As I love his style, the world he imagined is one I couldn’t live in. It’s not only the hole-plots that makes me say this, but also the madness of this world: religion, superstition and state. Putting it into a Christian perspective this world is exactly the opposite of Jesus. Muad’Dib goes into the desert not to find discover himself, but because he was ashamed and disabled - a failure. The harsh reality of the desert power comes into a contradiction with water, their life is mélange while water is poison for the worms. I would say that water is my mélange and I think that this says all.

I remember reading Dune before David Lynch's movie came out, because I wanted to read the book before watching the movie. That must have been in 1983 or 1984, so I must have been 12 or 13.

A few years later I reread it, together with Dune Messiah and the first half of Children of Dune. I didn't read English yet, and the Danish translation of Children of Dune was split into two volumes. I never managed to get my hands on the second volume, so I was left more than thirty years with a cliffhanger.

Truth be told, I'd completely forgotten the plot of both Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, while the story of Dune stood clearer to me. After all, I'd read it twice, as well as watched both the David Lynch movie and the 2000 miniseries.

In preparation for Denis Villeneuve's up-coming movie, I decided to reread all three, since my wife had brought this omnibus edition into the marriage.

It's with some trepidation I pick up a book I haven't read since my teens. For instance, I didn't have much luck rereading the Foundation trilogy some years ago.

With Dune, I was pleasantly surprised. While its omniscient narrator, who jumps from one character's head to another repeatedly on the same page, seems dated, the story actually moves at a satisfactory pace. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I found the conclusion thrilling.

Dune Messiah takes a bit of time to get going, but ultimately produces a few surprising twists. It's a much different book, but it also left me satisfied.

Children of Dune, unfortunately, was harder to get through. There's too much metaphysics and badly explained prophesies, and it seems to basically devolve into the kind of fantasy that I don't much care for. Magic without clear rules.

In all, I'm happy that I've now read all three books. I know that Herbert wrote three more, but at the moment, I feel no urge to read them.

With this latest addition to the so-called Gollancz "Black Library", another classic has been immortalised. If you're looking for a lovely copy to keep, or for a gift, this one has much to like. The black faux-leather has writing imprinted in gold, and it is a nice looking copy. The print type however seems to be of old stock, and a little worn in terms of type - none of that precise digital typography here!

In term of the content, there's nothing too exciting. There are the three books of the original trilogy, of course (Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune) with the Glossary and the maps as found in the original copies of Dune. There's enough been said in other reviews about the content, so I'll say little here other than Dune is great, the others are more demanding (although, admittedly, not as demanding as the so-called "Second Trilogy", published a decade or so later than these novels.)

However, it is the basic text - there's no added introduction or gilt edges (as in the 1987 Easton Press edition of Dune), there's none of the lovely John Schoenherr artwork (recommended by Frank Herbert himself) that was added to the 1999 edition of the Dune Gollancz hardback. It is about half the price of the Folio Press edition of Dune, though, and here you get the other two books as well.

But it gives you what you're expecting - a lovely edition of the basic books to keep, and a worthy addition to the Black Library.

مراجعة عامة لـ DUNE :
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تُقدّم سلسلة DUNE (ست روايات)، تحليلًا لأنظمة الحكم، والثقافة، والقوة، والدين، والسُلطة، وسيطرة "الشركات الكبرى" وفنون التلاعب والإرادة الحرة.
تجري أحداث الرواية في "إمبراطورية" تُحكم سُلطَتها على كلِّ أرجاء "المجرّة"، وحيث تتنافس "العائلات" النبيلة على أغلى مادة معروفة للإنسان:
(The Spice | البهار).
إنَّها مادّة مُهمة لـ السفر عبر الفضاء، وتطيل العمر، وتعزز نمو قدرات عقلية خارقة للبشر.
يجدُ القارئ نفسه وقد أُلقي فجأة في عالم في المستقبل البعيد، بسياساته ودينه وتقنياته وتاريخه ومؤامراته ومجتمعاته وأساليب حياته، لا شيء غير ضروري في الكتاب، كل كلمة مهمة وفي مكانها الصحيح، من وجهة نظري الشخصية؛ إنها سلسلة مذهلة ومكتوبة بلغة مباشرة قد يجدها البعض جافّة.
والسلسلة أيضًا عمل من الأعمال المؤسسة لملاحم الفضاء والخيال العلمي مع الفانتازيا وخلق عوالم من الصفر وعمل مؤثر وأساسي للمؤلفين اللاحقين. ولا ننسى أنه كُتب قبل أكثر من 55 عامًا، وعلى الرغم من ذلك بعض الموضوعات مناسبة تمامًا لعالم اليوم.
أكثر ما لفت انتباهي أنّ السلسلة تطرح بشكل عام كيف يمكن أن تتفاعل المكونات والعلاقات الاجتماعية والبيئية التي نميل إلى اعتبارها أمرًا مفروغًا منه ومسيطرًا عليه بالقوة والتقنيّة، وكيف يمكن أن تتغيّر الأمور وتنقلب بين ليلة وضحاها.


