912 pages
English language
Published July 29, 2005 by Gollancz.
Dune is a 1965 science-fiction novel by American author Frank Herbert, originally published as two separate serials in Analog magazine. It tied with Roger Zelazny's This Immortal for the Hugo Award in 1966, and it won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel. It is the first installment of the Dune saga; in 2003, it was cited as the world's best-selling science fiction novel.Dune is set in the distant future amidst a feudal interstellar society in which various noble houses control planetary fiefs. It tells the story of young Paul Atreides, whose family accepts the stewardship of the planet Arrakis. While the planet is an inhospitable and sparsely populated desert wasteland, it is the only source of melange, or "the spice," a drug that extends life and enhances mental abilities. Melange is also necessary for space navigation, which requires a kind of multidimensional awareness and foresight that only the drug …
Dune is a 1965 science-fiction novel by American author Frank Herbert, originally published as two separate serials in Analog magazine. It tied with Roger Zelazny's This Immortal for the Hugo Award in 1966, and it won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel. It is the first installment of the Dune saga; in 2003, it was cited as the world's best-selling science fiction novel.Dune is set in the distant future amidst a feudal interstellar society in which various noble houses control planetary fiefs. It tells the story of young Paul Atreides, whose family accepts the stewardship of the planet Arrakis. While the planet is an inhospitable and sparsely populated desert wasteland, it is the only source of melange, or "the spice," a drug that extends life and enhances mental abilities. Melange is also necessary for space navigation, which requires a kind of multidimensional awareness and foresight that only the drug provides. As melange can only be produced on Arrakis, control of the planet is thus a coveted and dangerous undertaking. The story explores the multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion, as the factions of the empire confront each other in a struggle for the control of Arrakis and its spice.Herbert wrote five sequels: Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse: Dune. Adaptations of the novel have been notoriously difficult and complicated. In the 1970s, cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky attempted to make a film based on the novel. After spending almost three years in development, the project was cancelled due to a constantly growing budget. In 1984, a film adaptation, directed by David Lynch, was released to negative reaction. A third film adaptation directed by Denis Villeneuve is scheduled to be released on October 1, 2021. The book was also adapted into the 2000 Sci-Fi Channel miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune and its 2003 sequel Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (which combines the events of Dune Messiah and Children of Dune), a series of computer games, a board game, songs, and a series of follow-ups, including prequels and sequels, that were co-written by Kevin J. Anderson and the author's son, Brian Herbert, starting in 1999.Since 2009, the names of planets from the Dune novels have been adopted for the real-life nomenclature of plains and other features on Saturn's moon Titan.
I'm glad I'm done with it and don't have to read it anymore. Sure, it's a classic, and the worldbuilding is great, and the story is exciting. But the language is unnecessarily complicated and the pacing is awful. It took me half of the book to start enjoying the story, which to me is a sign of bad writing. 2021/07/17
Cette lecture me reste en mémoire quand bien même je n'ai pas été totalement séduit. L'univers construit par l'auteur m'a happé mais le récit souffre de quelques creux et la narration manque de dynamisme, ce qui pourrait faire décrocher au vu de la longueur du livre. Le livre s'apprécie si on le replace dans son époque et qu'on mesure le travail de l'auteur pour construire ce monde si complexe et si finement élaboré.
A nice example of asabiyyah in action.
Read the book after seeing the movies. While the world building in the book was well done things just seemed to happen in the book without much tension.
I thoroughly enjoyed my first read-through of Dune. The blend of sci-fi and religion set the stage for a large-scale space opera unlike any I've experienced before, and the power struggle between the large political entities unfolds in countless increasingly surprising ways. I watched the first two (reboot) movies, and there was still plenty here to enjoy!
At times (especially at the outset) it can be a bit slow, but I found Dune rewarding, and the world building a great stage for both this book and the series!
You are really brough into the world of Dune the book sucks you in with intrigue as it reveals how the world works and how the people of Arrakis live, the book can drag on in some parts but it is well written and gives you a real feel for the world.
Det tok meg to måneder, men jeg kom meg gjennom. Originalen og Children var høydepunktene, og Messiah trekker scoren litt ned.
Disse bøkene kommer til å leve i hjernen min i mange år, og blir sannsynligvis lest igjen senere, når jeg har latt dem synke inn og jeg har fått lest God Emperor of Dune.
