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Dune (Dune #1)

Frank Herbert

Start date: April 1, 2012

Finish date: May 1, 2012

Discussion: Book Discussions

Why we're reading this: April 2012 Group Read
Hugo Award 1966 (tie)
Nebula Award Winner 1966 (tie)
#4 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels o…more
[close] April 2012 Group Read
Hugo Award 1966 (tie)
Nebula Award Winner 1966 (tie)
#4 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels of all time (2011 poll) http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/1390858...
#1 on Locus Magazines Best SciFi novels of the 20th century http://www.locusmag.com/2012/AllCentu...

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What Members Thought

Mar 16, 2014 Ivy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, audible-owned, science-fiction

I had started Dune in the summer of 2015, but it wasn't the right book for me at the time. I gave up near the end of book 1, and figured I'd never pick it up again. Fast forward to this summer. I was in the mood for something epic, and this was it! I can absolutely understand how this is the best selling science fiction novel of all time. The characters are some of the best, they come alive off of the page (or through the speaker if you listen to the audiobook), the culture, the religious belief ...more

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Jul 08, 2010 Richard Guion rated it really liked it

I was feeling nostalgic for Dune, the first SF novel that really made me a genre fan for life. Decided to go back and re-read it for the umpteenth time, although it's probably been over 10 years since I last re-read it.

For some readers, the way Dune is written will drive them crazy, because in the 1960s, novelists like Frank Herbert didn't apply the rule that a single chapter is from a single POV character. Instead you may have a chapter featuring Paul and Jessica, and see things from both point I was feeling nostalgic for Dune, the first SF novel that really made me a genre fan for life. Decided to go back and re-read it for the umpteenth time, although it's probably been over 10 years since I last re-read it.

For some readers, the way Dune is written will drive them crazy, because in the 1960s, novelists like Frank Herbert didn't apply the rule that a single chapter is from a single POV character. Instead you may have a chapter featuring Paul and Jessica, and see things from both points of view, hearing their innermost thoughts. That simply isn't done nowadays - if you take a creative writing class it's drilled into you. Surprisingly, this did not bother me a bit.

I won't bother with a review of the story of Dune, but rather, here's what struck me during the re-read:

(view spoiler)[
The fate of Duke Leto: the Reverend Mother Mohaim seems to know what's waiting for Leto on Arrakis, either through her spies or through divination. What's more, she sees a way of escape for Jessica and Paul with the native Fremen on Arrakis. Leto is warned over and over by Jessica and his aides not to go to Arrakis, but he stubbornly insists on seeing it through.

Paul's prescience: it's already there in chapter 1 and develops as the novel goes along. I was struck by how Paul can see many paths, and at one point says he will not choose the safest path because that will lead to stagnation for humanity. Paul starts playing a very long game right after his father has died and he is on the run with Jessica in the desert. Later Paul sees the jihad coming and struggles to avoid it. There are two events where Paul's prescience is blinded. One is his fight to the death in sietch with Jamis, the other is at the end of the novel with the Feyd Rautha. At the latter event Paul says it doesn't matter whether he lives or dies, events (like the jihad) are unstoppable with or without him. So I'm curious now, reading Dune Messiah, how far does Paul really see? Does he see Leto II? Does he see a second desert planet with sand worms? Herbert wouldn't have mentioned anywhere here, probably not seeing a line of sequels, but I am interested to see if this pops up in the next 2 novels.

The Bene Gesserit: they played a very long game, not only with the genetic breeding program but with subcultures like the Fremen, whose culture had absorbed the myths of a Kwisatz Haderach, planted by Reverend Mothers who lived with them. While Paul opposes the Bene Gesserit later on - he owes his life to them in a way, for the Fremen might not have taken him and Jessica or accepted him as their leader without this cultural seeding. They hoped for a pawn and instead got a renegade.

The Harkonnens - it was most interesting to me how they were involved in the Bene Gesserit breeding program and it's revealed fairly soon that Jessica is the Baron's daughter - and Paul is his grandson! Shocking. But it does make me think, the Baron, as sick / twisted as he is, probably had great potential as a youth. It almost makes me want to read the prequels where the Baron is a young man in his prime.