تناقش السلسلة أيضًا، معضلة انتظار المخلّص، أسطورة البطل المنقذ للأمة والشعب، الأسطورة التي تنشأ في لحظة يأس وتتشبث بها الجموع لعدّة أجيال.. مما يفاقم المشاكل بدلًا من حلّها، ويؤدي إلى انقسامات أعمق (طبقيًا وعرقيًا) وتتسبب في تخلخل لبنية المجتمع ككل وانعدام المساواة بين الجنسين.



والرواية في النهاية رحلة بطل، بول آتريديس، الفتى الذي يُلقى في مسار لم يفهمه مطلقًا، يجب أن يسافر مع عائلته إلى كوكب آراكيس (المعروف ايضًا بـ DUNE)، أخطر كوكب في المجرة ومصدر البهار، حيث يبدأ آل آتريديس فصلًا جديدًا، بينما تنفجر الصراعات والمؤامرات من حولهم وذلك لضمان الإمداد الحصري لـ (The Spice | البهار).
إنها مغامرة متكاملة، إثارة نفسية ومليئة بمكونات بيئية غريبة ومناطق إحيائية مختلفة وخيال علمي مذهل، شخصيات نسائية قويّة، هناك فصيل كامل منهنّ ويعرفن كل شيء (ساحرات نوعًا ما) ومتخصصات في "التكاثر والسيطرة على قادة الحاضر والمستقبل" وهن مخيفات ويتحكمن بكل شيء، المجتمع كله (المجرة بأكملها) مدمنون على البهار، تلك المادة الساحرة التي لا تتواجد إلا على آراكيس، إضافة إلى شركة كبرى تسيطر على السفر عبر الفضاء وعائلات تتصارع على النفوذ وإمبراطور طاغية وأشرار منحرفون وجنود خارقون نشأوا في كوكب مخصص للسجن والتعذيب .


ترددت طويلًا قبلَ إضافة هذا الجزء للمراجعة :

يتحدث السكان في آراكيس اللغة العربية (نوعًا ما) وتتناثر الكلمات العربية في كل الأجزاء التي قرأتها حتى الآن وتستخدم استخدامًا صحيحًا وبشكل تلقائي وعفوي، لا أدعي أنني أفهمها كلها خاصة تلك التي من صميم ثقافة شعب الفريمن لكن أحاول تخمين االمعنى
-ربما عليّ إضافة مثال هنا: |Shai-Hulud|
وهو مصطلح مقدس لدى شعب الفريمن (الأحرار أو البدو) فكرت كثيرًا لأفهم الكلمة واستنتجت أخيرًا أنها: "شيء خالد"-،
ولذا أتوق لأعرف مدى معرفة فرانك هيربرت باللغة العربية والثقافة العربية والدين لأن الدين هناك هو نوعًا ما، نسخة مستقبلية من الإسلام "السني" مختلطًا بدين/ثقافة شرقيّة أخرى.

~

أحتاج لقراءة مزيد من المراجع والمقالات عن الرواية والموسوعة الكبيرة التي تتحدث بالتفصيل عن العائلات والكواكب واللغة والطبيعة الجغرافية..إلخ لعالم الروايات.