Men først skal jeg ta en liten ferie fra Arrakis og utforske nye verdener.
I wish I could give half-stars, because I probably would have given Dune a personal rating of 3.5/5.
I liked the story. I was able to fully immerse myself in the lore and the immaculate worldbuilding. And that was really something I have rarely seen anywhere else. I was contemplating whether to give this 3 or 4, but had to round up for the creativity in this area alone. I truly loved it.
My issue is mainly with the level of detail and the language. Some scenes are so excellently written that I felt like I was part of them, observing everything around me, noticing all the small things happening myself. Others, especially those concerned with Paul's inner conflicts, were almost excruciatingly abstract. And even though the language was beautiful throughout, I often found myself losing track in those sections (and, occasionally, genuinely having trouble understanding things linguistically, even with …
I wish I could give half-stars, because I probably would have given Dune a personal rating of 3.5/5.
I liked the story. I was able to fully immerse myself in the lore and the immaculate worldbuilding. And that was really something I have rarely seen anywhere else. I was contemplating whether to give this 3 or 4, but had to round up for the creativity in this area alone. I truly loved it.
My issue is mainly with the level of detail and the language. Some scenes are so excellently written that I felt like I was part of them, observing everything around me, noticing all the small things happening myself. Others, especially those concerned with Paul's inner conflicts, were almost excruciatingly abstract. And even though the language was beautiful throughout, I often found myself losing track in those sections (and, occasionally, genuinely having trouble understanding things linguistically, even with context – I didn't expect that it would encounter difficulties like that at all). Since those sections focused on Paul's interior are so crucial to Paul's development, and his development is, like, the main point of the book, I felt a bit lost, not really being able to trace how we'd gotten from the beginning to the end. I really only had this problem with Paul, not with any of the other characters. FWIW, Dune 2 (the movie) ended up having the same problem (to an even bigger extent, since the inner workings of Paul were not as exposed in it and the passing of time wasn't as clear).
I still think it was good - I just had a hard time with the main protagonist and that's why it failed to truly captivate me. Again, a lot (most) of it was really amazing. But it feels like I failed to grasp the entire thing, which is a bit sad. I'll probably continue reading the series at some point, though not sure when.
Cheers to finishing a buddy read and writing this review even though it has been over six months! I’m quite glad I had seen the recent movies before reading this one, for once. It was useful to have that context going into the story and not drowning in a sea of unfamiliar names and places and histories. Of course, the book goes much more in-depth than the films do, especially as you get the fantastic inner monologues of the characters. Paul Atreides’s journey as the Chosen One is a lot more compelling when you get insight into his self-doubts and uncertainties, even though they were at times repetitive. I also enjoyed the scheming machinations of Lady Jessica and the Harkonnens—in general, the book filled in many gaps in my knowledge coming from the films.
The biggest struggle I had with this book is Herbert’s writing style. I’m not sure how …
Cheers to finishing a buddy read and writing this review even though it has been over six months! I’m quite glad I had seen the recent movies before reading this one, for once. It was useful to have that context going into the story and not drowning in a sea of unfamiliar names and places and histories. Of course, the book goes much more in-depth than the films do, especially as you get the fantastic inner monologues of the characters. Paul Atreides’s journey as the Chosen One is a lot more compelling when you get insight into his self-doubts and uncertainties, even though they were at times repetitive. I also enjoyed the scheming machinations of Lady Jessica and the Harkonnens—in general, the book filled in many gaps in my knowledge coming from the films.
The biggest struggle I had with this book is Herbert’s writing style. I’m not sure how to describe it, but it’s obtuse at times and meanders a lot. I did enjoy the worldbuilding, but just when you felt like he was getting into something interesting, he would switch perspectives or topics. If I didn’t have the broad outline of the story from the films, I may have been quite confused, especially in the beginning. I also would have liked to see some greater engagement with the character’s development. That is not to say there isn’t any, just that it could have been handled a bit more deftly; Herbert’s writing style suggests he is capable of it, but perhaps he wasn’t as interested in that aspect. Perhaps unsurprisingly, one of my favorite parts was the appendix at the end which straightforwardly describes some of the background for a certain character’s motivations and adding some context to the reader’s knowledge of the planet Arrakis.