The novel still works even though I knew what was going to happen - but even for a reader going thru this for the first time, much is foreshadowed by the characters. Jessica, Mohaim, Dr Yueh, Paul's dreams, the Harkonnens: you pretty much see the danger and the loopholes exposed. The chapter preludes written by Princess Irulan even give away the fact that Paul survives all this and does become Emperor. It was a strangely anti-climatic, yet, still gripping when I read it. i would even go so far as to say, after Paul make it to the Fremen sietch, things pretty much go smoothly for him. The fight with Feyd is a moment where he could possibly lose, but not really. Paul doesn't really know defeat or a serious setback until Dune Messiah.
(hide spoiler)] ...more

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Aug 14, 2013 S.C. rated it really liked it

Dune was certainly an epic of science fiction. It is the epic fantasy novel of the science fiction universe. I did enjoy reading Dune however, I wasn't as gripped by it as I had hoped I would be. I love reading a book and completely loving the characters. I did like the characters in the novel, especially Paul, but I just didn't love them like I have loved other characters in other books such as Ender and Bean in Ender's Game or Vaelin in Blood Song. I have to agree that dune is a fantastic book ...more

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Aug 30, 2011 Fungus Gnat rated it really liked it

The young heir to a planet’s throne is singled out for a mysterious destiny. So begins an epic tale of interplanetary power struggle that weaves together politics, religion, and the remarkable ecology and sociology of a desert planet. For its insights into Paul Atreides’ psychology and the challenge set for him by his unwanted vocation and his psychic powers, for the comprehensiveness with which it portrays Arrakis, for the individuality and vividness of its characters, and for the quality of it The young heir to a planet’s throne is singled out for a mysterious destiny. So begins an epic tale of interplanetary power struggle that weaves together politics, religion, and the remarkable ecology and sociology of a desert planet. For its insights into Paul Atreides’ psychology and the challenge set for him by his unwanted vocation and his psychic powers, for the comprehensiveness with which it portrays Arrakis, for the individuality and vividness of its characters, and for the quality of its writing, this book easily stands with the best of the ten years preceding—notably "A Canticle for Leibowitz"—atop the pile of sf. It’s far more sophisticated than the closest thing to it at that point in scope and ambition, which would have to be Asimov’s "Foundation" trilogy.

There is nonetheless plenty of room for quibbles, most of which arise from the flip sides of some of the book’s stronger points. I appreciate Herbert’s proclivity to depart from standard sf practice by refusing to explain everything, but I started out baffled and remained baffled by the motivations behind the intrigue (or even just what was supposed to be happening at times) which occupies the first third of the book, concerning the migration of Paul’s family to Arrakis and its eventual overthrow there. Herbert is refreshingly interested primarily in what is going on in his main character’s mind, and in the local politics of his interactions with his family, friends, and Fremen compatriots. These small-scale dramas are another welcome change from the swashbuckling space opera and breakneck, thoughtless drive of other sf, but after emerging from the early part of the book—long after emerging from it—I began to wonder whether anything was going to really happen, whether there were enough pages left to resolve the conflicts that the book seemed still to be setting up, very late in the game. (view spoiler)

Quality of writing matters a lot to me in a book, and Herbert writes more effectively and lyrically than most “good” sf writers. His portrayal of Paul and his encounters with his destiny and his planet are creative and imaginatively expressed, and he managed to get me more excited and more concerned for the characters than I’ve felt while reading any book in some time. Getting to these high points required a little patience with the early confusion and an at-first slightly clunky writing style. ("He said," "He said" -- enough already!)
...more

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Jul 28, 2010 James rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, book-club, sf-top-100, hugo, nebula

Astounding world building, relentless plot, inventive plot devices (for 1950!!). This is the novel that so much of SF is built on. There is a sexist theme as well as a hint of issues with homosexuality, but to some extent that is the book showing it’s age.

Wonderful, awe inspiring (and with some great appendixes as well).

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