Nel complesso un tomo affascinante, sorprendente alla luce degli anni trascorsi dalla scrittura di questi libri.

Dune, il primo libro, è... potente. Straripante, innovativo, precursore. Ci mostra la fantascienza fantasy che è poi entrata di forza nell'immaginario collettivo con Star Wars.
Un impero galattico di stampo feudale, un pianeta rigidissimo popolato dai Fremen (che decenni dopo ispireranno non poco Robert Jordan), una setta di donne dotate di poteri (ancora, Robert Jordan ma anche Goodkind, per esempio). Il ripudio dei computer e l'arrivo dei Mentat.
Gli anni hanno comunque imposto il loro fardello a quest'opera: le distinzioni sono tra bianco e nero, mancano le sfumature che ormai conosciamo bene. I cattivi sono malvagi, i buoni sono Santi.
E i tanti salti temporali per coprire la parte centrale della storia li ho sopportati pochissimo.
Ma resta comunque un grandissimo libro, una pietra miliare.


Si arriva al secondo. Messia di Dune.
Che è abbastanza deludente, più che un secondo libro è un epilogo del primo.
Ci mostra la situazione dopo Dune, proseguendo nello stratagemma dei salti temporali per raccontarci senza mostrarci, e così sappiamo che la tremenda jihad dei Fremen è già arrivata e passata. Gioia!
La storia è incentrata semplicemente su un complotto contro Muad'Dib, in un caleidoscopio di piani e visioni tra le varie parti in causa. Fino a concludere la storia di Muad'Dib.
Non che sia brutto, ma è... poco. Anche dieci anni fa, alla prima lettura, ne rimasi deluso.


Poi chiudiamo questa prima trilogia con I figli di Dune.
Leto e Ghanima, i figli di Paul Atreides, sono bambini ed eredi al trono imperiale. Zia Alia governa in loro vece. Nonna Jessica è sul vecchio pianeta degli Atreides.
In tutto questo però ci sono i piccoli dettagli dei pre-nati. Paul, Ghanima e Alia sono tutti nati già consapevoli, con una moltitudine di identità pregresse dentro di loro.
Scopriamo che Alia è diventata un'Abominazione, soggiogata dalla coscienza del vecchio barone Harkonnen (quello che essendo cattivo era il Male impersonificato). E ora vuole distruggere tutto ciò che gli Atreides hanno significato o creato.
Un bel libro, macchiato un po' troppo dal fatto che io lettore mi ritrovo a osservare senza comprendere, mentre tutti i personaggi o quasi si muovono all'interno di visioni dalle quali noi siamo esclusi. Tutti hanno i loro progetti, le loro visioni, i loro secondi o terzi giochi. Noi ci nutriamo famelici di pochi frammenti lasciati qua e là, ma non ci bastano!
Molto interessanti comunque le analisi politiche di Leto e di Alia sulla civiltà imperiale, su come la vittoria e la ricchezza abbiano cambiato i Fremen e su come la prosperità stia uccidendo Arrakis ponendo le basi per la sua stessa rovina.

Nel suo insieme una lettura davvero affascinante, piacevole, rivoluzionaria.
In futuro mi dedicherò sicuramente alla rilettura degli altri tre libri.

Inspired by the recent movie release I gave the Dune series a try and, despite all the (immediately) obvious flaws – the verbose vernacular, the stuffy writing, the bigotry and in the later books the increasingly eye-roll inducing repetitive plot twists, the  incessant and ever more indiscriminate (and unnecessary) re-awakening of previously dead characters in one fashion or another  – this series was highly addictive.

At least until book three, after that I signed off. I felt, at that point the melodrama took over to a degree that was just too much for me and began to retroactively taint the sense of genuine wonder the first two books occasionally gave me.

There are brilliant passages in the first and second book – the Bene Gesserit litany against fear, powerful, goose-bump inducing imagery, uniquely grounded and persuasive world building, inspiring philosophical treatises that are eerily contemporary and, most importantly, complex, deliciously painful interpersonal psychology.
Thinking about it, this last point is exactly what is missing starting in book 3.

