Dune is a disappointment, given the recent hype due to the upcoming movie. It's aged really badly. People everywhere are reading the book, and I wonder if they see what I realised when I reread it.

The book is an ego massage to the writer, Frank Herbert. He wrote his best book never knowing the - bad - influence it would have over the sci fi scene. I think Dune is overrated and bloated.

I gave the book 5 stars on my first read of it. The reread sank any adulation I might have professed to the book. The movie is going to flop, unless, i.e. the covid factor messes with the numbers. Go ahead, movie Dune. Go claim your fetid throne in the landscape of films, just as book Dune did for books. See if I care.

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear”

An epic Science Fiction canon, a true classic and one that everyone should read once. Fascinating, complex, imaginative and ground-breaking in many ways. So, did I love it? The answer is yes and no but first a short summary of the plot.

The Plot

Dune is set on the desert planet Arrakis, one of the many planets in the empire, and run by a few aristocratic families mainly the House of Atreides and House Harkonnen who both seek to control its more precious resource. A powerful spice that is necessary for space travel, mindfulness, and is known to extend the life of those who use it. “For he who controls the spice controls the universe".

Survival, treachery, greed, and betrayal are at every turn as Paul Atreides must, having succeeded his father as head of the family, now win the most significant battle of all. Control of the melange – the spice. As he faces many in battle, he must also devise a method of mining the spice for use. However, despite the technology available he turns to the natural world of the planet Dune for his answer and must learn to control the worms. His new army of workers.

Review and Comments

Although set in space it is a book that contains a lot of the key ingredients for an epic novel, Power, Politics, War, Religion, and love with copious amounts of greed, deception, betrayal with a fascinating array of characters. This part I loved, and the writing style is excellent even though it was too long in places.

The but is, I don’t particularly enjoy science fiction, and sometimes it was a bit too far fetched particularly the inclusion of worms to helped mine the spice. And whilst a lot of ideas have been taken and bettered in later sci-fi books and films, it is important to remember this book was written in the 1960’s and ground-breaking at the time. Yet despite being written a long time ago I was in awe of the wonderful imagination it took to write such a timeless classic.

I have rated ‘Dune’ in the context of the genre it was written for, the writing style, characters, plot, and overall enjoyment. A 3/4 and settled on a ‘4’.

And Dune completes my reading challenge!!!

Omg! I found a Folio Society Edition a bit cheaper and brand new! You can see all of the art online but look at this cover! Now I have this and Little Women I actually got from their site. I need to get more as I can

If you are having a hard time reading Dune:
https://youtu.be/UMTRoZNN4E0

My YouTube Review (admittedly totally Fangirling):
https://youtu.be/JilubCWr9Kk

This was one of the best books that I have ever read which I was not expecting at all. First, the book is incredibly put together and really well thought out. Often, the author wrote the book in such a way as you can hear the character's thoughts which was a really interesting perspective and provided a more immersive experience.

The book touches on so many different deep topics and is so inspiring, moving. The book was also so unpredictable and unique. Highly recommend.

2025 Reading Schedule
JantA Town Like Alice
FebtBirdsong
MartCaptain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
AprtWar and Peace
MaytThe Woman in White
JuntAtonement
JultThe Shadow of the Wind
AugtJude the Obscure
SeptUlysses
OcttVanity Fair
NovtA Fine Balance
DectGerminal

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I'm probably going to make whoever reads this review angry, but oh well.

Whenever I ask anyone what sci-fi novels I should read, they always say "Have you read Dune?!"

And then their body is found two weeks later at the bottom of a lake.

This book . I don't usually come out and give such brutally negative reviews, but my god. If I ruled the world, I would ban this book for the sheer sake of how awful it is.

People say Tolkien's prose was a struggle to read through, but at least his style of writing was intentionally made to be fashioned after an Arthurian epic. Frank Herbert just writes like a... Hell, I dont even know what he writes like. You could put a million monkeys in front of a million typewriters and have them hammer keys until the end of time, and the monkey who wrote this would look at the abomination he had created and throw himself off a cliff. Frank Herbert didn't even have the shame to do that.

The pacing, the characters, the overall plotline, the miraculous events that seem to happen at just the right time, the awful dialogue, and the Mary Sue that is Paul Atreides simply boggles the mind.

