Dune

Rating:
Summary: Dune is Smashing
Review: I loved this book. I liked how Mr. Herbert described various objects and habitats. The characterization is phenominal. This IS one of the best books ever.

What happens in the beginning of the book is a whole story of it's own so I won't reveal too much for those who haven't read the book.

The main character is a fifteen year old boy named Paul Atreides. His father, the Duke Leto Atreidies is forced to move from the planet Caladan (A planet that is rich with water and forests.) to Arrakis AKA Dune. Dune is a harsh desert world were water is scarce and food is even scarcer. The thing that the planet is best known for is the spice Melange. Melange is used for food, drugs, and many other things. Melange helps people see into the future, Starship pilots use it to pilot better. There are a few people who can have special powers by using it. Paul is one those, he is also the only male. The natives also beleive that he is their Messiah and that he will lead them to freedom.

Dune intertwines politics, religion, ecology, action, and adventure all into one story. I love this book and I give it a *marks a five into Paul-Muad'Dib's stillsuit" FIVE!

Rating:
Summary: One of the finest novels - period.
Review: Dune is quite possibly the finest science fiction novel ever written and fares well in comparison to non-genre novels as well. Combining elements of adventure, romance, political intrigue, sci-fi/fantasy elements and character study in a single work would be a daunting task to begin with. Herbert has successfully accomplished this in a fully realized and fleshed-out universe with a coherent history, economy, ecology and political structure. And beyond that, he uses this setting to examine such wide-ranging issues as the impact of technology on human society, the essence of self-discovery and the world-shaking (and potentially disastrous) impact of messianic figures on society.

The characters are memorable, multi-layered and possessed of plausible motivations. The settings are diverse and well-articulated as is the futuristic technology. And the techno-speak doesn't get in the way of the story.

Additional gems await those with a varied knowledge base such as the fact that the doctor, Yueh, is named for the Chinese god of epidemics.

Don't be disuaded from reading this marvelous book by the movie or mini-series. The first is unintelligible if you haven't already read the book and both succumb to symbolism at the end that is not in the book.

Dune is one of the (very) few books worth reading more than once.

Rating:
Summary: Dont waste your time.
Review: This book was so incredibly boring it was mind numbing.
The first few chapters kept me going, but to get to the end...good god. I literally had to force myself to read it! The only other book I had to trudge through like this was The Grapes of Wrath...and if you liked that book, well then maybe this one is for you...

Rating:
Summary: THE Best SF Novel to date!
Review: When confronted with someone who says "I don't read SF because I don't like it!", I always ask them what have they read? Have they read Dune? The answer is always no. And those who go away and read Dune, change their mind and usually will seek other quality SF novels to read.

I first read Dune in about 1967(?) as a high school student. I have re-read it many times. To me it was the first hard SF novel to FULLY develop and reveal an entire culture and history as backdrop to the story. Others have tried since; most have failed or at least fallen short of Dune.

DUNE is to SF what Lord of the Rings is to Fantasy; simply the best.

If you want to know anything about the story, don't look here, just READ IT! I promise you wont be disappointed.

I'm about to start reading it again in the next few days!

Rating:
Summary: A brilliant work with some annoying flaws
Review: Every time I read 'Dune' I marvel at the universe Frank Herbert has invented. The book's setting is dense, confusing, intriguing, and belies a strange understanding of the human conciousness. The problem is, Herbert rushes over his descriptions of setting to put us in some boring desert. I always end up wondering about Caladan and Ix and the Bene Gesseret the Imperium and all those other details. Not surprisingly, my favorite parts of the book were the glossary and essay on religion.

For most of the book I never really liked Paul or Jessica or the Fremen or any other character. I was interested in Paul's metamorphosis into a super-being, but I think that Herbert understandably has trouble explaining the shift into hyper-conciousness. And the way Herbert writes in general seems a bit undisciplined, a lack of polish and refinement if you will.

The 'Dune' universe is brilliant, but it probably made a hell of lot more sense inside Herbert's head.

Despite all my complaints, it's probably my favorite sci-fi book.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect!
Review: To write about SF is very difficult, Asimov and Clarke are perhaps the first names that come to mind. Moreover, stories must be scientifically possible, at least a little. I think that Dune is not very SF, and yet, it is a landmark in storytelling. Frank Herbert conceived the best Political novels ever. His style, unsurpassed by any other writers, should be the guideline to future writers of this kind of novels. I have just finished Foundation, and some months ago I re-read 2001. These are classic SF. But Frank Herbert's Dune will always be the best political novels. Period.

