Dune in Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library

Aug 30, 2007 Jamie Collins rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, science-fiction

Re-read again in December 2020: I got the gorgeous new hardback edition with the Fremen-blue edges. I was a little disengaged this time during the opening chapters, because I have seen the Lynch movie too often, but by the time the Atreides got to Arrakis I was hooked again.
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Re-read in January 2018. I've probably read this novel a dozen times, starting from when I was too young to understand most of it.

I picked it up this time because I finally got around to watching the TV mini-series. Comp ...more

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Nov 29, 2010 Mark Rayner rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: sf-f

Dune is an epic science fiction tale about religion, inter-stellar politics, and the awesomeness of riding around on giant worms that crap out the greatest drug ever.*

The drug in question is called melange, or spice; in addition to extending lifespan, spice allows human beings to see into the future and travel between stars, thus always being able to find a source of Cheetos. Unfortunately, the spice can only be found and mined on the desert planet, Arakis.

Enter Paul Atreides, heir-apparent of Dune is an epic science fiction tale about religion, inter-stellar politics, and the awesomeness of riding around on giant worms that crap out the greatest drug ever.*

The drug in question is called melange, or spice; in addition to extending lifespan, spice allows human beings to see into the future and travel between stars, thus always being able to find a source of Cheetos. Unfortunately, the spice can only be found and mined on the desert planet, Arakis.

Enter Paul Atreides, heir-apparent of the noble family that has just been given control over the planet by the interstellar emperor. In addition to having kick-ass mentors, Paul has a mother who is an ex-supernun (of the order Bene Gesserit). His father, despite being an interstellar Duke, and a fascist, is kind of cool. Oh, and Paul may be the messiah, because he was in utero when his mother was all tripped out on the prescience-inducing melange.

But he may not live long enough to fulfill this destiny, because the House Harkonnen doesn't really want to give up the lucrative planet to his father. The head of the Harkonnen clan is Vladimir, who has an apocalyptic eating disorder. He requires anti-gravity devices to move and he is so depraved, he actually enjoys having his disturbed human-computer (mentat) lance his numerous boils. He also lusts after his nephew, 1980s Sting; to be fair, Sting likes to dress in a leather breechclout kind of thing, so if you swing that way … well, ring-a-ding. So yeah, the Harkonnens are bad. Obscene. Naturally, they try to have the Atreides killed.

Luckily, Paul manages to escape death (unlike his dad) and he is rescued by the desert-dwelling Freemen. They are basically a mix of Jihadis, Zen masters, and seriously kickass ninjas who wear rubber suits. They teach Paul how to drink his own piss and ride around on giant worms. But not in a gay way.

Worst of all, the Harkonnens have a stranglehold on the Cheetos shipments to Arakis. (How else to you think Vladimir got all his boils?) It is up to Paul, or Muad'Dib, as he is known to the ultra-butch Freemen, to avenge his father's death, and free all the Freemen (and Cheetos) on the planet.

*Actually, it's the larval stage of the giant sandworms that crap out the spice.
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