Frank Herbert: Dune

Hi everyone

Dune is the first book in the Dune Chronicles by Frank Herbert.
My copy has 585 pages and I got it from Bol.
The book won both the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award.

 “Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who would become the mysterious man known as Muad'Dib. He would avenge the traitorous plot against his noble family - and would bring to fruition humankind's most ancient and unattainable dream.”

This book had been on my TBR for at least three years. The only reason I hadn’t started this sooner was fear. Fear of not loving it as much as everyone else.
After hearing, yet again, from a friend how he couldn’t believe I hadn’t read it, I thought it time to pick it up.

I really, really enjoyed this book.

Honestly, the writing isn’t all that beautiful, but it is very, very captivating.
Dune is a fascinating, intriguing read and it’s wonderfully crafted. It truly is a grand, epic story and it deserves its status as a Classic.
It is difficult to get into it at first. The first few chapters lack explanations of any kind so you just have to ‘go with it’ and trust the writer to explain what needs explaining as the novel progresses.

The themes are amazingly worked out. You get a bit slapped around the head with ‘The Chosen One’ trope because it’s so very obvious but it didn’t really bother me. There’s an abundance of social commentary; the need for natural resources versus money-making resources the most notable and urgent one. It’s very thought-provoking.

The characterization is magnificent. Every character is unique, has its own distinct voice and motivations and everyone is therefore interesting. I thought every character to be perfect.
The worldbuilding is astonishing and truly imaginative. We learn so much about this world and the way of living. Herbert hints at an immense history and a huge amount of other worlds and people throughout this galaxy without giving us giant infodumps. Absolutely fascinating.
But there’s not much to the plot so that was a bit of a letdown.

4 STARS

Happy reading!
Helena