8/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Con Dune he roto una regla que me había autoimpuesto. Y es que entre libro y libro de grandes sagas suelo meter otras lecturas para no empalagarme. Pero el universo de Dune me ha creado una especie de adicción, como la "melange" se la crea a los habitantes de Arrakis, que me ha hecho leerme los tres primeros libros de Frank Herbert seguidos.
Recomiendo el primer libro (Dune 9/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐) a todo el que le guste la ciencia ficción, porque es un clásico y los clásicos... tarde o temprano se acaban leyendo, bien por una reedición que llama tu atención o por el estreno de su versión en el cine, etc... Pero eso sí, no esperéis una prosa exquisita, ni siquiera en ocasiones fluida.
El segundo libro (El Mesías de Dune 7/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐) a pesar de ser solo 300 páginas se hace un poco "espeso". Pero aporta muchísimo a la trama en la parte final, y aparecen personajes nuevos muy interesantes.
Y el tercero (Hijos de Dune 8/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐) se disfruta con la ventaja de que ya somos prácticamente fremen y nos desenvolvemos con naturalidad por el increíble universo de Dune, que en resumen es lo que hace tan grande a esta saga, ese universo tan maravilloso que crea Frank Hervet.

Frank Herbert's immortal space opera that created many of the tropes we take for granted inside them is a book that doesn't need my endorsement. However, I thought I would share some thoughts on the book while thinking back on it. As such, its not really a traditional review as such. More just a series of observations.

For me, I always found it kind of interesting that Frank's main point is lost if you just read the main book but it's probably a more "satisfying" read if you just stop after the first book. Basically, the Epilogue in DUNE MESSIAH and CHILDREN OF DUNE are part of the original Dune manuscript. If you read them after reading DUNE, you come away with a very different perspective on the behavior of Paul Atreides as well as his actions.

The publishers, perhaps motivated by the size of the already lengthy book but also realizing that not many audiences wanted to see their hero unleash "mega-Hitlers" levels of awful on the universe, cut the book into multiple parts. As such, Dune by itself reads like a heroic tale of a boy who survives the murderous rampage of an absolutely evil bunch of scumbags (The Harkonnens) before returning with the local natives to liberate the galaxy from a tyrant. It's a good story, indeed a fantastic story, but it's not THE story.

Frank Herbert had a lot more going on in his universe and there have been many thesises written about his works and their handling of politics, religion, economics, as well as social satire. Paul Atreides is the Chosen One but he's a manufactured Chosen One both in terms of his genetics as well as seeding the galaxy's religions with stories about how a great conqueror was going to come to kick the galaxy in the butt.

Paul is absolutely using the Fremen and yet they are willing to allow themselves to be used. He also loses control over them (a fact that is lost without all three novels) and can come off as a bit Mighty Whitey alone. Except, well, Paul becomes of their culture rather than they of his--indeed, the nobility is some of the most decadent and depraved in fiction. Frank Herbert would tackle some of these issues in other works and I recommend them to, though this is justifiably the best.

Everything is smoke and mirrors in the Duneverse and it's kind of fascinating how, if you do a deep dive, how much of the book is about taking the [blank] out of epic heroism tropes. Even the fact the galaxy is ruled by Barons, Lords, and Ladies is deconstructed. They're not really Dukes and Duchesses but shareholders in the galaxy's biggest monopoly that have given themselves titles to feed good about themselves. They just enforce their pedigrees with armies they've hired. But, really, is that different from history?

It's a fantastic book, amazing story, and yet if you read all three books that is the "original" Dune then you might come away hating the protagonist--which, well, Frank Herbert would argue is entirely justified. Because he'd be the first to ask, "Why do you want a messiah and God King?"

This is such a magical book for me. I’m not even going to attempt to write an objective review. I simply don’t have the words.

Yes, this rating is based on emotion and on how this book affected me and my reading evolution over the years. And, frankly, that’s the best way to gauge it, anyway.

Long live the King!