I read this book because I thought there must be some redeeming quality somewhere at the end. Some glorious stroke of genius that somehow rescues the story from the fiery hell that is Frank H's staggeringly atrocious storytelling. But there wasn't. It ended, and that was several hours of my life I would never get back.

I exaggerated this review a lot more than was necessary for my own entertainment. But it's no lie that I had more fun writing this review than reading this book. -1/5.

Mostly riveting! In general, I think I loved it?

The worldbuilding is still legendary here, all these years later. I'm going to leave the issues alone (Obviously, there are issues. 1965 was a long time ago).

Mostly, I can see why this book is a beloved classic and why it's been so inspirational. It's a wild ride, interweaving a lot of cool threads, with so much to say about so many dimensions of human life in the possible future. Really cool overall. And the worms are awesome.

I MEAN ... WHERE THE FUCK DO I REALLY EVEN START??? It's been a long time since I've been sucked into a FANTASY / SCI-FI world and didn't wanna leave it. Early examples of that happening include Potter, the Ink world and Lord of the Rings (first through the movies, and later the books).

In recent years, it has only happened with A Song of Ice and Fire and The Kingkiller Chronicles – two unfinished series ... a fate that DUNE, unfortunately, shares. [Can you hear me screaming all across the universe, Frank???]

Anyways, I stopped reading fantasy and sci-fi for the simple reason that I was no longer excited by it. I read so much from these genres over my young adolescence (most notably fantasy ... sci-fi was never really my thing) that it felt right to "move on" at one point. I never regretted it, and rarely look back.

BUT when I saw DUNE in theatres, I felt a like an excitable kid again. That movie had me hooked. From the first minute on, I knew I would be going on one hell of a ride. I saw the film with my best friend and we both couldn't believe what we had just witnessed. Cinema history akin to Lord of the Rings (or at least that's how I imagine the people who got out of the cinema back in the early 2000s). This is a FRANCHISE that one can work with. This is something that will stick with us for the next couple of years, especially if they make TWO more movies (instead of just one).

DUNE didn't have that typical sci-fi feel (...my only reference point is Star Wars tho, lmao). It felt much more like Game of Thrones set in space. What drives DUNE forward is not its setting and all of the space travel, it's the political intrigue.

n  As someone once observed, given the right lever you can move a planet.n

When Duke Leto Atreides gets the order from the Padisha Emperor Saddam IV to replace his cousin, the Baron Harkonnen, as ruler of the planet Arrakis (also known as DUNE), he knows that that's not a gift. The Emperor is intimidated by Leto's power and that he's held in high esteem by the other Higher Houses of the universe. And therefore Leto (along with the other Atreides) must be stopped. What then ensues is an exhilarating and complex net of plots which focuses on the all encompassing question of power. What makes a good ruler? Who is "allowed" to rule? What about the people who are ruled?

I didn't expect DUNE to be as psychological and philosophical as it was ... even though I heard it gets even more META throughout the rest of the series (CAN'T WAIT!). At the heart of the story, we follow Paul Atreides, son of Duke Leto, as he moves with his parents and their entourage from Caladan to Arrakis.

n  "It is said a man will come one day and find in the gift of the drug his inward eye. He will look where we cannot - into both feminine and masculine pasts... Many men have tried the drug... so many, but none has succeeded."

"They tried and failed, all of them?"

"They tried and died."n

Paul was trained throughout his young life (he is 15 at the beginning of the book) by his mother, Lady Jessica, in her Bene Gesserit ways. The Bene Gesserit are a pseudo-religious organization of all-women spies, nuns, scientists, and theologians who use genetic experimentation, galactic political interference, and religious engineering to further their own agenda of ascending the human race with the advent of their chosen one, the Kwisatz Haderach. Paul struggles with the burden his mother has chosen for him. He knows that there is no such thing as "the chosen one"; it's a farce, a manipulation – and yet something he can't escape.

Not gonna lie, I had my problems with Herbert's writing throughout the first third of the book. I have never read something quite like it. I know lots of people had problems with the rich world building in DUNE because Herbert tends to throw hundreds of terms (unique to his world) around without any explanation for them in the text; but having seen the movie BEFOREHAND (something I would highly recommend) made it SUPER EASY for me to picture everything and follow along. No, the problem I had was the actual WRITING STYLE. At first, it felt really clunky and ... just weird? Like, not literary at all? I know I'm doing a piss poor job at explaining it but at first I felt like I was reading a weird fanfiction of the movie (LMAO).

