a desert planet called Arrakis, the focus of an intricate power struggle in a byzantine interstellar empire. Arrakis is the sole source of Melange, the "spice of spices." Melange is necessary for interstellar travel and grants psychic powers and longevity, so whoever controls it wields great influence. The troubles begin when stewardship of Arrakis is transferred by the Emperor from the Harkonnen Noble House to House Atreides. The Harkonnens don't want to give up their privilege, though, and through sabotage and treachery they cast young Duke Paul Atreides out into the planet's harsh environment to die. There he falls in with the Fremen, a tribe of desert dwellers who become the basis of the army with which he will reclaim what's rightfully his. Paul Atreides, though, is far more than just a usurped duke. He might be the end product of a very long-term genetic experiment designed to breed a super human; he might be a messiah. His struggle is at the center of a nexus of powerful people and events, and the repercussions will be felt throughout the Imperium. Dune is one of the most famous science fiction novels ever written, and deservedly so. The setting is elaborate and ornate, the plot labyrinthine, the adventures exciting.… (more)
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Nevertheless, the book does provide food for thought, and strong female characters.
Shira Destinie
Universal Date: Tues, 21.11.12014 HE (