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Dune
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks (1982-02-01)
ISBN: 0450011844
EAN: 9780450011849
Dewy Decimal #: 813
Paperback: 608 pages
Edition: 2
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Editorial Reviews
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Amazon.co.uk Review
This Hugo and Nebula Award winner tells the sweeping tale of a desert planet called Arrakis, the focus of an intricate power struggle in a byzantine interstellar empire. Arrakis is the sole source of Melange, the "spice of spices". Melange is necessary for interstellar travel and also grants psychic powers and longevity, so whoever controls it wields great influence. The troubles begin when stewardship of Arrakis is transferred by the Emperor from the Harkonnen Noble House to House Atreides. The Harkonnens don't want to give up their privilege, though, and through sabotage and treachery they cast young Duke Paul Atreides out into the planet's harsh environment to die. There he falls in with the Fremen, a tribe of desert dwellers who become the basis of the army with which he will reclaim what's rightfully his. Paul Atreides, though, is far more than just a usurped duke. He might be the end product of a very long-term genetic experiment designed to breed a superhuman--he might be a messiah. His struggle is at the centre of a nexus of powerful people and events, and the repercussions will be felt throughout the Imperium. Dune is one of the most famous science fiction novels ever written, and deservedly so. The setting is elaborate and ornate, the plot labyrinthine and the adventures exciting. Five sequels follow. --Brooks Peck
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Customer Reviews
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May have been good ... once
Rating  (2)
Date: 2008-09-10
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book has got such a high profile and has had such rave reviews that I was expecting something a little special. I suppose that it has to be borne in mind that it is more than 40 years old and was quite startling at that time, but to be honest I found it to be a predictable and soulless dirge. Out of respect and a desire to see what all the fuss is about I stuck with it until then end, but it didn't really light my fire. I understand that after this 'high point' the series goes down hill ... so I won't be bothering with the follow-ups.
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Terrific balance of themes
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-08-07
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
As you will gather from other reviewers this is a brilliant read. What I found shocking however, was that reading Dune one comes to the sudden realisation that George Lucas was not only of limited imagination but a B-rated pilferer at that. Once you take away from Star Wars what Dune provided you are left with a fairly limp fairy-tale. Look at it this way: Dune is for Star Wars what Star Wars is for He-Man.
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The best science fiction book ever written.
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-06-07
To me this is the best science fiction book ever written and Lord of the Rings the best science fantasy. The originality and depth of this book are amazing. Taking this, Frank Herbert's subsequent books, Brian Herbert's and Kevin Anderson's prequals and sequals, the result is a story and universe of staggering depth and proportions. Frank Herbert also has a very unique style to his writing (the story itself and the thoughts of the protagonists run side by side). The film and the two miniseries are also worth seeing. If I could rate this higher than 5 stars, I would.
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It's OK...that's all
Rating  (3)
Date: 2008-04-20
6 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
I don't need to give a synopsis of the plot as most other reviewers have done this ad nauseum. Suffice to say that I am sure for its time (1968) it was a great read - although PK Dick was doing much more 'out there' and interesting stuff than this, and if you only read sci-fi then perhaps this still makes it a very good read.
The book is often made out to be very 'detailed' in its complex politics and ecology of the famous 'Dune' Planet of Arrakis. It really isn't. There is some nice interplay between some of the characters which one could call mildly interesting intrigue within the 'Houses' of families, but the Harkonnens (the bad guys) are just two dimensional versions of the 'Borgia's' (poisonings, sexual deviance, gladiatorial combat etc etc).
The Atreides (the good guys) are a bit more detailed in their personalities but essentially portrayed as faithful, honour-bound, decent and so on. With the son inheriting the mantle of his 'house' and becoming some kind of messiah.
It's all very black and white 'politics' and of course there are the 'Fremen' (the oppressed inhabitants of Dune) who are 'mysterious', 'complex' and for some unexplained reason seem to drop in and out of faux-olde-worlde english (lots of 'thy' and 'thee' until the author gets bored/forgets and reverts back to you and your) and then switch to some kind of pretend 'middle-eastern' argot when whatever ritual is required to keep the plot going. It's all a bit contrived and many will find it tiresome.
Yes you can read what you like into the various characters and story lines (some have referenced the spice to Oil and perhaps could even extract some kind of 'meaning' from todays geo-political situation if you really tried), but that doesn't make it a good book even if it were that convincing.
I am sure I would have loved this when I was a teenager, but having read a wide range of literature in the meantime, I found it plodding in many places, the characters very two dimensional, the dialogue dry and not very well written and too many unanswered or undiscussed topics considering how 'detailed' the whole ecology and politics was supposed to be. We get plenty of information about those Fremen who live in the desert but nothing about those in the 'cities' and nothing about how the cities even survive considering how much the plot hinges round everyone running about in stillsuits to stop their moisture from being wasted and that water is so valuable. In the end I just stopped caring about any of the characters they were so 'cardboard-like'.
Terry Pratchet once said that if Lord of the Rings wasn't your favourite book when you were 14 then there was something wrong with you, and that if it was still your favourite book by the time you were in your late 20's eary 30's then there was also something wrong with you.
I kind of feel the same about this book and suggest you watch the film by David Lynch. You'll get the same feel for the book but without the 4 hundred odd pages of wasted ink.
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Uncommon Brilliance
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-02-25
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Frank Herbert has, in Dune, created one of the great worlds of SF. It's a world of more depth than any other I have ever read, contains more nuances and more subtlty, and has a plot which more than befits this magnificent world.
Carrying the plot are a set of characters who are more than just believable; they become a part of you as all good characters do, all with hidden depths and their own unique qualities. All bring something different to the book, each possessing their own niche. There's Paul, the protaganist; Jessica, his mother; Yueh, the traitor; Stilgar, the hardened Fremen; Leto, the duke; Baron Harkonnen, the antagonist... The list is endless.
Perhaps the only thing which has frustrated me with this book is the omniscience of the narrative, which, while it is enlightening and goes some way to explaining the many subtleties of the novel, often frustrates as it switches from character to character. However, it's a minor gripe, and one borne more of personal preference towards a single viewpoint than an omniscient narrator.
Always compelling, and utterly unputdownable, Dune falls into that rare category of a must-read novel, regardless of personal preference. Any decision to read it will not be regretted.
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Retail Price: £7.99
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