Dune Review

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I finished reading Dune by Frank Herbert roughly a week ago, but haven't had time to do a full review until now, so here it goes... Spoilers ahead if you haven't read it!

Overall, I enjoyed the book, but there were definitely some elements I really didn't like. I enjoyed the exploration of political power and pride, the characters were wonderful, and the worldbuilding was very well done. I didn't really enjoy the idea of Feudalism in space as much as I thought I might, the pacing definitely felt like it was from 1965, and I wish the author had spent time on different things.

First, let's elaborate on the good: The exploration of political power was very interesting, I enjoyed reading about how the different houses worked with and against each other, and how the emperor tied into it at the end. Part of this ends up being a con, but I'll explore that in a little bit. The idea of a mentat was quite interesting too, since that's often how people in the 50s and 60s seemed to have perceived computers: As something that was given a bunch of input, and then could be asked questions to get output. That is essentially what they are today, however the type of input and output is a little different. Today it's a little more raw than it it was in this book. The mentats being used as tools for the houses was an interesting thing as well, since while they try to suppress their emotions (like Vulcans from Star Trek), they do have them and can be bent with them.

The characters were fantastic in this book. I really wanted to see Paul gain power since we believe he'll use it for good, and was happy when at the end of the book he achieved this. I really got a sense of who Paul was by what he did and how he thought, and it's very easy to forget that his character is only 15-17 years old. His mother was someone we really cared about throughout the book as well, and it was interesting to see the conflict between her motherly desires, the desires of the Bene Gesserit, and her position of power. The Baron was a fantastic villain, since the dichotomy of love vs hate being tools of power was very apparent in him vs the Duke (and later Paul). I enjoyed seeing the Baron use people to gain his goals because it adds to the hate we have for him.

This aspect is a double-edged sword, because when it's used by characters we really want to like, it leaves a sour taste in our mouth. That's one of the main things I really didn't enjoy about this book: The good guys manipulate people to get power too. Maybe not quite as badly as the bad guys, but they do do it. I especially dislike how Paul married the princess at the end for power, because while she may be in a position of power, she's a human being who desires love as well, and by Paul marrying her he takes away the option for her to marry someone who loves her. Unfortunately, this seems like a side effect of the feudal society in which the book takes place.

Additionally, I really didn't like how this book spends it's time. I would have appreciated some more concise descriptions of the world and creatures, since the ones given were often hard to understand and/or remember. The characters definitely don't talk or think in phrasing that normal people use, it's more like how in classic movies the characters use extra flowery phrasing to sound more classy and polished. This can be nice, and I do appreciate it, but I think it's a little overused in parts of the book.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on it. It's a good read, but by todays standards might seem a little slow.

Published on Wednesday February 2, 2018