Rating:
Summary: this is the best sci-fi can do?
Review: The main reason i picked up this book was because i'd heard it praised as Science-Fiction's-Crowning-Achievement. more than a few sci-fi fanatic buddies of mine found this book the dune series frighteningly addictive. they would say things like "i just got the 6th dune book!" while jumping up and down excitedly. one of the best sci-fi authors around, Arthur c. Clarke, even compared Dune to The Lord of the Rings.

sadly, at least for me, dune wasn't all it was cut out to be.

if not downright awful, Dune is _certainly_ no LOtR. LOtR has characters, history, rich cultures, awesome landscapes, and above all the vivid imagination of a smart, meticulous man behind it.

okay, so frank herbert was probably meticulous, considering he had to create the simply massive amount of politics found in Dune. is all the political junk why i gave the book 2 stars? not quite. politics don't thrill me, but they don't bore me to tears either. unfortunately, for some reason Herbert's endless, tiring banter did.

after some deliberation (after all, i hesitate to call an alleged Masterwork a piece of [junk] until i've thought about the reprecussions of such a statement.) ... i've come up with a theory to explain why Dune was so frustrating to read.

as the novel progresses, i found myself assaulted by a seemingly endless barrage of events, one taking place right after the other with no warning.
although this style is similar to LOtR, and many fantasy/sci-fi works, what is so disheartening about Dune is that the events are not explained thoroughly. sure, Herbert offers a paltry excuse for why the Atriedes and the Harkonnens hate each other, and he tries to summarize why the Emperor wants to kill the Fremen, but his answers lack depth. they don't make sense.

I'm not sure about others, but when something doesn't make sense to me, i don't believe it. plausibility makes good fiction.

inevitably, someone will call me an idiot for not understanding the socio-economic reprecussions of spice production, but this isn't entirely true. i understand it superficially, but herbert doesn't give me enough facts or history or first-hand accounts for me to gain a real understanding of his world. it's almost as though he assumed the reader could see inside of his head, something which we certainly can not.

even more disappointing is that Arrakis had SUCH potential--a desert culture more extreme than any on Earth, a desperate people, a royal feud...

sadly Herbert is so fixated on propagating stereotypes (Baron Harkonnen, the fat evil homosexual pedophile...Paul Atriedes, the young handsome messiah who can see into the future...shall i vomit now?...) and stuffing in as much action and politics as possible that he takes no time to develop the culture, the languages, the history, the characters...all of the things that would make sludging through 550 pages of political maneuvering worthwhile.

the result: i found myself reading on in a hurry, even skipping over sentences, to get to the good part that i could feel coming. unfortunately, none came, and i ended up feeling disappointed and more than a little betrayed.

best piece of science fiction ever written? c'mon, i'm sure sci-fi can do better than Dune.

Rating:
Summary: War of Assassins
Review: ...
The Duke Atreides is given control of the planet Arrakis by the Emperor. Arrakis, also known as "Dune", is the only known planet to locate the most precious substance in the universe, the spice. The spice controls everything. It prolongs life, permits space travel, and is also an extremely addictive drug. The Duke's son, Paul, and his wife, Jessica, must secure the planet Arrakis and restore control as orders by the Emperor. Their greatest enemy, the Harkonnen, threaten to retake control of the planet after holding it for 80 years. The Harkonnen try everything from assassination to invasion secretly backed up by two legions of the emperor's own elite troops, the Sadukar. Paul and his mother are forced to flee their home and their only hope lies in the Fremen, an extremely rugged desert people.

The characters in this story were absolutely amazing. Each one had is own personality, habits, and ways of doing things. They sounded like they didn't even come from the same author. They were very believable and make this futuristic sci fi story even more fascinating. Throughout the book you really see the main character evolve and change as the story progresses. He changes from an intelligent young boy nervous on a new planet to an extremely disciplined brilliant man. All the characters are extraordinarily well woven into this complex sometimes confusing story. Even the Mentats, human computer like minds, have a whole different view on things. Everyone seems like a real possible person put into those circumstances.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who likes long, complicated books. This book really makes you think about everything. Most of the concepts in the book were very interesting. This book almost needs to be read several times.

Rating:
Summary: Take a trip with a master storyteller
Review: Herbert is a rare type of writer that combines a
fanciful imagination, a deep and probing intellect
and an innate ability to create and control tension
within a well written story. I am not an avid SF
reader, but I would unhesitatingly recommend this
fine book to readers looking for a thought provoking
journey into another world. I would especially recommend
this book to beginning writers so that they might spend
some time with a verteren pro like Herbert,who will
certainly teach them how to construct and develop
a complex storyline.

Rating:
Summary: Greatest Science Fiction Story Ever Told
Review: The mother of all modern sci-fi, this book is a testiment to contemperary literature.