Dune (Dune #1) in Dune Fanatics

Nov 05, 2011 Mark rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: american-writers, scifi, dune

I did buy the new and beautifull edition celebrating its original publishing in 1965 and expected movie this year, which was the one movie I was really looking forward this year and with Covid-19 being the factor that stopped this party I decided to reread this novel once more.

As a fifteen old kid who kept annoying the ladies of my local library with my great thirst for reading books they had decided to offer me some books to keep me busy. First of was Lord of the Rings by one Tolkien which got I did buy the new and beautifull edition celebrating its original publishing in 1965 and expected movie this year, which was the one movie I was really looking forward this year and with Covid-19 being the factor that stopped this party I decided to reread this novel once more.

As a fifteen old kid who kept annoying the ladies of my local library with my great thirst for reading books they had decided to offer me some books to keep me busy. First of was Lord of the Rings by one Tolkien which got devoured with a speed they considered somewhat unsettling they then gave me this book Dune a scifi book. With my scifi taste being mostly Star Trek and Star Wars this book was of course an eye opener and something of new territory for a young kid. For I while I read quite a lot of scifi, classics and whatnot but Dune and its sequels always remained special.
I did read the three sequels, Messiah, Children and God Emperor and was and am still today totally in awe of these books. When I discovered the next two Frank Herbert books I put one on my reading list for English and my teacher who turned out to be a fan too disputed that books existence. Until I put it on his desk and he decided that afternoon to visit the bookstore to obtain a copy and during my oral exam we did discuss this book and I am sure I learned a lot of insight from this English teacher more than he learned from his student. But this teacher loved students that read and came up with different choices than the average student who read because they must.

Anyhow this phenomenal Scifi book tells a story about a duke and his family whom get displaced from their own watery world to a desert world where the article Spice is being found and its application is considered to be a boon to health, prescience and is actually very important in Spaceflight by the Guild navigators. It is difficult to not slip into information later learned in the sequels Messiah & Children because they feel actually not like book 2 & 3 but part of the original tale of Dune.
Paul Atreides loses his father to the treacherous Harkonnen on the planet Arrakis also know as Dune. He becomes the leader of the desert people that inhabit the planet and leads them on a path to religious Jihad and throw the other houses of the Landsraad and the Emperor aside.
This sounds like a lot of action but most of the story is weaving a new world and its secrets and culture. There is so much to be enjoyed in Frank Herberts creation and often you are left in some bewilderment how one man could make up so much different cultures of humanity and there is not an alien around.
My advise would be to read the three books that make up the story of the Atreides and the genetic line they represent and the duty they have for the Universe.
Recognize the prescience that leaves Paul Atreides some choices and he is definitely afraid of his choices and the future he will create. This story tells about a special young man who is meant to change the universe and yet is terribly afraid for the future he will create and yet must do so or die and leave the universe in danger for the future.
The story represents some Greek tragedy which admittingly was also some of Frank Herberts source/inspiration, the foreword by Brian Herbert who went on to enlarge his fathers Duniverse does give you some insight in his fathers writing and thinking.
For me the Bene Gesserit have always been the most fascinating of creations and considering their role in the Duniverse they were important too for Frank Herbert. It is their part in the story that gets everything rolling.

This particular copy is absolutely beautiful and one might hope that the next two installments also get the same treatment with a new release as there is plenty of time and need before we get to see the movie next year. They actually deserve the same respect as they are one story and it would look amazing on my bookshelves of course. ...more

68 likes · Like · see review

Apr 29, 2012 bella rated it it was amazing

When you say "Dune" the words that come to my mind are "epic space opera" and "my favorite book of all time". It's true. Dune is the one book that I have re-read over and over again and I consider it to be my all time favorite book of all time!

Dune is Arrakis, a desert world. A world full of spice (a life enhancing drug) and sandworms (killer sandworms!). House Atreides has been awarded Dune, but is it a trap set up by House Harkonnen (who used to rule Arrakis) and the Emperor to rid the world o ...more

Like · see review

Aug 10, 2011 João Lamas rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The greatest sci-fi book ever written. The dune collection is about not only war, ecology and treachery, but mainly about the human nature.
What started to be a satire to the word to that date turned out to be much more. The characters themselfs are brought to life with plot twists and with all the defects of the human being. Not a light read at all but a great insight to our past, our present and our future as an humam race.

Al

Like · see review