Frank Herbert's Dune was in part inspired by his experience working in a research centre in California studying desertification. The realisation of the interrelationship of environment, people and culture coming out of that experience is a key feature of the series. At the centre of the first novel is a desert planet, Arrakis, and the secret desire of its inhabitants to transform it's ecology. It is a great science-fiction novel about systems of power and the role of ecology, although admittedly delivered in an accept it or loath it writing style and with various weird ideas including: Feudalism in space, a stress on lineages in which nonetheless many of the women seem to be mystic-concubines, homosexuality is shorthand for depraved evil, and space Arabs with blue eyes.

The sequels are not fascinating unlike the first novel. Full of enthusiasm after reading Dune I read Dune Messiah but it is one of those books that divides the fans from the readers I suppose.

In Children of Dune we see the surface of Arrakis beginning to change as the plans to transform the ecology of the plant are being put into effect, and some of the social implications of those changes beginning to emerge, but the book is not as packed with ideas as Dune. For something similarly ambitious yet more consistent in its delivery (& I lost interest in this series as it ran on and on) I personally prefer Brian Aldiss' Helliconia Trilogy.

The weigh of the ideas is really all placed in the first volume. The Feudal-Federalism of the Space-Empire, the breeding programme to create a Messiah figure who can guide humanity towards an unpredictable future, the land makes the people and the people make the land, the replacement of computers with specialised people. The subsequent books are really just the working through of the ideas set out there. It is all inevitable and the reading as a result is poorer.

Dune perhaps epitomises science-fiction. The willingness to embrace big ideas and show them playing out on a broad canvas married to uneven writing and a a certain 'what-the Hell-ness' as the author lays out their pet sociological/anthropological opinions. The David Lynch film, I feel, captures the oddness of the reading experience quite well and perhaps sets about chopping at the text with a brutality which oddly appropriate. Alternatively it offers a combination of the latter books of the Old Testament with a sensitivity towards the influence of the environment upon man and of man upon the environment. At points this works on its own terms, at others it rather strangles itself with its own pretensions. You have to read it to believe it.

I'd argue that God Emperor of Dune belongs here since these first three books ultimately lead into the fourth

Dune and Dune: Messiah follows Paul Atreides as his family gains control over the planet Arrakis (Dune).
Dune follows Paul in his youth as his family leaves their home planet to become the new leaders of Arrakis. There is a load of corruption taking place, and tragic backstabbing events lead to the death of Paul's father. Dune wonderfully leads into Dune: Messiah and follows Paul in his adult years. For books that rely heavily on the focus of politics, I found them to be a very captivating and fast-paced book which I loved. If you didn't already know that Paul wasn't a good guy in the first book you will definitely see it in Messiah.
Then at the end of Messiah we meet his newly born children. Due to Chani ingesting so much Melange while pregnant, Paul's children are born with the intellect of a Reverend Mother. Both of them communicate telepathically, and they get looked down upon by many around them. Ultimately, they are a product of their upbringing...
I think these books do such a great job of showcasing politics, corruption, and the impacts of such things on youth into their adulthood. Highly recommend.
Alia ultimately becomes a mother figure to her niece and nephew in Children of Dune and we heavily follow Alia and Leto II as they narrate. Alia ultimately loses herself to the spice and her grandfather Baron corrupts her mind from the afterlife, which causes Jessica to return to Dune.

I’ve been through some SHIT reading this book and it did not help me with said shit. Sorry to this man Herbert. You probably will like this book if any of the following pertain to you: you run marathons or do long distance biking. You are vegan but only for health reasons. You have a soul sucking job that makes a ton of money. You drink coffee black and in the evenings because “caffeine doesn’t affect me.” You can possess these qualities and not enjoy the book, or you cannot possess these qualities and enjoy the book. Correlation is not causation. You will also like the book if you like really dense sci fi and politics. I’m just saying there’s a reason it took me 5 months to read it and all I’m left with is the sense of being better than everyone else who quit after the first 10 pages. The writing is very beautiful, but so is the movie! Feel free to just watch the movie if you find the book intimidating.