But when I got used to the writing and accepted it for what it is, I got reeeeaally lost in the book. And was actually amazed at how MODERN??? the writing felt. Like, DUNE could've literally been written in the 21st century. The writing definitely didn't feel OLD, even though it felt WEIRD in some parts. :D

Anyways, I finished DUNE within three days (which is a feat for me ... the book is almost 700 pages long and I usually only read 50 pages a day). It was a true page turner, especially two-thirds into the book – when we finally got to the part of the story that wasn't shown in the movie – I was glued to the pages. I couldn't believe what was happening. All the twists and turns were just AMAZING. And the ending was puurrrfect. [I really like that DUNE can be read as a standalone ... especially since I don't feel like committing to a 6-book-series that isn't even finished and literally 20+ extra novels that Herbert's son wrote to broaden the universe.]

DUNE is not a book I'd recommend to just anyone. You must have an appetite for it. You must be willing to forgive its author a couple of things for full enjoyment (like the role of women in the story, and that there are very few female characters to begin with; or Herbert's homophobia which comes through in his portrayal of the Baron Harkonnen). If you can't do that, you won't have a fun time. But if you really WANT to go on this journey, then DUNE will hold many adventures and purse-clutching moments for you.

FAVORITE QUOTE: THE LITANY OF FEAR

"I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

I WANNA TALK ABOUT SOME THINGS I REALLY LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING IN THE SECOND MOVIE AND EVERYTHING THAT I LEARNED THROUGH READING THIS BOOK, SO – SPOILER WARNING – PROCEED WITH CAUTION:

- from the introduction: the Bene Gesserit have secret computers to keep track of their breeding records??? when will this come into play?? and what is the significance of this??
- Castle Caladan served the Atreides family as home for 26 (!) generations
- Faufreluches class system: The faufreluche system was meant to provide some sort of order for the way in which humanity related with one another, both to maintain order and civility, and to keep certain groups under control within the Imperium. However, it attempted to minimise alienation of individuals or minorities by providing for everyone: The motto of the faufreluche system was "A place for every man and every man in his place."
- Butlerian Jihad: a.k.a. The Great Revolt -- two generations of chaos (200 BG - 108 BG). The god of machine-logic was overthrown by the masses and a new concept was raised: "Man may not be replaced."
- Orange Catholic Bible: It was supposed to be a fusion of all significant religious thought in human history, with a strong emphasis on religious beliefs originating on Earth. These included the Maometh Saari, Mahayana Christianity, Zensunni Catholicism, and Budislamic traditions. It was produced by the Commission of Ecumenical Translators in the wake of the Butlerian Jihad. Its supreme commandment was: "Thou shalt not disfigure the soul."
- The Spacing Guild: The Spacing Guild, also known as the Guild of Navigators, or more simply the Guild, was an organization which held exclusive access to faster than light space travel. The Guild monopoly on space travel and transport and upon interstellar banking is taken as the beginning point of the Imperial Calendar.
- the reason Gurney hates the Harkonnens so much is that his younger sister is held captive in one of their pleasure houses
- on Arrakis live the Fremen and the people of the graben, the sink, and the pan
- Paul has Mentat capabilities
- the Duke "bought" Lady Jessica???
- crysknife will disintegrate if it's more than a week away from flesh => people with a crysknife may never leave Arrakis without the Fremen's consent
- Dr. Yueh's motivation is so much better in the book than in the movie: he just wants to kill the Baron, he KNOWS that his wife is dead (in the movie he felt like such a fool)
- the Atreides' raid on Giedi Prime, destroying the Baron's spice stores => EXCELLENT!
- The Fremen are paying the Guild for privacy (paying with spice) => the Guild therefore forbids satellites over Arrakis ... bc the Fremen slowly want to change the face of Arrakis (make it a green planet)
- DUNE is a great lesson on climate change, looking at the conditions of Arrakis, especially in regards to the water scarcity and the extreme weather, it is a bleak (but realistic) look into the future ... especially since Herbert stresses that this is man-made and could've been prevented had people (CAPITALISM) not seen more value in the resource of spice than in an actual liveable green planet - I CANNOT (written in the 60s, ladies and gentlemen, yet more accurate than ever)
- "He recalled another thing the old woman had said about a world being the sum of many things—the people, the dirt, the growing things, the moons, the tides, the suns—the unknown sum called nature, a vague summation without any sense of the now."
- Muad'Dib: The Mouse (Paul's chosen Fremen name but also a constellation from the Arrakeen sky)
- Once you're addicted to spice, you need it to live => you literally can't leave Arrakis without spice (or else you'd die)
- LADY JESSICA IS BARON HARKONNEN'S DAUGHTER (I YELLED WHEN THAT WAS REVEALED)
- the conditioning of a Suk School: Imperial Conditioning was a development of the Suk Medical Schools. It was the highest conditioning against taking human life, which meant that a Suk Doctor who had this conditioning could even serve an Emperor.
- Stilgar and Liet Kynes are brothers => Liet Kynes is Chani's father!!!
- The Fremen storing all of that fucking water in these caches (I NEED TO SEE THAT ON SCREEN) => they literally have thousands of caches with 38 million decaliters of water - I CANNOT
- Paul realising: My mother is my enemy. She does not know it, but she is. She is bringing the jihad. She bore me; she trained me. She is my enemy. - But how does this come into play??? I feel like there wasn't that much tension between the two???
- Feyd-Rautha and the gladiator => cannot wait to see that fight (also love that Thufir Hawat is being held captive by the Baron)
- Lady Fenring seducing Feyd-Rautha ... having a child with him??? => bc she knows it's the only way to SAVE THAT BLOODLINE (so the Fenrings knew that the Baron, Beast Rabban and Feyd-Rautha would all be killed??? how??)
- The Water of Life: the liquid exhalation of a dying sandworm (poisonous)
- the whole ceremony for Jessica becoming the Reverend Mother of Stilgar's people ... this will be a wild trip in the movie!
- Alia being the weirdest. baby. ever. => love that for her!
- Chani seeing her future with Paul in the post-ceremony trance/orgy/whateverthefuck (seeing young Leto - their son) and then just being like YUP YOU'RE THE ONE FOR ME LET'S START FUCKING is such a mood
- Salusa Secundus: the Emperor's prison planet; mortality rate among new prisoners is more than 60%; this is where he gets his Sardaukar
- Paul seeing that he will enshrine the skull of his father in a Fremen rock mound overlooking Harg Pass => WHY THOOOO???? my man??
- Fremen ride the sandworms beginning at age 12
- Gurney (who became a smuggler after the attack on House Atreides) finally reuniting with Paul after YEARS - I was soft!!!!
- Paul, even after all the years with the Fremen saying: "I am House Atreides." Whew, chile
- Paul drowning the maker to see if he is the real Kwisatz Haderach => THIS MAN NEEDS TO CHILLL!!!!
- Paul having power over the Spacing Guild (and the Emperor) because he has the power of the spice => he threatens to kill all makers (sandworms) and therefore extinguish the spice
- Paul's son dying at Baron Harkonnen's hands (and Alia being captive) => I wasn't prepared for THAT
- ALIA HAS NO FUCKING CHILL AND I LOVE HER VERY MUCH
- Paul using Princess Irulan as his key to the throne - I HATE IT HERE (I hope she gets back at him in future books ... the way he treats her is APPALLING!!!)
- Count Fenring had never appeared in Paul's prescient visions => having read the beginning of DUNE MESSIAH I suppose that is because he is one of the SPACING GUILD????? what the fuck? bc it is revealed that they are exempt from all visions (maybe bc they are not really male or female??)
- Paul: "The power to destroy a thing is the absolute control over it."
- Paul getting back at Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam ("Try your tricks on me, old witch. Where's your gom jabbar? Try looking into that place where you dare not look! You'll find me there staring out at you." => WHAT THE FUCK??? THAT WAS SO EPIC???) ALSO: "I remember your gom jabbar. You remember mine. I can kill you with a word." AHHHHHHHHH
- The Jihad being inevitable
- Last sentence, Jessica consoling Chani: "While we, Chani, we who carry the name of concubine—history will call us wives." => I know this situation with Paul-Irulan-Chani is all kinds of fucked up BUT THAT WAS EPIC

TW: pedophilia and rape off page

Although this is discussed as a highly influential work in scifi, now having read it, I do think we have evolved past the need for this to be part of the canon. This book was a bit of a mess with the characters, world, and plot all feeling a bit disjointed and half baked. The world, while interesting and obviously very detailed, is barely explained to the reader and relies heavily on the appendix without actually providing context in the story (with the exception of a few things like spice and the worms). These characters all felt a little flat and/or underutilized. The plot felt like two separate books, while being peppered with themes of glorifying colonialism, white saviors, and lack of agency for most of the women. Although I understand that is a product of when it was written, it still points to how there are much better works that have been written since even if they were influenced by this. I’m interested to see what they do with the movie adaptation. I’ll have a review and discussion on my channel coming up.