Despite a somewhat slow start, the narrative was quite engaging and of course grandiose in scope; you witness Paul’s journey into becoming the Muad-Dib and understand what it took for him to get there. Given the length of the book, it did take me about a month to finish. I don’t think this is necessarily suitable for binge reading, because there is a lot going on, and being able to gradually absorb the events as they unfold was useful. Above all, Herbert gives us a fantastic introduction to the world of Dune as well as some of his broader themes about politics, religion, and philosophical matters. Smarter readers have already dissected many of those themes, but suffice it to say that I enjoyed the nuances of Herbert’s ideas. I would like to continue reading the series, but time will tell when I can get to the next one.
He leído el libro después de ver las películas. Sólo puedo decir que qué maravilla de adaptación. ¿Se puede dar el caso en que la lectura te lleve a valorar todavía más la adaptación a la pantalla? Se puede y este es uno de esos casos.
Listened to the audio book after watching the first film (having not ever read the books before). I loved the world building in the first half, and the dynamic between Paul and his dad the duke. The second half dragged a bit with the mystic politics, and the messianic theme. Would have loved more consistency in characters and strategic gain of power rather than magic, but I guess that’s the guts of sci-fantasy. Not sure about what almost sounds like appropriation of Islamic terms to describe foreign culture but overall some beautiful descriptions and I enjoyed listening. Not sure whether I want to read/listen to more though.
Frank Herberts Dune var nåt annat. Nåt nytt. Det var en läsupplevelse i tiden. Religion och droger. Miljö, ekologi och social kamp. Motstånd och diktatur. Urfolk som kämpar, frälsare och banditer. Goda och onda. Imperialism och uppror. Precis vad mycket i slutet av 1960-talet och början av 1970-talet handlade om.
sfblogg.zaramis.se/2014/01/07/dune-hippieepokens-stora-sf-berattelse/
Not much of a sci-fi but rather a hi-fi (fictions one writes while being high).
Incredibly dull stories. Badly written. Naïve child play disguised as ‘politics’.
Way overrated.
Denis Villeneuve’s Dune was wat mij betreft één van de fenomenaalste films van de afgelopen jaren. Niet lang erna zag ik ook David Lynch’ versie van het beroemde boek van Frank Herbert (1920-1986) uit 1984, een film die mede door de knullige special effects zo wanstaltig slecht is, dat ik me alsnog intens heb vermaakt. Tot de films had ik echter nooit van Dune gehoord. Dat euvel is rechtgezet.
Dune is het eerste boek in een serie van zes. Het vertelt het verhaal van Paul, de vijftienjarige telg van het Huis Atreides dat door de keizer belast wordt met het bestuur van de woestijnplaneet Arrakis. Het keizerlijk bevel blijkt al gauw een list, waarbij het rivaliserende Huis Harkonnen de familie van Paul dreigt te vernietigen. Arrakis herbergt echter niet alleen het onbetaalbare spice, dat nergens anders voorkomt, maar ook een bijzonder volk, de Fremen, dat een rol speelt in …
Denis Villeneuve’s Dune was wat mij betreft één van de fenomenaalste films van de afgelopen jaren. Niet lang erna zag ik ook David Lynch’ versie van het beroemde boek van Frank Herbert (1920-1986) uit 1984, een film die mede door de knullige special effects zo wanstaltig slecht is, dat ik me alsnog intens heb vermaakt. Tot de films had ik echter nooit van Dune gehoord. Dat euvel is rechtgezet.
Dune is het eerste boek in een serie van zes. Het vertelt het verhaal van Paul, de vijftienjarige telg van het Huis Atreides dat door de keizer belast wordt met het bestuur van de woestijnplaneet Arrakis. Het keizerlijk bevel blijkt al gauw een list, waarbij het rivaliserende Huis Harkonnen de familie van Paul dreigt te vernietigen. Arrakis herbergt echter niet alleen het onbetaalbare spice, dat nergens anders voorkomt, maar ook een bijzonder volk, de Fremen, dat een rol speelt in de omzwerving van Paul en zijn moeder Jessica.
”What have you done to me?” he demanded. In a burst of clarity, she sensed some of the roots in the question, said: “I gave birth to you.”
Dune est sans le meilleur et le plus beau livre de science-fiction à mes yeux, avec son récit quasi-mythique qui sait nous parler intelligemment de politique et d'écologie.
