Dune (Dune #1) in Multiculturalism in YA,Fantasy, Sci FI,Paranormal and fun books ;p

Mar 17, 2022 Min rated it did not like it · review of another edition

To sum this up in a quote: “Ah-h-h-h-h-h-h!”

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Sep 08, 2021 Ebbie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I used to see these books laying around at home when I was a child as my father was reading them. I was intrigue and puzzled by the cover art of the edition he had, which was illustrated by Wojtek Siudmak. I tried reading the first book way back then but I was confused by it and kinda bored.

I buddy read this, very casually, with a friend, which made the experience obviouly way better. Before reading the book, I knew a bit about Dune through cultural osmosis, but I never actually watch the old mo I used to see these books laying around at home when I was a child as my father was reading them. I was intrigue and puzzled by the cover art of the edition he had, which was illustrated by Wojtek Siudmak. I tried reading the first book way back then but I was confused by it and kinda bored.

I buddy read this, very casually, with a friend, which made the experience obviouly way better. Before reading the book, I knew a bit about Dune through cultural osmosis, but I never actually watch the old movie(s?). I did however read a book of interviews with David Lynch, so I knew a little through that also. I knew there was worms, I knew there was sand (lol), I knew there was a final fight with Sting.

I enjoyed it. It's not the greatest, but it's an easier read than I expected and it's fun. It's absolutely not without fault, far from it.

Lately, I don't read much book written by male author, for obvious reasons. There's like 8 women in the book, and most of them have very minor roles. The society depicted in the book treats women as second class human in many ways even though women can have power with the whole Bene Gesserit thing (all 8 women are part of the Bene Gesserit in some shape or form). Their live only has meaning in relation to men. But that's not like we're not used to seeing this in fiction, it's just... ugh.

Another major issue is all the blatant fatphobia and the somewhat subtle queerphobia. All the "bad" people are either one or both. The fatphobia gets really annoying because the author keeps hamering the point every time there's someone fat present. I think there's not one time the Baron shows up where his fatness is not pointed out at least a little, if it's not pointed out as disgusting. As for the queerphobia, it's easy to miss. But the only homosexuality or queerness depicted is, again, associated with the evil people. Homosexuality is, on top of that, associated to hints of pedophilia. So yeah, PROBLEMATIC MUCH?

Other than that however, I liked how the chosen one trope is process throughout the book. Of course, at first, it's a little annoying that Paul is soooo mature for his age, but it gets better fast enough and I had doubt until the end if maybe, something might not go "as planned". One of the thing that I wasn't sure I liked at first and turned out cool was the little epigraphs at the start of each chapter. At first I was annoyed that it "sold" the plot in a way, but the story casted doubt enough on the conclusion of things that it became just a nice window on the past or on the far future.

I had a hard time at the start of the 3rd part, but it quickly took off after the few first chapters. (view spoiler)

I will definitely follow up with the rest of the saga because I had fun enough to overlook the issues, though for now, I'm limiting my Dune experience to the original 6 books, and we'll see if I feel like checking out the work of Hebert's son or not. ...more

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Aug 05, 2014 Terragyrl3 rated it it was amazing

This is one of those game-changing books that transforms the way “sci-fi” was perceived. I don’t know if the prose and concepts will engender the same amazement today that they did in the 80s, when I read this book. The breadth of Herbert’s vision and the intricate economy described was unlike any other sci-fi writer that I knew. Wonderful memories of reading this book!

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