RATING BREAKDOWN
Characters: 5⭐️
Setting: 5⭐️
Plot: 5⭐️
Themes: 5⭐️
Emotional Impact: 4⭐️
Personal Enjoyment: 5⭐️
Total Average: 5⭐️ (rounded up)

I loved doing an in-depth reread of this masterpiece.

This classic is a rich blend of science fiction and fantasy. The world-building is a hurdle for some readers, but it's one of the most impressive and grounding aspects of the story for me. I love the political structure—a tense balance between the emperor, nobility, and space travel guild; all while the religious order pulls strings to keep influence in the most powerful families. Then there is the planet itself with its creatures and natives, the scarce but essential spice resource at the heart of all the conflict, and all the weapons, suits, vehicles, and shelters that are fully imagined and realized. It feels real, it's so well-developed.

This plot also hits for me every time. The natives harbor precious secrets and skills. There is so much intrigue in this story chapter upon chapter, and so many competent and deadly characters playing their parts. It's like watching an imperial chess match on the grandest of scales. And it never gets old for me.

The heart of this story is the characters, and the exploration of culture, tradition, and customs as an incredibly formidable power humans may possess. The Atreides house is so impressive from a purely tactical and practical standpoint, but beyond that, the Atreides inspire loyalty. Their men never break under pressure. They can never be swayed to corruption. They are such wise, compassionate, and cunning leaders. And I fall harder for them every time I read this story. The Fremen also display such incredible unity and collective behavior.

I come away from this story inspired by the outmaneuvering of corruption, the brilliance of not being stagnant, the power of observation, and the strength in mastering the self. I feel moved by the devotion the characters have to one another; that love grounds them when they are most corruptable by heavy burdens of power and responsibility...terrible purpose. This is a story about love for home and family and the lengths one will go to protect and honor and avenge them. Beyond that, it's a story about being the better person, in absolutely every possible way.

It's one of the greats. It is one of the leaders in the genre to this day, and for good reason.

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

Dune is yet another book that I wouldn’t have picked up if it wasn’t for bookstagram. It always seemed too intimidating, too complex... maybe even a snooze-fest? Basically, it wasn’t for me. How wrong I was!

Dune is set on the desert planet Arrakis, where water is precious and the only thing of value is the “spice” melange. Paul Atreides is the heir to a noble family tasked with ruling this inhospitable planet. That is, until, the Atreides family is betrayed...

While writing this review and thinking about the journey that was reading Dune, I am overwhelmed with the NEED to continue on with the series. The world-building is fucking incredible, the characters are complex and captivating, and the political feuds are so intricate and gripping. Oh, and the pièce de résistance, those sandworms. Dune is a triumph!

Whilst the depiction of women is somewhat problematic in the Dune universe, I found myself most intrigued by the female characters. From Lady Jessica herself, Paul’s powerful and fearsome mother, to Alia, the most fucking badass toddler to ever exist in fiction possibly. I appreciate that although Paul is “The Chosen One”, he is still complex and flawed, and I don’t find myself actually liking him that much? Yet I still want to know more. I weirdly enjoyed the Harkonnen scenes the most, the most vile and villainous of villains that ever did exist.

I’m a little in awe of what Herbert was able to achieve - there’s just SO MUCH going on, yet all of the different themes and concepts are given equal weight. It’s literally impossible to break down everything I want to fangirl over and comment on in one single IG caption.

In summary, do not be intimidated by Dune. Let the spice flow. 4.5 stars.

Surely I’ll be burned at the stake for this

Jeżeli w jednym miejscu zobaczycie tyle piasku i robali, to będzie to oznaczało jedną z dwóch rzeczy. Albo czytacie właśnie najlepszą powieść sci-fi w historii, albo spędzacie wakacje w Łebie.

Filmik o całej serii poniżej:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0sPw...