I’ve been meaning to read this book for over a decade, and I finally made it a priority a few weeks ago (mainly cause of the new movie). I found it to be every bit as epic, engrossing, compelling, and confusing as I expected.

As with any good sci-fi epic, there are many layers to this story. But the world building that author Frank Herbert has done is some of the most complex I’ve come across in awhile (a lot of it thanks to the numerous philosophical/sociological musings, ideologies, and histories). This was a SLOW read for me as there was a lot to process and mule over.

That being said, I LOVED it! All of it. Even when it started to wane some around the middle I couldn’t stop reading. Other than the multiple storylines and characters, I really enjoyed the writing. Herbert does a fantastic job of putting you in the mind of various characters, and the way characters would have whole conversations just through facial expressions and body language was very interesting. And of course I enjoyed the spice planet, giant sand worms, mind powers, brutal villains, and all the sci-fi paraphernalia.

After reading DUNE I can see why it would be exceptionally challenging to translate well on the silver screen. I haven’t seen the David Lynch version, but I did go see the recent Denis Villeneuve release. I was a big fan (I’m a fan of all his movies) and I especially loved the sound and cinematography. But I can also see why my wife, who hasn’t read the book, was confused for a lot of the film. It asks the viewer to do a lot of heavy lifting. ( )

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. ( )

You know when two characters in a book are having a conversation, and both of them already know everything they’re saying, but the conversation is giving you, the reader, Valuable Expository Information?

That’s the first ~50 pages or so of this book.

The next 300 or so pages are an exciting story of political intrigue that slowly morphs (devolves?) into the rise of a religious prophet/messiah character for the final phase of the novel.

I’m torn. The good parts - the interesting intrigue-y bits, the world, the science fiction side of things - were good, but the slow/meh parts - the attempts at theology/philosophy in particular, I think- were … well, meh. ( )

I would never have to through this slog if it wasn't for it being in audiobook format. My God is it dry.

These classic sci-fi/fantasy novels are never for me.

I like characters, I want to feel connected to the people. I do not care about the detail of political or economic systems of made up worlds. I like the made up worlds but I'm interested in the people who live in them and how they relate to it and to each other as individuals.

Everyone in Dune is so cold and robotic. They don't experience emotions.. sure Paul and Jessica occasionally have an emotion but it will be registered and analysed rather than experienced. I got so frustrated by this.

Not the kind of book that I enjoy.
Also not a writing style I liked.

I am not into prophecised Special One/Messiah plot generally (since I grew out of YA!) and Paul is annoying AF. And don't get me started on his sister...!

It was a relief when I got to the end. ( )

Not only impressive as a novel, but also in terms of the world and vocabulary that Herbert has invented. ( )